Impact on Social Media

IMPACT OF SOCIAL MEDIA 2012

#SMING12

More and more news about financial institutions is appearing in online and social media.

ING has seen an increase in the buzz around its brand over the past few years too. From around 10,000 mentions each month in 2011 to 30,000 mentions in September 2012.

Analysing this buzz has shown that people are discussing, sharing and commenting on anything and everything.

And all that buzz has quickly started to seem very important.

ABOUT THIS STUDY

But exactly what impact does all that online buzz actually have on consumers? And how reliable do consumers think all that information is? Is it different from other online media? And from traditional media?

These questions have led ING to carry out a major study on the subject. You can read the results of the study in this report.

2

WHAT CAN YOU EXPECT FROM THIS REPORT?

Answers to the question of how consumers come into contact with financial news in online and social media.

Answers to the question of how reliable consumers think that financial news in online and social media is.

And insights into the impact that financial reports in online and social media have on consumers.

All this has been presented on the basis of dozens of facts and insights into the perceived reliability and impact of financial reports in online and social media.

3

MAIN CONCEPTS

TRADITIONAL MEDIA

Traditional media include ‘offline’ media such as television, radio, newspapers, news magazines and so on. In any case, it concerns reports, sources and media that are related to news and current affairs.

ONLINE MEDIA

Online media reports include articles on online news websites, newspaper websites, weblogs, forums/discussion plat-forms, review sites and the websites of compa-nies/organisations.

SOCIAL MEDIA

Social media reports include posts/stories/reports which appear on Facebook, Hyves, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, Google+ and so on.

4

WHAT IS THE MAIN THING THAT WE HAVE LEARNT?

Financial reports in online and social media have been shown to have a major impact on consumers: social media play an increasingly influential role in developing reputations and brand preference for companies.

Whilst traditional media are still perceived as being more reliable and having a greater impact, the impact of traditional media is being put under pressure since the rise of social media.

5

CONTACT WITH FINANCIAL REPORTS IN ONLINE AND SOCIAL MEDIA

IT HAS BEEN SHOWN THAT CONSUM-ERS COME INTO CONTACT VERY FRE-QUENTLY WITH FINANCIAL REPORTS IN ONLINE AND SOCIAL MEDIA.

6

1 IN 3 CONSUMERS SEE FINANCIAL REPORTS IN SOCIAL MEDIA AT LEAST ONCE A WEEK

More than half of consumers see reports about the financial sector in social media ‘less than once a month’ or more frequently.

55% OF CONSUMERS SEE FINANCIAL REPORTS IN ONLINE MEDIA AT LEAST ONCE A WEEK

N=750

7

42%

15% 10% 12%

8% 9% 5%

0%

Never Less than

once a month

At least once a month

Weekly Several times a week

Daily Several times a

day

HOW OFTEN DO CONSUMERS COME INTO CONTACT WITH REPORTS ABOUT THE FINANCIAL

SECTOR IN SOCIAL MEDIA?

22%

13% 11%

18%

13%

19%

5%

0%

Never Less than

once a month




day

HOW OFTEN DO CONSUMERS COME INTO CONTACT WITH REPORTS ABOUT THE FINANCIAL

SECTOR IN ONLINE MEDIA?

NEARLY 1 IN 5 CONSUMERS SEE REPORTS ABOUT ING ON SOCIAL MEDIA AT LEAST ONCE A WEEK

29% SEE REPORTS ABOUT ING IN ONLINE MEDIA AT LEAST ONCE A WEEK

N=750

8

56%

16% 9% 9%

3% 4% 2% 0%

Never Less than once a month




day

HOW OFTEN DO CONSUMERS COME INTO CONTACT WITH REPORTS ABOUT ING

IN SOCIAL MEDIA?

30%

24%

17% 16%

5% 6% 2% 0%





day

HOW OFTEN DO CONSUMERS COME INTO CONTACT WITH REPORTS ABOUT ING IN

ONLINE MEDIA?

CONSUMERS CAN RECALL REPORTS FROM ONLINE AND SOCIAL MEDIA EASILY

74% of consumers can recall reports about ING in online and social media.

Consumers recall reports from news websites best of all. A quarter of consumers can remember reports about ING on Twitter or Facebook.

THE TOPICS THAT CONSUMERS RECALL ABOUT FINANCIAL MARKETS AND ING VARY A LOT BETWEEN CHANNELS

Social media are mainly focussed on personal experiences and choices, customer service and product services, and marketing communications. Traditional online media are dominated by news on financial markets and the economic crisis.

Financial crisis

Personal experiences

Customer service &

Product services

N=108

37%

37%

36%

Advertising/communications

Personal experiences

Customer service &

Product services

N=313

42%

36%

36%

Personalexperiences

Reasons for not choosing a bank

Financial crisis

N=99

42%

41%

39%

Customer service &

Product services

Products

Reasons for choosing a bank

N=134

46%

46%

38%

Financial crisis

Financial market in general

Financial situationof bank

N=498

60%

55%

55%

Financial crisis

Financial market in general

Financial situationof bank

N=476

51%

49%

47%

NEWSPAPER WEBSITESREVIEW SITESFORUMSFACEBOOKTWITTER ONLINE NEWS WEBSITES

10

CONSUMERS REMEMBER FINANCIAL REPORTS, WHETHER THEY ARE POSITIVE, NEUTRAL OR NEGATIVE

The financial reports which consumers recall from Facebook and review sites are mainly positive.

The financial reports which consumers recall from blogs, forums and discussion platforms are mainly negative.

The financial reports which consumers recall from review sites, newspaper websites and online news sites are mainly neutral.

11

58%

56%

56%

41%

40%

31%

58%

42%

16%

16%

20%

25%

25%

26%

28%

33%

Online news site

Newspaper website

Hyves

Twitter

Forum / discussion platform

Blog

Review sites

Facebook

OF THOSE FINANCIAL REPORTS THAT CONSUMERS REMEMBER, THE TONE IS:

Negative Neutral Positive

PERCEIVED RELIABILITY OF FINANCIAL REPORTS IN ONLINE AND SOCIAL MEDIA

FINANCIAL REPORTS IN TRADITIONAL AND ONLINE MEDIA ARE SEEN AS MORE RELIABLE THAN REPORTS IN SOCIAL MEDIA. THE STUDY DOES SHOW, HOWEVER, THAT REPORTS IN SOCIAL MEDIA ARE GRADUALLY INCREASINGLY SEEN AS RELIABLE.

12

THERE IS RELATIVELY LOW CONFIDENCE IN FINANCIAL REPORTS IN ALL THE MEDIA INVESTIGATED

On a scale of 1 (not reliable at all) to 7 (very reliable) traditional media do not score higher than 5 (quite reliable).

TRADITIONAL MEDIA ARE SEEN AS THE MOST RELIABLE

Social media are seen as less reliable than online and traditional media.

N=1,100

CONFIDENCE IN SOCIAL MEDIA

13

4,77

5,00

5,05

4,49

4,63

4,66

3,77

3,92

3,94

ING

Financial market

General

Social media Online media Traditional media

ONLINE MEDIA ARE GENERALLY SEEN AS RELIABLE

6 OUT OF 10 TRUST REPORTS ABOUT ING IN ONLINE MEDIA

SOCIAL MEDIA ARE SEEN AS LESS RELIABLE

3 OUT OF 10 THINK THAT REPORTS ABOUT ING IN SOCIAL MEDIA ARE RELIABLE

14

12% 9% 10%

30% 27% 26%

58% 65% 64%

ING Financial markets General

Unreliable Neutral Reliable

41% 39% 37%

28% 23%

27% 32%

39% 36%


Unreliable Neutral Reliable

SOCIAL MEDIA ARE TRUSTED MORE BY FREQUENT SOCIAL MEDIA USERS

N=1,100

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

Never

Occ

asion

ally

Monthl

y

Wee

kly

Daily

Average perceived reliability of social media by frequency of use on scale of 1 (completely unreliable) to 7 (very reliable)

CONSUMERS THAT USE SOCIAL MEDIA REGULARLY TRUST NEWS IN SOCIAL MEDIA JUST AS MUCH AS TRADITIONAL MEDIA

For consumers that use social media at least once a week, the differences between social, online and traditional media are minimal, or even negligible.

16

5,21

5,44

5,14

5,27

4,72

5,23

5,01

5,04

4,56

4,68

4,74

4,68

01 02 03 04 05 06 07

ING

Financial market

General

Total


No significant differences Consumers who use social media at least weekly.

