August 9, 2022

Economic Trends Driving Social Media Activity

New research from social media pros and partners, Denim Social and UpContent, shows that economic trends like rising interest rates and inflation are impacting more than bank accounts – they’re influencing social media activity. Denim Social and UpContent integrate to offer financial marketers curated collections of relevant, high-quality and compliant social media content.

Hundreds of UpContent-derived third-party articles are shared by Denim Social users every week generating thousands of clicks. This integration provides unique insights on what content is resonating and driving engagement. The pulse study data shows three key social trends from the first half of 2022, including:

Financial Wellness Content on the Rise

From Q1-Q2 this year, the number of clicks per financial wellness article shared were up nearly 10%, indicating that  social media users are interested to learn more about financial health during tough economic conditions. Sharing credible financial wellness content can help both financial brands and individual producers educate followers and build trust.

Expanded Content Resources Available for Real Estate and Mortgage

Marketers increased available content in both real estate (+27%) and mortgage (+38%), helping users navigate spring buying season and a changing interest rate environment. In today's market, mortgage loan officers see the value in using social media to build and maintain strong relationships.

Social Media Interest on the Rise for Banking

Banking users are getting more traction with social media, boasting a 36% increase in clicks per article shared, quarter over quarter. This affirms Denim Social research showing year-over-year increases in social media channel adoption within the banking industry.

Content sourcing continues to be a challenge for financial marketers. Not only is it time consuming, it can be especially tough to find high-quality, credible content. Together, Denim Social and UpContent make it easy to source curated, third-party articles. Here’s how it works:

  • Simply log in to Denim Social to access the curated content libraries. No search engine required and custom libraries can be quickly created for you to directly address the content needs of your market and strategy without as much as lifting a finger.
  • Curated posts include pre-populated post captions or your team can customize the message to fit your brand.
  • Select posts to use at the brand level or your marketing team can pre-approve and organize posts for employee use.

Wondering if Denim Social and UpContent is a fit for your financial institution? Check out what our customers have to say:

It’s really handy to have the UpContent Library in the Denim Social platform that we can grab trending topics from;  we can customize both the topics we want to see and articles from publications that our team prefers. We can also be specific to our various markets to include more local content in addition to industry-wide news.

-Tiffany Van Zandt, Marketing Specialist, Bank of Oklahoma

“Denim’s partnership with UpContent gave us a whole library of engaging content in just a few clicks. The articles provided allows us to share updates in the financial industry, what’s going on in our communities, and overall personal wellness. Since we started posted with UpContent, every one of our end users has experienced growth with their page engagement.”

-Ken Stump, Digital Marketing Specialist-Content Team Lead, Dart Bank

If you’re ready to fire up a social selling strategy with pre-approved content libraries and approval workflows, we’re here to help. Sign up for a demo to learn how Denim Social can help your institution level-up its social media strategy.

About UpContent:

UpContent helps marketing, sales, and HR professionals build trust, deepen relationships, and drive revenue through strategically curated content. UpContent analyzes millions of articles monthly and taps into the collective expertise of their company’s team by empowering individuals to engage with, and enrich, high-quality articles prior to sharing with customers and prospects through one of UpContent’s many social media, email marketing, and website partnerships and integrations. For more information, visit https://www.upcontent.com.

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August 9, 2022

Economic Trends Driving Social Media Activity

By
Doug Wilber
CEO, Denim Social

New research from social media pros and partners, Denim Social and UpContent, shows that economic trends like rising interest rates and inflation are impacting more than bank accounts – they’re influencing social media activity. Denim Social and UpContent integrate to offer financial marketers curated collections of relevant, high-quality and compliant social media content.

Hundreds of UpContent-derived third-party articles are shared by Denim Social users every week generating thousands of clicks. This integration provides unique insights on what content is resonating and driving engagement. The pulse study data shows three key social trends from the first half of 2022, including:

Financial Wellness Content on the Rise

From Q1-Q2 this year, the number of clicks per financial wellness article shared were up nearly 10%, indicating that  social media users are interested to learn more about financial health during tough economic conditions. Sharing credible financial wellness content can help both financial brands and individual producers educate followers and build trust.

Expanded Content Resources Available for Real Estate and Mortgage

Marketers increased available content in both real estate (+27%) and mortgage (+38%), helping users navigate spring buying season and a changing interest rate environment. In today's market, mortgage loan officers see the value in using social media to build and maintain strong relationships.

Social Media Interest on the Rise for Banking

Banking users are getting more traction with social media, boasting a 36% increase in clicks per article shared, quarter over quarter. This affirms Denim Social research showing year-over-year increases in social media channel adoption within the banking industry.

Content sourcing continues to be a challenge for financial marketers. Not only is it time consuming, it can be especially tough to find high-quality, credible content. Together, Denim Social and UpContent make it easy to source curated, third-party articles. Here’s how it works:

  • Simply log in to Denim Social to access the curated content libraries. No search engine required and custom libraries can be quickly created for you to directly address the content needs of your market and strategy without as much as lifting a finger.
  • Curated posts include pre-populated post captions or your team can customize the message to fit your brand.
  • Select posts to use at the brand level or your marketing team can pre-approve and organize posts for employee use.

Wondering if Denim Social and UpContent is a fit for your financial institution? Check out what our customers have to say:

It’s really handy to have the UpContent Library in the Denim Social platform that we can grab trending topics from;  we can customize both the topics we want to see and articles from publications that our team prefers. We can also be specific to our various markets to include more local content in addition to industry-wide news.

-Tiffany Van Zandt, Marketing Specialist, Bank of Oklahoma

“Denim’s partnership with UpContent gave us a whole library of engaging content in just a few clicks. The articles provided allows us to share updates in the financial industry, what’s going on in our communities, and overall personal wellness. Since we started posted with UpContent, every one of our end users has experienced growth with their page engagement.”

-Ken Stump, Digital Marketing Specialist-Content Team Lead, Dart Bank

If you’re ready to fire up a social selling strategy with pre-approved content libraries and approval workflows, we’re here to help. Sign up for a demo to learn how Denim Social can help your institution level-up its social media strategy.

About UpContent:

UpContent helps marketing, sales, and HR professionals build trust, deepen relationships, and drive revenue through strategically curated content. UpContent analyzes millions of articles monthly and taps into the collective expertise of their company’s team by empowering individuals to engage with, and enrich, high-quality articles prior to sharing with customers and prospects through one of UpContent’s many social media, email marketing, and website partnerships and integrations. For more information, visit https://www.upcontent.com.

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SIMILAR POSTS:

Being responsible for your team’s social selling strategy can be daunting, especially if you don’t have a plan or support. We see it firsthand at Denim Social – without a meaningful strategy, users may not be eager (or downright resistant) to jump on a new platform. So, how are others getting their teams onboard? We learn a lot from our Denim Social customers to learn how they’re making it happen. Overall, we have observed four keys to adoption success.

Activate a hybrid distribution approach.

We find that teams that utilize a hybrid approach to posting have the most empowered associates. What does it look like in practice? This usually includes the marketing team posting brand content on behalf of associates, and associates scheduling out pre-approved industry content from a content library, plus sprinkling in their own personal content. And rest assured, that personal content still goes through approval workflows.  

Build a robust content library.

If you’re going to ask associates to post content, you’ve got to make it easy and compliant. Our platform offers content libraries filled with pre-approved posts. We see that when associates have lots of content to choose from, they post more frequently.

It's a win-win for all: Compliance teams can be confident that they are managing any content that's being posted, marketing teams can provide support more readily and get more messaging across, and users can quickly build up a content calendar with engaging, customizable posts.

Communicate the value of social media consistently.

Your teams need to be able to answer the age old question, “what’s in it for me?” Your teams are busy and that means you need to help them see why spending their valuable time on social media is worth it.

In a time when meeting customers where they are means being on social media, it's essential that intermediaries look to their networks to take advantage of existing connections and forming new ones. Social media is a highly visible and time-efficient way to strengthen important relationships. It's all about doing more with less!

Train and Train Again

Baking social media and Denim Social training into the onboarding process is a great way to introduce new and motivated associates to a fresh way to drive their business.  It is also important to keep social media top of mind for ALL associates. An ongoing training program outlining compliance/social policy, the value of social media and Denim Social is a must, whether it be monthly or quarterly. Marketing is not often top of mind for salespeople, so it is important to continuously educate them on how to get involved and optimize their strategies.  

Many of our Denim Social customers set up trainings that include: monthly new hire social media and compliance training courses, Denim Social overviews, a monthly Denim Social refresher training, a Quarterly Strategy training, and ongoing 1:1 assistance for users. It's all about keeping social media top of mind and having easy access to resources.

For many, these training programs are a well oiled machine, and keeps their social program growing by educating and informing users consistently.

If you’re struggling with adoption, these strategies can help. And of course, persistence pays off.

Social media is only as valuable as its users and that makes adoption key. If you’re struggling to motivate your team to hop on the social media bandwagon the right tools and support can make all the difference. If you want to learn more about how the Denim Social platform works, schedule a demo with us today.


Denim Social, a leading provider of social selling software for the mortgage industry, is proud to announce it has joined The Mortgage Collaborative. Together, the two organizations will educate mortgage lenders on the power of social selling and help them elevate their social selling programs to increase mortgage loan officer success. 

The Mortgage Collaborative empowers mortgage lenders across the country with better financial execution, reduced costs, enhanced expertise and improved compliance. As consumer behavior shifts online and in a highly competitive marketplace, The Mortgage Collaborative also helps members reach and access prospective clients. 

“Social selling is an essential tool for today’s mortgage lenders,” said Tom Gallucci, Senior Vice President of Business Development at The Mortgage Collaborative. “Partners like Denim Social will help our members build trust online, stay compliant and, most importantly, close more deals.”

Members of The Mortgage Collaborative and customers of Denim Social will have access to member only pricing, resources and training. 

“We’re excited to be a part of The Mortgage Collaborative – an organization that so many of our customers gain great value from already. We’re looking forward to collaborating with TMC on special content and resources, as well as forging deeper connections with members,” said Doug Wilber, CEO of Denim Social. 

Click here to learn more about Denim Social and the Mortgage Collaborative’s partnership.

Denim Social is excited to share that its platform will now offer integrated customer relationship management (CRM) capabilities through a new integration with award-winning CRM, lead management, and engagement platform, Insellerate. Denim Social users can now automatically capture leads generated from Denim Social Pages in the Insellerate platform.

Social selling is a non-negotiable to drive a modern marketing strategy, but without the right tools, loan officers struggle to connect social media activity to real life opportunity. Together with Denim Social, Insellerate users can track and automate social media leads, taking prospects from click to contract.

“People buy from people. In this environment, relationships matter more than ever,” said Doug Wilber, CEO of Denim Social. “Together, Denim Social and Insellerate can help loan officers transform social media relationships into deals closed.”

Here’s how the integration works:

  • Mortgage marketers who use both Denim Social and Insellerate can connect the platforms.
  • When a prospective borrowers or industry contact completes a form on a Denim Social landing page, the lead will be automatically distributed to track in Insellerate and trigger engagement via automation.
  • With the Denim Social integration, Insellerate records will be created, updated, assigned, and marketing automations triggered – no emails or manual updates needed.

“We know the right tools can empower loan officers to engage more effectively with industry professionals and borrowers alike,” said Josh Friend, CEO and founder of Insellerate. “When every deal counts, social selling with the Denim Social integration can help Insellerate users increase conversion rates, lower costs and, of course, close more deals.”  

Homestead Funding, a multi-state licensed mortgage lender, actively uses the Denim Social platform to reach and engage prospects. The Insellerate integration was developed to meet the needs of Homestead’s team.

Denim Social is invested in the financial industry, bringing valuable tools and unique expertise to our partnership,” said Daniela Bigalli, SVP sales and marketing Homestead Funding Corp. “When we approached Denim Social and Insellerate with our overall vision they were collaborative and excited to build an integration that was tailored to our team’s needs. Working together we feel confident that we can achieve our goals of a streamlined and efficient user experience for our loan originators.”

Ready to maximize your social selling and fire up leads in your CRM? Connect with a Denim Social or Insellerate representative to activate the integration.

It’s been an exciting year so far at Denim Social. Yes, we’ve said this kind of thing before, but the past few months have been a transformative time for our company. The theme? Growth! Our users are growing, our partnerships are growing, our team is growing and even our awards shelf is getting bigger.

Check out what we’ve been up to:

Denim Social Platform Breaks Growth Records

Denim Social users are posting more than ever before. In fact, the number of network social posts has increased more than 300% year over year. As financial institutions adopt social selling strategies, posts are coming from more users. We’re so proud to report a 370% increase in connected network users since last year.

