VR-NetWorld GmbH is part of the cooperative financial network Volksbanken Raiffeisenbanken, contributing its experience and expertise around digitization in the financial sector.
The company has been working with the Brandwatch platform since 2015.
We spoke to Julian Wicharz, Social Media Manager at VR-NetWorld, about how he leverages Brandwatch insights and how that work is developing.
For this case study we’ll look at one of Julian’s current projects which is part of his work with the Baden-Württembergische Genossenschaftsverband (BWGV), an association which advises cooperatives based in Baden-Württemberg on legal and economic issues.
The challenge
In a fast-paced, digital age, it is particularly important for banks to stay up to date on industry issues, emerging crises, or changing consumer behavior.
PDF reports can be too rigid – they do not provide any real added value, as the data is out of date or irrelevant after a few hours or days.
“For a regional association with a large number of bank branches, knowing about current issues and observing long-term trends is an important task. This also includes real-time monitoring of competitors. It was a great pleasure for us to develop this solution together with the BWGV."
The solution
To overcome the challenges listed above, Julian decided to use live reporting with Brandwatch Vizia. This is set up, supervised, and continuously adapted by VR-NetWorld.
Brand monitoring
Search queries were first written for the member banks of BWGV and then generally for the Volksbanken Raiffeisenbanken. The data is collected through Brandwatch Consumer Research. Each member bank has its own detailed query, and those queries can be grouped together in different ways. The data can then easily be segmented, filtered, and clearly displayed in Vizia.
All this data can be visualized broken down by sentiment. In the event of an uptick in negative posts, Julian can alert individual banks. He can also consult Vizia to get a general overview of conversation around all BWGV member banks.
The flexibility of analysis options is an important factor for Julian. In the background, the team is able to customize how online posts are filtered to create a more accurate picture. The data can then be viewed in real-time, or over whatever time period is of interest.
Julian also uses this setup to monitor the number of followers and comments the member banks receive on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.
“Newsroom” analysis
In a newsroom-style dashboard that contains live reporting, general and interesting topics relating to BWGV and Volksbanken Raiffeisenbanken can be observed.
There were significant changes in 2020 due to the pandemic: customers discussed social distancing rules in banks, opening times, and other aspects of the pandemic that affected the banking sector. All this could be seen cropping up in the Vizia display, along with relevant news from politics and business which helped to build a comprehensive picture.
As a result, the banks of the BWGV are always informed in real time about developments in their region. Due to the flexibility of the Vizia Report, new slides can be created in reaction to new insights and situations. The best example is the ‘Coronavirus Radar’, which shows the most important messages, authors, and keywords on the subject of Covid-19 in Baden-Württemberg.
Trend spotting
Another focus is the observation of future trends. Julian's team identified hot new topics in the finance world, like fintech and security. They created search queries on these topics and Vizia now shows the most important reports, the top authors, and the most prominent keywords relating to them.
Meanwhile, a trend radar shows trending topics in finance in Germany. These include, for example, online banking, blockchain, digital payments, and artificial intelligence. It’s an easy way for the team to keep an eye on the volume of trends and get inspiration for their different projects.
Competitor analysis
Mentions from across Germany of the competitors of the Volksbanken Raiffeisenbanken are compared in one place. Here is a small excerpt from the dashboard with real data.
The total volume of mentions of the selected banks is measured and they are ranked according to their share of voice. It’s a quick and easy way to see which banks are creating the biggest stir (good or bad) online over the last seven days.
The results
The Brandwatch Vizia dashboard is shared from VR-NetWorld to BWGV via an invitation link. Each member bank can authorize itself for monitoring and receive access. After Julian's one-time setup, the charts are fully automatic and update in real time. Readers can then share access to the visualizations with their colleagues via email.
The Vizia displays support member banks in a number of ways, from identifying key trends, to monitoring brand sentiment, and sharing competitor intelligence. They've proven to be enormously helpful.
“The time saved on manual monitoring is immense. In the banking and financial sector in particular, quick and customer-oriented action is important. This live monitoring helps the association with this task, giving regional banks in Baden-Württemberg a comprehensive view of what they need to know."