The Strategic Role of Social Media Research in the Banking Industry

1. The Role of Social Media Research in the Banking Industry

Social Media Research is a form of market research based on naturally occurring user discussions across digital environments, including social networks, forums, blogs, review platforms, and online news outlets. Rather than relying on predefined questionnaires or scripted research scenarios, Social Media Research enables banks to directly observe how customers express their needs, emotions, and viewpoints in real-life contexts—providing an authentic reflection of how financial products and services are experienced in everyday life.

With its advantages in broad data coverage and rapid updates, Social Media Research allows banks to quickly identify shifts in customer sentiment following new product launches, policy adjustments, or when facing sensitive issues related to brand trust and reputation. When combined with transaction data—which shows what customers are doing—insights from social data add a critical layer of understanding around what customers are thinking and how they feel. This complementary perspective forms an essential foundation for banks not only to manage emerging issues, but also to proactively uncover insights that inform product development and communication strategies.

2. Leveraging Social Listening Insights to Solve Diverse Challenges in Banking industry

a. Insight for product development

In the banking industry, product development is inherently complex. Customer needs are highly fragmented, product lifecycles are long, and many decisions still rely heavily on internal data or periodic surveys. While these data sources are effective in reviewing past behaviors, they are often insufficient for identifying emerging needs at an early stage. This is precisely the gap that Social Media Research helps to address—by capturing early signals of new customer expectations and interests from social conversations, before they become visible in business performance reports.

Looking more broadly across the financial services sector, transaction fees are the most frequently mentioned criterion (38%) when customers choose securities products, followed by transaction fee exemptions (14.7%). This high sensitivity to cost—rather than brand credibility—in the context of frequent transactions represents a critical insight for designing product packages that effectively attract new users.

Building on this insight, VNDIRECT launched a free equity trading program for new account holders from July 21, 2025 to October 21, 2025, positioning it as a time-bound incentive to stimulate account openings and encourage initial usage. In contrast, DNSE adopted a lifetime free trading strategy. These two initiatives illustrate how brands can leverage social insights to adjust product structures and pricing policies—rather than merely optimizing communication messages—thereby directly addressing the core “pain points” that users care about most.

b. Insight for Communication Planning

By analyzing user discussion themes, brands can identify the most relevant communication messages and select the most effective channels to reach each target audience segment. Once a campaign is launched, Social Media Research continues to play a measurement and feedback role, enabling content and communication teams to continuously optimize performance—by adjusting content formats, refining supporting messages, and reallocating budgets based on actual effectiveness.

As a result, communication efforts go beyond simply increasing reach. They enhance impact, gradually transforming consumer perception into action—moving audiences from awareness and consideration to actual usage decisions.

Learn more about the Insight for Planning Framework—a strategic framework that helps brands transform social media data into clear communication directions and actionable initiatives across each stage of the consumer journey—here: LINK

c. Brand Management and Protection

In the financial and banking industry, crises rarely begin with an official press release. More often, they emerge from scattered discussions on social media—such as complaints about application errors, suspicions of fraud, or inconsistent service experiences. Real-time monitoring of social discussions enables banks to detect early “warning signals” before issues escalate and spread widely.

More importantly, analyzing discussion volume, diffusion speed, and emotional sentiment allows banks to assess the severity of an issue—distinguishing between isolated feedback that can be handled by customer service teams and risks that may escalate into full-scale crises. This approach enables banks to respond in a timely and focused manner, rather than reacting passively once public sentiment has already intensified.

Read more to explore how communication crises unfold on social media here: LINK

d. Brand Health Checking and Communication Campaign Optimization

Social Media Research enables banks to continuously monitor brand “health” through key indicators such as discussion volume, sentiment, share of voice versus competitors, and shifts in discussion topics over time. Beyond reflecting brand perception from the consumer’s perspective, these data also allow banks to contextualize their performance within the broader industry—identifying emerging trends, saturated topics, and which brands are leading the conversation, as well as why.

When tracked on a regular basis, social listening becomes a flexible form of industry research, helping banks proactively identify opportunities and risks, and adjust brand strategies based on real market dynamics—rather than relying solely on annual summary reports.

3. Techcombank Case Study: Leveraging Social Insights to Shape Sponsorship Strategy

As discussed above, Social Media Research not only helps banks determine what to say and who to speak to, but can also guide the entire communication strategy—from platform selection and execution formats to how the brand positions itself within consumers’ cultural lives. Techcombank’s partnership with the program Anh Trai Vượt Ngàn Chông Gai serves as a representative example of how banks can leverage social insights to design a sponsorship strategy that goes beyond the singular objective of increasing reach.

From a content perspective, Anh Trai Vượt Ngàn Chông Gai recorded a clear surge in discussion volume from its early episodes, with discussion peaks centered around performances that demonstrated strong social media shareability—most notably the “Trống Cơm” mashup. The program’s approach to reinterpreting traditional cultural elements in a polished, artistically rich manner, combined with the participation of veteran artists, enabled it to effectively attract a mature audience segment—individuals with stable financial foundations who prioritize meaningful and high-quality entertainment experiences. This audience segment also aligns closely with Techcombank’s strategic target customers.

What set Techcombank apart from other sponsoring brands was not the frequency of its appearances but the degree to which the brand aligned with consumer insights. Rather than remaining on the sidelines as a conventional “sponsor,” Techcombank took an active role by organizing live concerts, extending the audience experience beyond the screen and into real life. At the same time, brand messages were not delivered through overt advertising but instead conveyed organically through the program’s artists - figures who already held strong influence within their fan communities, allowing the content to be received more naturally. In parallel, the concept of “Automatic Earning” was simplified and consistently reinforced, eventually even becoming a form of slang within the target audience group. By translating an otherwise abstract financial feature into everyday language that was easy to understand and repeat, Techcombank was able to move beyond awareness and positive sentiment, gradually converting affinity for the program into tangible financial behaviors.

• In terms of brand awareness, the viewer community actively generated a substantial volume of earned media, with over 97,000 mentions related to Techcombank, driven by emotionally resonant “job-returning” activities associated with the program.

• The campaign did not stop at generating interest; it translated emotional engagement with the program into concrete financial behaviors among potential customers. The ticket giveaway mechanism was strategically tied to the activation and continued usage of the Automatic Earning feature - a product that generates returns on balances held in current accounts, thereby encouraging users to retain funds in their accounts rather than withdrawing or shifting them to alternative channels. As a result, balances in the Automatic Earning feature increased by approximately VND 19.5 trillion, while Techcombank maintained a current account savings account (CASA) ratio of 40.5%. This outcome created a sustainable advantage in low-cost funding and directly supported the bank’s long-term growth objectives.

Conclusion

Overall, real-world practices in the financial and banking industry demonstrate that social listening is no longer limited to crisis management. Instead, it is increasingly becoming a critical foundation that enables brands to develop products, plan communications, build communities, and shape long-term brand positioning.