Very unreliable Neutral Very reliable

THE IMPACT OF FINANCIAL REPORTS

TRADITIONAL MEDIA AND ONLINE MEDIA HAVE A GREATER IMPACT ON CONSUMERS THAN SOCIAL MEDIA. AT LEAST, THAT IS WHAT CONSUMERS SAY. REPORTS IN SOCIAL MEDIA MORE OFTEN SUCCEED AT CHANGING OPINIONS, PREFERENCES OR BEHAVIOUR THAN REPORTS IN TRADITIONAL AND ONLINE MEDIA.

17

THE WAY THAT CONSUMERS THINK ABOUT THE IMPACT OF ONLINE MEDIA DIFFERS FROM THE WAY THEY BEHAVE IN REALITY

In a direct ranking of the perceived impact of various media forms, social media are given a low score. However, reports in social media more often lead to a change of opinion, preference or behaviour. This means that the real impact of social media is greater than the impact of online news media.

INFORMATIVE TELEVISION PROGRAMMES AND NEWSPAPERS ARE PERCEIVED TO HAVE 4 TO 5 TIMES MORE IMPACT THAN SOCIAL MEDIA

MEDIA TYPE# IMPACT SCOREInformative television programmes on news and current affairs (such as NOS Journaal, RTL Nieuws, Pauw & Witteman, EenVandaag, DWDD etc.)

Newspapers, national and regional (such as Trouw, Telegraaf, Financieel Dagblad, Dagblad van het Noorden, Noord Hollands Dagblad, Brabants Dagblad etc.)Newspaper website (such as Trouw.nl, Telegraaf.nl, FD.nl, dvhn.nl, noordhollandsdagblad.nl, brabantsdagblad.nl etc.)

Online news websites which are not linked to a newspaper/periodical/magazine (such as Nu.nl, Z24.nl etc.)

Informative radio stations such as BNR, Radio 1 etc.

News magazines (such as Elsevier, 360, Quote, HP/de Tijd etc.)

The company’s website

Review sites (such as kieskeurig.nl, vergelijk.nl, independer.nl and zoover.nl)

News and current affairs on entertainment radio stations such as Radio 538, Qmusic, Sky Radio etc.

Forums/Discussion platforms (such as forum.fok.nl, forum.viva.nl, nujij.nl, Radar/Kassa forum etc.)

Entertainment television programmes on news and current affairs (such as Pownews, RTL Boulevard, Shownieuws, Dit was het nieuws etc.)

Social media (Facebook, Twitter, Hyves, LinkedIn etc.)

Blogs (such as Geenstijl.nl, Dumpert.nl, deJaap.nl, DutchCowboys.nl, Emerce.nl etc.)

1

3

7

16

15

12

10

8

8

7

7

5

4

3

3

1

2

4

8

5

9

6

10

11

12

13

19

HOWEVER...Financial reports lead __% of consumers to...

Financial reports in social mediamore often lead to a change of opinion, preference or behaviour than reports on online news sites or newspaper websites.

20

26% 22%

26% 19% 21%

33% 29%

34% OPINION CHANGED NEGATIVELY

12%

22% 25%

14% 16%

27% 20% 23%

Hyves

Faceb

ook

Twitte

r

Online

news s

ites

Newsp

aper

websit

e

Review

sites

Forums/d

iscus

sion

Blogs

OPINION CHANGED POSITIVELY

22% 24% 22% 24% 30%

36% 39%

24%

CONFIRMATION OF CURRENT CHOICE

25% 20%

17% 13%

17%

29% 33%

19%

CONVINCED OF CHOICE

21% 20% 17%

12% 11%

25% 24% 26%

Hyves

Faceb

ook

Twitte

r

Online

news s

ites

Newsp

aper

websit

e

Review

sites

Forums /

Blogs

SWITCHED BANKS

THE IMPACT OF FINANCIAL REPORTS IN SOCIAL MEDIA IS GREATER FOR FREQUENT SOCIAL MEDIA USERS

Reports about ING in social media in particular have a significantly greater impact on daily social media users.

N=750

CONNECTION BETWEEN IMPACT AND FREQUENCY

N=750 N=750

21

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Never

Occas

ionall

y

Monthl

y

Weekly

Dail

y

Impa

ct o

f soc

ial m

edia

Frequency of social media use ING Financial sector

THE MORE RELIABLE CONSUMERS THINK REPORTS IN SOCIAL MEDIA ARE, THE GREATER THE IMPACT THAT THEY HAVE

The impact of reports in social media is twice as high for consumers who think that social media are very reliable than for consumers who do not think that social media are reliable.

CONNECTION BETWEEN IMPACT AND RELIABILITY

N=646 N=643

22

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8


Impa

ct o

f soc

ial m

edia

ING Financial sector

THE IMPACT OF TRADITIONAL MEDIA DECREASES AS CONSUMERS USE SOCIAL MEDIA MORE FREQUENTLY

This effect is strongest amongst young people.

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

Noo

it

Af e

n to

e

Maa

ndelijk

s

Wek

elijk

s

Dag

elijk

s

Imp

act

Info

rmati

eve T

V

Frequentie social media gebruik

ING (N = 750)

Financiële markt (N = 750)

ING jongeren 18 - 24 (N = 85)

FM jongeren 18 - 24 (N = 84)

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

Noo

it

Af e

n to

e

Maa

ndelijk

s

Wek

elijk

s

Dag

elijk

s

Imp

act

Info

rmati

eve T

V

Frequentie social media gebruik

ING (N = 750)

Financiële markt (N = 750)

ING jongeren 18 - 24 (N = 85)

FM jongeren 18 - 24 (N = 84)

CONNECTION BETWEEN TRADITIONAL MEDIA AND FREQUENT SOCIAL MEDIA USE

23

7

9

11

13

15

17

Never

Occas

ionall

y

Monthl

y

Weekly

Dail

y

Impa

ct o

f inf

orm

ativ

e TV

Frequency of social media use

ING (N = 750) Financial market (N = 750) ING youth ages 18 - 24 (N = 85) FM youth ages 18 - 24 (N = 84)

7

9

11

13

15

17

Never

Occas

ionall

y

Monthl

y

Weekly

Dail

y

Impa

ct o

f new

spap

ers


THE IMPACT OF FINANCIAL REPORTS IN SOCIAL MEDIA IS 2 TO 2.5 TIMES GREATER ON YOUNGER PEOPLE

The impact of online reports is more or less the same for all ages.

N=655

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

18 - 24 years

25 - 34 years

35 - 44 years

45 - 54 years

55 - 64 years

65 +

Impa

ct fa

ctor

SOCIAL MEDIA REPORTS - FINANCIAL SECTOR

ONLINE MEDIA REPORTS - FINANCIAL SECTOR

WOULD YOU LIKE TO LEARN MORE?

25

THE FOLLOWING SLIDES GIVE A DETAILED OVERVIEW OF THE RESULTS OF THE STUDY.

THEY ARE BASED ON FIVE RESEARCH QUESTIONS.

26

27

STUDY CONDUCTED BASED ON FIVE SURVEY QUESTIONS:

SURVEY QUESTION 1 How often do consumers come into contact with reports in social media about the financial sector in general and ING in particular?

SURVEY QUESTION 2 How often do consumers find these financial reports in online and social media to be reliable?

SURVEY QUESTION 3 To what extent does trust in financial reports in online and social media differ from trust in messages in traditional media (television, radio, etc.)?

SURVEY QUESTION 4 To what extent do consumers remember financial reports in online and social media?

SURVEY QUESTION 5 To what extent do financial reports in online and social media have an impact on brand preference and reputation?

RESEARCH QUESTION 1

TO WHAT EXTENT DO CONSUMERS COME INTO CONTACT WITH REPORTS IN SOCIAL MEDIA ABOUT THE FINANCIAL SECTOR AND ING IN PARTICULAR?

28

FACEBOOK AND YOUTUBE ARE THE MOST USED SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS

67% of consumers use Facebook at least once a week. YouTube is used a lot too: 54% of consumers use this network at least once a week.

Pinterest and Foursquare are the least popular.

