Leveraging social media for better business outcomes

Social media should be an integral part of any community issuer’s marketing strategy. It’s clear that many smaller banks and credit unions have become savvy to social media’s importance, with high penetration across multiple channels, as illustrated in the chart below.

Social media channels used for marketing purposes¹

Sixty-three percent of mass affluent customers reported that they were motivated to take action after learning about financial products and services on social media.¹ And furthermore, 21 percent of consumers reported using social media to look for product information when seeking a new credit card.²

However, utilizing social media as an effective marketing channel requires an understanding of how to use each platform effectively. A recent audit of more than 100 Visa issuers revealed that many financial institutions are not realizing the full potential of social media marketing due to lack of understanding of the landscape, the audience and the channels.

Here are some guidelines to help you develop or improve your social media strategy:

Create content that describes account services such as account security, financial planning and changes or improvements to existing products.
Partner with bloggers, journalists or influencers to promote your brand on either your owned or third-party channels. Consumers seek out information about products and brands from other consumers; third-party news or bloggers can lend credibility to your brand simply because the content is authored by an outside party.
Develop and promote materials that educate consumers on initiatives, thought leadership and educational resources. You can create this content, or it may even be third-party content. The goal is to gain engagement by sharing content that resonates with your customer or member base.
Ensure your content is optimized for each channel. Marketing best practices vary from channel to channel, and a one size fits-all content creation approach is not effective. Be aware of these differences to make sure you are utilizing each channel to its full potential.
Use consistent voice, tone and messaging across all communications and marketing. Social media presents a unique opportunity to build your brand’s persona because of the volume of content creation and the ability to create a personality behind the brand. Ensure that you are creating marketing assets in a consistent way across channels to differentiate your financial institution and its products from others.
Drive positive conversations about your financial institution through proactive consumer outreach. You can drive positive social media engagement by responding to consumers comments or inquiries, offering insider access to the brand, creating live events with respected leaders, or requesting fans and followers to share their positive experiences.

Your social media strategy should be an integral component of your overall marketing and communication strategy. Harnessing the opportunity is not always easy, but, if done correctly, it can provide immense benefit to your brand.

Sources

¹ 9 Social Media Marketing Solutions for Banks and Credit Unions. The Financial Brand. March 2015.

² Cardbeat U.S. Edition. Auriemma Consulting Group. Q1 2017.