In a bid to engage and connect with customers and the general online community, ABC Bank has trodden where most Kenyan corporates dread. The bank has become the first financial institution to host a Google+ Hangouts on Air, dubbed #ABCofBiz.
The highly successful session is the first in a series of similar hangouts that the bank plans to conduct to enhance its visibility and customer acquisition by exploiting technology.
The hangout brought together a panel of different extractions of expertise to discuss ‘common mistakes entrepreneurs make’ and ways of avoiding them to propel their businesses to success. The panelists included Professor Bitange Ndemo from the University of Nairobi, June Gathoni, Director SME Resource Centre, entrepreneurs Eric Kinoti, Murori Kiunga and pioneer comedian Churchill Ndambuki.
Although many Kenyan corporates have Google+ accounts, few have used hangouts to interact with their customers. The hangout attracted hundreds of viewers online and generated a lot of audience engagement. This is attributable to the large online community of young tech-savvy entrepreneurs whose emergence has heralded a new era of heightened competition for the millions of social media users in Kenya, majority of whom had their first internet experience on their mobile phones.
Using Google+ Hangouts to interact with customers offers business several benefits, such as the luxury of meeting many clients simultaneously without leaving the office, fast feedback on products and services, and the ability to produce own content at a low cost, which can be published on YouTube.