“From banks to mortgage companies, financial institutions are discovering the power of social selling,” said Doug Wilber, Denim Social CEO. “Social selling strategies are helping Denim Social customers use relationships to expand their social media reach, increase engagement and, most importantly, drive business results.”

With more posts and more users than ever before, Denim Social continues to post record growth.

New Partnerships Drive Customer Results

We’re helping Denim Social users get better results from social media by creating connected customer journeys online. Our newest integration with Insellerate, for example, helps mortgage lenders identify opportunities that take prospects from clicks to contracts. Insellerate is an award-winning, modern CRM, Lead Management and Engagement platform that helps loan officers close more loans.

Denim Social’s platform now fully integrates with the industry’s leading systems, including:

  • Experience.com
  • Insellerate
  • SureFire
  • Total Expert

Stay tuned for more partnership and integration news in the coming year. At Denim Social we understand the challenges of scaling social selling programs and know that integrations create efficiencies that not only drive results, but help make life easier for marketers and social sellers alike.

Customer Success Award Wins

Our platform is not the only reason for our growth at Denim Social. Every day our customer success team is helping marketing teams plan and implement social selling strategies that get results. Their work was recently recognized with three exciting G2 awards:

  • Best Support (Fall 2022)
  • High Performer (Fall 2022)
  • Easiest to do Business With (Fall 2022)

The Denim Social customer success team partners with clients to launch social selling programs and provide attentive support to scale and expand.

Denim Social Promotes Leaders; Increases Headcount

As Denim Social’s technology and services grow, its headcount is increasing too. This year the company has grown staff by 95%.

We’re also excited to share that Christina Trapolino has been promoted to senior vice president, revenue. Trapolino now leads our dynamic sales organization, helping more financial institutions elevate the way they connect and sell on social media.

Talented professionals have joined the team from across the country, enjoying flexibility and the opportunity to meaningfully contribute at a growth-stage business. And we’re still growing our team! Check out our Careers page for more information on open positions.

Eureka! You’ve found the perfect news article to link to in a social media post. It’s from a trustworthy news source, has a great headline and image, but then you see it. Whomp whomp... this article promotes your competitor.

Choosing third-party news content for your social media feeds can be a challenge for a number of reasons, but the last thing you want is to give your competitors love in your post. There’s no hard and fast rule for deciding if an article is good to post, but here are a few general guidelines we share with our Denim Social customers.

If the article is sponsored by a competitor: Skip it!

Increasingly media outlets are working with brands to create sponsored content. It may read like a regular editorial article, but look closely, if it includes a “brought to you by” or a “created in partnership” disclosure, it may be sponsored. If the article was bought by your competition, it will serve their business goals. Best to avoid these in your posts.

If the article contains a quote from a competitor: It depends.

Media outlets use quotes to bring their stories to life with expert perspectives. If your team tries to avoid all news articles with quotes from competitive experts, you can quickly find yourself without any third party content. News content brings authenticity to your social feeds and builds trust. The tradeoff is that not all of the content will include your experts. Read quotes critically and only post articles that support your institution’s strategies and values. It’s about finding the right balance for your team.

If the article contains banner ads from a competitor: Use it.

Banner ads are ubiquitous and you probably feel like you’re seeing promotions for your competitors all the time. That’s because you are. If you frequently visit competitor websites, search for them or click on their promos, you will be served their digital ads. In all likelihood you’re more actively engaging with your competitors compared to the average consumer. Our online habits vary widely and digital ads change quickly, which means your target audience probably won’t be served the same ads as you see. Don’t let one competitive banner ad stop you from sharing that fantastic news article.

Financial marketing presents plenty of challenges, but don’t let competitor concerns stop you from making the most of social media and digital strategies. Using these handy tips and trusting your own expert instincts, you can avoid a competitive social media misstep.

If you’re struggling to find the right content for your financial institution’s social media posts, we can help. The Denim Social platform offers financial marketers the ability to curate collections of relevant, high-quality and compliant social media content. Learn more here.



How Denim Social Works With Agency Partners to Create Consistent,Compliant Digital Marketing for Financial Services

Many financial institutions partner with outside agencies to create digital marketing experiences. They hire agencies to do what they do best: build connections to customers in creative ways. Even with this support, however, financial services marketers still have to ensure every piece of digital marketing stays compliant and distribute those pieces to their brand, branch, and employee feeds.

That’s where Denim Social fits into the picture — not as a replacement for agencies you’re already working with, but as a tool to boost their efforts. Financial institutions can turn to Denim Social to work with agency partners to activate more effective, efficient, and compliant social media marketing strategies. When agencies can rely on our compliance and management platform to cover the logistics behind social media marketing, they can focus all of their energy on crafting impactful campaigns. And financial institutions can get more out of their marketing dollars.

Here’s how we can work with agency partners to support financial institutions’ social media strategies and digital marketing efforts:

1. Curated Content for Social Media

So you’ve hired an agency to craft your social media marketing strategy and write attention-grabbing, interest-piquing posts. But not all of your social media posts should be new content. Your brand and employees should also share relevant news or helpful guides from other reliable sources.

You don’t need to task your agency partners with curating existing material Denim Social can free up their time to focus on creating new campaigns with our curated content support.​ Our integration with content curation industry leader UpContent brings relevant, curated articles directly to the Denim Social platform, so marketers or agencies don’t have to be responsible for sourcing every post. That means a lot, especially for financial institutions running social selling campaigns where hundreds or even thousands of employees post brand-related content.

2. Social Media Compliance Tools

The last thing any digital marketing agency wants is to create content that will land your brand in regulatory trouble. But financial institution marketers understand that even one noncompliant post could be a big problem. Denim Social can serve as the compliance checkpoint between the content an agency creates and the public, ensuring no posts go live that shouldn’t.

Our platform offers keyword and phrase filtering to bring any creative copy with potentially noncompliant messaging to your attention — before it goes live. What’s more, automated approval workflows can streamline agencies’ communication with financial institution marketers, compliance teams, and other stakeholders to get the proper sign-off on every post with ease. Marketers also know they must record every social post and interaction in case they get audited by regulatory agencies, but agency partners shouldn’t have to focus their efforts on administrative tasks and record-keeping. That’s where Denim Social can help with automatic archiving tools to get tedious tasks out of the way and let agencies do what they do best. 

3. Paid Social Media Management
Denim Social can work with agencies to deliver the best possible results for paid social media advertising. Our proprietary social media ads manager automatically optimizes ads’ performance and consolidates all social media platforms into one easily accessible dashboard for a one-stop shop.

When agencies can efficiently manage and optimize ads, they can easily scale campaigns at the brand, location, and advisor level. And when agencies can scale further and deliver more results, financial institutions get more bang for their agency buck.

4. Accurate, Data-Driven Results

Financial institution leaders need data to inform the smartest and most impactful decisions when determining where to allocate their marketing budgets. So agencies must provide that data to prove their worth beyond vanity metrics alone. Denim Social can help by clearly connecting social media campaigns to real business results.


For example, agency partners can easily create landing pages for each campaign using our Landing Page Builder. From there, they can incorporate landing page links into the social media marketing strategy and track analytics to see how many prospects followed the digital journey from social post to landing page to getting in touch to learn more. Essentially, social media can drive conversions — which translates to more profit for your institution. And Denim Social can help provide the analytics agencies need to prove it.

Successful digital marketing for financial services has to cover a lot of bases. It must be relevant, consistent, and compliant. Few financial institutions can do all of that on their own — and even their agency partners can use a hand to create more efficient and effective campaigns. That’s whereDenim Social fits into the mix. We don’t replace agencies: We support them in creating the strongest possible social media marketing strategies for financial institutions.

Connect & Convert on Social

Successfully scale conversion optimized campaigns across all social media channels with built-in compliance, publishing tools, and more.
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GUIDES

Economic Trends Driving Social Media Activity

New research from social media pros and partners, Denim Social and UpContent, shows that economic trends like rising interest rates and inflation are impacting more than bank accounts – they’re influencing social media activity. Denim Social and UpContent integrate to offer financial marketers curated collections of relevant, high-quality and compliant social media content.

Hundreds of UpContent-derived third-party articles are shared by Denim Social users every week generating thousands of clicks. This integration provides unique insights on what content is resonating and driving engagement. The pulse study data shows three key social trends from the first half of 2022, including:

Financial Wellness Content on the Rise

From Q1-Q2 this year, the number of clicks per financial wellness article shared were up nearly 10%, indicating that  social media users are interested to learn more about financial health during tough economic conditions. Sharing credible financial wellness content can help both financial brands and individual producers educate followers and build trust.

Expanded Content Resources Available for Real Estate and Mortgage

Marketers increased available content in both real estate (+27%) and mortgage (+38%), helping users navigate spring buying season and a changing interest rate environment. In today's market, mortgage loan officers see the value in using social media to build and maintain strong relationships.

Social Media Interest on the Rise for Banking

Banking users are getting more traction with social media, boasting a 36% increase in clicks per article shared, quarter over quarter. This affirms Denim Social research showing year-over-year increases in social media channel adoption within the banking industry.

Content sourcing continues to be a challenge for financial marketers. Not only is it time consuming, it can be especially tough to find high-quality, credible content. Together, Denim Social and UpContent make it easy to source curated, third-party articles. Here’s how it works:

  • Simply log in to Denim Social to access the curated content libraries. No search engine required and custom libraries can be quickly created for you to directly address the content needs of your market and strategy without as much as lifting a finger.
  • Curated posts include pre-populated post captions or your team can customize the message to fit your brand.
  • Select posts to use at the brand level or your marketing team can pre-approve and organize posts for employee use.

Wondering if Denim Social and UpContent is a fit for your financial institution? Check out what our customers have to say:

It’s really handy to have the UpContent Library in the Denim Social platform that we can grab trending topics from;  we can customize both the topics we want to see and articles from publications that our team prefers. We can also be specific to our various markets to include more local content in addition to industry-wide news.

-Tiffany Van Zandt, Marketing Specialist, Bank of Oklahoma

“Denim’s partnership with UpContent gave us a whole library of engaging content in just a few clicks. The articles provided allows us to share updates in the financial industry, what’s going on in our communities, and overall personal wellness. Since we started posted with UpContent, every one of our end users has experienced growth with their page engagement.”

-Ken Stump, Digital Marketing Specialist-Content Team Lead, Dart Bank

If you’re ready to fire up a social selling strategy with pre-approved content libraries and approval workflows, we’re here to help. Sign up for a demo to learn how Denim Social can help your institution level-up its social media strategy.

About UpContent:

UpContent helps marketing, sales, and HR professionals build trust, deepen relationships, and drive revenue through strategically curated content. UpContent analyzes millions of articles monthly and taps into the collective expertise of their company’s team by empowering individuals to engage with, and enrich, high-quality articles prior to sharing with customers and prospects through one of UpContent’s many social media, email marketing, and website partnerships and integrations. For more information, visit https://www.upcontent.com.

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ALL GUIDES:

Like many community banks, Dart Bank wanted to keep customer relationships a top priority. This meant being more available to customers and meeting them where they are. In modern terms, that means on social media.

When Dart Bank learned about how Denim Social supports social selling for loan officers, they knew it was the perfect fit to keep their team engaged at every step of the journey. They wanted to empower their loan officers to create and grow authentic relationships online, never missing an opportunity to connect.

Shelter Insurance® sought to launch a social selling program that would not only create posting efficiency, but also make it easy for agents to establish subject matter expertise via high quality social media content. They also saw an opportunity to empower digitally savvy agents to cultivate leads online to drive business results in a compliant social selling program.

Before launching the program, it was essential that agents understood the pillars of social selling. Together with the Denim Social team, Shelter Insurance® developed a best-in-class program communication, onboarding and training process for agents.

Social selling is just what it sounds like: using social media to sell a product or service. It’s leveraging social to build personal relationships, showcase thought leadership, engage with prospects, interact with existing customers, and ultimately build trust and rapport that will eventually lead to sales.

It enables intermediaries – like insurance agents – to add value to the customer journey where there wouldn’t otherwise be an opportunity.

This guide will help financial services marketers understand why social media should be a core component of their marketing strategy and showcase how the collective reach of their intermediaries’ social media presence can be harnessed to more deeply connect with prospective clients, position producers as thought leaders in their communities, and, ultimately, build trust with clients that translates to positive business results.

It’s called social selling and it works.

The spring 2023 buying season has arrived and with it – you guessed – uncertainty. Spring has long been make-it or break-it season for lenders and loan officers, and despite present conditions, the same holds true this year. But 2023 holds unique challenges and opportunities.

As the season opens, there are a few key considerations the Denim Social team sees as critical for mortgage marketers.

