Using social media in your bank or financial institution’s marketing plan is an effective strategy for increasing engagement and reaching target audiences.
The benefits of banks using social media marketing include:
Improving financial literacy—Many Americans between 18 and 49 turn to social media for financial advice. Your platform offers you the space to educate followers and non-followers about saving money, managing finances, and understanding the banking industry.
Providing accurate financial advice—There is a growing number of content creators who are not financial professionals but who are gaining popularity as financial influencers (finfluencers), offering incorrect or misguided information about finances and banking. The content on your platform can set you up as a trusted source for accurate financial advice and information.
Boosting your brand—A successful social media marketing strategy can help you get the name of your bank out to your target audience, increasing brand awareness and brand recognition among those in your service areas.
Increasing your customer list—When you combine brand recognition with helpful and trustworthy content, you increase your likelihood of winning people over and gaining new customers.
Does your bank really need social media marketing? Immediately yes.
Social media marketing is a highly effective way to connect with your audience, reach new audiences, and increase the number of people you serve. It’s also a definite way to differentiate your institution from the rest.
Through the power of social media marketing, you can improve financial literacy for those who engage with your content, provide accurate financial advice, boost your brand to those inside and outside of your audience, and ultimately increase the number of customers you serve.
Younger Users Seek Out Financial Advice Through Social Media
Let’s start with one of the biggest points about social media right now: users are starting to use some platforms as search engines in addition to connecting with friends, family, and content creators. Many users, especially those between 18 and 49, turn to platforms like TikTok and Instagram for research and life advice. Why? Because short-form videos and infographics are easy to find and consume.
Sorry, did we say easy? We meant really easy.
Informational videos that are either seconds or minutes long don’t take as much time and effort to consume as long-form videos or articles because their content is designed to be easier to understand. They work to take complex information and boil it down into something easier to understand, consume, and share. They’re also easy to search for.
Many users seek out short videos or infographics about financial topics, as they are easier to follow and understand than the content you’d likely find in lengthy articles or long, drawn-out videos.
This is great news for banks who want to begin using or improving their social media marketing! It gives you the chance to educate audiences about financial topics they are actively searching to learn.
Two major benefits of education-focused marketing tactics are improving financial literacy and being a source for accurate financial advice.
Use Social Media Marketing to Help Users Improve Their Financial Literacy
As we mentioned, many social media users turn to their favorite platforms for financial advice because they don’t necessarily learn it anywhere else.
Here are some stats that speak to that:
- 56% of American adults, especially younger Americans, are anxious about their finances.
- The National Financial Educators Council (NFEC) found that 52% of teens 15-18 who took an age-appropriate financial literacy test could not pass it.
- In 2021, 35 US states scored a C or worse in high school financial literacy.
- 25% of Americans claim not to have anyone to turn to for financial advice or guidance.
- 48% of Gen Z have reported using social media to learn about investing and finances.
- 42% of millennials have reported using social media to learn about investing and finances.
Since social media is available for people to use and because younger people like millennials and Gen Zers are so proficient in using it, your content can be the source of information they want and need to start improving their financial literacy. With the right content strategies, you can feed followers and non-followers alike the financial facts, tips, and tricks they want to know to improve their own finances and grow their wealth.
Use Social Media Marketing to Become a Source for Reliable and Accurate Information
Because there is such a financial literacy drought among the majority of Americans, especially younger Americans, a space has been created for financial influencers (often referred to as finfluencers) on platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook. These finfluencers take to their accounts and post reels, infographics, or stories about finances with the goal of educating their followers, growing their follower count, and increasing their status as an influencer on social media.
The only problem is that too many of these finfluencers are not professionals or financial experts. Their content is not built on expertise or experience, which can lead to the spread of misguided advice and incorrect information about finance and banking.
As a bank or financial institution operated by experienced and educated professionals, your platform can enter the finfluencer space and become a source for reliable and accurate information about the banking and financial industry, something people need and want today.
Plus, since you likely have a team or team member dedicated to compliance checks, you can pass your content through the compliance department to ensure everything in your intended post is cleared for audience consumption.
Active Social Media Accounts Help Boost Your Brand and Land New Customers
Marketing your bank can be a tricky thing to do. On the one hand, pretty much everyone needs banking services at some point in their lives, which is great news for you!