N=1,500N=1,500

29

90 %

88 %

59 %

66 %

57 %

55 %

13 %

24 %

7 %

8 %

25 %

26 %

34 %

36 %

73 %

72 %

5 %

5 %

16 %

21 %

23 %

31 %

54 %

67 %

Pinterest

Foursquare

Hyves

Twitter

Linkedin

Google+

YouTube

Facebook

Uses this medium at least weekly

Uses this medium at least monthly

Never uses this medium

ONLINE NEWS SITES AND NEWSPAPER WEBSITES ARE USED THE MOST.

More than half of consumers use these platforms once a week (63% and 59% respectively).

Weblogs and forums/discussion platforms are the least popular. Review sites are mainly used sporadically.

N=1,500N=1,500

30

64%

51%

22%

21%

20%

23%

32%

52%

68%

72%

15%

21%

26%

60%

63%

Weblogs

Forums/ discussion platforms

Review sites

Newspaper sites

Online news sites

Uses this medium at least weekly

Uses this medium at least monthly

Never uses this medium

TYPE OF SOCIAL MEDIA USERS

The largest proportion of our respondents are media consumers, whilst many of them are contributors and creators. There is also an overlap between media consumers, contributors and creators, and most creators are consumers of media too.

N=1,500

64%

70%

87%

10%

Creator

Contributor

Consumer

Inactive

31

EXPLANATION OF USER TYPES

•  Inactive: Respondent who has indicated that he/she uses social/online media, but creates, contributes or consumes content less than monthly.

•  Consumer: Respondent who has indicated that he/she uses social/online media and consumes content at least monthly.

•  Contributor: Respondent who has indicated that he/she uses social/online media and contributes content at least monthly.

•  Creator: Respondent who has indicated that he/she uses social/online media and creates content at least monthly.

33% OF CONSUMERS SEE FINANCIAL REPORTS IN SOCIAL MEDIA AT LEAST EVERY WEEK

More than half of consumers see reports about the financial sector in social media from time to time. 33% of consumers come into contact with this sort of reports at least once a week. It has also appeared that 14% of consumers see reports about the financial sector at least once a day.

55% SEE REPORTS ABOUT THE FINANCIAL SECTOR IN ONLINE MEDIA AT LEAST EVERY WEEK

Consumers come into contact with reports about the financial sector more often in online media, and more than three quarters of them see reports like this from time to time. 55% of consumers come into contact with reports about the financial sector in online media at least every week. 24% say that they see financial reports every day.

N=750

32

22 %

13 % 11 %

18 %

13 %

19 %

5 %

0%





day

HOW OFTEN DO CONSUMERS COME INTO CONTACT WITH REPORTS ABOUT THE FINANCIAL SECTOR IN ONLINE MEDIA?

N = 750

42 %

15 % 10 % 12 %

8 % 9 % 5 %




Daily Several times a day

HOW OFTEN DO CONSUMERS COME INTO CONTACT WITH REPORTS ABOUT THE FINANCIAL SECTOR IN SOCIAL MEDIA?

19% SEE REPORTS ABOUT ING IN SOCIAL MEDIA AT LEAST EVERY WEEK

Almost a fifth of consumers come into contact with reports about ING in social media at least every week. Another 6% of them say that see at least one report about ING in social media every day.

29% SEE REPORTS ABOUT ING IN ONLINE MEDIA AT LEAST ONCE A WEEK

Consumers come into contact with reports about ING more often in online media, but it is still concerns a minority of consumers. 29% of consumers see online reports about ING at least every week.

33

56 %

16 % 9 % 9 %

3 % 4 % 2 %





HOW OFTEN DO CONSUMERS COME INTO CONTACT WITH REPORTS ABOUT ING IN SOCIAL

MEDIA?

30 %

24 %

17 % 16 %

5 % 6 %

2 %





HOW OFTEN DO CONSUMERS COME INTO CONTACT WITH REPORTS ABOUT ING IN ONLINE

MEDIA?

N=750

CONCLUSIONS

Consumers come into contact with reports about the financial sector more frequently than reports about ING.

Consumers come into contact with reports in online media more frequently than reports in social media.

Consumers primarily see reports about the financial sector in online media.

A minority of consumers come into contact with reports about the financial sector and ING in social media every week.

But over half of them see reports about the financial sector in social media from time to time, and a third of them see these every week.

Specifically for ING, this means that more than half of consumers never come into any contact with reports about ING in social media. But it was shown that a fifth of consumers do see reports about ING in social media every week.

Though they are often not the majority of consumers that see reports on ING or the financial sector in online media or social media, the figures are substantial for a sample that is representative for the Netherlands, with more or less as many online media/social media savvy users.

34

RESEARCH QUESTION 2

TO WHAT EXTENT DO CONSUMERS THINK THAT FINANCIAL REPORTS IN ONLINE AND SOCIAL MEDIA ARE RELIABLE?

35

32% OF CONSUMERS THINK THAT FINANCIAL REPORTS ABOUT ING IN SOCIAL MEDIA ARE RELIABLEThe perceived reliability of reports about ING is slightly lower than that for reports about financial markets (39%) and general news stories (36%). Additionally, reports about ING in social media are the ones most often perceived as unreliable. 41% see these reports as unreliable, compared with 39% for reporting about financial markets and 37% for reports in social media in general.

36

41 % 39 % 37 %

28 % 23 %

27 % 32 %

39 % 36 %


Not reliable Neutral Reliable

6%

13%

19%

27%

21%

12%

4%

GENERAL

10 % 10 %

21 %

28 %

19 %

10 %

3 %


ING

N = 434

7%

13%

18% 23% 24%

9% 5%

FINANCIAL MARKETS

N = 461

FREQUENT SOCIAL MEDIA USERS CONSIDER SOCIAL MEDIA MORE RELIABLE

Consumers who use social media more frequently also find it to be more reliable. Consumers who use social media every day give it a score of 5.6 on a scale of 1 (not at all reliable) to 7 (very reliable). Consumers who never use social media give it an average score of 2.2.

Frequent social media users find it ‘quite reliable’ to ‘reliable’ (scores 5 and 6 on a scale of 1, unreliable, to 7, very reliable). Consumers who never use social media say that it is ‘unreliable’ (score 2 on a scale of 1 to 7).

Differences between monthly use and weekly use and weekly use and daily use are negligible.

37

1,0

2,0

3,0

4,0

5,0

6,0

7,0

Never

Occ

asion

ally

Monthl

y

Wee

kly

Daily

Average perceived reliability score on a scale of 1 (totally unreliable) to 7 (very reliable)

Very unreliable

CONSUMERS THAT MAKE MORE ACTIVE USE OF SOCIAL MEDIA THINK THAT FINANCIAL REPORTS IN SOCIAL MEDIA ARE MORE RELIABLE

For all types of users it has been shown that more active users give a higher reliability score than less active users.

38

03 04

Not a Consumer

Consumer

3,4 3,9

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

Inactive Active Very unreliable

Neutral

Very reliable

03 04

Not a Creator

Creator

03 04

01

02

03

04

05

06

07

Not a Contributor

Contributor

Very unreliable

Neutral

Very reliable

ING-CUSTOMERS THINK SOCIAL MEDIA REPORTS ABOUT ING ARE MORE RELIABLE THAN NON-CUSTOMERS DO

Though the difference between the averages is rather small (customers give an average score of 3.9, non-customers give it 3.6), that difference is significant. The higher score of 3.9 is still relatively low on the scale of 1 to 7. The score of 3.9 means that consumers feel fairly neutral about reports about ING in social media.

Amongst the consumers that use one of the social networks at least every week, ING-customers find social media reports on ING more reliable than non-customers do.

39

3,9 3,6

1,0

2,0

3,0

4,0

5,0

6,0

7,0

ING customer Non-customer

ALL RESPONDENTS

Very unreliable

Neutral

Very reliable

4,0 3,7

1,0

2,0

3,0

4,0

5,0

6,0

7,0

ING customer Non-customer

USE SOCIAL MEDIA WEEKLY

Very unreliable

Neutral

Very reliable

ONLINE MEDIA ARE SEEN AS RELIABLE SOURCES

The overwhelming majority of consumers say they see online media as being reliable (sometimes ‘reliable’ to ‘very reliable’). This applies whether it refers to reports about ING (58%), the financial markets (65%) or reports on news and current affairs in general (64%).In any case, online media are generally seen as ‘quite reliable’. It is striking that only a very small proportion of consumers think online media are unreliable.

