Social Networks

The year 2016 saw a notable strengthening of all of Bankinter's social network activities, which have always been oriented towards the creation of business and the improvement of the bank's digital communications. In addition, the creation of the Digital Banking area has given rise to a favourable and more dynamic environment within the organisation for the development of action in social networks aimed at generating more income for the bank.

At first, work in 2016 first focused on identifying the social network projects that could have the biggest and quickest impact on the bank's income statement. Once these were identified, planning sought to boost them in collaboration with different departments of Digital Banking, with a view for 2017. Accordingly, ideas will be implemented for optimising business in Retail Banking (mainly through Facebook) and in Enterprise Banking (through LinkedIn) jointly with Communication, CRM or Digital Marketing, among other departments.

Hence, nearly a decade after the massive upsurge of social networks, it is clear that their contribution to the business of companies can occur through different avenues, all of which Bankinter is constantly exploiting and analysing. For example, they enable:

1) Discovering potential customers for acquisition.

2) Better profiling of products for each user.

3) Initiating and carrying on a more efficient relationship with executives of companies.

4) Assisting customers quickly, constantly and satisfactorily.

5) Optimising communication and marketing campaigns.

6) Attracting quality traffic to the website.

7) Promoting the bank's reputation and brand.

8) More completely monitoring all the information that arises on the bank.

9) Developing and creating a pride of belonging among employees.

10) Recruiting and retaining talent.

Social networks are an indispensable tool to be developed when one speaks, at present, of the digital transformation of any industry in general, and of banking, in particular.

Data

Bankinter internally monitors, on a permanent basis, everything happening on social networks and submits itself to a constant quantitative, qualitative and comparative analysis of its activity performed by Acceso, an external company specialised in the data measurement and analysis as a barometer of image and corporate reputation. According to the data examined by the company, the bank was, for the third consecutive year, the financial institution with the highest percentage of positive mentions in social networks (80.1% of the total).

One of the highlights of the year, and one of its most successful actions, was Bankinter's launch in spring of the first ever Twitter Banking Service in Spain. This milestone drew wide interest in the media and among users of social networks. It is a service that Bankinter makes available to both customers and non-customers, and which provides real-time information on their financial movements and on changes in the markets.

Quantitatively, at 31 December, Bankinter had 87,342 followers in Facebook (26.5% more than in 2015) and 50,986 in Twitter (+19.1 year on year). The monitoring firm Alto Analytics detected 93,394 digital appearances of the trademark during the year, including news and comments in the media or online forms.

Bankinter's blog

Again, Bankinter's blog merits a special mention due to its great significance and the changes it has undergone in recent years. In April, it launched a new design that also met the requirements and demands of users, who are consuming ever more contents via their mobile devices. With a responsive design (it is adaptable to different devices), users were provided with a new digital space that is more complete, accessible and technologically advanced. Also, advertising spaces were made available to promote the bank's products and capitalise on the blog's large readership.

The redesign was welcomed by the audience, and in 2016 the blog received 1,642,873 visits, which is 30.2% more than a year ago, according to Google Analytics data. Hence, the Bankinter Blog has grown its audience sixty seven-fold in the last four years, and since it changed its strategy.

The blog continues to be read and acknowledged and one of Spain's most interesting corporate spaces. For example, the economics website BolsaTV, the first 100% digital economics television and the channel for the popular portal bolsa.com, prepared a ranking in September of the 10 most interesting economics blogs, and it included the Bankinter Blog. It was also the only corporate blog on the list.

Thus, the Bankinter Blog is increasing its prestige and audience as a centre of financial information for both customers and potential customers on their personal economy (investment, housing, tax and saving, among other subjects).

For 2017, the bank will renew its commitment to social networks as part of its digital strategy, making the most of their potential and analysing every possibility they offer, as they grow on a daily basis.