A recent Synergistic Research (Atlanta, GA) survey of 1,005 Internet users aged 18 and older found that one in eight households “applied for or obtained a financial account or service due to the influence of social media.”
This compares to a one-in-five result for email marketing from a financial institution. Email has been around much longer, which may help to account for the difference.
It’s not clear what percentage of the applications, if any, were made directly from a social media channel. What is clear, however, is the influence of social media in the decision process.