Paid social is one of the most effective ways to introduce people who aren’t yet following your producers, agents, loan officers, or advisors to your financial institution at the right place and the right time.

Paid social is complementary to organic. While organic social builds first-degree connections and facilitates awareness, engagement, and branding, paid social allows you to reach larger, more tailored audiences.

BOK Financial is a financial services partner for consumers, businesses and wealth clients with more than 150 users on the Denim Social platform.

In addition to building brand credibility and establishing loan officer expertise, Denim Social enables their mortgage loan officers to cultivate relationships in social media and organically source leads.

As financial marketers look to the coming year, most are wondering, “what’s next?” While no one can say for sure, our team of experts here at Denim Social are keeping a pulse on what’s new in digital marketing for financial institutions on social media. This guide will not only educate you on the latest trends, but help you make the case for increased investment in social selling and digital marketing strategies at your institution.

Evolve Bank & Trust (“Evolve”) is an $700M+ asset institution with nearly 40 Home Loan Centers (HLC) and nearly 500 employees nationwide. See how Denim Social helped Evolve activate Home Loan Center Facebook pages over the course of just a few months.

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Whether you’re in banking, wealth management, insurance or mortgage, relationships are the bedrock of your business.

Considering clients in these industries are handing over the keys to their personal kingdoms, it’s no surprise that trust and connection matter. That’s why successful sales strategies for these industries are focused on building long-term, trusted relationships.

To truly unleash the potential of social, financial institutions need to use social media as a sales tool. It’s called social selling and it works.

The power of social media is undeniable. The ability of banks to engage with and influence customers and prospects via interactive digital channels is an essential tool and a cornerstone of marketing. Gone are the days when it was “nice to have” a presence on platforms such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram. Today, these pathways are helping banks to build relationships that were historically cultivated by tirelessly walking up and down Main Street, shaking hands and leaving behind business cards.

In this case study by Denim Social and American Bankers Association, we take a look at how banks are using social media to ramp up digital engagement and build sales.

As any marketer worth their salt will tell you, analytics should drive your social strategy. The key to success is understanding how to link social media efforts to ROI metrics. Read this guide to learn how to gain insights that matter, optimize your strategy and prove your social success.

It’s no surprise that social media can help drive results for your mortgage business. In fact, the question for most marketers at mortgage lending institutions isn’t IF they should be doing more social media marketing - it’s HOW. Download to learn how to:

  • Scale your social selling program
  • Plan your content strategy
  • Train your loan officers

AnnieMac is one of the fastest-growing mortgage loan providers in the U.S., serving clients in 42 states. Learn how Denim Social helped their team to streamline its brand’s social media strategy and activate social selling for hundreds of loan officers in just four months.

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Find out how more than 400 financial institutions across asset classes, geographies, and more used social media in 2020 to effectively support their business objectives. We’ve also outlined key trends to inform your social media future.

As mortgage demand surges to historic highs, home purchase and refinance markets remain hot. This is excellent news for loan officers, but it also means the environment is more competitive than ever.

So how can marketers ensure that their loan officers stand out? The answer is social media.

Read this guidebook from Denim Social to learn how you can help your loan officers build strong relationships, stand out from the crowd and win more business using social media.

Every Mortgage Marketer Should Ask Themselves

Compliance is complicated, but don’t let it stop your lending team from making the most of social media. Think you’re ready to start social selling? Ask yourself these five questions!

Download this guidebook to learn how marketers are using social media to:

  • Drive business with the lowest digital spend compared to traditional media
  • Position employees as thought-leaders while leveraging their collective reach of their social media presence
  • Ultimately, build trust with their communities and customers that translates to positive business results

Read this guide if you’re asking yourself:

  • Is my social media policy current and comprehensive?
  • How do I ensure social media compliance during M&A?
  • What do I need to consider for direct messaging compliance?

In this guide we will help you think about your all important social media policy and thoughtfully consider how changes in social media tech and even your bank’s structure may impact compliance.

Download this guidebook to learn how marketers are using social media to:

  • Drive business with the lowest digital spend compared to traditional media
  • Position employees as thought-leaders while leveraging their collective reach of their social media presence
  • Ultimately, build trust with their communities and customers that translates to positive business results

Every Financial Services Marketer Should Ask Themselves

Compliance is complicated, but don’t let it stop your lending team from making the most of social media. Think you’re ready to start social selling? Ask yourself these five questions!

Stronger Customer Relationships on Instagram

Financial Services companies should be marketing and advertising on Instagram. We break down why, and help you create a strategy to reach new customers- while continuing to build trust in your brand.

How 6 Financial Marketers Are Creating Value in Social Media

Ever wonder what everyone else is doing in social media? We talked to six leading financial marketers about how they’re succeeding today and planning for the next big thing.

Get their insights on strengthening your social strategies, unlocking the power of employee networks and creating next-level content that drives engagement.

Download this guidebook to learn how 3 mortgage lenders are using social media to:

  • Position themselves in a place the community is already looking ... their social media
  • Empower loan officers to engage in local conversations
  • Turn their institution's loan officers into the voice of their brand
  • Build trust within the community

Which roles do you fill when building your bank's marketing dream team? This guide will show you the following:

  • Who does what
  • The right structure to execute strategy
  • How compliance software can help

Enjoy!

Download this guidebook to learn how marketers are using social media to:

  • Drive business with the lowest digital spend compared to traditional media
  • Position employees as thought-leaders while leveraging their collective reach of their social media presence
  • Ultimately, build trust with their communities and customers that translates to positive business results

ABA Study: The Current State of Social Media

See what nearly 430 bank marketers had to say when asked questions such as:

  • Is it important to equip your sales personnel with social media accounts?
  • Does your bank measure the impact of your social media use?
  • COVID-19 & Bank Social Media

    Times are different and how you connect with customers and potential customers has changed drastically. In a socially distant world, learn to still build lasting relationships.

    Download and learn the guiding principles for using social media to serve both your customers and communities in the midst of a pandemic.

    GUIDES

    Economic Trends Driving Social Media Activity

    New research from social media pros and partners, Denim Social and UpContent, shows that economic trends like rising interest rates and inflation are impacting more than bank accounts – they’re influencing social media activity. Denim Social and UpContent integrate to offer financial marketers curated collections of relevant, high-quality and compliant social media content.

    Hundreds of UpContent-derived third-party articles are shared by Denim Social users every week generating thousands of clicks. This integration provides unique insights on what content is resonating and driving engagement. The pulse study data shows three key social trends from the first half of 2022, including:

    Financial Wellness Content on the Rise

    From Q1-Q2 this year, the number of clicks per financial wellness article shared were up nearly 10%, indicating that  social media users are interested to learn more about financial health during tough economic conditions. Sharing credible financial wellness content can help both financial brands and individual producers educate followers and build trust.

    Expanded Content Resources Available for Real Estate and Mortgage

    Marketers increased available content in both real estate (+27%) and mortgage (+38%), helping users navigate spring buying season and a changing interest rate environment. In today's market, mortgage loan officers see the value in using social media to build and maintain strong relationships.

    Social Media Interest on the Rise for Banking

    Banking users are getting more traction with social media, boasting a 36% increase in clicks per article shared, quarter over quarter. This affirms Denim Social research showing year-over-year increases in social media channel adoption within the banking industry.

    Content sourcing continues to be a challenge for financial marketers. Not only is it time consuming, it can be especially tough to find high-quality, credible content. Together, Denim Social and UpContent make it easy to source curated, third-party articles. Here’s how it works:

    • Simply log in to Denim Social to access the curated content libraries. No search engine required and custom libraries can be quickly created for you to directly address the content needs of your market and strategy without as much as lifting a finger.
    • Curated posts include pre-populated post captions or your team can customize the message to fit your brand.
    • Select posts to use at the brand level or your marketing team can pre-approve and organize posts for employee use.

    Wondering if Denim Social and UpContent is a fit for your financial institution? Check out what our customers have to say:

    It’s really handy to have the UpContent Library in the Denim Social platform that we can grab trending topics from;  we can customize both the topics we want to see and articles from publications that our team prefers. We can also be specific to our various markets to include more local content in addition to industry-wide news.

    -Tiffany Van Zandt, Marketing Specialist, Bank of Oklahoma

    “Denim’s partnership with UpContent gave us a whole library of engaging content in just a few clicks. The articles provided allows us to share updates in the financial industry, what’s going on in our communities, and overall personal wellness. Since we started posted with UpContent, every one of our end users has experienced growth with their page engagement.”

    -Ken Stump, Digital Marketing Specialist-Content Team Lead, Dart Bank

    If you’re ready to fire up a social selling strategy with pre-approved content libraries and approval workflows, we’re here to help. Sign up for a demo to learn how Denim Social can help your institution level-up its social media strategy.

    About UpContent:

    UpContent helps marketing, sales, and HR professionals build trust, deepen relationships, and drive revenue through strategically curated content. UpContent analyzes millions of articles monthly and taps into the collective expertise of their company’s team by empowering individuals to engage with, and enrich, high-quality articles prior to sharing with customers and prospects through one of UpContent’s many social media, email marketing, and website partnerships and integrations. For more information, visit https://www.upcontent.com.

    Download the Guide

    Thank you! Your submission has been received!
    Download Guide
    Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.
    Download Guide
    ALL GUIDES:

    Like many community banks, Dart Bank wanted to keep customer relationships a top priority. This meant being more available to customers and meeting them where they are. In modern terms, that means on social media.

    When Dart Bank learned about how Denim Social supports social selling for loan officers, they knew it was the perfect fit to keep their team engaged at every step of the journey. They wanted to empower their loan officers to create and grow authentic relationships online, never missing an opportunity to connect.

    Shelter Insurance® sought to launch a social selling program that would not only create posting efficiency, but also make it easy for agents to establish subject matter expertise via high quality social media content. They also saw an opportunity to empower digitally savvy agents to cultivate leads online to drive business results in a compliant social selling program.

    Before launching the program, it was essential that agents understood the pillars of social selling. Together with the Denim Social team, Shelter Insurance® developed a best-in-class program communication, onboarding and training process for agents.

    Social selling is just what it sounds like: using social media to sell a product or service. It’s leveraging social to build personal relationships, showcase thought leadership, engage with prospects, interact with existing customers, and ultimately build trust and rapport that will eventually lead to sales.

    It enables intermediaries – like insurance agents – to add value to the customer journey where there wouldn’t otherwise be an opportunity.

    This guide will help financial services marketers understand why social media should be a core component of their marketing strategy and showcase how the collective reach of their intermediaries’ social media presence can be harnessed to more deeply connect with prospective clients, position producers as thought leaders in their communities, and, ultimately, build trust with clients that translates to positive business results.

    It’s called social selling and it works.

    The spring 2023 buying season has arrived and with it – you guessed – uncertainty. Spring has long been make-it or break-it season for lenders and loan officers, and despite present conditions, the same holds true this year. But 2023 holds unique challenges and opportunities.

    As the season opens, there are a few key considerations the Denim Social team sees as critical for mortgage marketers.

    Paid social is one of the most effective ways to introduce people who aren’t yet following your producers, agents, loan officers, or advisors to your financial institution at the right place and the right time.

    Paid social is complementary to organic. While organic social builds first-degree connections and facilitates awareness, engagement, and branding, paid social allows you to reach larger, more tailored audiences.

    BOK Financial is a financial services partner for consumers, businesses and wealth clients with more than 150 users on the Denim Social platform.

    In addition to building brand credibility and establishing loan officer expertise, Denim Social enables their mortgage loan officers to cultivate relationships in social media and organically source leads.

    As financial marketers look to the coming year, most are wondering, “what’s next?” While no one can say for sure, our team of experts here at Denim Social are keeping a pulse on what’s new in digital marketing for financial institutions on social media. This guide will not only educate you on the latest trends, but help you make the case for increased investment in social selling and digital marketing strategies at your institution.

    Evolve Bank & Trust (“Evolve”) is an $700M+ asset institution with nearly 40 Home Loan Centers (HLC) and nearly 500 employees nationwide. See how Denim Social helped Evolve activate Home Loan Center Facebook pages over the course of just a few months.

    Download Here

    Whether you’re in banking, wealth management, insurance or mortgage, relationships are the bedrock of your business.

    Considering clients in these industries are handing over the keys to their personal kingdoms, it’s no surprise that trust and connection matter. That’s why successful sales strategies for these industries are focused on building long-term, trusted relationships.

    To truly unleash the potential of social, financial institutions need to use social media as a sales tool. It’s called social selling and it works.

