With a population of 655 million people, Southeast Asia is the growing power of the world. This region is composed of 11 countries: Singapore, Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Myanmar, Brunei, Laos, Cambodia, and East Timor. Most of these countries have one of the highest GDP growth rates, with Vietnam in 3rd place and Malaysia in 7th. The Southeast Asia economy is growing at a rapid pace and Southeast Asian banks are emerging as a result. With our social media monitoring tool, we studied data on the top banks in Southeast Asia from the first half of 2018. This data was leveraged from mentions from thousands of different social media sources. We gathered opinions from the population about these banks and their evolution from January 1st to June 30th, 2018.

Top Southeast Asia Banks

Ranking

According to Forbes, the top 10 Southeast Asia banks (by market capitalisation) are:

1. DBS
2. OCBC
3. Bank Central Asia
4. UOB
5. Maybank
6. Bank Rakyat Indonesia
7. Bank Mandiri
8. Public Bank Berhad
9. CIMB
10. Kasikornbank

*Please note that this ranking only includes banks founded in Southeast Asia.

Share of Voice

According to our social listening data, the most talked about banks on social media are not DBS and OCBC. Bank Central Asia generated the most conversations over the period, with more than 700,000 mentions. In the second position came Bank Mandiri, with 680,000 mentions. DBS stands far behind, with 325,000 mentions, followed by Maybank and CIMB. UOB, 4th on the ranking of top banks, gathered only 60,000 mentions.

Social Reputation Score

Bank Mandiri has the highest Social Reputation Score out of the top 10 banks in the region, with a score of 88.4 out of 100. Synthesio’s Social Reputation Score takes into account not only the number of social media mentions but also whether the sentiment expressed was positive or negative. The score also considers the influence of each mention, meaning mentions with higher impressions account for more. Customers therefore highly appreciate Bank Mandiri.

On the other side of the scale, DBS obtained the lowest score, 56.09. This means the difference between the number of positive mentions and the number of negative mentions was smaller.

As mentioned previously, the top banks by market capitalization are not the best ones according to customers. DBS, the number one bank in the ranking, is actually the least appreciated out of all of the top banks. Furthermore, people don’t talk about it as much as bank Mandiri, 7th in the ranking but generating a very positive sentiment from their clients as well as in many conversations. This is just one of many examples of what social listening can uncover about the Southeast Asia Economy.

Social Media Monitoring: Identifying Causes of Changes in Mentions

Social media monitoring can also identify precise events that have had an impact on each brand. By analysing the sentiment timeline and topic timeline, you can detect unusual spikes that correspond to a sudden increase in mentions or a change in sentiment. You can determine what caused these sudden changes and take action if necessary. Using our social listening platform, we gathered examples of unexpected changes that occurred during the first 6 months of 2018:

Successful Kasikorn Bank’s business decision

On 28th March 2018, the mentions of Kasikorn Bank exceeded 24,000. This represents a 500% increase from the day before, where only 4,000 mentions were gathered. Our social media monitoring tool revealed that this augmentation occurred right after the bank announced it would waive fees for money transfers and online bill payments. Their Twitter post was retweeted a lot and the information was spread by influencers who wrote about it on social media. We also observed a rise in their Social Reputation Score during the week of the announcement, which means the audience made a lot of positive comments about the release. This is confirmation for Kasikorn Bank that their business decision was successful.

Increase in positive sentiment

CIMB on fire?

Crises or successful campaigns are not always the causes of an increase in mentions. During June 2018, the mentions of CIMB increased by 909% in one day. Thanks to social media monitoring, we found out what initiated the spike in conversations— a fire. On the night of Thursday 14, a stall selling fireworks exploded in front of a CIMB branch in Malaysia. As a result, a fire started, causing damages to the bank. The video of the incident and several pictures went viral in Malaysia. By monitoring their reviews, the company could have understood that there wasn’t a lot to worry about as the mentions were not linked to a crisis or a scandal. Instead, they could have posted a message to update customers about the incident.

Increase in the number of mentions

Maybank’s angry customer

When analysing the sentiment timeline of the Malaysian bank Maybank, we discovered a spike in negative mentions in May 2018. There were 5,290 negative mentions during the week from the 23rd to the 29th. This represents a 1,790% increase from the week before which gathered only 280 negative mentions. We found out this was due to the following Tweet:

The user complains about a defective Maybank ATM that did not give him the notes he was trying to withdraw. The message was retweeted thousands of times and generated many comments. This is another situation where social media monitoring can help companies. If Maybank had identified this issue, they could have replied to the Tweet and published a message announcing that the machine would be repaired soon. By acting fast with real-time data, they would have avoided the fuss and increase of negative sentiment towards their brand.

Social media monitoring can reveal what’s happening within an industry. As illustrated above, it can greatly help companies in understanding their share of voice in comparison with their competitors, in anticipating a crisis and in helping them in measuring the ROI of a marketing campaign. However, this is only the tip of the iceberg: social listening provides countless solutions that will lead your business to success. Social listening will tell you everything consumers say about you, your competitors and the industry as a whole. From general information to the smallest details, you will have all the keys in hand to make smarter business decisions.

Learn more about our social listening tool, or request a demo with one of our experts now.