The influence of social media marketing on brand loyalty and intention to use among young Vietnamese consumers of digital banking

Undoubtedly, in the modern age of digitalization, Millennials, who are considered digital natives, have become a massive target market for salespersons. Changes in the way Millennials think accompanied by an explosion of social media have led to an increased focus on social media influencer marketing in the company sector. To help establish a new marketing paradigm that accounts for these changes, this research aims to conceptualize and investigate the process of building consumer-brand relationships with Millennial consumers through social media micro-influencers. Findings based on structural equation modeling revealed that four core characteristics of social media micro-influencers (i.e., authenticity, the meaning of the influencer, specific content, and secret sharing) were a significant antecedent of brand engagement and brand love, which, in turn, mediated the pathway from social media micro-influencer characteristics to brand evangelism. Understanding what social media micro-influencers mean to Millennials offers the promise of improving brand evangelism through more precise market analysis and market strategy. In the discussion, the paper introduces a three-stage building method towards brand evangelism through social media micro-influencer, including: (1) the stage of selecting influencers; (2) the stage of constructing intense emotional responses to the brand (brand engagement and brand love); and ultimately (3) the stage of becoming a brand evangelist. Lastly, limitations and future directions were discussed.

To survive in the ever-increasing competition in the financial market, commercial banks need successful innovative strategies. However, there is insufficient information on appropriate innovative strategies required by banks. Primary data were obtained through a structured questionnaire. It was distributed among 1,200 bank employees and 300 bank customers of all eight systematically important banks (Access, Diamond, Eco, First, GTB, Polaris, UBA and Zenith) out of 21 deposit money banks in Nigeria as of December 31, 2016 by random sampling and stratified sampling techniques. The data were fitted to the regression-based model. The identified marketing innovation adopted by banks include innovative service provision (4.02), generation of new product with quality (3.65), entrance into new markets (3.60) and adoption of technological tools (3.57). Performance indicators considered are customer satisfaction and customer retention. Results showed that marketing innovation strategies of the banks significantly (p < 0.05) improve customer satisfaction. Improved service and product quality, introduction of new products and entrance to new market exert a positive and significant effect on outcomes of the banks. The estimated regression on customer retention showed that in a competitive environment, improved service exerts positive and significant (p < 0.05) influence. Furthermore, the impact of reduction in service cost is also positive and significant (p < 0.05), which is similar to the effect development of new banking products. The findings suggest that the pathway to raising performance of financial institutions in a competitive environment is diverse. There is a need for deployment of a modern banking technology, innovations around banking products and associated services.

Banks have not come to rest since the 2008 banking crisis and have been struggling for their future ever since. In addition to serious market distortions, there are increasingly digital challenges and investments in the banks’ platforms to remain competitive and continue to meet customer requirements. Other industries are showing the banks how to do it and investing heavily in the networking of distribution channels to form an omni-channel system, as this is where all interfaces converge. The banking industry has also recognized this groundbreaking approach in the distribution channel. Academic literature is also increasingly examining omni-channel management, but studies in the banking industry are still sparse. This study uses multi-method research in the form of a systematic literature review and semi-structured qualitative bank expert interviews to examine omni-channel management in the banking industry. Thereby, the state of scientific research and the future objectives of the banks are analyzed. Bank experts in Germany explain what bank customers will expect, how far German banks have progressed in implementing an omni-channel system, and how the bank-customer relationship will change. Findings show that banks will completely transform their distribution by omni-channel management by breaking with existing structures and creating a new customer experience and higher customer value. The paper provides critical insight into what omni-channel integration means for the banking sector.