    The power of social media is undeniable. The ability of banks to engage with and influence customers and prospects via interactive digital channels is an essential tool and a cornerstone of marketing. Gone are the days when it was “nice to have” a presence on platforms such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram. Today, these pathways are helping banks to build relationships that were historically cultivated by tirelessly walking up and down Main Street, shaking hands and leaving behind business cards.

    In this case study by Denim Social and American Bankers Association, we take a look at how banks are using social media to ramp up digital engagement and build sales.

    As any marketer worth their salt will tell you, analytics should drive your social strategy. The key to success is understanding how to link social media efforts to ROI metrics. Read this guide to learn how to gain insights that matter, optimize your strategy and prove your social success.

    It’s no surprise that social media can help drive results for your mortgage business. In fact, the question for most marketers at mortgage lending institutions isn’t IF they should be doing more social media marketing - it’s HOW. Download to learn how to:

    • Scale your social selling program
    • Plan your content strategy
    • Train your loan officers

    AnnieMac is one of the fastest-growing mortgage loan providers in the U.S., serving clients in 42 states. Learn how Denim Social helped their team to streamline its brand’s social media strategy and activate social selling for hundreds of loan officers in just four months.

    Instant Download

    Find out how more than 400 financial institutions across asset classes, geographies, and more used social media in 2020 to effectively support their business objectives. We’ve also outlined key trends to inform your social media future.

    As mortgage demand surges to historic highs, home purchase and refinance markets remain hot. This is excellent news for loan officers, but it also means the environment is more competitive than ever.

    So how can marketers ensure that their loan officers stand out? The answer is social media.

    Read this guidebook from Denim Social to learn how you can help your loan officers build strong relationships, stand out from the crowd and win more business using social media.

    Every Mortgage Marketer Should Ask Themselves

    Compliance is complicated, but don’t let it stop your lending team from making the most of social media. Think you’re ready to start social selling? Ask yourself these five questions!

    Download this guidebook to learn how marketers are using social media to:

    • Drive business with the lowest digital spend compared to traditional media
    • Position employees as thought-leaders while leveraging their collective reach of their social media presence
    • Ultimately, build trust with their communities and customers that translates to positive business results

    Read this guide if you’re asking yourself:

    • Is my social media policy current and comprehensive?
    • How do I ensure social media compliance during M&A?
    • What do I need to consider for direct messaging compliance?

    In this guide we will help you think about your all important social media policy and thoughtfully consider how changes in social media tech and even your bank’s structure may impact compliance.

    Download this guidebook to learn how marketers are using social media to:

    • Drive business with the lowest digital spend compared to traditional media
    • Position employees as thought-leaders while leveraging their collective reach of their social media presence
    • Ultimately, build trust with their communities and customers that translates to positive business results

    Every Financial Services Marketer Should Ask Themselves

    Compliance is complicated, but don’t let it stop your lending team from making the most of social media. Think you’re ready to start social selling? Ask yourself these five questions!

    Stronger Customer Relationships on Instagram

    Financial Services companies should be marketing and advertising on Instagram. We break down why, and help you create a strategy to reach new customers- while continuing to build trust in your brand.

    How 6 Financial Marketers Are Creating Value in Social Media

    Ever wonder what everyone else is doing in social media? We talked to six leading financial marketers about how they’re succeeding today and planning for the next big thing.

    Get their insights on strengthening your social strategies, unlocking the power of employee networks and creating next-level content that drives engagement.

    Download this guidebook to learn how 3 mortgage lenders are using social media to:

    • Position themselves in a place the community is already looking ... their social media
    • Empower loan officers to engage in local conversations
    • Turn their institution's loan officers into the voice of their brand
    • Build trust within the community

    Which roles do you fill when building your bank's marketing dream team? This guide will show you the following:

    • Who does what
    • The right structure to execute strategy
    • How compliance software can help

    Enjoy!

    Download this guidebook to learn how marketers are using social media to:

    • Drive business with the lowest digital spend compared to traditional media
    • Position employees as thought-leaders while leveraging their collective reach of their social media presence
    • Ultimately, build trust with their communities and customers that translates to positive business results

    ABA Study: The Current State of Social Media

    See what nearly 430 bank marketers had to say when asked questions such as:

  • Is it important to equip your sales personnel with social media accounts?
  • Does your bank measure the impact of your social media use?
  • COVID-19 & Bank Social Media

    Times are different and how you connect with customers and potential customers has changed drastically. In a socially distant world, learn to still build lasting relationships.

    Download and learn the guiding principles for using social media to serve both your customers and communities in the midst of a pandemic.

    GUIDES

    Economic Trends Driving Social Media Activity

    New research from social media pros and partners, Denim Social and UpContent, shows that economic trends like rising interest rates and inflation are impacting more than bank accounts – they’re influencing social media activity. Denim Social and UpContent integrate to offer financial marketers curated collections of relevant, high-quality and compliant social media content.

    Hundreds of UpContent-derived third-party articles are shared by Denim Social users every week generating thousands of clicks. This integration provides unique insights on what content is resonating and driving engagement. The pulse study data shows three key social trends from the first half of 2022, including:

    Financial Wellness Content on the Rise

    From Q1-Q2 this year, the number of clicks per financial wellness article shared were up nearly 10%, indicating that  social media users are interested to learn more about financial health during tough economic conditions. Sharing credible financial wellness content can help both financial brands and individual producers educate followers and build trust.

    Expanded Content Resources Available for Real Estate and Mortgage

    Marketers increased available content in both real estate (+27%) and mortgage (+38%), helping users navigate spring buying season and a changing interest rate environment. In today's market, mortgage loan officers see the value in using social media to build and maintain strong relationships.

    Social Media Interest on the Rise for Banking

    Banking users are getting more traction with social media, boasting a 36% increase in clicks per article shared, quarter over quarter. This affirms Denim Social research showing year-over-year increases in social media channel adoption within the banking industry.

    Content sourcing continues to be a challenge for financial marketers. Not only is it time consuming, it can be especially tough to find high-quality, credible content. Together, Denim Social and UpContent make it easy to source curated, third-party articles. Here’s how it works:

    • Simply log in to Denim Social to access the curated content libraries. No search engine required and custom libraries can be quickly created for you to directly address the content needs of your market and strategy without as much as lifting a finger.
    • Curated posts include pre-populated post captions or your team can customize the message to fit your brand.
    • Select posts to use at the brand level or your marketing team can pre-approve and organize posts for employee use.

    Wondering if Denim Social and UpContent is a fit for your financial institution? Check out what our customers have to say:

    It’s really handy to have the UpContent Library in the Denim Social platform that we can grab trending topics from;  we can customize both the topics we want to see and articles from publications that our team prefers. We can also be specific to our various markets to include more local content in addition to industry-wide news.

    -Tiffany Van Zandt, Marketing Specialist, Bank of Oklahoma

    “Denim’s partnership with UpContent gave us a whole library of engaging content in just a few clicks. The articles provided allows us to share updates in the financial industry, what’s going on in our communities, and overall personal wellness. Since we started posted with UpContent, every one of our end users has experienced growth with their page engagement.”

    -Ken Stump, Digital Marketing Specialist-Content Team Lead, Dart Bank

    If you’re ready to fire up a social selling strategy with pre-approved content libraries and approval workflows, we’re here to help. Sign up for a demo to learn how Denim Social can help your institution level-up its social media strategy.

    About UpContent:

    UpContent helps marketing, sales, and HR professionals build trust, deepen relationships, and drive revenue through strategically curated content. UpContent analyzes millions of articles monthly and taps into the collective expertise of their company’s team by empowering individuals to engage with, and enrich, high-quality articles prior to sharing with customers and prospects through one of UpContent’s many social media, email marketing, and website partnerships and integrations. For more information, visit https://www.upcontent.com.

    Download the Guide

    Thank you! Your submission has been received!
    Download Guide
    Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.
    Download Guide
    ALL GUIDES:

    Like many community banks, Dart Bank wanted to keep customer relationships a top priority. This meant being more available to customers and meeting them where they are. In modern terms, that means on social media.

    When Dart Bank learned about how Denim Social supports social selling for loan officers, they knew it was the perfect fit to keep their team engaged at every step of the journey. They wanted to empower their loan officers to create and grow authentic relationships online, never missing an opportunity to connect.

    Shelter Insurance® sought to launch a social selling program that would not only create posting efficiency, but also make it easy for agents to establish subject matter expertise via high quality social media content. They also saw an opportunity to empower digitally savvy agents to cultivate leads online to drive business results in a compliant social selling program.

    Before launching the program, it was essential that agents understood the pillars of social selling. Together with the Denim Social team, Shelter Insurance® developed a best-in-class program communication, onboarding and training process for agents.

    Social selling is just what it sounds like: using social media to sell a product or service. It’s leveraging social to build personal relationships, showcase thought leadership, engage with prospects, interact with existing customers, and ultimately build trust and rapport that will eventually lead to sales.

    It enables intermediaries – like insurance agents – to add value to the customer journey where there wouldn’t otherwise be an opportunity.

    This guide will help financial services marketers understand why social media should be a core component of their marketing strategy and showcase how the collective reach of their intermediaries’ social media presence can be harnessed to more deeply connect with prospective clients, position producers as thought leaders in their communities, and, ultimately, build trust with clients that translates to positive business results.

    It’s called social selling and it works.

    The spring 2023 buying season has arrived and with it – you guessed – uncertainty. Spring has long been make-it or break-it season for lenders and loan officers, and despite present conditions, the same holds true this year. But 2023 holds unique challenges and opportunities.

    As the season opens, there are a few key considerations the Denim Social team sees as critical for mortgage marketers.

    Paid social is one of the most effective ways to introduce people who aren’t yet following your producers, agents, loan officers, or advisors to your financial institution at the right place and the right time.

    Paid social is complementary to organic. While organic social builds first-degree connections and facilitates awareness, engagement, and branding, paid social allows you to reach larger, more tailored audiences.

    BOK Financial is a financial services partner for consumers, businesses and wealth clients with more than 150 users on the Denim Social platform.

    In addition to building brand credibility and establishing loan officer expertise, Denim Social enables their mortgage loan officers to cultivate relationships in social media and organically source leads.

    As financial marketers look to the coming year, most are wondering, “what’s next?” While no one can say for sure, our team of experts here at Denim Social are keeping a pulse on what’s new in digital marketing for financial institutions on social media. This guide will not only educate you on the latest trends, but help you make the case for increased investment in social selling and digital marketing strategies at your institution.

    Evolve Bank & Trust (“Evolve”) is an $700M+ asset institution with nearly 40 Home Loan Centers (HLC) and nearly 500 employees nationwide. See how Denim Social helped Evolve activate Home Loan Center Facebook pages over the course of just a few months.

    Download Here

    Whether you’re in banking, wealth management, insurance or mortgage, relationships are the bedrock of your business.

    Considering clients in these industries are handing over the keys to their personal kingdoms, it’s no surprise that trust and connection matter. That’s why successful sales strategies for these industries are focused on building long-term, trusted relationships.

    To truly unleash the potential of social, financial institutions need to use social media as a sales tool. It’s called social selling and it works.

    The power of social media is undeniable. The ability of banks to engage with and influence customers and prospects via interactive digital channels is an essential tool and a cornerstone of marketing. Gone are the days when it was “nice to have” a presence on platforms such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram. Today, these pathways are helping banks to build relationships that were historically cultivated by tirelessly walking up and down Main Street, shaking hands and leaving behind business cards.

    In this case study by Denim Social and American Bankers Association, we take a look at how banks are using social media to ramp up digital engagement and build sales.

    As any marketer worth their salt will tell you, analytics should drive your social strategy. The key to success is understanding how to link social media efforts to ROI metrics. Read this guide to learn how to gain insights that matter, optimize your strategy and prove your social success.

    It’s no surprise that social media can help drive results for your mortgage business. In fact, the question for most marketers at mortgage lending institutions isn’t IF they should be doing more social media marketing - it’s HOW. Download to learn how to:

    • Scale your social selling program
    • Plan your content strategy
    • Train your loan officers

    AnnieMac is one of the fastest-growing mortgage loan providers in the U.S., serving clients in 42 states. Learn how Denim Social helped their team to streamline its brand’s social media strategy and activate social selling for hundreds of loan officers in just four months.

    Instant Download

    Find out how more than 400 financial institutions across asset classes, geographies, and more used social media in 2020 to effectively support their business objectives. We’ve also outlined key trends to inform your social media future.

    As mortgage demand surges to historic highs, home purchase and refinance markets remain hot. This is excellent news for loan officers, but it also means the environment is more competitive than ever.

    So how can marketers ensure that their loan officers stand out? The answer is social media.

