Social Banking

HI5, ORKUT, FACEBOOK, TWITTER the list can go on. The past decade has witnessed a growing trend in the number of social networking sites. This is the result of the youth having both the means and the technology to access the internet at their fingertips. A number of companies have joined the social networking bandwagon and come up with innovative services to connect with the youth. Kotak Mahindra and ICICI Banks are among the first banks to enter the social-commerce arena and target the technology obsessed youth of today.

Kotak JIFI addresses the banking needs of the youth with an app that is integrated with both Twitter and Facebook. So what exactly does Kotak’s JIFI offer?

•  With an initial payment of 10,000 one can open a current account that does not need a minimum balance.
• Earn points by referring friends to open a JIFI account, transactions over Rs. 500/- will earn 25 transaction points, Re-tweeting, Liking or commenting on a Kotak Mahindra Post on FB or Twitter. These points can be redeemed on various travel, shopping and entertainment sites like Jabong, Book My show, Ebay India and many more. They are also transferrable between digital account holders.
• Updating your account or ordering a cheque book can be done via Twitter Tweets
• Any balance above 25,000 is transferred into Fixed Deposits at the current rate of interest.
• In addition to these features the traditional banking features like access to net banking and a platinum debit card are also made available to the account holder.

ICICI Bank has entered the digital arena with ICICI Pockets. It has managed to integrate its banking services with Facebook where banking transactions can be made without logging out of Facebook or visiting the ICICI Bank website. The services offered include:

• Booking movie tickets
• Splitting the cost of an outing with friends and sending reminders of the same via FB
• Transferring money
• Recharging your prepaid mobile phone

Business have realized the vital role social networking sites play in the life of today’s generation and in order to reach this tech savvy segment businesses are ready to enter the digital arena.  Social networking sites cannot survive in isolation either. Posting pictures, updating status are not the only needs of the customers. Collaborating with other industries give them an opportunity to keep their viewers wired for a longer duration and to share their platform with a number of reputed companies in other industries as well.