CorpComms Magazine

There is growing concern about the use of social media within the financial services sector, yet those operating in the sector increasingly view it as a useful means of communication, according to a recent report by communications consultancy Cicero.

The report entitled Marriage from Hell or Made in Heaven: The Financial Sector and Social Media found that the five main social media-related fears are: potential brand damage, compliance issues, lack of expertise, difficulty in measuring return on investment and resource constraints.

More than two fifths of those surveyed said their firms were excited about the prospect of social media, compared to nearly one fifth of respondents who said their firm was concerned.

A quarter of respondents said they were concerned about how to manage the volume of traffic on social media platforms, while another third were concerned by the lack of internal knowledge within their organisations on the subject.

Almost two fifths were concerned about the lack of resources that could be realistically dedicated to social media.

Despite the apparent fears, a quarter of participants believed that social media could be the new way to communicate to tomorrow's consumer, and more than half agreed that social media provides a new method of communication. An overwhelming majority of more than 80 per cent see Twitter as the most important social network for their company. 

Almost three fifths of respondents did not think the financial services sector had effectively grasped social media. Less than half of the organisations surveyed said that they were making effective use of social media, and ten per cent do not have it on their agenda at all.

Just 11 per cent of firms had fully integrated social media into their business strategy, and almost 60 per cent spend less than £50,000 each year on implementing it. Almost 30 per cent are not spending anything on social media.

Two fifths of the organisations involved use external advisors to help them learn more about social media, and almost half of those using external advisors are using them to monitor their social media channels. 

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