    Read this guidebook from Denim Social to learn how you can help your loan officers build strong relationships, stand out from the crowd and win more business using social media.

    Every Mortgage Marketer Should Ask Themselves

    Compliance is complicated, but don’t let it stop your lending team from making the most of social media. Think you’re ready to start social selling? Ask yourself these five questions!

    Download this guidebook to learn how marketers are using social media to:

    • Drive business with the lowest digital spend compared to traditional media
    • Position employees as thought-leaders while leveraging their collective reach of their social media presence
    • Ultimately, build trust with their communities and customers that translates to positive business results

    Read this guide if you’re asking yourself:

    • Is my social media policy current and comprehensive?
    • How do I ensure social media compliance during M&A?
    • What do I need to consider for direct messaging compliance?

    In this guide we will help you think about your all important social media policy and thoughtfully consider how changes in social media tech and even your bank’s structure may impact compliance.

    Download this guidebook to learn how marketers are using social media to:

    • Drive business with the lowest digital spend compared to traditional media
    • Position employees as thought-leaders while leveraging their collective reach of their social media presence
    • Ultimately, build trust with their communities and customers that translates to positive business results

    Every Financial Services Marketer Should Ask Themselves

    Compliance is complicated, but don’t let it stop your lending team from making the most of social media. Think you’re ready to start social selling? Ask yourself these five questions!

    Stronger Customer Relationships on Instagram

    Financial Services companies should be marketing and advertising on Instagram. We break down why, and help you create a strategy to reach new customers- while continuing to build trust in your brand.

    How 6 Financial Marketers Are Creating Value in Social Media

    Ever wonder what everyone else is doing in social media? We talked to six leading financial marketers about how they’re succeeding today and planning for the next big thing.

    Get their insights on strengthening your social strategies, unlocking the power of employee networks and creating next-level content that drives engagement.

    Download this guidebook to learn how 3 mortgage lenders are using social media to:

    • Position themselves in a place the community is already looking ... their social media
    • Empower loan officers to engage in local conversations
    • Turn their institution's loan officers into the voice of their brand
    • Build trust within the community

    Which roles do you fill when building your bank's marketing dream team? This guide will show you the following:

    • Who does what
    • The right structure to execute strategy
    • How compliance software can help

    Enjoy!

    Download this guidebook to learn how marketers are using social media to:

    • Drive business with the lowest digital spend compared to traditional media
    • Position employees as thought-leaders while leveraging their collective reach of their social media presence
    • Ultimately, build trust with their communities and customers that translates to positive business results

    ABA Study: The Current State of Social Media

    See what nearly 430 bank marketers had to say when asked questions such as:

  • Is it important to equip your sales personnel with social media accounts?
  • Does your bank measure the impact of your social media use?
  • COVID-19 & Bank Social Media

    Times are different and how you connect with customers and potential customers has changed drastically. In a socially distant world, learn to still build lasting relationships.

    Download and learn the guiding principles for using social media to serve both your customers and communities in the midst of a pandemic.

    GUIDES

    Economic Trends Driving Social Media Activity

    New research from social media pros and partners, Denim Social and UpContent, shows that economic trends like rising interest rates and inflation are impacting more than bank accounts – they’re influencing social media activity. Denim Social and UpContent integrate to offer financial marketers curated collections of relevant, high-quality and compliant social media content.

    Hundreds of UpContent-derived third-party articles are shared by Denim Social users every week generating thousands of clicks. This integration provides unique insights on what content is resonating and driving engagement. The pulse study data shows three key social trends from the first half of 2022, including:

    Financial Wellness Content on the Rise

    From Q1-Q2 this year, the number of clicks per financial wellness article shared were up nearly 10%, indicating that  social media users are interested to learn more about financial health during tough economic conditions. Sharing credible financial wellness content can help both financial brands and individual producers educate followers and build trust.

    Expanded Content Resources Available for Real Estate and Mortgage

    Marketers increased available content in both real estate (+27%) and mortgage (+38%), helping users navigate spring buying season and a changing interest rate environment. In today's market, mortgage loan officers see the value in using social media to build and maintain strong relationships.

    Social Media Interest on the Rise for Banking

    Banking users are getting more traction with social media, boasting a 36% increase in clicks per article shared, quarter over quarter. This affirms Denim Social research showing year-over-year increases in social media channel adoption within the banking industry.

    Content sourcing continues to be a challenge for financial marketers. Not only is it time consuming, it can be especially tough to find high-quality, credible content. Together, Denim Social and UpContent make it easy to source curated, third-party articles. Here’s how it works:

    • Simply log in to Denim Social to access the curated content libraries. No search engine required and custom libraries can be quickly created for you to directly address the content needs of your market and strategy without as much as lifting a finger.
    • Curated posts include pre-populated post captions or your team can customize the message to fit your brand.
    • Select posts to use at the brand level or your marketing team can pre-approve and organize posts for employee use.

    Wondering if Denim Social and UpContent is a fit for your financial institution? Check out what our customers have to say:

    It’s really handy to have the UpContent Library in the Denim Social platform that we can grab trending topics from;  we can customize both the topics we want to see and articles from publications that our team prefers. We can also be specific to our various markets to include more local content in addition to industry-wide news.

    -Tiffany Van Zandt, Marketing Specialist, Bank of Oklahoma

    “Denim’s partnership with UpContent gave us a whole library of engaging content in just a few clicks. The articles provided allows us to share updates in the financial industry, what’s going on in our communities, and overall personal wellness. Since we started posted with UpContent, every one of our end users has experienced growth with their page engagement.”

    -Ken Stump, Digital Marketing Specialist-Content Team Lead, Dart Bank

    If you’re ready to fire up a social selling strategy with pre-approved content libraries and approval workflows, we’re here to help. Sign up for a demo to learn how Denim Social can help your institution level-up its social media strategy.

    About UpContent:

    UpContent helps marketing, sales, and HR professionals build trust, deepen relationships, and drive revenue through strategically curated content. UpContent analyzes millions of articles monthly and taps into the collective expertise of their company’s team by empowering individuals to engage with, and enrich, high-quality articles prior to sharing with customers and prospects through one of UpContent’s many social media, email marketing, and website partnerships and integrations. For more information, visit https://www.upcontent.com.

    Download the Guide

    Thank you! Your submission has been received!
    Download Guide
    Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.
    ALL GUIDES:

    Like many community banks, Dart Bank wanted to keep customer relationships a top priority. This meant being more available to customers and meeting them where they are. In modern terms, that means on social media.

    When Dart Bank learned about how Denim Social supports social selling for loan officers, they knew it was the perfect fit to keep their team engaged at every step of the journey. They wanted to empower their loan officers to create and grow authentic relationships online, never missing an opportunity to connect.

    Shelter Insurance® sought to launch a social selling program that would not only create posting efficiency, but also make it easy for agents to establish subject matter expertise via high quality social media content. They also saw an opportunity to empower digitally savvy agents to cultivate leads online to drive business results in a compliant social selling program.

    Before launching the program, it was essential that agents understood the pillars of social selling. Together with the Denim Social team, Shelter Insurance® developed a best-in-class program communication, onboarding and training process for agents.

    Social selling is just what it sounds like: using social media to sell a product or service. It’s leveraging social to build personal relationships, showcase thought leadership, engage with prospects, interact with existing customers, and ultimately build trust and rapport that will eventually lead to sales.

    It enables intermediaries – like insurance agents – to add value to the customer journey where there wouldn’t otherwise be an opportunity.

    This guide will help financial services marketers understand why social media should be a core component of their marketing strategy and showcase how the collective reach of their intermediaries’ social media presence can be harnessed to more deeply connect with prospective clients, position producers as thought leaders in their communities, and, ultimately, build trust with clients that translates to positive business results.

    It’s called social selling and it works.

    The spring 2023 buying season has arrived and with it – you guessed – uncertainty. Spring has long been make-it or break-it season for lenders and loan officers, and despite present conditions, the same holds true this year. But 2023 holds unique challenges and opportunities.

    As the season opens, there are a few key considerations the Denim Social team sees as critical for mortgage marketers.

    Paid social is one of the most effective ways to introduce people who aren’t yet following your producers, agents, loan officers, or advisors to your financial institution at the right place and the right time.

    Paid social is complementary to organic. While organic social builds first-degree connections and facilitates awareness, engagement, and branding, paid social allows you to reach larger, more tailored audiences.

    BOK Financial is a financial services partner for consumers, businesses and wealth clients with more than 150 users on the Denim Social platform.

    In addition to building brand credibility and establishing loan officer expertise, Denim Social enables their mortgage loan officers to cultivate relationships in social media and organically source leads.

    As financial marketers look to the coming year, most are wondering, “what’s next?” While no one can say for sure, our team of experts here at Denim Social are keeping a pulse on what’s new in digital marketing for financial institutions on social media. This guide will not only educate you on the latest trends, but help you make the case for increased investment in social selling and digital marketing strategies at your institution.

    Evolve Bank & Trust (“Evolve”) is an $700M+ asset institution with nearly 40 Home Loan Centers (HLC) and nearly 500 employees nationwide. See how Denim Social helped Evolve activate Home Loan Center Facebook pages over the course of just a few months.

    Download Here

    Whether you’re in banking, wealth management, insurance or mortgage, relationships are the bedrock of your business.

    Considering clients in these industries are handing over the keys to their personal kingdoms, it’s no surprise that trust and connection matter. That’s why successful sales strategies for these industries are focused on building long-term, trusted relationships.

    To truly unleash the potential of social, financial institutions need to use social media as a sales tool. It’s called social selling and it works.

    The power of social media is undeniable. The ability of banks to engage with and influence customers and prospects via interactive digital channels is an essential tool and a cornerstone of marketing. Gone are the days when it was “nice to have” a presence on platforms such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram. Today, these pathways are helping banks to build relationships that were historically cultivated by tirelessly walking up and down Main Street, shaking hands and leaving behind business cards.

    In this case study by Denim Social and American Bankers Association, we take a look at how banks are using social media to ramp up digital engagement and build sales.

    As any marketer worth their salt will tell you, analytics should drive your social strategy. The key to success is understanding how to link social media efforts to ROI metrics. Read this guide to learn how to gain insights that matter, optimize your strategy and prove your social success.

    It’s no surprise that social media can help drive results for your mortgage business. In fact, the question for most marketers at mortgage lending institutions isn’t IF they should be doing more social media marketing - it’s HOW. Download to learn how to:

    • Scale your social selling program
    • Plan your content strategy
    • Train your loan officers

    AnnieMac is one of the fastest-growing mortgage loan providers in the U.S., serving clients in 42 states. Learn how Denim Social helped their team to streamline its brand’s social media strategy and activate social selling for hundreds of loan officers in just four months.

    Instant Download

    Find out how more than 400 financial institutions across asset classes, geographies, and more used social media in 2020 to effectively support their business objectives. We’ve also outlined key trends to inform your social media future.

    As mortgage demand surges to historic highs, home purchase and refinance markets remain hot. This is excellent news for loan officers, but it also means the environment is more competitive than ever.

    So how can marketers ensure that their loan officers stand out? The answer is social media.

    Read this guidebook from Denim Social to learn how you can help your loan officers build strong relationships, stand out from the crowd and win more business using social media.

    Every Mortgage Marketer Should Ask Themselves

    Compliance is complicated, but don’t let it stop your lending team from making the most of social media. Think you’re ready to start social selling? Ask yourself these five questions!

    Download this guidebook to learn how marketers are using social media to:

    • Drive business with the lowest digital spend compared to traditional media
    • Position employees as thought-leaders while leveraging their collective reach of their social media presence
    • Ultimately, build trust with their communities and customers that translates to positive business results

    Read this guide if you’re asking yourself:

    • Is my social media policy current and comprehensive?
    • How do I ensure social media compliance during M&A?
    • What do I need to consider for direct messaging compliance?

    In this guide we will help you think about your all important social media policy and thoughtfully consider how changes in social media tech and even your bank’s structure may impact compliance.

    Download this guidebook to learn how marketers are using social media to:

    • Drive business with the lowest digital spend compared to traditional media
    • Position employees as thought-leaders while leveraging their collective reach of their social media presence
    • Ultimately, build trust with their communities and customers that translates to positive business results

    Every Financial Services Marketer Should Ask Themselves

    Compliance is complicated, but don’t let it stop your lending team from making the most of social media. Think you’re ready to start social selling? Ask yourself these five questions!

    Stronger Customer Relationships on Instagram

    Financial Services companies should be marketing and advertising on Instagram. We break down why, and help you create a strategy to reach new customers- while continuing to build trust in your brand.

    How 6 Financial Marketers Are Creating Value in Social Media

    Ever wonder what everyone else is doing in social media? We talked to six leading financial marketers about how they’re succeeding today and planning for the next big thing.

