Social media,
Mr. Uy, an employee who follows creators focused on trading and finances online, said that he experienced the same situation but was able to evade it by taking time to discern and research the page.
“I noticed that the like count is unusually lower than the original page and when the creator started subtly asking for my money, I knew something was up. However, if I had not become vigilant, I might have been scammed,” he said in a phone call interview.
Additionally, there is also data permanence, a problem felt by both banks and users. Once an information, comment, or post has been released on social media, copies of it may remain even if the information — be it good or bad — has been removed or deleted.
“What goes on social media, stays on social media,” said Maybank.
Alongside creators and users, banks also advocate for vigilance and due diligence in researching the person you follow and the content you digest online.
LEVELING UP
Looking ahead, social media is bound to stay as part of the marketing mix for banks and an influencer on consumer decisions.
For the consumers, speed in conflict resolution as well as a wider range of customer service transactions are factors that the banks can still improve on their social media utilization.
More engaging and gamified contents were recommendations by the social media personalities.
“More collaborations with creators and banks would help users be more at ease with grasping concepts. However, financial institutions should be careful of who they partner with,” said TikTok coach Ms. Parnacio.
KasKasan Buddies’ Mr. Cabugos, on the other hand, said that gamified contents would help gather the personalized feedback of the users on the banks.
“Generate more gamified financial literacy content that people can participate and get involved in. The more involved the person is, the higher the chance of the content being shared across their peers,” he said.
“Banks will have to recognize social media overlaps. People have multiple accounts that they log into [and to keep up with this] banks and content [should] not live on one channel only, it travels across,” said Maybank.
BSP expects wider utilization of these platforms in the future as “it can provide access to previously untapped segments for financial education and integration.”
As social media evolves and more people rely on it for financial insight, the responsibility to remain critical in the spread of information relies on every member of the financial sector — banks, financial institutions, content creators, and users.