FSF Insight: How often do UK banks post on Twitter?

This research looks at how regularly the top retail banks post on Twitter and how many followers they attract. We looked at the 19 current account providers registered on Twitter. Tweets were analysed for Q2 (beginning of April to end of June) 2022.

Looking at the current account net switching figures for the quarter there was very little correlation between the number of tweets posted and the number of new customers companies attracted.

The two biggest gainers in customers were NatWest and Nationwide, the former being one of the least prolific tweeters in the group with less than one tweet posted per week.

The challenger banks were by far the most prolific tweeters on the list, with Triodos, Starling and Monzo topping the list.

All took a creative approach to content. Billed as the UK’s most sustainable bank, Triodos posts regular content around ESG projects it is supporting, as well as stories from customers who have taken the decision to invest their money sustainably.

As a partner of the England national women’s football team, Starling was able to generate plenty of content around that.

Monzo, with the most followers out of the challengers, took the most irreverent approach, regularly posting memes and humorous content. It also made a point of talking about how its banking app was helping people with the likes of ADHD through customer stories.

The Big Four generally tweeted less than the overall average, with HSBC, Barclays and NatWest posting three, two and one tweet per week respectively.

The one exception was Lloyds, which posted seven tweets per week.

However, the Big Four dominated in terms of follower counts, with Barclays boasting by far the most overall followers at around 300,000. While Barclays doesn’t actively post much on Twitter, its high number of followers are there for its active customer service function through the social network.

Lloyds followed in second place with less than half that amount, with Monzo not far behind.