The 5 most engaging Australian Banks on Facebook

TOP 5 AUSTRALIAN FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS

APRIL 2015

FACEBOOK PERFORMANCE

REPORT

ABOUT US. We track and rank brand engagement on facebook. Based in Sydney, Australia our small team created the Brandtemper platform to identify, reward and learn from brands that are using Facebook in the most effective way possible. Our goal is to analyze what makes top performing brands successful, then share these insights with the wider market through regular industry reports. We are owned by the LION Marketing Group.

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HOW IT WORKS Temper scores are a number generated by two variables taken from facebook’s public open graph API. The two variables used are Total Fans and People Talking About This (PTAT). Total Fans / PTAT give us percentage engagement. Temper scores are then calculated by applying a formula to the percentage engagement figure that reflects engagement saturation and the diminishing marginal returns of engagement. To calibrate the formula we tracked 110 different brands across 11 different industries for a 12 week period. Below is a graph that demonstrates how the platform calculates Temper scores against % engagement metrics.

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BRAND #1 BANK OF MELBOURNE OVERVIEW BOM’s content strategy centres heavily on topical community topics such as local sporting fixtures or consumer research that is relevant to their audience. There is very little content focused on banking itself, which consumers seem to appreciate. PROS AND CONS

A focus on relevant, locally based community events and news, giving fans content they know enough about to express opinion or sentiment toward. Most content focusing on Bank specific news performs poorly. Publishing these updates through a graphic or image may result in higher engagement.

SHOTGUN ANALYSIS

Advertising YES Post Frequency GOOD Alternating Content YES Responding to fans YES

2 WEEK BRAND PERFORMANCE GRAPH INDUSTRY AVERAGE

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TEMPER SCORE

BRAND #2 ANZ OVERVIEW ANZ looks to post content that has wide practical appeal for the majority of their customers such as email fraud warnings and daylight savings reminders. They effectively direct fans to their own sites through relevant imagery and short text summaries followed by a short clickable link. A lot of community focused updates rounds out a very effective content strategy. PROS AND CONS

Their use of competitions work extremely well. They also gain wide engagement and exposure by announcing new product/service features with relevant images, not just text. Some updates announce new news or contest winners that do not include a call to action for fans to follow up on leading to a low levels of engagement.

SHOTGUN ANALYSIS

Advertising YES Post Frequency STRONG Alternating Content YES Responding to fans YES Av response time 1-5 days


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TEMPER SCORE

BRAND #3 WESTPAC OVERVIEW A strong mixture of business, community and culture based content ensures Westpac are consistently hitting all corners of their communities interests. Out of all 5 banks, Westpac seems to be pushing the most bank related content, however they are doing it via videos, images and other rich content vehicles which consumers appear receptive to. PROS AND CONS

The use of different content mediums to showcase otherwise mundane banking information is a strategy that is working more effectively than their competition. Updates informing fans of ways to reach charities only include phone numbers, not include direct links. Direct links would drive more traffic to the intended charity.

SHOTGUN ANALYSIS

Advertising YES Post Frequency DAILY Alternating Content YES Responding to fans YES Av response time DAILY


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TEMPER SCORE

BRAND #4 CBA OVERVIEW CBA has always been the fastest moving financial institution in this space and it has always rewarded them with strong engagement. This week is no different. They are heavily using native video units featuring the Aussie cricket team, charity work and links out to practical articles on the CBA blog. PROS AND CONS

They always hit on the right balance of business, community and sporting sponsorship story content that ensures all members of their community are asked relevant questions and served relevant content. All linked updates point to online CBA properties. Other banks often link to stories on unaffiliated media properties and tend to perform strongly with regard to engagement.

SHOTGUN ANALYSIS

Advertising YES Post Frequency SPORADIC Alternating Content YES Responding to fans YES Av response time DAILY


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TEMPER SCORE

BRAND #5 ING DIRECT AUSTRALIA OVERVIEW ING have done the best job in humanising their brand on Facebook through emoticons, feelings and a mascot developed specifically for the channel. PROS AND CONS

In being consistent with images in nearly every update they publish ING are communicating feelings and sentiment alongside the message they are wanting to expose fans to in a unique and effective fashion. Too much of a good thing can become detrimental as fans begin to become immune to the brands messaging as it all looks the same. Changing the look and feel regularly will stop this from happening.

SHOTGUN ANALYSIS

Advertising YES Post Frequency YES Alternating Content YES Responding to fans YES Av response time EXCELLENT


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TEMPER SCORE

TOP 10 RANKINGS Below are the 10 most engaged financial institutions in Australia for April 2015

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INDUSTRY ANALYSIS

We found that the brands who were the most engaging were those that had the best blend of four elements. The first three elements are an appropriate mixture of community updates, culture updates and banking updates. The last element is the ability to encourage interaction and engagement with their community. In respect of this paper community relates to charity based announcements or events that the banking institution supports. Culture relates to the culture within the organization. These updates do two things, allows the general public to have an exclusive peek into how the organization ticks and humanizes the bank by showing the normal people that work within it. Banking stands for exactly that - banking news. This includes interest rate hikes/cuts, savings tips, internet banking maitenance notes and product announcements. Taking all of the above into account, the most important thing for banks to consistently achieve is a welcoming dialogue that encourages their community to take action on their updates. This includes sharing, liking and commenting on their content. Banks should shape their content with a view to achieve the outcomes above. Tip - Build a content roster that is rich with banking, culture and community updates that encourage interaction with your community.

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TOP 10 INDUSTRIES Below are the 10 most engaged industries on Facebook in Australia for April 2015

#1 Print Media #4 Non-Profit #5 TV Media #3 Sports

#9 Media #6 Alcohol #7 Automotive #10 Fashion

#2 Politics

#8 Banking

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THANKS We are now committed to releasing weekly reports similar to this that will focus on a specific industry. Your feedback and/or suggestions as to what industries you would like to see featured would be welcomed. For more information on the LION Marketer initiative head to www.thelionmarketer.com. There we will be releasing these reports weekly as well as a weekly podcast, industry articles and much more. For more info on the Author you can head to www.bymikewatkins.com or contact him at the following locations: twitter.com/thelionmarketer [email protected] 0406 734767

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