Toronto-based TD Canada Trust, the retail banking arm of Toronto-Dominion Bank, made its social media mark on both Twitter and Facebook in October, according to a study by Toronto-based Engagement Labs Inc. released on Thursday.
Engagement Labs, which provides social media data and analytics for companies, compared the success of various Canadian retail banks through Facebook and Twitter over the past six months.
The company’s research found that TD’s responsive social-media strategy helped it land a first-place finish. While the bank’s Twitter presence helped it nab first place in April, it saw its Facebook ranking jump to the top spot in October from fifth place in April.
“[TD] created a successful social-media strategy that separated itself from the crowd by responding directly to individual fan comments and questions with the administrators signing off with their name,” Engagement Labs said in its announcement.
This approach has personalized the brand and helped it to drive customer engagement, the company added.
The effectiveness of Toronto-based Bank of Montreal’s (BMO) Facebook strategy helped that bank land a second-place spot in October, while Lévis, Quebec-based Mouvement des caisses Desjardins took third place.
There has been an increase in responsiveness from all Canadian retail banks studied in the survey, according to Bryan Segal, CEO of Engagement Labs.
“Speaking directly to customers online replicates the in-bank experience and allows customers to feel as though their business is appreciated,” Segal said in the release. “We see this extensively on Twitter, where Canadian retail banks are interacting directly with followers in real-time.”
TD excelled in the responsiveness it was able to demonstrate on Twitter, which contributed to its landing the top spot, according to Engagement Labs. Toronto-based Bank of Nova Scotia boosted its ranking to second place in October from 10th place in April, by focusing on its response strategy, according to Engagement Labs’ announcement. BMO rounded out the top three.
“Retail banks are realizing that personalizing the online experience helps to improve the brand’s overall reputation,” Segal said. “Increased trust in your brand ultimately results in higher fan engagement, as customers continue to come back to interact with your online content because they know they can expect a response from the brand.”