EFFECTIVENESS OF SOCIAL MEDIA USAGE BY PUBLIC RELATIONS UNITS OF SELECT BANKS IN SOUTHWEST, NIGERIA

This study investigated the effectiveness of social media usage by Public Relations units of select Banks in Southwest, Nigeria. The rationale for the study is that while there is an awareness of the spread of social media adoption in the Nigerian banking sector, little is known about its adoption and the effectiveness of its usage by Public Relations units of Nigerian Banks. The study was anchored on The Technological Determinism Theory. The survey method was used to gather data from managers and PR staff of 6 banks in Lags and Ogun States. Ten (10) managers and the public relations in-house staff of each bank were selected, summing up to 60 total respondents. Data was gathered from the respondents using LinkedIn and analysed using descriptive statistics. It was found that, among others, there is a universal adoption of social media and associated technologies in banking operations, the core use of social media in banks is customer relations/communications (100%); followed by organising business events (98%), strategic communication (87%) and community relations (51.9%) and social media platforms are very effective in executing public relations activities. Based on the findings, it is recommended that banks should cash in on the popularity of Facebook and use it more for their public relations activities.