Social Media Maturity Model: The Case of Zimbabwean Banks

Abstract

Since the introduction of social networking sites, social media has impacted the lives of people and business in phenomenal ways. Social media has begun to penetrate the Zimbabwean business community but little research has been done to determine the extent of its adoption and use, particularly in retail banking. Therefore, the objective of this paper is to explore the adoption and use of social media platforms in retail banks in Zimbabwe. The study also sought to relate the findings to 4 social media maturity models. The study took a mixed methods approach where both qualitative and quantitative strategies were used. Data was derived from bank customers and bank managers. The results indicated that very few customers interacted with their banks using social media and of those the younger generations interacted with their banks more than the older generations. It was also revealed that most banks had launched social media platforms on their websites but the platforms' use by banks was low. In relation to social media maturity models, the study concluded that most banks were in the 2^nd and 3^rdstages of maturity models whilst a few were still in the 1^st stage. Customers and banks were recommended to embrace social media in order to take advantage of the benefits that they bring. Banks were also urged to engage their customers more by making the social media platforms on their websites interactive in order to reach social maturity and the eventual transactional use of social media.