40

12 % 9 % 10 %

30 % 27 % 26 %

58 % 65 % 64 %

ING Financial markets

General

Not reliable Neutral Reliable

2 % 4 % 7 %

30 %

42 %

14 %

2 %


ING

N = 336

1% 2% 6%

27%

48%

14%

2%

FINANCIAL MARKETS

N = 377

0 % 1 % 8 %

26 %

44 %

18 %

2 %

GENERAL

N = 351

ONLINE NEWS PROVIDERS ARE CONSIDERED TO BE THE MOST RELIABLEOut of all the online media, newspaper websites are considered the most reliable (77% scored them ‘quite reliable’ to ‘reliable’), followed by online news sites (71%).

BLOGS: THE LEAST RELIABLE

Out of all the online media, newspaper websites are considered the most reliable (77% scored them ‘quite reliable’ to ‘reliable’), followed by online news sites (71%).

COMPANY WEBSITES SCORE REASONABLY WELL

64% of consumers think company websites are reliable, when referring to news items and current affairs which involve ING, for example.

41

77% 71% 66% 64%

46%

21%

Newsp

aper

web

site

Online

news s

ites

Review

sites

Organ

isatio

n web

sites

Foru

ms/disc

ussio

n plat

forms

Blog

PERCEIVED RELIABILITY OF ONLINE MEDIA

Percentage that feels this medium is reliable

AGE HAS A LIMITED INFLUENCE ON HOW CONSUMERS SEE THE RELIABILITY OF FINANCIAL REPORTS ON ONLINE AND SOCIAL MEDIA

The frequency with which consumers use social media plays a major role in the extent to which they think social media are reliable.

Age turns out to account for differences amongst consumers that use social media every week.

Amongst frequent social media users, older consumers find social media more reliable than younger consumers. Consumers aged 35-44 years are the most sceptical when it comes to reports in social media. Age is not associated with any differences between frequent social media users’ perception of the reliability of online media.

Amongst infrequent social media users too, there are no significant differences between the extents to which they find social media and online media reliable.

42

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

18-24 25 - 34 35 - 44 45 - 54 55 - 64 65+

Weekly use of social media Weekly use of online media Less than weekly use of social media Less than weekly use of online media

Very reliable

Neutral

Very unreliable

CONCLUSIONS

The perceived reliability of social media varies. In most cases, the reliability score stays roughly around the middle, on a scale of 1 (very unreliable) to 7 (very reliable).

There are slightly more consumers who think that social media are unreliable than those who think they are reliable.

Whether consumers find social media reliable is dependent on factors such as the frequency with which they use social media, their social media profile, and whether or not they are a customer.

The more frequently consumers use social media, the more they think that social media are reliable compared to those who use them social media less frequently.

Although the differences are less pronounced, it has been shown that older frequent social media users (at least weekly) find financial reports in social media more reliable than younger regular social media users do.

ING-customers see reports about ING in social media as being more reliable than non-customers do.

43

RESEARCH QUESTION 3

TO WHAT EXTENT DOES THE PERCEIVED RELIABILITY OF FINANCIAL REPORTS IN ONLINE AND SOCIAL MEDIA VARY FROM THE PERCEIVED RELIABILITY OF REPORTS IN TRADITIONAL MEDIA SUCH AS TELEVISION, RADIO ETC.?

44

PERCEIVED RELIABILITY OF ALL MEDIA IS RELATIVELY LOW

Consumers say that reports of financial reports are not particularly reliable from any of the media forms studied. The perceived reliability of reports in social media is generally fairly neutral. Online media reports are mainly considered to be ‘reliable’, but reports in traditional media forms are also seen as ‘quite reliable’.

REPORTS ABOUT ING ARE PERCEIVED AS LESS RELIABLE

For the most part, reports about ING were perceived to be less reliable than reports of news and current affairs in general and about financial markets.

45


4,8

5,00

5,1

4,5

4,6

4,7

3,8

3,9

3,9

0,0 1,0 2,0 3,0 4,0 5,0 6,0 7,0

Reports about ING

Reports about financial markets

General reports


THE MORE FREQUENT THE USE OF SOCIAL MEDIA, THE MORE RELIABLE SOCIAL AND TRADITIONAL MEDIA ARE PERCEIVED TO BE

Amongst consumers who use social media at least once a week, there are only minimal or even insignificant differences between their perceptions of the reliability of reports in social, online and traditional media.

NO DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SOCIAL, ONLINE AND TRADITIONAL MEDIA FOR GENERAL NEWS REPORTS

There were no differences in the perceived reliability of general news reports in social, online and traditional media.

Both for reports about financial markets and reports related to ING, there were no differences in the perceived reliability of online and social media.

46

5,2

5,4

5,1

5,27

4,7

5,2

5

5,04

4,6

4,7

4,7

4,68

1,0 2,0 3,0 4,0 5,0 6,0 7,0

ING

Financial market

General

Total


No significant differences Consumers who use social media at least weekly.


TYPE OF SOCIAL MEDIA USERSTRADITIONAL NEWS SOURCES ARE THE MOST RELIABLE

The reliability that consumers attribute to financial reports in online news sources is significantly higher than the reliability they attribute to financial reports in traditional media such as television and radio in general. However, the perceived reliability of reports on traditional news sources such as the television news, on the other hand, is significantly higher than the perceived reliability of financial reports on online news sources. The perceived reliability of reports on traditional news sources is significantly higher than the perceived reliability of financial reports on traditional entertainment sources.

47

3,9

4,2

4,3

4,6

4,9

5,1

5,4

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Social

Online, blogs, etc.

Traditional, entertainment

Online, total

Traditional, total

Online, news source

Traditional, news source

Very unreliable Neutral Very reliable Very unreliable

CONCLUSIONS

Financial reports in traditional media are generally seen by consumers as more reliable than financial reports in social media.

The perceived reliability of social media increases the more frequently consumers use social media.

Frequent social media users show smaller differences or none at all in their perceived reliability of reports in traditional, online and social media.

Reports about news and current affairs in general, for example, are seen to be equally reliable in traditional media and social media. Additionally, online and social media are considered to be equally reliable when it comes to reports about both the financial market and ING.

Traditional news sources (television news, newspapers and radio stations such as BNR) and online news sources (newspaper websites and online news sites) are perceived to be the most reliable. Entertainment from traditional sources (such as Pownews and the news item on QMusic), online social sources (blogs, etc.) and social media are given the lowest reliability scores.

48

RESEARCH QUESTION 4

TO WHAT EXTENT CAN CONSUMERS RECALL FINANCIAL REPORTS FROM ONLINE AND SOCIAL MEDIA?

49

CONSUMERS RECALL MORE REPORTS WHEN THEY ARE MORE FREQUENT SOCIAL MEDIA USERS

The more frequently that consumers use a social media channel, the better they are able to recall financial news, such as reports about ING.

It emerges that consumers recall reports about ING much better when they are more frequent users of the Facebook network.

Consumers who use Facebook every day can remember reports more easily.

The more frequently consumers use Twitter, the more Twitter reports they remember too. It is remarkable that consumers who use Twitter every day recall reports about ING less well than those who use Twitter weekly.

50

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

Never Occasionally Monthly Weekly Daily

TO WHAT EXTENT DO CONSUMERS REMEMBER REPORTS ABOUT ING IN SOCIAL MEDIA, BASED ON

FREQUENCY OF USE?

Twitter Facebook Hyves

WHAT PERCENTAGE OF RESPONDENTS CAN RECALL REPORTS ABOUT FINANCIAL MARKETS?

N=397

CONSUMERS CAN RECALL REPORTS ABOUT FINANCIAL MARKETS MAINLY FROM NEWSPAPER WEBSITES AND ONLINE NEWS SITES.

62% of consumers can recall reports about financial markets. For online news sites this percentage is 57%.For other media, the percentage of consumers that can recall reports on financial markets is lower. Compared

to the reliability scores of forums and blogs, in this aspect social media score the strongest, with

16% for Facebook and 15% for Twitter.

51

5%

8%

9%

14%

15%

16%

57%

62%

Review sites

Forums/discussion platforms

Hyves

Blog

Twitter

Facebook

Online news site

Newspaper website

Percentage that recalls reports in this medium over the past 6 months

N=1,500

WHAT PERCENTAGE OF RESPONDENTS CAN RECALL REPORTS ABOUT ING?

From newspaper websites and online news sites, consumers can recall reports about ING less well than they can recall reports about financial markets. In this regard, social media score better.