On the other hand, nearly all banks offer the same sort of products and services.
Chances are, your institution offers checking and savings accounts, loans, certificates of deposit, lines of credit, investment services, and other products and services similar to those of the other community or national banks in your area.
Maybe you can offer higher dividends or lower interest rates, which is a plus, but it’s not a guarantee that users will choose your bank over the other options available.
How do people choose their banks? Most base their final decision on factors like:
- Fees
- Interest rates
- Product options
- Online and mobile banking capabilities
- Proximity to locations
- Reviews from other bank users
- Quality of customer service
Some even choose whoever their parents, friends, or other family members use. Some don’t even really think about it; they just drive to the closest bank and set up an account.
And once that account has been established, it tends to stay that way for a nice, long time. Unless there’s a really good reason to switch, the majority of those with an account somewhere would rather keep their account(s) than go through the effort of opening a new account with a new bank, transferring all their money, and closing the old account with the previous bank.
In 2023, roughly a third of Americans did switch banks, which was a significant increase from the approximately 9% who switched in 2022. But that still left 60+% Americans, the majority, holding on to the accounts they already had. According to reports, the sizeable jump in bank switchers occurred out of frustration over rising fees, worsening rates, declines in customer service, and lack of more efficient banking services.
Convincing people who bank somewhere else to switch over to your bank takes effort. There are plenty of marketing tactics you can execute to spread the word about your bank or financial institution, score new customers, and retain the customers you already serve. But out of all your options, social media marketing is one of the more highly effective tools for navigating the challenges of marketing your bank—challenges like brand awareness and customer growth.
Use Social Media to Educate Users About Your Brand, Product, and Services
One of the first things a bank needs to conquer, especially a small community or local bank, is brand awareness. We’ve all known about the big national banks, the ones with locations across the United States and some with commercials that play in slots as significant as that big football game we can’t legally mention by name. These banks or institutions have no problem with brand awareness—seemingly everyone is aware of them.
The banks that need more people to know about them are the regional or community banks, which must still compete with the national banks in their area. The people in your service area need to know that your bank:
- Exists.
- Has all the banking solutions anyone would need to manage their finances and grow their wealth.
A well-planned social media strategy can target those in your service area and educate audiences on who you are and what you can do for them. You can increase awareness around your bank, your checking and savings options, current interest rates, mobile banking solutions, and anything else that bank users want and need to know about your institution.
Use Social Media to Win Customers to Your Bank and Grow Your Business
Remember when we said that it’s important for people to know that your bank exists and has all the solutions a person would need to bank with you? There was actually a third point we left off the list. The people in your service area need to know that your bank:
- Is worth making the switch to.
The content you put out to audiences through your social media marketing can and should be crafted in a way that shows users the benefit of making the switch to your bank, whatever those benefits* may be.
As we mentioned, banks have a more challenging time winning over new customers for several reasons, especially these:
- The products and services that banks offer aren’t unique.
- Once a person establishes a bank account somewhere, they are not inclined to switch to a different bank all too soon because of the effort it takes to make the switch.
These natural downsides can create hurdles in your marketing journey as you work to win more people over to your bank. But, by putting out content on social media that is helpful, informative, accurate, and sells the authenticity of your bank’s brand, you’re better positioned to convert users into customers and increase your business.
*When thinking about the benefits your bank offers or the uniques that separate you from your competition, avoid naming the benefit of “great customer service.” Avoid it at all costs. While you may prioritize customer service, that’s something everyone says and something most also carry out. It’s as effective as saying “existing” is a benefit of yours. What you could promote instead are the specifics about your great customer service, whether that includes 24/7 phone services, direct phone lines to certain team members, guaranteed same-day or next-day response times, or other such specifics.
Get Optimized Social Media Marketing Solutions for Your Bank Today: 478-621-4491
M&R Marketing knows bank marketing deeply. With an in-house subject matter expert and nearly 200 years of collective marketing experience under our belts, the M&R team is your source for impactful, effective social media marketing, in addition to all other forms of marketing, including:
- Branding
- Search engine marketing (SEM)
- Search engine optimization (SEO)
- Email marketing
- Traditional advertising
- Photo and video marketing
- Marketing strategy creation
- Digital advertising
Are you ready to see how social media marketing can benefit you? Call 478-621-4491 to speak with one of our business development managers today!
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