Case:

bKash Capitalizes the Leverage aspects of Social Media

(draft)
Course:
M606: Integrated Marketing Communication

Submitted to:
Md. Iftekharul Amin
Assistant Professor

Submitted by:
Ashraful Islam

Roll: 18

Dipankar Ghosh

Roll: 36

Md. Golam Moula Mehedi

Hasan

Roll: 14

Tanjima Ali

Roll: 06

Institute of Business Administration

University of Dhaka
December 15, 2013

Introduction:
Use of mobile phone has increased incredibly in Bangladesh and people are
becoming familiar with many services that can be provided with mobile phone.
BRAC bank, a leading private bank in Bangladesh, understood the opportunity of
exploiting the increasing trend of using mobile phone in providing financial services.
With the objective of providing financial services to every corner of Bangladesh
through mobile phone, it along with Money in Motion LLC, USA established bKash.
Today it has expanded its services to the most of the part of Bangladesh and has
connected thousands of people to its service within a very few short time of its
inception. Through bKash one can do a great deal of transaction without having a
bank account and even without holding cash physically. Depositing, withdrawing,
Transferring money, making payment, getting remittance, using ATM, getting
statements all can be done through bKash and at a very low cost. The most
important thing is that one only needs a mobile phone and bKash account and
nothing more to get all the services. It provides fully secured services using
advanced technology of VISA. In a word, bKash has introduced a new world of using
mobile phone in Bangladesh as well as a new world of financial services.

Market Segment of bKash

As the business case for bKash is dominated by the volume of transactions bKash is
consciously currently the following segments
Seg1 60 million people do not have banking access but have mobile phones
(83% population lives on less than $2 a day)
Seg2 - Transfer Money $ 64 b (Domestic ) , $ 14 b Incoming International
Remittances
Seg3 300 MFIs, 24million borrowers (6million active)
The domestic money transfer of $64 b clearly is the highest spectrum of segments.
It is now the major challenge for bKash to decide any one channel through which
they can address these segments. To name a few clusters from the segment:
university fees, payment f of transportation, payments of groceries, bill payment,
etc. To analyze the scenario from another angle, bKash aims to target the bottom
layer through mass media channels example, radio, TV, demonstrations, agents etc.
But the niche market of urban youth who is also a part of the domestic money
transfer is left out through these traditional media. Therefore, bKash is currently
designing its marketing strategy to address this vital niche market through social
media.
Social media loosely refers to a wide spectrum of web based and mobile
applications that enable social interaction across geographical boundaries mainly

through user generated content. In recent years, particularly in the last couple of
years, there has been an exponential growth not only in the number of social media
networks but also in the socio-demographic attributes of their user base.
Conclusive studies shows that, social networking has become integral to the daily
life of a majority of Americans with access to the Internet. In Bangladesh there is a
significant number of customers for bKash who are active in facebook and reaching
them through social media is more effective and cost efficient that traditional
channels.

Marketing in Social Media

The rising popularity of social media networks has naturally attracted marketers
keen to leverage the ease of access and technological capabilities of these sites to
gain a competitive edge in the market place. Marketers who were previously
frustrated by the decline in effectiveness of traditional marketing channels such as
Direct-to-Customers (DTC) communications or even Print/TV advertisements, are
now eager to capitalize on the ready access that social network sites provide.
The rising interest in social networking sites as viable vehicles for marketing is also
reflected in the money being spent to advertise in social networks. According to
eMarketer spending on advertisements on social networking sites has increased
from $ 1.40 billion in 2009 to a projected $ 3 billion in 2011, a nearly 50%
increase4.
However notwithstanding the growing level of advertising dollars invested in social
media it is important to recognize that money is only a small part of investment
required for successful social marketing. Most social media marketers recognize that
paid advertising is only a fraction of the spending. Social media marketing requires
a holistic approach and requires a significant amount of effort to be invested in
brand building activities through blogs, podcasts, tweets and the like. The basic
mantra for success in social media is that each campaign has to be presented in a
unique and engaging manner.
The trend toward increased involvement of marketers in social networks is predicted
to be even greater in the immediate future. According to the 2011 Digital Marketing
Outlook, more than 95% of a sample pool of Brand marketers, Marketing Agencies
etc., plan to use some form of social media in 20116.
Brand Marketers
Facebook
76%
Twitter
69%
MySpace
5%
Blogs
57%
Other SM sites
29%
Corporate Website
80%
Source:2011 DMO published by SoDA

Agencies
96%
89%
9%
75%
40%
81%

The above Table suggests that while marketers still give top priority to their own
sites, social networking sites are increasingly getting to be as important. At the very

least, social media sites are deemed to be crucial to help drive traffic to the main
corporate site.

Current Activity of bKash on Social Media

Considering the relatively short history of social networking sites, it is remarkable to
find that a large number of organizations have already successfully used them as
platforms to promote their brands, support customers and increase business. BKash
is also in marketing their product in social media. Their approach is focused on
attracting young generation to their product and services. In doing such they have
opened a Facebook fan page where people can be a member by giving a like on
their page. Currently there are 113,276 members in their fan page. In the fan page
they usually promote their features and instructions to their services.
Recently BKash has come out with a new idea of a comic based superhero naming
Spark. People can read the comic free at cost after being member of the Spark
page.

Recommendation
The fan page of BKash is not that much interactive for the members. They should
organize some events or may develop some apps where they can get some more
involvement among the members and also through this they can get customers
response as well.
BKash may organize some competition in which the result will be based on member
like and judges point. As result they can get some quick members.
Some advocacy features can also be implemented. In such case they can involve
gifts after the members share some feature to a certain no. of friends.

References
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Norman, J (2010, November) Boomers Joining Social Media at Record Rate

http://tinyurl.com/2wcmute.
ComScore 2010 US Digital Year in Review (2011, February) http://tinyurl.com/3g5ydbb
Age distribution on Social media sites (2010, February) http://tinyurl.com/yctss8r
Facebook Drives US Social Network Ad Spending Past $3 Billion in 2011 (2011,
January) http://tinyurl.com/67hljag
6. Rawaski, K. Oreo Facebook Fan Page Example in Detail (2011, January)
http://tinyurl.com/3bvhc5j
7. Society of Digital Agencies (SoDA) 2011 Digital Marketing Outlook (2011, March)
http://tinyurl.com/3d9cyws
8. HUDA, MOHAMMAD AZMAL. BKashs Multi-MNO Model in Ban G Ladesh. N.p.,
n.d. Web. 29 Nov. 2013.
9. Mitha, Aiaze. "Case Study BKash Building the Largest Payment Service Provider in
Bangladesh!" Neu-Anspach, 20 Nov. 2013. Web. 29 Nov. 2013.
10. http://www.sb.iub.edu.bd/internship/Spring2013/0930080.pdf
11. http://www.bkash.com/