52

16%

17%

18%

18%

26%

29%

42%

44%

Blog

Hyves


Review sites

Twitter

Facebook

Online news site

Newspaper website

Percentage that recalls reports in this medium over the past 6 months

THE SUBJECTS THAT CONSUMERS REMEMBER VARY SHARPLY BETWEEN PLATFORMS

53

TWITTER (N = 108)

FACEBOOK (N = 313)

FORUMS / DISCUSSION PLATFORMS (N = 99)

REVIEW SITES (N = 134)

NEWSPAPER WEBSITE (N = 498)

ONLINE NEWS SITE (N = 476)

1 Financial crisis (37%)

Advertising / communication (41.9%)

Personal experience (42.2%)

Service & provision of service (46.3%)

Financial crisis (60%)

Financial crisis (51,1%)

2 Personal experience (37%)


Reasons to not choose the bank (41.4%)

Products (46.3%) Financial market in general (55.4%)

Financial market in general (48.9%)

3 Service & provision of service (36.1%)

Service & provision of service (35.5%)

Financial crisis (39.4%)

Reasons to choose the bank (38.1%)

Bank’s financial situation (54.6%)

Bank’s financial situation (46.6%)

4 Stock markets, share prices etc. (31.5%)

Product (30.7%) Service & provision of service (37.4%)


Organisation (42%)

Organisation (37.2%)

5 Financial market in general (30.6)

Financial crisis (26.8%)

Products (35.4%) Organisation (27.6%)

Stock markets, share prices (39.6%)

Stock markets, share prices (33.6%)

OVERALL Financial news & service, provision of service

Marketing & service, provision of service

Products & service, provision of service (negative)

Products & service, provision of service (positive)

Financial news Financial news

CONSUMERS REMEMBER REPORTS WHICH ARE POSITIVE, NEUTRAL AND NEGATIVE IN TONE.

It is not fundamentally the case that negative reports are easier to remember; positive reports are remembered by many consumers too.

The tone of the reports that consumers remember can vary significantly. The overall tone of reports that consumers remember is predominantly neutral.

54

26%

28%

24%

34%

34%

43%

14%

25%

58%

56%

56%

41%

40%

31%

58%

42%

16%

16%

20%

25%

25%

26%

28%

33%

Online news sites

Newspaper website

Hyves

Twitter


Blog

Review sites

Facebook

OF THOSE FINANCIAL REPORTS THAT CONSUMERS REMEMBER, THE TONE IS:

Negative Neutral Positive

REPORTS ON TWITTER, BLOGS AND FORUMS ARE THE MOST LIKELY TO INCITE CONVERSATIONS

The consumers were asked whether they had discussed the reports that they could recall with other people. In most cases, more than half of the consumers do not discuss the reports with other people.Social media reports lead the most frequently to conversations. Of the social media networks, reports on Twitter are the most frequently discussed (59% of consumers discuss the reports ‘a few times briefly’).

REPORTS ON ONLINE NEWS SITES AND NEWSPAPER WEBSITES ARE THE LEAST LIKELY TO INCITE CONVERSATIONS Online news sites and newspaper websites are the least likely to incite conversations. Around three quarters of consumers do not discuss reports from these networks (77% and 74%).

55

9%

7%

9%

3%

3%

11%

6%

4%

16%

8%

7%

6%

6%

14%

17%

7%

18%

7%

7%

5%

3%

11%

9%

10%

16%

15%

13%

13%

13%

16%

12%

14%

41%

64%

65%

74%

77%

49%

56%

65%

Twitter

Facebook

Hyves

Newspaper website

Online news sites

Blog


Review sites

Yes, discussed several times in detail Yes, discussed several times briefly Yes, discussed a few times in detail Yes, discussed a few times briefly No, not discussed

CONCLUSIONS

Around three quarters of consumers could recall news stories about ING from online or social media in the last six months.

Reports in online media are the easiest ones to remember, in particular reports on newspaper websites and online news sites.

Consumers can recall reports better the more they use social media.

Reports on the financial sector too are most memorable on newspaper websites and online news sites. Here again, Facebook and Twitter were the social networks where consumers could remember the most reports.

56

CONCLUSIONS

The main subjects for reports in social media are customer service, product services and personal experiences.Consumers recall both positive and negative reports. Reports on news sites are predominantly neutral. Reports on Facebook and review sites are mostly positive. Reports on blogs, forums and Twitter are mostly negative.

Although reports from online news sites and newspaper websites are the easiest to remember, they are the least frequently discussed with other people. Reports from Twitter and online social sources (blogs, forums, review sites) are discussed the most.

57

RESEARCH QUESTION 5

TO WHAT EXTENT DO FINANCIAL REPORTS IN ONLINE AND SOCIAL MEDIA HAVE AN IMPACT ON BRAND PREFERENCE AND REPUTATION?

58

IMPACT IS MEASURED IN TWO WAYS

WHAT CONSUMERS THINK ABOUT THE IMPACT (PERCEIVED IMPACT)

The respondents rated various different media types. Each was presented with three types and was asked which had the most impact and which had the least. This comparative rating produced a score, which formed the basis for ranking the media types according to their impact. These scores can be compared to each other.

WHAT CONSUMERS SAY ABOUT THE IMPACT (ACTUAL IMPACT)

Then the respondents were asked to describe financial reports which they could remember from online or social media. The respondents then described in as much detail as possible the effect the report had on them. We asked them for the kinds of impact it had, related to a financial product, service, bank or subject:Familiarity: heard of something for the first time.Knowledge: taught me something new.Look up information: led me to go and look some up some information. Check information: allowed me to check information which I had gathered from other sources.Negative: negatively changed my opinion.Positive: positively changed my opinion.Confirmation: confirmed that I had made the right choice.Choice: persuaded me to select a particular financial product/service, or a particular bank.Change: convinced me to move to a different bank.

59

INFORMATIVE TELEVISION PROGRAMMES AND NEWSPAPERS ARE PERCEIVED TO HAVE 4 TO 5 TIMES MORE IMPACT THAN SOCIAL MEDIA

MEDIA TYPE# IMPACT SCOREInformative television programmes on news and current affairs (such as NOS Journaal, RTL Nieuws, Pauw & Witteman, EenVandaag, DWDD etc.)

Newspapers, national and regional (such as Trouw, Telegraaf, Financieel Dagblad, Dagblad van het Noorden, Noord Hollands Dagblad, Brabants Dagblad etc.)Newspaper website (such as Trouw.nl, Telegraaf.nl, FD.nl, dvhn.nl, noordhollandsdagblad.nl, brabantsdagblad.nl etc.)

Online news websites which are not linked to a newspaper/periodical/magazine (such as Nu.nl, Z24.nl etc.)

Informative radio stations such as BNR, Radio 1 etc.

News magazines (such as Elsevier, 360, Quote, HP/de Tijd etc.)

The company’s website

Review sites (such as kieskeurig.nl, vergelijk.nl, independer.nl and zoover.nl)

News and current affairs on entertainment radio stations such as Radio 538, Qmusic, Sky Radio etc.

Forums/Discussion platforms (such as forum.fok.nl, forum.viva.nl, nujij.nl, Radar/Kassa forum etc.)

Entertainment television programmes on news and current affairs (such as Pownews, RTL Boulevard, Shownieuws, Dit was het nieuws etc.)

Social media (Facebook, Twitter, Hyves, LinkedIn etc.)

Blogs (such as Geenstijl.nl, Dumpert.nl, deJaap.nl, DutchCowboys.nl, Emerce.nl etc.)

1

3

7

16

15

12

10

8

8

7

7

5

4

3

3

1

2

4

8

5

9

6

10

11

12

13

60

Respondents compared three media types each time and rated them as having the most impact / least impact. This provides insight into the perceived impact of different media types.

A FIFTH TO A QUARTER OF THE FINANCIAL REPORTS THAT CONSUMERS CAN RECALL LEAD TO THEM CHANGING THEIR OPINION

Reports on Twitter in particular lead to changes of opinion; both positively and negatively (±25%). Facebook leads to changes in reputation to a slightly lesser extent (±20%). Reports on Hyves mainly lead to a negative change of opinion, and in only 12% of cases to a positive change.

REPORTS ON SOCIAL MEDIA ALSO HAVE AN IMPACT ON BRAND PREFERENCE

22 to 24% of reports on social media lead to confirmation that the consumer has made the right choice of bank, product or service. A quarter of the reports on Hyves cause consumers to choose a particular product, service or bank.

