Finance and financial services may be one of the hardest to promote. Prospective customers are wary when they see a recommendation for a wealth manager or a loan offer on their social media page and they normally hesitate to engage with financial service providers. However, with the world moving online and social media becoming more relevant to customers (42% of the global population actively use social media), how can finance brands ace the social game?
We can learn from the finance companies that have become experts in social media marketing.
Without further ado, after extensive research on both LinkedIn and other significant business social media platforms, here are my top 8 finance brands who are leading the pack in the social media landscape. Their tactics and strategies will inspire you to follow suit:
Strategy: Educative posts
Morgan Stanley may be one of the most active brands on social media today. They have over 1 million followers on LinkedIn, 523,000 on Twitter and 143,000 on Instagram. The way they’ve garnered such a massive audience is through their super-educative posts.
The wealth management company shares extremely informative posts about #wealth management, #investmentbanking, #assetmanagement and other financial services. Their posts are written in a fluid and easy-to-understand style that even a person with zero knowledge of finance can understand.
But Morgan Stanley doesn’t just use their posts to educate prospects, they also use them to build their network. The company has a podcast called “Ideas Podcast” where they post extremely engaging and insights-rich content. These podcast links are shared on their social media channels.
So powerful is their content, that the company generated about $10 million in revenues from the connections one of their employees made on LinkedIn. Their LinkedIn marketing is very focused and created uniquely for each customer profile.
Strategy: Influencer marketing
An investment bank that’s a social media guru is JPMorgan Chase. The company understands the importance of evolving with the times. A large part of the brand’s social media strategy is influencer marketing.
JPMorgan Chase works with world-famous athletes, celebrities and personalities to engage their customers. While some of the posts are product-related, most are just fun facts, interesting statistics and life stories of the celebrities endorsing the brand. The company also has a non-profit called Chase Community Giving and they routinely share its latest projects and achievements on social media.
One really impactful tactic employed by this finance giant is the use of influencers from different races. Through this diversity and inclusivity, JPMorgan Chase showcases how their products have a global appeal.
The company’s choice of platform is Facebook, followed by Twitter and LinkedIn.
Strategy: Blogs & infographics
Today, Mint has become the go-to personal finance tool for millions of people but at one point, the company was relatively unknown and struggling to gain a footing on social media. That was until they started content marketing.
The company creates extremely engaging and very insightful pieces of content, which they share on social media. These blogs, infographics, memes and videos have helped the company successfully gain more than 15 million users.
From hard-hitting fact-based articles to funny personal stories of the company’s founders, Mint has used absolutely every content weapon in their arsenal to grow their user base and social media followership. Their strategy is simple – help readers understand complex financial concepts in the most fun and entertaining manner.
Strategy: Contests, quizzes & polls
Interactive content like contests, quizzes & polls is three engagement-driving tools on social media. It’s been observed that 33% of contest participants are more responsive to brand promotions after taking part in the event. In fact, contests, like the ones run by HSBC on Twitter, Facebook & LinkedIn, can increase conversions by 34%.
For example, take the HSBC #OneHandedChip challenge which has offered free Open Championship tickets to a few lucky winners of the contest; or the HSBC Visa Platinum Credit Card’s Family Time Contest where the prize is a special, free gift the entire family can enjoy.
Each contest, quiz and poll are designed keeping specific target groups in mind. This type of customer-driven approach makes HSBC’s social media marketing more personal and realistic. This strategy has not only increased brand engagement on social media, but it’s also increased the number of customers for the bank.
Strategy: Aggressive, direct pitches
In the age of subtle endorsements and indirect promotions, a direct and aggressive sales approach may not make sense. Conversely, for Citi Group, this social media strategy has been paying rich dividends.
The company’s primary social media strategy is a direct pitch of its various products and services, with discounts and seasonal offers. Not just this, Citi has also started promoting its products in reference to other brands.
In 2018, Citi launched two holiday campaigns – one with Bon Appetit (Conde Nast) and Architectural Digest (Business Insider) – where they not only advertised the other company, but they also mentioned how customers could club Citi products with both company’s offerings. They followed the same strategy by partnering with wellness brand Well+Good and promoting both their own and Well+Good’s products on social media.
Another way this tactic helped, was that Citi’s partner brands shared the company’s posts on their own channels, giving the company access to a larger audience.
Strategy: Live streaming & podcasts
One of the early adopters of social media marketing, Pennsylvania-based investment management company, The Vanguard Group, uses a highly-unique tactic to engage their followers – Live streamed videos.
The company live streams videos where finance and investment experts have discussions about various personal and commercial finance topics. They also live stream some of their important conferences and product/service releases very regularly. From short 2 minute videos on Facebook to hour-long webcasts on LinkedIn, The Vanguard Group shares tons of video content.
The brand has recently started a podcast as well, where they share very insightful tips and tricks for investing; which investors of all types can understand and enjoy. This podcast has gained traction on social media.
Strategy: Responsive customer support
According to the American Bankers Association, a whopping 87% of banks state they are quite active on social media; engaging with customers using various touchpoints. One bank that is an excellent example of this is PNC Bank.
The financial behemoth actively scans its social media pages for signs of disgruntled customers. When there are any, a quick and robust team of customer support executives quickly get to work identifying and addressing the problem.
This customer service focused strategy is an excellent choice for finance social media marketing. Studies show that 96% of the world’s customers are loyal to brands that offer quick and effective customer support.
PNC Bank’s responsive and personalised social media support has earned it the goodwill of thousands of customers. The company has the option for customers to switch from wall posting to direct messaging whenever they want. They have a dedicated PNC Bank Help page, where they take customer complaints every day.
Facebook – 4.2M followers
Twitter – 175K followers
Youtube – 24.6K followers
LinkedIn – 323.5K followers
Instagram – 43.5K followers
Although Capital One is one of the newer banks in the United States, it has grown fast. It even helped to pioneer the mass marketing of credit cards in the late 1990’s.
With over 4 million followers, Capital One is one of the top financial services brands on Facebook today and they’re skilled at using major events to promote themselves. For example, they’ve partnered with the NCAA, hosted concerts and tied their brand to major events like March Madness.
“Capital One is investing heavily in [social media],” Patrick McLean, VP of Digital Brand Strategy for Capital One, explains. “And if we are able to scale it effectively, it will reach customers and consumers in truly valuable ways.”
Trust is Key
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, the challenge of gaining and maintaining long-term customer trust is applicable to most industries and although it is much trickier to navigate in finance, an area where compliance issues have held a social stranglehold for many years, it is the key to success.
Finance can seem difficult to comprehend and, at times, frightening to clients. Therefore, it is important for brands to allay these consumer concerns. Creating conversation and building relationships via social can ultimately gain brand trust.
Brands such as St James’s Place Wealth Management have tied finance into popular areas of interest such as plannig for increased longevity, while others like Capital One and Morgan Stanley have highlighted the human impact of finance.
The onus is on these brands, and others in the finance industry, to use their high profile on social media for the greater good: satisfied clients and an honourable trusted reputation.
For bespoke social media marketing advice to take full advantage of the opportunities available to you via #LinkedIn in 2020, schedule an initial phone consultation here.