    Get their insights on strengthening your social strategies, unlocking the power of employee networks and creating next-level content that drives engagement.

    Download this guidebook to learn how 3 mortgage lenders are using social media to:

    • Position themselves in a place the community is already looking ... their social media
    • Empower loan officers to engage in local conversations
    • Turn their institution's loan officers into the voice of their brand
    • Build trust within the community

    Which roles do you fill when building your bank's marketing dream team? This guide will show you the following:

    • Who does what
    • The right structure to execute strategy
    • How compliance software can help

    Enjoy!

    Download this guidebook to learn how marketers are using social media to:

    • Drive business with the lowest digital spend compared to traditional media
    • Position employees as thought-leaders while leveraging their collective reach of their social media presence
    • Ultimately, build trust with their communities and customers that translates to positive business results

    ABA Study: The Current State of Social Media

    See what nearly 430 bank marketers had to say when asked questions such as:

  • Is it important to equip your sales personnel with social media accounts?
  • Does your bank measure the impact of your social media use?
  • COVID-19 & Bank Social Media

    Times are different and how you connect with customers and potential customers has changed drastically. In a socially distant world, learn to still build lasting relationships.

    Download and learn the guiding principles for using social media to serve both your customers and communities in the midst of a pandemic.

    RESOURCES

    NEWS
    August 9, 2022

    Economic Trends Driving Social Media Activity

    By
    Doug Wilber
    CEO, Denim Social

    New research from social media pros and partners, Denim Social and UpContent, shows that economic trends like rising interest rates and inflation are impacting more than bank accounts – they’re influencing social media activity. Denim Social and UpContent integrate to offer financial marketers curated collections of relevant, high-quality and compliant social media content.

    Hundreds of UpContent-derived third-party articles are shared by Denim Social users every week generating thousands of clicks. This integration provides unique insights on what content is resonating and driving engagement. The pulse study data shows three key social trends from the first half of 2022, including:

    Financial Wellness Content on the Rise

    From Q1-Q2 this year, the number of clicks per financial wellness article shared were up nearly 10%, indicating that  social media users are interested to learn more about financial health during tough economic conditions. Sharing credible financial wellness content can help both financial brands and individual producers educate followers and build trust.

    Expanded Content Resources Available for Real Estate and Mortgage

    Marketers increased available content in both real estate (+27%) and mortgage (+38%), helping users navigate spring buying season and a changing interest rate environment. In today's market, mortgage loan officers see the value in using social media to build and maintain strong relationships.

    Social Media Interest on the Rise for Banking

    Banking users are getting more traction with social media, boasting a 36% increase in clicks per article shared, quarter over quarter. This affirms Denim Social research showing year-over-year increases in social media channel adoption within the banking industry.

    Content sourcing continues to be a challenge for financial marketers. Not only is it time consuming, it can be especially tough to find high-quality, credible content. Together, Denim Social and UpContent make it easy to source curated, third-party articles. Here’s how it works:

    • Simply log in to Denim Social to access the curated content libraries. No search engine required and custom libraries can be quickly created for you to directly address the content needs of your market and strategy without as much as lifting a finger.
    • Curated posts include pre-populated post captions or your team can customize the message to fit your brand.
    • Select posts to use at the brand level or your marketing team can pre-approve and organize posts for employee use.

    Wondering if Denim Social and UpContent is a fit for your financial institution? Check out what our customers have to say:

    It’s really handy to have the UpContent Library in the Denim Social platform that we can grab trending topics from;  we can customize both the topics we want to see and articles from publications that our team prefers. We can also be specific to our various markets to include more local content in addition to industry-wide news.

    -Tiffany Van Zandt, Marketing Specialist, Bank of Oklahoma

    “Denim’s partnership with UpContent gave us a whole library of engaging content in just a few clicks. The articles provided allows us to share updates in the financial industry, what’s going on in our communities, and overall personal wellness. Since we started posted with UpContent, every one of our end users has experienced growth with their page engagement.”

    -Ken Stump, Digital Marketing Specialist-Content Team Lead, Dart Bank

    If you’re ready to fire up a social selling strategy with pre-approved content libraries and approval workflows, we’re here to help. Sign up for a demo to learn how Denim Social can help your institution level-up its social media strategy.

    About UpContent:

    UpContent helps marketing, sales, and HR professionals build trust, deepen relationships, and drive revenue through strategically curated content. UpContent analyzes millions of articles monthly and taps into the collective expertise of their company’s team by empowering individuals to engage with, and enrich, high-quality articles prior to sharing with customers and prospects through one of UpContent’s many social media, email marketing, and website partnerships and integrations. For more information, visit https://www.upcontent.com.

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    OTHER NEWS:

    In a time where it's important than ever to maintain and build existing customer relationships, financial professionals like loan officers, insurance agents, and financial advisors should look to LinkedIn as a primary means of communication and an essential part of everyday communication.

    Today, meeting customers where they are means being active on social media. Aptly named "the professional network", LinkedIn is prime territory for boosting thought leadership, crafting an online presence, and creating authentic, lasting relationships that will stand the test of time (and economic ups and downs).

    Whether you're just getting started on social media for financial professionals, or you're a seasoned LinkedIn veteran looking to make the most of the network, it's time for financial institutions to take LinkedIn seriously in 2024.

    LinkedIn Can Help Build Trust & Credibility

    It seems simple to say, but trust hinges on authentic relationships. Today’s customers want to work with real people who connect with them on a human level. That’s why it’s so important to be yourself when using social networks like LinkedIn. Put some of your personality into their social  posts, talk about things that are important to you, or ask your networks questions. (If this keeps you up at night from a risk perspective, know that approval tools like Denim Social can help ensure compliance.)

    When people interact with you through LinkedIn, they’ll see how much reliable value you provide to their lives and will be more likely to trust your brand with their livelihoods. Authenticity is even more crucial when it comes to attracting prospects at the top of the funnel who haven’t gotten the chance to meet (and befriend) you yet.

    While the current economic climate poses many potential challenges, remember that gaining and keeping customers’ trust is the key to acquiring and retaining clients (even in tough times). Lean on social media networks like LinkedIn to tell the your brand’s story, build thought leadership online, and gain more followers who convert into new clients. Let them get to know your institution and you, and they’ll want to work (and stay) with you for years to come.

    LinkedIn Is A Winning Choice

    It's hard to hear, but if you aren't on LinkedIn already, you're already behind. In fact, 9 out of 10 financial advisors are using LinkedIn for their business, and other industries see similar usage numbers. The same way that email and text messaging have become routine modes of communication, so will social media like LinkedIn.

    You can bet that your audience will be there, too. Over 16% of LinkedIn users log on every single day, and this number continues to grow as the networks becomes more and more popular among the groups that financial professionals target most frequently, like young professionals and business leaders.

    Being active and sustaining a regular presence can have some serious payoffs. For example, pages that post weekly instead of just monthly have almost 6 times as many followers.

    The future is bright for those that use LinkedIn to their advantage. It's clear that there's no slowing down its momentum as a primary social network!

    LinkedIn Can Help You Educate

    Are there certain points you are always trying to get across with your customers, or questions you are routinely asked? Look no further than LinkedIn. Use this powerful network to create and share posts that will position you as one of the top expert in your field and in your community.

    There are currently over 27 million people that look to LinkedIn as an educational tool. When someone comes looking for an answer to their question, you want to be the go-to source of truth for them.

    With LinkedIn, you can share graphics, videos, documents, photos, and more. It's easy to diversify your content to make your profile a wealth of knowledge for your customers and prospects. If you are looking for more ideas on how to make the most of LinkedIn, check out Denim's Social's Best Practices For LinkedIn.

    In sum, LinkedIn is basically your new business card. Use it well! Don't let your opportunities on LinkedIn pass you by. Start prepping now to get your strategy in order so you find success on LinkedIn in 2024. Interested in other social networks, too? Try downloading our Social Selling Playbook for Financial Institutions. Happy posting!

    When trusted relationships are the bedrock of the industry, most smart financial services marketers see the opportunity in social media. A corporate social media presence is the norm, and many brands are investing in paid social media campaigns — but that’s only scratching the social media surface. For teams looking to transform social media into a sales tool, it’s time to start social selling.

    Social selling is so much more than encouraging your sellers to have a social presence. Having a company page on Facebook and a LinkedIn profile are table stakes. If Instagram, Twitter, or even TikTok make sense for your business, it’s important to be there, too. But social selling is so much more than just “being there.” Financial services marketers who embrace social selling empower their teams of intermediaries, such as agents and loan officers, to create lead-generating content that builds trust. Brands that get social selling right can expect to see a 45% increase in sales opportunities and a 51% higher chance of hitting sales goals, according to LinkedIn.

    So, why haven’t all financial services marketers launched social selling for their institutions yet? For one, many marketers are hesitant to jump into a process that involves monitoring and amplifying social media content for dozens, hundreds, or thousands of intermediaries. Even for seasoned marketers, it can seem intimidating. (Spoiler alert: With a platform like Denim Social, it’s much easier than it sounds!)

    Social selling also takes time. Organic social media growth ramps up over time, no matter how many social sellers a brand activates at once. But just because you might not see an immediate jump in KPIs doesn’t mean you’re not moving the needle. With patience and investment in the right social selling tools, social selling can transform your institution’s marketing strategy and results.

    You’re ready to launch social selling for your brand, but where do you get started? Check out these helpful tips from our team of experts at Denim Social:

    1. Identify internal social selling champions.

    Social selling needs widespread buy-in between marketing, sales, and other key departments. The most effective way to encourage buy-in is to get influential players in these groups on board with social selling. Explain to them how social selling works and its social media reach potential — and how to use the right social selling tools to protect compliance.

    By cultivating cheerleaders within your financial institution, these motivated individuals can be an example for their peers and showcase the value of social selling. The more buy-in you can get to your overall social selling program, the faster you’ll be able to demonstrate how valuable social selling is as a marketing strategy. Have patience and stay the course; your determination will pay off as you earn the support of more internal champions.

    2. Pick a solid social selling platform.

    Managing a social selling strategy could be your full-time job as a marketer, but it doesn’t have to be. The right social selling tech solution will help optimize your efforts without tossing another burden onto your team. We designed our platform to meet these needs with extensive compliance features, a library of preapproved content, and streamlined workflows that make publishing as easy as clicking a button. A social selling platform should make life easier for all its users; if it doesn’t, it’s not the right platform for you.

    When evaluating social selling tools, keep a few critical questions in mind: Does the vendor understand the nuances of the financial services industry? What kind of compliance coverage does the platform offer? How will you create content, and how will the platform help you do that? Asking these questions will point you in the right direction so that you can find a social selling platform that works best for your institution’s needs.

    3. Spend time training your social sellers and their support teams.

    The loan officers, agents, advisors, and other producers who will become your social selling team might or might not be familiar with how to be present on social to grow their business. Even if they’re active on social media personally, they might not understand the concept of social selling or how to make it work for them. It’s your job to teach them (you’re the expert, after all!).

    Keep in mind that social selling isn’t only the responsibility of your localized producers. It’s important to loop in anyone in your organization who supports your sales efforts. This means sales executives, regional sales leaders, and even marketing leadership. As part of your social selling launch, take the time to train your broader social selling support group, regardless of their department. 

    Broadened education and buy-in mean stickiness and support for the folks your organization is relying on to drive business at the local level: your true social sellers. Start with social channel basics and regular organic posting. Then, you can teach them how to feel comfortable generating their own content and engaging with their social networks. Does this mean all your employees need to become social media experts? Not even close. But a deeper understanding of social media in general lays the foundation for successful social selling as your teams get comfortable using it every day.

    At Denim Social, we’re passionate about helping your financial institution drive business results with social selling. Not only have we designed our platform to make administering a social selling program easy, but we also provide strategic support from day one, helping you educate and support your sales teams.

    Our platform offers several essential features that will help drive your ROI: (Hint: They can also help you implement the above three steps.)