61

17%

17%

22%

25%

26%

20%

20%

24%

22%

22%

21%

25%

22%

12%

26%

Switched banks

Chose specific product/service/bank

Choice confirmed

Opinion changed positively

Opinion changed negatively

Hyves (N = 73) Facebook (N= 357) Twitter (N = 123)

ONLINE NEWS REPORTS PRIMARILY GIVE CONFIRMATION OF A CURRENT CHOICE

Online news reports primarily result in confirming the consumer’s current choice of bank (24% to 30%). The consumer’s opinion of a bank changes mainly negatively as a result of online news reports.

ONLINE NEWS REPORTS LEAD TO A LIMITED EXTENT TO BEHAVIOUR CHANGE

Online news reports to a limited extent result in consumers choosing a particular bank, product, or service, or switching banks. Only 10 to 15% of reports online news sources cause this kind of behaviour change.

62

11%

17%

30%

16%

21%

12%

13%

24%

14%

19%

Switched banks


Choice confirmed



Online news sites (N= 663) Newspaper website (N= 691)

REVIEW SITES, FORUMS/DISCUS-SION PLATFORMS HAVE STRON-GEST IMPACT

Compared with social media and on-line news sources, review sites and forums have the strongest impact on reputation and brand preference.

A quarter of all reports on review sites, forums/discussion platforms and blogs have had the effect of consumers swit-ching banks.

More than a third of consumers said that reports on review sites and fo-rums/discussion platforms had con-firmed their current choice of bank. Around 30% made a choice for a par-ticular product/service/bank as a result of reports on review sites and forums/discussion platforms.

63

26%

19%

24%

23%

34%

24%

33%

39%

20%

29%

25%

29%

36%

27%

33%

Switched banks


Choice confirmed



Review sites (N = 146) Forums/discussion platforms (N = 119) Blogs (N = 62)

Financial reports lead __% of consumers to...

FINANCIAL REPORTS IN SOCIAL MEDIA MORE FREQUENTLY LEAD TO CHANGES OF OPINION, PREFERENCE OR BEHAVIOUR THAN REPORTS IN ONLINE NEWS SITES AND NEWSPAPER WEBSITES

64

26% 22%

26% 19% 21%

33% 29%

34% OPINION CHANGED NEGATIVELY

12%

22% 25%

14% 16%

27% 20% 23%

Hyves

Faceb

ook

Twitte

r

Online

news s

ites

Newsp

aper

websit

e

Review

sites

Forums/d

iscus

sion

Blogs

OPINION CHANGED POSITIVELY

22% 24% 22% 24% 30%

36% 39%

24%

CONFIRMATION OF CURRENT CHOICE

25% 20%

17% 13%

17%

29% 33%

19%

CONVINCED OF CHOICE

21% 20% 17%

12% 11%

25% 24% 26%

Hyves

Faceb

ook

Twitte

r

Online

news s

ites

Newsp

aper

websit

e

Review

sites

Forums/d

iscus

sion

Blogs

SWITCHED BANKS

THE PERCEIVED IMPACT OF SOCIAL MEDIA REPORTS ABOUT ING AND THE FINANCIAL SECTOR IS HIGHER THE MORE RELIABLE CONSUMERS CONSIDER SOCIAL MEDIA TO BE

The more reliable consumers think that financial reports on social media are, the stronger the impact that those reports have on them.

Consumers that consider social media to be very reliable or reliable believe that social media have significantly more impact than the people who think that social media is not at all reliable or not very reliable. The differences in impact were comparable for reports about the financial sector and reports about ING.

65

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

Totally unreliable Neutral Very reliable

Impa

ct fa

ctor


COMPARED TO SOCIAL MEDIA, IT HAS BEEN SHOWN THAT THE LEVEL OF PERCEIVED RELIABILITY OF FINANCIAL REPORTS FROM ONLINE NEWS SOURCES HAS A MORE LIMITED EFFECT ON THEIR IMPACT

For reports about ING, and about financial markets as a whole, it appears that there are differences between the levels of perceived reliability and the impact of online media, but these differences are not significant.

It emerges that the extent to which consumers perceive blogs, forums and review sites to be reliable does play a more significant influence on the impact of those media types. For reports about both ING and the financial sector on online social sources, their impact increases slightly the more reliable that users think online social sources are.

66

0

4

8

12

16


ONLINE NEWS SOURCES AVERAGE IMPACT FACTOR

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7


BLOGS, FORUMS AND REVIEW SITES AVERAGE IMPACT FACTOR


FACEBOOK: THE MORE THE CONSUMER TRUSTS THE RELIABILITY OF FINANCIAL REPORTS FROM THIS MEDIUM, THE STRONGER THEIR IMPACT ON BRAND PREFERENCE

Financial reports on Facebook have an increased impact on brand preference (confirming a current choice, persuading to choose a particular product, service or bank, and to switch banks) the more that the consumer trusts the reliability of financial reports in social media.

67

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

Very unreliable

Neutral Very reliable

Confirmed choice Convinced of choice Switched banks

FORUMS: THE MORE THE CONSUMER TRUSTS THE RELIABILITY OF REPORTS IN SOCIAL MEDIA, THE MORE LIKELY THE CONSUMER IS TO SWITCH BANKS ON THE BASIS OF A POST IN A FORUM

68

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

Very unreliable

Neutral Very reliable

Switched banks

YOUNG PEOPLE ARE INFLUENCED MORE STRONGLY BY REPORTS IN SOCIAL MEDIA THAN OLDER PEOPLE

Social media have a greater impact on people of 18 to 24 years, 25 to 34 years and 35 to 44 years than on people of 45 years and over. Social media reports about ING have 1.5 times more impact on people of 18 to 33 years than on people of 45 years and over. REPORTS ON THE FINANCIAL SECTOR HAVE THE STRONGEST IMPACT ON PEOPLE OF 18 TO 24 YEARS

The impact of social media reports about the financial sector is greater on young people (aged 18 to 24) than on people of 35 to 54 years. People aged 18 to 24 are more strongly influenced by social media reports about the financial sector than people of 35 to 44 years and 45 to 54 years. There is no significant difference between people of 18 to 24 years, 25 to 34 years, 55 to 64 years and 65 years and over. The impact of social media reports on the financial sector also decreases the older consumers become.

69

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

18 - 24 years

25 - 34 years

35 - 44 years

45 - 54 years

55 - 64 years

65 +

Impa

ct o

f soc

ial m

edia

repo

rts

ING FINANCIAL SECTOR

YOUNGER PEOPLE ARE MORE STRONGLY INFLUENCED BY FINANCIAL REPORTS ABOUT ING IN ONLINE MEDIA THAN OLDER PEOPLE

When it comes to the impact of financial reports about ING in online media there are some small differences between younger and older consumers. People of 18 to 34 years are more strongly influenced than consumers of 65 years and over. YOUNGER PEOPLE ARE NOT MORE STRONGLY INFLUENCED THAN OLDER PEOPLE BY REPORTS ABOUT THE FINANCIAL SECTOR ON ONLINE MEDIA

There are no significant differences between younger and older people in terms of the level of impact of online media.

70

5

6

7

8

9

18 - 24 years

25 - 34 years

35 - 44 years

45 - 54 years

55 - 64 years

65 +

Impa

ct o

f onl

ine

med

ia

ING FINANCIAL SECTOR

AGE MAKES NO DIFFERENCE TO THE PERCEIVED IMPACT OF FINANCIAL REPORTS ON FREQUENT USERS OF ONLINE AND SOCIAL MEDIA

The difference between the impacts of social media reports about ING on younger and older people disappears when only comparing people who use social and online media every week. Frequent social media users of all age groups say that social media financial reports all have the same impact.

Online media do have a stronger impact on younger people than older people. The older that consumers become, the less impact that online reports about ING have on them.

THE IMPACT OF SOCIAL MEDIA REPORTS ABOUT THE FINANCIAL SECTOR IS STRONGER ON PEOPLE OF 18 TO 24 YEARS THAN PEOPLE OF 35 TO 54 YEARS

There are no significant differences between younger and older people in terms of the level of impact of online media.

