This week, Equity Bank went live on twitter – and joined other top bank groups in Kenya in their use of social media to respond to customer issues. About half of Kenya’s 46 banks are now on Twitter ( see this list of local banks on twitter), but as the table below shows, the number of bank customers likely to use social media is a small fraction of the total numbers.
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| Social media stats on Kenya’s largest bank groups |
While Facebook is a powerful medium for banks to convey news and products promotions (some even tweet links to longer pieces or videos on Facebook, not their own websites) and get feedback, Twitter is equally as powerful on but for customers as it gives them the ability to tag a bank manager or CEO’s or any widely watched trend such as #twitterthumbsup (for good customer service) or #twitterbigstick for bad customer experiences.
In the Bob Collymore era, Safaricom has raced to be the acknowledged corporate leader in Kenyan social media with 363,337 Facebook fans and two widely followed twitter channels – including one dedicated to customer care issues with over 47,000 followers – but this is a company with over 19 million customers.