The Role of Social Media Engagement in Customer Service: A Study on the Brazilian Financial Sector

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This article investigates the importance of social media in customer service and relationships, causing engagement with the brand. For this, this research's corpus delimited the actions on social media of the five largest banks in Brazil in terms of customer volume. The data were collected and analyzed in two moments: first, through a structured questionnaire to test the use and importance of social media in the service and relationship of banks; second, through the collection of interaction and conversation data on the social media of each bank studied. The quantitative and descriptive research uses correlation and engagement analysis based on social media metrics. The results indicate the banks' different strategies to provoke engagement and relationship with their consumer audiences in each media, but the data reveal low engagement. However, consumers pointed out social media's relevance in seeking services and relationships with their banks, citing the convenience, speed, and accessibility it provides. The study concludes that consumers value banks' social media, especially looking for customer service and relationships. In contrast, interaction and conversation data showed that banks have a routine of working in this category, combining others with their products' promotion and sponsorships and events. However, it became clear that the engagement that the banks' social media actions generate is minimal, in proportion to the volume of their followers.