Opportunities and Challenges of Social Media to the Islamic Banks in Indonesia

Abstract

The Islamic banks in Indonesia have a serious issue of a low market share of 5%. This emerged due to the limited/unvaried product range, low literacy and inclusion level of Islamic finance, unfavorable perception for Islamic banking, and limited distribution networks and outreach. All of these causes could be resolved by using social media, which will bring several opportunities such as transparency and openness, effective marketing channels, stakeholders’ relationship, social media content, brand image and reputation, shariah compliance activity, learning and knowledge, and greater personalization. Meanwhile, in using social media, the Islamic banks face few challenges such as network infrastructure, negative comments, information risk management, privacy, and deception. This chapter can be a reference to any institutions, particularly the Islamic banks which associated with digital interfaces and interactions in their daily businesses. Thus expectedly, the Islamic banks could enhance the public trust and establish a good Islamic identity.