Blazing Instagram Marketing... Financial Companies' Followers Also Surge

5 Major Banks Instagram Followers Exceed 1.28 Million
NongHyup Bank Gains 200,000 in One Year with Aggressive Marketing
Brand Exposure Helps Shed Conservative Image

NH Nonghyup Bank recently published the content titled 'Choosing Tomorrow's Outfit for Nongatti'. Photo by NH Nonghyup Bank Instagram

[Asia Economy Reporter Song Seung-seop] Competition among commercial banks for Instagram marketing is heating up. This is interpreted as an effort to capture the MZ generation (Millennials + Generation Z), which has emerged as a major customer base due to digital and mobile innovation across the financial industry. This phenomenon is prominently reflected in the follower trends of major commercial banks' Instagram accounts.

According to the banking sector on the 10th, the Instagram accounts of the five major banks (KB Kookmin, Shinhan, Hana, Woori, NH Nonghyup) have approximately 1,279,000 followers. This number surpasses the 1,167,700 subscribers on their YouTube accounts. They have posted a total of 3,597 posts, averaging 3 to 4 posts per week.

The commercial bank with the most followers is NH Nonghyup Bank, securing 765,000 followers. The second place is Shinhan Bank with 220,000 followers, followed by KB Kookmin Bank with about 164,000 followers. Next are Woori (76,000) and Hana (54,000). SC First Bank and IBK Industrial Bank also have 55,000 and 45,000 followers respectively. Last year, KDB Industrial Bank also started operating a page.

The follower growth rate is also considered very steep. NH Nonghyup Bank increased from 550,000 followers a year ago by 200,000 through holding social networking service (SNS) exclusive events twice a week. For example, if users follow the account on their way to work, winners are announced within 30 minutes and given coffee coupons, or participants in simple surveys receive prizes.

It is also analyzed that unlike other banks, NH Nonghyup Bank has built a friendly communication by directly following 6,600 general customers. The SNS operator is called ‘Nongdaejang,’ meaning ‘Nonghyup Bank Captain,’ and followers are affectionately called ‘Nongatti,’ derived from the pure Korean word for close friends ‘atti.’ This naming was selected through a customer participation contest. An NH Nonghyup Bank official explained, "We focus on communicating with followers through snackable content and easy-to-participate events."

MZ Generation’s Instagram Usage Rate Overwhelming... Commercial Banks See It as a Communication Tool for 20s and 30s

Shinhan Bank's Instagram account has recently surpassed 200,000 followers. Photo by Shinhan Bank Instagram

Shinhan Bank also increased its followers from about 70,000 to 220,000 during the same period. Shinhan Bank created its Instagram account in 2016 and completely revamped the page early last year. It is known that they significantly revised the purpose of operation, content direction, and concept to differentiate from other banks.

Recently, Shinhan Bank has been using its AI banker ‘Molly’ as a character. The digital talent recruitment for the first half of the year, which started last month, was announced through ‘IGTV’ on Instagram, and internal short-form video content called ‘Reels’ was used to promote their character.

Banks are putting effort into Instagram because it has a great brand exposure effect and allows them to break away from the heavy and stale image of commercial banks. According to research by KT Economic Management Research Institute and Digital Lab DMC Media, South Korea ranks third in the world for SNS usage. Especially, the monthly average Instagram users in their 20s and 30s number 9.33 million, the highest among SNS platforms.

A representative from a commercial bank emphasized, "Instagram makes it easy to show the side of commercial banks that cannot be shown in regular advertisements," adding, "It is a means to communicate closely with the younger generation."