71

0

2

4

6

8

10

18-24 25 - 34 35 - 44 45 - 54 55 - 64 65+

Impa

ct fa

ctor

ING

18-24 25 - 34 35 - 44 45 - 54 55 - 64 65+

FINANCIAL SECTOR

Weekly use of social media

Weekly use of online media

Less than weekly use of social media

Less than weekly use of online media

NON-CUSTOMERS FEEL THEIR CHOICE OF BANK IS CONFIRMED BY TWEETS ABOUT ING MORE FREQUENTLY THAN EXISTING CUSTOMERS DO

Non-customers of ING are often more strongly influenced by reports about ING than existing customers are. For 14% of ING customers, a report on Twitter makes them feel that they have chosen the right bank, compared to 33% of non-customers.

72

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

Customer Non-customer

Confirmed choice

NEGATIVE REPORTS ON NEWSPAPER WEBSITES HAVE A LIMITED IMPACT ON CUSTOMERS NON-CUSTOMERS ARE MORE FREQUENTLY LED TO CHANGE THEIR OPINION NEGATIVELY AS A RESULT OF REPORTS ON NEWSPAPER WEBSITES THAN ING CUSTOMERS ARE

There are virtually no differences between the impacts of reports about ING on newspaper websites on ING customers and non-customers. The only difference is that the opinion of non-customers is more easily changed negatively as a result of reports about ING than that of existing customers. 26% of non-customers felt their opinion was changed negatively by reports on newspaper websites about ING, compared to 18% of existing customers. Reports about ING on review sites led 16% of non-customers to switch banks.

73

0%

10%

20%

30%



REPORTS ON REVIEW SITES LEAD CUSTOMERS MORE FREQUENTLY THAN NON-CUSTOMERS TO SWITCH BANKS

Reports about ING on review sites lead 32% of ING customers to switch banks, Reports about ING on review sites led 16% of non-customers to switch banks.

74

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%


Switched banks

BOTH VERY POSITIVE AND VERY NEGATIVE REPORTS ON NEWSPAPER WEBSITES HAVE A STRONG IMPACT ON CONSUMERS

Negative reports have a much stronger influence on negatively influencing the consumers’ opinions than neutral and positive reports do. Very positive reports did not cause a single consumer’s opinion to be changed negatively. Very negative reports, too, have a very strong influence in convincing consumers to choose a particular product or service and to switch their bank.

Positive reports have a stronger influence on positively influencing a consumer’s opinion. The more positive that reports about ING are, the more strongly they give consumers the feeling that they have chosen the right bank. Very positive reports have a stronger influence in convincing consumers to choose a particular bank or product etc. Finally, very positive reports also strongly influence consumers to switch their bank. 50% of positive reports that consumers can recall lead consumers to switch their bank.

75

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

Very negative

Negative Neutral Positive Very positive

NEWSPAPER WEBSITE

Changed opinion positively

Changed opinion negatively

Choice of bank confirmed

Convinced of choice of specific product / service

Switched banks

BOTH VERY POSITIVE AND VERY NEGATIVE REPORTS ON ONLINE NEWS SITES HAVE AN IMPACT ON REPUTATION

Reports with a very negative tone have a strong influence in negatively changing consumers’ opinions.

Reports with a very positive tone have a stronger influence in convincing consumers to choose a particular bank, product etc. than reports which have a positive, neutral or negative tone.

Reports with a very positive or very negative tone lead consumers to choose a particular product, service or bank. This impact is slightly greater for very positive reports than for very negative reports.

76

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

Very negative


ONLINE NEWS SITE

Changed opinion positively

Changed opinion negatively


N = 476

Only reports about ING

POSITIVE REPORTS ON REVIEW SITES HAVE A LARGE IMPACT

Negative reports lead to a negative change of opinion in 63% of cases. However, very positive reports also lead to a negative change of opinion in 33%.

Positive reports have a strong influence in positively changing opinions; 83% of very positive reports led to a positively influenced opinion of a particular bank, product, service etc.

Positive reports more frequently lead to consumers choosing a certain service, product or even bank.

It is remarkable that even positive reports about ING most often lead to a switch of bank.

77

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

Very negative


REVIEW SITE




Switched banks

N = 134

Only reports about ING

RELEVANCE INCREASES THE IMPACT OF FACEBOOK REPORTS

The more relevant the report is to the consumer, the stronger the influence it has in positively changing their opinion.

As the report’s relevance increases, the more the consumers feel that they have chosen the right bank.

Consumers most often make a decision following a report on Facebook when it is very relevant to them.

Significant patterns have also been observed with switching banks: 71% of consumers who had read a very relevant report on Facebook, said that this led them to switch banks.

78

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

Totally irrelevant

Irrelevant Neutral Relevant Highly relevant

FACEBOOK



Convinced of choice of specific bank/product/service

Switched banks

N = 357

All reports

THE IMPACT OF NEWSPAPER WEBSITES INCREASES WHEN THE REPORT IS MORE RELEVANT TO THE CONSUMER

The impact of the relevance of the report can also be seen when it comes to reports of news and current affairs on newspaper websites.

The more relevant the report is, the more strongly the consumer’s opinion is influenced, either positively or negatively.

Following relevant reports, consumers are more effectively convinced to choose a particular product, bank, service etc.

79

0 %

5 %

10 %

15 %

20 %

25 %

30 %

35 %

40 %

45 %

50 %

Totally irrelevant


NEWSPAPER WEBSITE

Opinion changed positively Opinion changed negatively Convinced of choice of specific product / service

N = 691

All reports

THE MORE RELEVANT THE REPORT IS, THE GREATER THE IMPACT OF ONLINE NEWS SITES

When it comes to reports on online news sites, the more relevant the report is, the greater the negative influence it has on consumers’ opinions, compared to when the report is not at all relevant.

Very relevant reports also more frequently convince consumers to choose a particular bank.

80

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

Totally irrelevant


ONLINE NEWS SITE

Opinion changed negatively Convinced of choice of specific product / service

N = 663

All reports

FORUM-POSTS HAVE A GREATER IMPACT WHEN THEY ARE MORE RELEVANT

Reports on forums and discussion platforms that are highly relevant lead to a positive change of opinion about the bank. Highly relevant reports also more often lead consumers to switch banks.

81

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

Totally irrelevant


FORUMS/DISCUSSION PLATFORMS

Opinion changed positively Switched banks

N = 119

All reports

REPORTS ON REVIEW SITES HAVE MORE IMPACT WHEN THEY ARE MORE RELEVANT

More relevant reports on review sites have a stronger positive influence on consumers’ opinions. Furthermore, the more relevant the report is to someone, the greater the chance that they will switch banks.

82

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

Totally irrelevant


REVIEW SITES

Opinion changed positively Switched banks

N = 146

All reports

SOCIAL MEDIA HAS MORE IMPACT ON CONSUMERS WHO USE SOCIAL MEDIA MORE FREQUENTLY

Financial reports in social media have a greater impact on consumers who use social media more frequently.

There is, however, no significant difference between daily and weekly users and monthly and weekly users.

Reports about ING in social media have 3.5 times more impact on people who use social media every day than on people who only use them occasionally.

It is also the case for reports about the financial sector that the more frequently that consumers use social media, the more impact the reports have. In this case, daily, weekly and monthly usage do not differ. Though there are significant differences between ‘occasional usage’ and ‘never’.

83

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

Never

Occas

ionall

y

Monthl

y

Weekly

Dail

y

Impa

ct fa

ctor

of s

ocia

l med

ia

Frequency of social media use ING Financial sector

THE MORE FREQUENTLY CONSUMERS USE SOCIAL MEDIA, THE SMALLER THE IMPACT THAT TRADITIONAL MEDIA SUCH AS TELEVISION AND NEWSPAPER HAVE ON THEM

It is noteworthy that the more frequently consumers use social media, the less impact that informative television programmes and newspapers have on them.

84

9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18

Never

Occas

ionall

y

Monthl

y

Weekly

Dail

y Im

pact

of i

nfor

mat

ive

TV


9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18

Never

Occas

ionall

y

Monthl

y

Weekly

Dail

y

Impa

ct o

f new

spap

ers



REPORTS ON NEWS SITES HAVE A STRONGER INFLUENCE ON DAILY SOCIAL MEDIA USERS

The more frequently that consumers use social media, the more frequently their opinion is positively changed by reports on news sites.

When consumers use social media more frequently, the more often they feel that they have made the right choice of bank following reports on news sites.

Frequent social media users are more often convinced of their choice following reports on news sites than consumers who use social media once a week or less.

Frequent social media users more frequently find reasons to switch banks in reports on news sites than less frequent social media users do.

