We live in a digital world, dominated by social media giants. From Facebook to TikTok, social media platforms have provided more ways to publish content than ever before and businesses around the globe have taken advantage. Learn how to leverage these tips and best practices targeted toward tackling the finance industry using social media for marketing. However, while it may be easy to see how digital marketing strategies have revolutionized industries like retail, hospitality, and the arts, for other sectors of the economy, it’s not so clear. The transition to social media for many areas has been much more of a slow burn and, until recently, the financial industry was one such example.
However, the increased release of research highlighting the importance of social media marketing has led many businesses within this area to prick their ears and kickstart their digital networking journey. But, how exactly can the finance industry using social media for marketing most effectively? Well, we’re here to discuss exactly that and have compiled a handy guide to help you on your way.
Finance Industry Using Social Media for Marketing
Digital marketing for the finance industry is now rapidly expanding. Not only are more companies than ever now on social media, but they are also spending more on placing ads there. The Australian financial industry sector would increase at an extraordinary rate up by $1.27 trillion to a value of almost $10.9 trillion in June 2021.
Australia’s financial industry markets are among the largest, fastest-growing, and most sophisticated in Asia. The country is a regional leader in a range of products including asset-backed securities, Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs), exchange-traded and over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives, corporate bonds, and hedge funds. Financial planning and investing sit comfortably under one brand with that figure set to rise even further, as more businesses use social networking opportunities, it’s become pretty clear that digital marketing is now an integral part of the financial services industry. In addition to advertising material, many companies now feel that having user-focused media content available on social platforms can make a big difference to how trustworthy they come across to customers.
Historically, finance industry regulations have made companies reluctant to employ social tools. However, many are now realising the benefits of using individual social media platforms. Facebook and Instagram are the most popular platforms overall, with a combined user base of over 3.5 billion active accounts. And while Twitter, Youtube, LinkedIn, and TikTok may have a smaller reach, on the whole, many financial corporations are finding that they can be just as effective for marketing their brand. Learning which platform is best for your specific visual, textual, and audio content is, therefore, crucial to utilising social media to its fullest potential, vastly increasing your likelihood of executing a successful branding or marketing strategy.
The Key Benefits of Finance Industry Using Social Media for Marketing Brand Awareness
It Matters brand awareness or brand visibility might be a marketing buzzword, but its importance can’t be denied. For many lending institutions, SEO yields more revenue brand visibility is one of the best ways to generate more custom, after all, as your target audience will subconsciously begin to view your brand as familiar and, by extension, trustworthy.
If, for example, you were to look at the logos of famous corporations, you would likely know their identities without being told whom the logo belonged to. This level of familiarity with a brand creates a subconscious feeling of trust, leading to more business.
Generate Business Be Responsive
The opportunity for greater engagement with your customers is another way in which the finance industry using social media can generate more sales for your company. Almost all social media platforms now offer a direct messaging feature, allowing for individualised communication and rapport-building with customers.
If you want to go further and centralise your communication efforts, take a deeper dive into a social media management tool that will siphon all your interactions into one unified inbox. This is a growing trend in the customer service approach to making sure the financial industry is responsive, available, and on top of all the engagement in a remote environment especially.
A recent study found that 74% of financial advisors relied on direct marketing channels to liaise with both existing and prospective clients. A huge 94% of these advisers reported new assets were gained as a result of direct messaging strategies.
Target Audience Research
The majority of social media business accounts will allow you to see which demographics engage with your content the most invaluable information to have at your disposal when shaping marketing campaigns around your products or services.
If, for example, your posts on mortgage promotions or offers are primarily liked/commented on by 30 – 40-year-olds, you could utilise this information to create tailored mortgage content targeted at this age range.
If you are using a social media marketing platform, make sure you can add your Google Analytics account so your research is centralised. Using this data to inform not just capture social media ROI, but future services and content could see a greater level of engagement and, therefore, business generation.
Customer Mood
The finance industry using social media for marketing provides an opportunity to quick and accessible means for customers to give you valuable feedback and opinions in the form of reviews or comments. This is an excellent way to gauge your clients’ mood about your business practices, including your brand identity and products. Observing and analysing overarching trends allows you to cater your services accordingly.
Another great option for businesses in the financial industry is to partner with a marketing automation platform that will give you sentiment analysis of all communication funneling in from engagement on social media posts. It also allows for straightforward customer service having a solid social media presence gives you more opportunities to demonstrate how you deal with customer complaints and enables you to put things to bed more effectively.
How To Utilise Social Media In Financial Industry
- Be Aware Of The Challenges – the finance industry is one of the most heavily regulated in the world and businesses getting on board with the digital revolution need to make sure their posts adhere to all current legalities. One of the best things you can do to provide compliant content is to stay up to date on the latest news about updates to regulatory law. It might also be a good idea to provide additional training to staff members in charge of managing social content.
- Integrate – as you take a deeper dive into the finance industry using social media for marketing, integrating your different social streams is a relatively simple way to direct traffic from social media platforms to your website and vice versa. Allowing your customers to find you in several places with a single click will enable them to interact with your content more easily and make them more likely to share your posts. One of the newest ways to establish links between your different web presences is to embed a social feed wall on your website’s home page. Websites can now pull in dynamic RSS feeds and this is a great approach to your email marketing strategy as well. This creates an engaging visual and collates all of your social media presences in one place, further simplifying the interaction process.
- Provide Value – over 75% of millennials now use social media to make decisions about purchases. For non-visual industries like the financial services industry, the perceived value of your company and products is the most important thing involved in those decisions. By providing valuable content and information to your followers, you can create a rapport with them, as clients don’t believe you are only trying to sell them something. This fosters respect and faith in your business, leading to a potentially larger number of sales.
Final Thoughts
The use of the finance industry using social media for marketing may be fairly new but, with more businesses taking advantage of the digital revolution and consumers basing their purchasing decisions on brand identities, it is fast becoming more important than ever. By staying aware of the legalities, integrating social platforms, and providing value to your clientele, your business will not only be able to create a more informed marketing strategy but will also be able to utilise consumer behavior data to potentially lead to an increased number of sales.