    • Customized Onboarding and Team Training. Onboarding onto a new platform shouldn’t be a cookie-cutter process; every team and marketer is different. Tailoring our onboarding and training means that your team (and execs) know they’re getting a bespoke experience for the institution’s specific needs. When you’re getting started, Denim Social can help craft vital internal communication to encourage adoption, leaving no questions unanswered. Once you’ve got the basics down and your first champions are ready to dive in, you can check out our train-the-trainer sessions or our online academy to further grow your team’s expertise. From start to finish, you’ll have an invested partner.
    • Content-Rich, Customized Libraries. How will you keep up with content just for your social sellers? Denim Social works with you and UpContent to develop an extensive library of ready-to-use content for your social sellers’ unique needs and interests. Your teams will always have something to say on social, keeping them top of mind with their networks — with the peace of mind of staying compliant.
    • Scalable Paid Advertising. Though the foundation of your social selling strategy starts with empowering your intermediaries with organic social content, the most robust social selling programs also integrate localized paid advertising. Although the organic content you cultivate through your individual champions will work to add nuance and humanity to your brand, putting your ad dollars behind your producers will reach consumers looking to connect with real, local humans who can guide them through their next financial decisions. We recommend that marketers drive this side of the social selling strategy, and our platform makes it easy. With Denim Social, one marketer can launch and scale tailor-made paid social campaigns delivered on behalf of your local producers to their local communities.
    • Compliance-Focused Features. When you work in financial services marketing, you’re guided by numerous rules, regulations, and laws. Denim Social is engineered to find and flag compliance-related issues before any content goes live. This robust filtering proactively recognizes potential problems so you can sleep better at night.

    As part of our compliance-driven culture, our platform provides continuous compliance training through constant feedback. As your team notices which posts are approved or unapproved, they’ll gain valuable insights into the nuances of social media compliance for the industry. Plus, your team can rely on the curated, preapproved content within your Denim Social library, so you can be sure everything posted is compliant (and compelling). An added upside to our compliance feature is that our social selling platform tracks and records all published content, so it can be used for audits whenever you need it.

    Are you curious and looking to level up your digital marketing strategy? Or maybe you’re ready to dive in head-first and experience the benefits of social selling firsthand? Either way, social selling is a great way to get started empowering your team and increasing your reach.

    Check out Denim Social’s comprehensive social selling guide to learn more!

    As a financial marketer, you know that the past 12 months have been a prime time for social selling. Social media usage has been on trajectory to rise 7.8% in 2022, with steady growth expected to continue over the next five years. This growth is fueled by consumers increasingly consulting social media for help making decisions — a habit that offers big opportunities for financial institutions.

    As the new year rapidly approaches, it’s a great time to plan your future social selling strategies with the latest social media trends in mind. Wondering what’s popular on social networks? How should trends inform your social selling strategy in the coming year? Here’s what you need to know as you plan for 2023 and beyond:

    1. Video content is taking over.

    Videos, particularly shorter clips, are having a major moment on YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram Reels. Social users are increasingly consuming short-form (call it “snackable”) content, even on legacy social networks. For example, bite-sized videos earned 57% of YouTube views in the second quarter of 2022, versus just 21% the year before.

    Many of these videos attract viewers by seamlessly blending education and entertainment. Financial concepts are perfect for the “edutainment” treatment, too. Think about it: With more than 89% of TikTok users actively trying to learn more about finance, it only makes sense to add financial video “edutainment” into your social selling strategy.

    That said, not every social selling post needs to contain a video, and not every video needs to be a highly produced affair. Easy-to-consume content is the name of the game, so think short and concise. Quick, pithy videos such as selfie commentaries or quick tips from your social sellers can make your content feel more authentic. No matter what video style you pursue, short clips will stop scrollers and make them more likely to engage with your intermediaries’ posts.

    2. Financial advice influencer culture opens up social selling opportunities.

    Social media probably seems like the last place most people would turn to for advice about money, yet finance-focused influencers are attracting lots of interest, particularly from younger social media consumers. Gen Zers are five times likelier than older Millennials and Generation Xers to get their money management suggestions on social media. With consumers seeking answers to their business and personal questions via online influencer personalities, you can’t afford not to put your intermediaries on social media to engage these audiences thirsty for (and often unable to find) credible information.

    If you haven’t already, plan to empower your producers (agents, loan officers, financial advisors, and other rock stars at your organization) to share their expert advice on social media. When they do, your social sellers’ audiences can build up their financial literacy with insights from qualified professionals. Those prospects’ and customers’ lives will improve, and their loyalty will grow.

    Note that your social selling team members don’t have to become superstar influencers for this strategy to work, either. Micro-influencers in their communities also gain plenty of loyalty — and sales as a result. Because social algorithms favor individuals over brands, it’s time to get more of your brand representatives to highlight their expertise on social channels.

    3. Social networks as search engines enhances discoverability.

    Social is the new search engine. Almost 40% of Generation Z searchers go to apps such as Instagram and TikTok first for search capabilities. In other words, they bypass Google in favor of social networks. That’s huge. And we at Denim Social think this online behavior is sure to catch on across generations. We also think the best way to make use of this trend is to have social sellers active on social media. When more of your employees are on social networks, you’re more discoverable.

    Another surefire way to take advantage of the social search trend is to make sure your social selling strategies include both organic and paid tactics. When organic and paid elements work together, you can be where consumers need you at the time they need you.

    Otherwise, optimizing for search on social isn’t much different from any other SEO work you’ve encountered. A fast way to enhance the discoverability of social selling copy is to ensure that it incorporates strategic hashtags, including nods to trending topics. Remember, it’s fine for social posts to include numerous hashtags, as long as they all make sense. SEO keywords can also fit nicely into social selling content and ad copy, just as they do in website copy and blog posts. All that optimization drives the social media search engine, ensuring users find your content when they’re seeking information that could lead them to decisions.

    Social media has changed the game for marketing and has made person-to-person communication (and selling!) an essential strategy. As with any social media strategy, being up to date on trends is critical for social selling success. Guiding your intermediaries to add short videos, credible advice, and search-boosting features to content will strengthen your social selling strategy for 2023.

    A financial conversation is already happening online, and your institution needs to be part of it. It’s time to launch a social selling program if you haven’t already. And if you have, let these trends be a clear sign that it’s time to expand your efforts. People are choosing to work with financial professionals they find on social media, and your intermediaries can meet them there. Want more insider knowledge about applying social selling techniques? Download our exclusive 2023 Denim Social Trend Report today.

    Smart financial marketers know social media and social selling are essential  to effectively reach and build trust with today’s consumers. But how does your digital marketing strategy measure up against competitors?

    Denim Social is here to help. We collected social media data from 177 institutions across banking, mortgage, wealth management and insurance to help you get the pulse on the social media performance. Take a look and see how your institution stacks up.

    Ready to learn how you can adopt these trends? Book a demo to learn more.

    People buy from people. That fundamental truth is the cornerstone of the insurance industry and is holding true even as the insurance value chain becomes more and more digital. But in a world where customers increasingly avoid in-person interactions — McKinsey’s 2020 U.S. Insurance Agent Survey saw a 65% drop in face-to-face conversations in 2020, with a slow recovery — how do agents adjust? The answer is to meet customers where they are - online.

    Insurance professionals likely view social media as a necessary evil, but social media can be a powerful sales tool, putting agents right in the path of their clients and prospects. It’s more than just posting content into a digital void; it’s taking what agents have done for decades to build their business and bringing it to life within the social media landscape. Consider this: GWI research suggests online consumers around the globe spend almost 2.5 hours scrolling through social sites daily.

    Putting energy into social media as a sales tool means attracting those eyes and winning more chances to interact with prospects and customers. But where do you start? Here are a few things to consider before leaning into social selling.

    1. Learn exactly what social selling is (and isn’t)

    Social selling is using social media to showcase thought leadership and industry expertise, build relationships and, ultimately, connect with new prospects while maintaining trust with existing ones. But a social selling strategy requires much more than having a Twitter account; it requires the same attention as any sales methods do. It’s taking social beyond simply posting regularly. It’s using social as a connection point to identify life events and points of connection with your community. And the good news is, you should see the returns. LinkedIn’s Social Selling data notes that 78% of social sellers outshine their peers who aren’t using social media as a sales tool.

    1. Take stock of your social media accounts

    If you hope to capitalize on social selling, you must first take stock of your existing social media accounts and look for opportunities to strengthen your overall social presence.

    Whichever social channel mix you’ve decided is right for your business (it’s OK not to be on every social platform!), you always want to make sure your brand is consistent and robust across each channel. That sounds easy, but there are a few things to consider to ensure that your identity is clear and consistent:

    • Profile images: Whether it’s a professionally taken photo, a well-lit high-resolution image taken on a smartphone or your company logo, make sure your profile images reflect how you and your company look today. (For example: Don’t use your headshot from 15 years ago.)
    • Cover images: Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter all have a space for a cover or background image. Be sure you have a cover image that is consistent with your brand and that you have the rights to use that image.
    • “About” sections: Today’s consumers use social media for information searches like they use Google, so your bios and “about” sections pages are more important than ever. Sections can vary across social channels, but your information should be accurate and reflect your business on each channel. Pay special attention to your business description, location information and hours of operation.

    Rather than jump right into the heavy stuff, it’s important to get these social media ducks in a row first.

    1. Make a plan for posting, engaging and amplifying.

    After your social accounts are up to speed, it’s important to have a plan. Regularly posting content is only the foundation of social selling, but it will help keep you top of mind with your followers and give you a place to interact with them. It also sets you up well when you’re ready to start putting money behind your posts with paid social advertising.

    Beyond posting, it’s important to keep an eye on those who interact with your posts. Comment back, connect with them or, better yet, give them a call. Social selling really comes to life when you can weave social into your everyday sales practices. Either way, prioritize social just as you would other crucial facets of your business. Post regularly and have a plan for responding and engaging with your existing and potential clients. Then turn those engagements into sales opportunities.

    1. Leverage your resources.

    You’re not the only one flexing your social selling muscles, so look to others – even insights from competitors - for help. A good way to begin is to look at the social accounts of others in and out of your sector. What are they writing about? What posts seem to engage followers? How are they branding themselves to be trustworthy experts? Use the information you gather to help you plan your own social selling and content strategy.

    The question shouldn’t be if you should start social selling, it’s when. Your existing and potential clients are there, waiting for you. You only must give social selling the time and energy it deserves. As someone in a profession built around risk, you’ll find that social selling is a safe bet.

    This article was originally published in Insurance Newsnet.

    In today’s origination and refi environment, most mortgage loan officers are finding it’s no longer fish in a barrel. That means every loan officer needs to consider their competitive edge. And when bargain-basement rates are no longer the decision driver for prospects, relationships matter more than ever.

    Everyone knows a successful sales strategy is focused on building long-term, trusted relationships, but today, that means building relationships online. Social media has long been regarded as a brand builder, but the real power of social is using it as a sales tool. It’s called social selling and it works.

    Social selling is just what it sounds like: using social media to sell a product or service. It’s leveraging social to build personal relationships, showcase thought leadership, engage with prospects, interact with existing customers, and ultimately build trust and rapport that will eventually lead to deals.

    An active social selling strategy can not only help build ongoing relationships, but keep you top of mind with contacts when opportunities open up – and in this rate environment, that can be short-lived.

    Social selling requires continual care and management, but it’s worth the investment of time, and effort when you’re using social to drive business results. A daily social selling routine helps loan officers in so many ways and managing a program doesn’t have to be overwhelming. Here’s where to start:

    Optimize Your Profile

    Before you even get to posting, it’s important to take a look at your profiles to ensure your brand is consistent across channels. Ensure you have a current and easily recognizable profile picture. If you haven’t already, upload a cover image and update the about section to be your descriptions, location and hours are current.

    Post Meaningful and Relevant Content

    It’s not only important for you to be posting regularly, you need to be posting with purpose. Your social profiles should be an extension of who you are in real life. Authenticity always wins in social media.

    There is no magic formula for how often you should post, but consistency is key. Successful social selling programs offer a variety of organic content. The mix looks different for every loan officer, but commonly a healthy and informed mix includes brand, industry and most importantly, personal/community content.

    Interact with the Community

    Social media is a two-way conversation and that means you need to be interacting with followers. In other words, don’t post and ghost. Social selling is about listening, responding and engaging. It’s a conversation, so you should be promptly responding to comments and direct messages, showing connections that their inquiries and concerns matter.

    When every deal matters, so does every relationship. If you’re looking to build trust and connection with customers and prospects alike, make sure your profiles are up to date, post regularly and interact with your followers. A social selling strategy can help you make the most of social media opportunities in a competitive environment.

    This article was originally published in MBA Newslink.

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    August 9, 2022

    Economic Trends Driving Social Media Activity

    By
    Doug Wilber
    CEO, Denim Social

    New research from social media pros and partners, Denim Social and UpContent, shows that economic trends like rising interest rates and inflation are impacting more than bank accounts – they’re influencing social media activity. Denim Social and UpContent integrate to offer financial marketers curated collections of relevant, high-quality and compliant social media content.