85

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Occasionally Monthly Weekly Daily

ONLINE NEWS SITE




Switched banks

FINANCIAL REPORTS ON NEWSPAPER WEBSITES HAVE A STRONGER IMPACT ON DAILY SOCIAL MEDIA USERS The more frequently consumers use social media, the more often their opinion is positively influenced as a result of reports on newspaper websites.

The more frequently consumers use social media, the more often they feel that they have made the right choice of bank following reports on newspaper websites.

Frequent social media users are more often able to make a choice following reports on newspaper websites than weekly or less frequent users of social media.

Frequent social media users more frequently find reasons to switch banks in reports on newspaper websites than less frequent social media users do. The impact is greater on daily social media users than less frequent users.

86

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Never Monthly Daily

NEWSPAPER WEBSITE



Convinced of choice for specific product / service

Switched banks

THE MORE ACTIVELY CONSUMERS USE SOCIAL MEDIA THE MORE THEY ARE INFLUENCED

The more actively that consumers use social and online media, the more impact social media have on them. The average impact is lower on consumers that are not active on social media.

Social media have almost twice as much impact on creators as on inactives. Social media also have almost twice as much impact on creators as on contributors.

NO DIFFERENCES WITHIN ONLINE MEDIA

More active use of social media has major effects. However, more active use of online media does not make the impact of online media any greater.

N = 750

87

1.9 2.0 1.7

3.7

Inactive Consumer Contributor Creator

Impa

ct o

f soc

ial m

edia

Type of social/online media user

IMPACT OF SOCIAL MEDIA USE BY TYPE OF USER

7.2 7.1 7.1 7.1

Inactive Consumer Contributor Creator Impa

ct o

f onl

ine

med

ia

Type of social/online media user

IMPACT OF ONLINE MEDIA USE BY TYPE OF USER

CONCLUSIONS

The impact of online and social media is greater than consumers think. Even though consumers give social media a low score when asked to give scores for the perceived impact of the different forms of media, it seems however that financial reports on social media most often lead to changes of opinion, preference or behaviour.

Reports in social media lead a fifth to a quarter of consumers to change their opinion either positively or negatively.

More frequent use of social media increases the impact of reports in both online media and social media.

Younger people perceive the impact of social and online media to be greater than older people do.

When it comes to reports on Facebook, it has been shown that the more relevant the report is to the consumer, the more impact it has. When reports are perceived as highly relevant to the client, the more influence they have in positively changing their opinion on the bank/product/service, in confirming their choice of bank, in inducing the consumer to choose a particular bank/product/service on the basis of the report, or in encouraging the consumer to switch banks.

88

APPENDIX

89

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

90

91

PURPOSE OF THE STUDY The study into the impact of reports in online and social media was conducted by Social Embassy on behalf of ING and in collaboration with Insites Consulting. The goal of the survey was to determine the impact of reports in online/social media. The study consisted of two parts: an online survey and an assignment. SURVEY The survey contained various questions about the use of social and online media and the frequency with which consumers come into contact with reports in online and social media about financial institutions and about ING. Consumers were also asked about various types of media. Three media types were mentioned each time. The respondent was asked to indicate which media has the most and the least impact on him or her. A classification was then made based on the responses of the impact of various sources and media types. These are indicated in this report in the form of a score representing perceived impact. This assignment was carried out as a split run in which half of the sample size was asked each time about the impact of: •  Media types / sources about the financial market •  Media types / sources about ING ASSIGNMENT In the second part of the study, consumers carried out an assignment, in which they were asked to describe in detail the

financial reports that they could recall. This assignment resulted in Insites Consulting’s Online &Social Media Message Mapping (OSMMM). For the OSMMM, consumers were asked to describe in as much detail as possible the two online reports about ING or other banks that they could recall in the past six months which had the most impact. This resulted in qualitative, rich and highly concrete input for the long-term effects of online and social media reports. Mapping was carried out in three steps. Firstly, consumers indicated which report they had read. Secondly, they answered questions about these reports. As part of this, they were asked about the tone of the report and where it came from, and the effect it had on their opinion, preference and behaviour. This is shown in this report as actual impact. Finally, they described both of the reports in detail. PANEL The study was carried out with 1,500 consumers. The sample size satisfied the following features: •  Evenly split between men and women. •  Representative split of consumers according to age. •  An equal number of ING customers and non-ING customers. •  Everyone uses social media or online media. The conclusions in this report are based on detailed statistical analyses. The connections or patterns indicated are all significant, unless otherwise stated.

RESPONDENT PROFILE

92

11%

19%

23% 20%

16%

11%

18 - 24 25 - 34 35 - 44 45 - 55 55 - 64 65+

AGE

50% 50%

GENDER

Male Female

5%

12% 8% 9%

2%

18%

11% 8%

2%

35%

Commun

icatio

ns / M

edia

/

Financ

ial / E

cono

mic se

ctor

Caterin

g / R

ecrea

tion IT

Lega

l

Medica

l / Hea

lth C

are

Educa

tion

Retail

Sports

Other

SECTOR OF EMPLOYMENT: 54%

41% 33%

9% 8% 7% 3% 2% 1%

ING

Rabob

ank

ABN AMRO

SNS Rea

al

ASN Ban

k

Anders

Triod

os B

ank

Westla

nd U

trech

t

Van La

nsch

ot

CUSTOMER OF:

N = 1.500

VIRTUALLY ALL CONSUMERS USE SOCIAL AND/OR ONLINE MEDIA

Virtually all consumers use online media or social media.

Only very few exceptions don’t use any social media at all. Of the consumers in the survey, only 2.4% never use any social media (N=36).

There are only a very small number of consumers who never use any online media: 4.3% (N=64).

93

2.4%

97.6%

USE OF SOCIAL MEDIA

Does not use social media

Uses social media

4.3%

95.7%

USE OF ONLINE MEDIA

Does not use online media

Uses online media

94

CONSUMERS The consumer is an online and social media user who is less active online. This person reads and views online content, but does not participate personally in online discussions and does not post blogs, tweets or status updates.

TYPES OF SOCIAL AND ONLINE MEDIA USERS

CONTRIBUTORS The contributor is an online and social media user who reads and views online content, but also takes part in discussions, such as by commenting on blogs, news articles, tweets, etc. The contributor does not initiate discussions.

CREATORS The creator is an online and social media user who is most active in social media. This person reads and views online content, but also actively takes part in discussions and initiates discussions by keeping a blog, sending tweets, etc.

SOCIAL MEDIA PROFILE

95

9%

12%

12%

14%

15%

18%

58%

Posting videos

Posting music, audio or playlists

Publishing articles, poems, stories, etc.

Starting a discussion

Posting pictures

Producing a website / weblog

Posting messages in social networks

TO WHAT EXTENT DO RESPONDENTS DO THE FOLLOWING (CREATOR)?

Does this at least once a month

Messages are posted in social networks regularly. At least 58% of consumers do this at least monthly. The number of creators is relatively high as a result. The other activities are carried out at least monthly by a small group of consumers.

USER PROFILE

96

8%

12%

12%

14%

22%

50%

59%

Contributing or changing an article in a Wiki

Adding labels or keywords

Using an RSS feed

Voting on a website

Rating products and services

Commenting on articles, discussions, pictures, film clips, etc.

Commenting on messages by others in social media networks

TO WHAT EXTENT DO RESPONDENTS DO THE FOLLOWING (CONTRIBUTOR)?


Commenting on messages by others in social media networks is the most typical activity that contributors do: 59% of consumers comment occasionally on messages in social media. Nearly 50% also comment on articles, discussions, pictures, etc. that are viewed online.

USER PROFILE

97

19%

20%

33%

40%

50%

65%

73%

73%

Using personalised websites or portals

Listening to a podcast

Viewing or following discussions

Reading weblogs

Listening to music posted by others

Watching film clips

Reading messages by others in social media networks

Viewing photographs

TO WHAT EXTENT DO RESPONDENTS DO THE FOLLOWING (CONSUMER)?


Viewing pictures, reading messages by others in social media networks and watching film clips are the most popular activities when it comes to typical behaviour of media consumers.

CONTACT DETAILS

98

WOULD YOU LIKE TO LEARN MORE?

MARTIN KLOOS

[email protected]

@martinkloos

+31204350294

DELPHINE VANTOMME

[email protected]

@DelphineVTomme

+3292691500

HAROLD REUSKEN

[email protected]

@haroldreusken

+31654984413

99

Economy & Finance

Impact on Social Media