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How many Facebook fans (now called “likes”) does the average financial institution attract? The Financial Brand examined 20 banks and 20 credit unions on Facebook, comparing the number of Facebook likes to asset size and customer/member base.
Banks get an average of one Facebook like for 710 customers. Credit unions, just as they do on Twitter, fare much better, attracting an average of one Facebook like for every 126 members.
In total, the 20 banks included in the study had a combined customer base of 85 million people. Total Facebook likes: 120,448. That’s 0.14% of all customers.
For the 20 credit unions in the study, the combined membership totaled 2.6 million people. Only 21,002 of them (0.8%) have liked their credit union on Facebook.
Banks, on average receive one Facebook like for every $23 million in assets. Credit unions again do better, yielding one like for every $1.5 million in assets.
The results of this Facebook study are very similar to what The Financial Brand found when analyzing Twitter followers.
Smaller Financial Institutions = More Facebook Success
Smaller banks and credit unions find it easier to yield deeper rates of penetration on Facebook penetration. The most successful financial institutions on Facebook are liked by 1 in 50 customers, little more than 2% of their audience. Only a small handful of financial institutions are lucky to see more than 3% of folks give them a “thumbs up” on Facebook.
The largest banks and credit unions have to work ten times harder at attracting Facebook likes than their smaller peers. The worst performing financial institutions see less than 0.10% of their customers/members liking them on Facebook.
Although penetration rates may be low for large financial institutions, some have sizeable Facebook followings nonetheless. SunTrust, for instance, may only reach 0.24% of its 6.5 million customers, but that equates to a Facebook audience of 15,622 people. On the other end of the spectrum, US Bank reaches 5,409 of its 15 million customers on Facebook, a paltry 0.04% or 1 in 2,773 people.
Banks – Facebook Likes vs. Assets, Customers
| . . Bank |
. Likes |
. . Assets |
. . Customers |
1 Like for Every [$] Assets |
1 Like for Every [x] Customers |
. % of Customers |
| Commonwealth | 3,121 | $780B | 10,000,000 | $249,919,897 | 3,204 | 0.03% |
| TD Canada | 21,051 | $620B | 11,000,000 | $29,452,283 | 523 | 0.19% |
| Standard Chartered | 6,627 | $437B | 14,000,000 | $65,942,357 | 2,113 | 0.05% |
| US Bank | 5,409 | $308B | 15,000,000 | $56,942,133 | 2,773 | 0.04% |
| SunTrust | 15,622 | $180B | 6,500,000 | $11,522,212 | 416 | 0.24% |
| Standard Bank | 12,748 | $173B | 10,500,000 | $13,570,756 | 824 | 0.12% |
| ABSA | 10,976 | $110B | 11,300,000 | $10,021,866 | 1,030 | 0.10% |
| Zions | 1,641 | $53B | 1,000,000 | $32,297,380 | 609 | 0.16% |
| ASB | 14,123 | $35B | 1,000,000 | $2,478,227 | 71 | 1.41% |
| First Tennessee | 4,341 | $31B | 1,100,000 | $7,141,212 | 253 | 0.39% |
| Arvest | 7,092 | $11.6B | 450,000 | $1,635,646 | 63 | 1.58% |
| MB Financial | 4,944 | $10.5B | 500,000 | $2,123,786 | 101 | 0.99% |
| Northwest Savings | 1,299 | $8B | 400,000 | $6,158,584 | 308 | 0.32% |
| Alpine Bank | 63 | $2B | 100,000 | $31,746,032 | 1,587 | 0.06% |
| Landmark | 1,179 | $1.5B | 70,000 | $1,272,265 | 59 | 1.68% |
| 1st Mariner | 1,185 | $1.4B | 56,000 | $1,181,435 | 47 | 2.12% |
| Capitec | 7,556 | $1B | 2,500,000 | $132,345 | 331 | 0.30% |
| First Federal (FL) | 917 | $1B | 50,000 | $1,090,513 | 55 | 1.83% |
| Citizens Security | 206 | $600M | 25,000 | $2,912,621 | 121 | 0.82% |
| Converse County | 348 | $275M | 13,750 | $790,230 | 40 | 2.53% |
| TOTALS/AVG | 120,448 | $2.7T | 85,564,750 | $22,954,927 | 710 | 0.14% |
Credit Unions – Facebook Likes vs. Assets, Customers
| . . . Credit Union |
. . Likes |
. . . .Assets |
. . . Members |
. 1 Like for Every [$] Assets |
1 Like for Every [x] Members |
. . % of Members |
| Pentagon | 3,104 | $14,895 | 1,002,352 | $4,798,647 | 323 | 0.31% |
| VyStar | 624 | $4,069 | 376,523 | $6,520,833 | 603 | 0.17% |
| First Tech | 958 | $2,323 | 170,851 | $2,424,843 | 178 | 0.56% |
| Mission | 386 | $2,039 | 145,595 | $5,282,383 | 377 | 0.27% |
| MSU | 2,635 | $1,963 | 157,945 | $744,972 | 60 | 1.67% |
| Fairwinds | 4,677 | $1,539 | 140,188 | $329,057 | 30 | 3.34% |
| AmeriCU | 422 | $920 | 107,125 | $2,180,095 | 254 | 0.39% |
| Altura | 537 | $722 | 106,433 | $1,344,507 | 198 | 0.50% |
| Scott | 1,882 | $694 | 81,039 | $368,757 | 43 | 2.32% |
| SAFE | 903 | $678 | 98,320 | $750,831 | 109 | 0.92% |
| DATCU | 596 | $540 | 59,236 | $906,040 | 99 | 1.01% |
| Alliance | 1,124 | $350 | 37,965 | $311,388 | 34 | 2.96% |
| Heritage Family | 241 | $254 | 29,472 | $1,053,942 | 122 | 0.82% |
| Christian Financial |
1,311 | $242 | 33,344 | $184,592 | 25 | 3.93% |
| DayAir | 627 | $215 | 25,992 | $342,903 | 41 | 2.41% |
| Southbridge | 142 | $193 | 15,154 | $1,359,155 | 107 | 0.94% |
| Ukrainian | 395 | $138 | 15,489 | $349,367 | 39 | 2.55% |
| Matadors | 79 | $121 | 11,777 | $1,531,646 | 149 | 0.67% |
| Fiberglas | 248 | $117 | 14,574 | $471,774 | 59 | 1.70% |
| Abbey | 111 | $70 | 8,214 | $630,631 | 74 | 1.35% |
| TOTALS/AVG | 21,002 | $32B | 2,637,588 | $1,527,569 | 126 | 0.80% |