    Hundreds of UpContent-derived third-party articles are shared by Denim Social users every week generating thousands of clicks. This integration provides unique insights on what content is resonating and driving engagement. The pulse study data shows three key social trends from the first half of 2022, including:

    Financial Wellness Content on the Rise

    From Q1-Q2 this year, the number of clicks per financial wellness article shared were up nearly 10%, indicating that  social media users are interested to learn more about financial health during tough economic conditions. Sharing credible financial wellness content can help both financial brands and individual producers educate followers and build trust.

    Expanded Content Resources Available for Real Estate and Mortgage

    Marketers increased available content in both real estate (+27%) and mortgage (+38%), helping users navigate spring buying season and a changing interest rate environment. In today's market, mortgage loan officers see the value in using social media to build and maintain strong relationships.

    Social Media Interest on the Rise for Banking

    Banking users are getting more traction with social media, boasting a 36% increase in clicks per article shared, quarter over quarter. This affirms Denim Social research showing year-over-year increases in social media channel adoption within the banking industry.

    Content sourcing continues to be a challenge for financial marketers. Not only is it time consuming, it can be especially tough to find high-quality, credible content. Together, Denim Social and UpContent make it easy to source curated, third-party articles. Here’s how it works:

    • Simply log in to Denim Social to access the curated content libraries. No search engine required and custom libraries can be quickly created for you to directly address the content needs of your market and strategy without as much as lifting a finger.
    • Curated posts include pre-populated post captions or your team can customize the message to fit your brand.
    • Select posts to use at the brand level or your marketing team can pre-approve and organize posts for employee use.

    Wondering if Denim Social and UpContent is a fit for your financial institution? Check out what our customers have to say:

    It’s really handy to have the UpContent Library in the Denim Social platform that we can grab trending topics from;  we can customize both the topics we want to see and articles from publications that our team prefers. We can also be specific to our various markets to include more local content in addition to industry-wide news.

    -Tiffany Van Zandt, Marketing Specialist, Bank of Oklahoma

    “Denim’s partnership with UpContent gave us a whole library of engaging content in just a few clicks. The articles provided allows us to share updates in the financial industry, what’s going on in our communities, and overall personal wellness. Since we started posted with UpContent, every one of our end users has experienced growth with their page engagement.”

    -Ken Stump, Digital Marketing Specialist-Content Team Lead, Dart Bank

    If you’re ready to fire up a social selling strategy with pre-approved content libraries and approval workflows, we’re here to help. Sign up for a demo to learn how Denim Social can help your institution level-up its social media strategy.

    About UpContent:

    UpContent helps marketing, sales, and HR professionals build trust, deepen relationships, and drive revenue through strategically curated content. UpContent analyzes millions of articles monthly and taps into the collective expertise of their company’s team by empowering individuals to engage with, and enrich, high-quality articles prior to sharing with customers and prospects through one of UpContent’s many social media, email marketing, and website partnerships and integrations. For more information, visit https://www.upcontent.com.

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    In a time where it's important than ever to maintain and build existing customer relationships, financial professionals like loan officers, insurance agents, and financial advisors should look to LinkedIn as a primary means of communication and an essential part of everyday communication.

    Today, meeting customers where they are means being active on social media. Aptly named "the professional network", LinkedIn is prime territory for boosting thought leadership, crafting an online presence, and creating authentic, lasting relationships that will stand the test of time (and economic ups and downs).

    Whether you're just getting started on social media for financial professionals, or you're a seasoned LinkedIn veteran looking to make the most of the network, it's time for financial institutions to take LinkedIn seriously in 2024.

    LinkedIn Can Help Build Trust & Credibility

    It seems simple to say, but trust hinges on authentic relationships. Today’s customers want to work with real people who connect with them on a human level. That’s why it’s so important to be yourself when using social networks like LinkedIn. Put some of your personality into their social  posts, talk about things that are important to you, or ask your networks questions. (If this keeps you up at night from a risk perspective, know that approval tools like Denim Social can help ensure compliance.)

    When people interact with you through LinkedIn, they’ll see how much reliable value you provide to their lives and will be more likely to trust your brand with their livelihoods. Authenticity is even more crucial when it comes to attracting prospects at the top of the funnel who haven’t gotten the chance to meet (and befriend) you yet.

    While the current economic climate poses many potential challenges, remember that gaining and keeping customers’ trust is the key to acquiring and retaining clients (even in tough times). Lean on social media networks like LinkedIn to tell the your brand’s story, build thought leadership online, and gain more followers who convert into new clients. Let them get to know your institution and you, and they’ll want to work (and stay) with you for years to come.

    LinkedIn Is A Winning Choice

    It's hard to hear, but if you aren't on LinkedIn already, you're already behind. In fact, 9 out of 10 financial advisors are using LinkedIn for their business, and other industries see similar usage numbers. The same way that email and text messaging have become routine modes of communication, so will social media like LinkedIn.

    You can bet that your audience will be there, too. Over 16% of LinkedIn users log on every single day, and this number continues to grow as the networks becomes more and more popular among the groups that financial professionals target most frequently, like young professionals and business leaders.

    Being active and sustaining a regular presence can have some serious payoffs. For example, pages that post weekly instead of just monthly have almost 6 times as many followers.

    The future is bright for those that use LinkedIn to their advantage. It's clear that there's no slowing down its momentum as a primary social network!

    LinkedIn Can Help You Educate

    Are there certain points you are always trying to get across with your customers, or questions you are routinely asked? Look no further than LinkedIn. Use this powerful network to create and share posts that will position you as one of the top expert in your field and in your community.

    There are currently over 27 million people that look to LinkedIn as an educational tool. When someone comes looking for an answer to their question, you want to be the go-to source of truth for them.

    With LinkedIn, you can share graphics, videos, documents, photos, and more. It's easy to diversify your content to make your profile a wealth of knowledge for your customers and prospects. If you are looking for more ideas on how to make the most of LinkedIn, check out Denim's Social's Best Practices For LinkedIn.

    In sum, LinkedIn is basically your new business card. Use it well! Don't let your opportunities on LinkedIn pass you by. Start prepping now to get your strategy in order so you find success on LinkedIn in 2024. Interested in other social networks, too? Try downloading our Social Selling Playbook for Financial Institutions. Happy posting!

    Being responsible for your team’s social selling strategy can be daunting, especially if you don’t have a plan or support. We see it firsthand at Denim Social – without a meaningful strategy, users may not be eager (or downright resistant) to jump on a new platform. So, how are others getting their teams onboard? We learn a lot from our Denim Social customers to learn how they’re making it happen. Overall, we have observed four keys to adoption success.

    Activate a hybrid distribution approach.

    We find that teams that utilize a hybrid approach to posting have the most empowered associates. What does it look like in practice? This usually includes the marketing team posting brand content on behalf of associates, and associates scheduling out pre-approved industry content from a content library, plus sprinkling in their own personal content. And rest assured, that personal content still goes through approval workflows.  

    Build a robust content library.

    If you’re going to ask associates to post content, you’ve got to make it easy and compliant. Our platform offers content libraries filled with pre-approved posts. We see that when associates have lots of content to choose from, they post more frequently.

    It's a win-win for all: Compliance teams can be confident that they are managing any content that's being posted, marketing teams can provide support more readily and get more messaging across, and users can quickly build up a content calendar with engaging, customizable posts.

    Communicate the value of social media consistently.

    Your teams need to be able to answer the age old question, “what’s in it for me?” Your teams are busy and that means you need to help them see why spending their valuable time on social media is worth it.

    In a time when meeting customers where they are means being on social media, it's essential that intermediaries look to their networks to take advantage of existing connections and forming new ones. Social media is a highly visible and time-efficient way to strengthen important relationships. It's all about doing more with less!

    Train and Train Again

    Baking social media and Denim Social training into the onboarding process is a great way to introduce new and motivated associates to a fresh way to drive their business.  It is also important to keep social media top of mind for ALL associates. An ongoing training program outlining compliance/social policy, the value of social media and Denim Social is a must, whether it be monthly or quarterly. Marketing is not often top of mind for salespeople, so it is important to continuously educate them on how to get involved and optimize their strategies.  

    Many of our Denim Social customers set up trainings that include: monthly new hire social media and compliance training courses, Denim Social overviews, a monthly Denim Social refresher training, a Quarterly Strategy training, and ongoing 1:1 assistance for users. It's all about keeping social media top of mind and having easy access to resources.

    For many, these training programs are a well oiled machine, and keeps their social program growing by educating and informing users consistently.

    If you’re struggling with adoption, these strategies can help. And of course, persistence pays off.

    Social media is only as valuable as its users and that makes adoption key. If you’re struggling to motivate your team to hop on the social media bandwagon the right tools and support can make all the difference. If you want to learn more about how the Denim Social platform works, schedule a demo with us today.


    Like many community banks, Dart Bank wanted to keep customer relationships a top priority. This meant being more available to customers and meeting them where they are. In modern terms, that means on social media. 

    When Dart Bank learned about how Denim Social supports social selling for loan officers, they knew it was the perfect fit to keep their team engaged at every step of the journey. They wanted to empower their loan officers to create and grow authentic relationships online, never missing an opportunity to connect. 

    “Everyone wants a quick response, they want to be communicated with in the way they want it…speed and availability demands have created challenges that they have to be able to be everything to the customer in the way that they want it.” - Bryan Clarke, SVP

    With Denim Social, Dart Bank launched a formal social selling program for over 50 loan officers in just a few months. Dart Bank started by posting on behalf of their loan officers. Through regular training and education combined with access to compliant content libraries, loan officers have gained the confidence to start posting to their own pages. It was important for Dart Bank to build a strong foundation and enable their team to make social media more personalized. 

    See how they helped strengthen customer relationships in this Case Study.

    Where Are the Biggest Opportunities to Use Social Media in Financial Services?

    Denim Social's Guide To Social Selling For Financial Services shows that most financial professionals — 83% of those surveyed — have a social media presence. It’s a great place to start, but having a profile is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to what benefits financial institutions can enjoy from social media. Smart financial marketers and their teams should be optimizing their social selling efforts on every network to get the most out of what social media has to offer.

    Customers are active in many other places online, so why not meet them there? After all, 79% of people look to social media for financial advice. By meeting customers where they are on the main 4 networks, financial institutions can stay top of mind and grow real, authentic connections. Let’s dive into what Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook have to offer and how financial services marketers can best use each platform.

    1. Instagram

    As far as major social media platforms in financial services go, Instagram tops the list. While many financial professionals might not at first think of the photographic and visual network as prime business territory, its popularity makes it an excellent place to strengthen real relationships. 

    Instagram is one of the best ways to get in front of younger audiences, which is a worthwhile goal, considering that many Millennial customers will likely be on the search for new financial services providers as Baby Boomers pass their wealth on to the next generations. What's more, 90% of Instagram users follow at least one business account and 80% use the platform to discover new products.


    Even better, getting started on Instagram is a breeze. Instagram ads also allow hyperlinks, so you can lead readers right from their feeds to your website with specific calls to action to learn more. Lead them to a personalized and well-designed landing page on your site, for instance, and you'll be drawing each follower who clicks through one big step closer to conversion.

    2. LinkedIn

    The majority of financial services providers already use LinkedIn, and there are many ways to make it perhaps the most successful social selling platform out of all the networks. Employees at institutions of all sizes and financial industries can use this professional network to cultivate thought leadership and educate their customers.

    For financial services marketers, a brand profile is a necessary starting point. Getting the most out of the platform, however, requires activating your employees in a social selling strategy. They can share relevant content, such as videos and published articles from trusted media outlets, as well as engage with customers and prospects one-on-one via direct messaging to establish themselves as experts and build trusting relationships. People want to engage with other people, not with general brand pages. It’s no wonder that employees on social media can garner 10x the engagement of brand pages alone.

    3. Twitter

    Like LinkedIn, Twitter is also a great place for agents, loan officers, and advisors to share their expertise. Understandably, financial services marketers might be intimidated by the fast-paced nature of the platform and fear they don’t have enough resources to keep up. However, with the proper social media management tools, maintaining compliant engagement on Twitter is totally possible — and worth it.

    One of the greatest benefits of social media marketing for financial services is the ability to provide more value to customers. Twitter makes this incredibly easy to do. Marketers can follow all relevant news media outlets and keep an eye out for any articles that might benefit their clients or prospects. For example, an explainer piece on recent changes in tax legislation may be helpful come tax season. Retweeting such helpful resources educates followers on financial topics and builds trust in the brand and its employees.

    There’s no single best social media platform for marketing. Each one has a unique opportunity to reach and engage current and future customers. If you’re already on social media, it’s time to level up your social media marketing strategy by diving into Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook in more depth. No matter the size of your financial institution, extending your social media strategy to encompass these platforms can help grow your audience, build trust, and maintain solid customer relationships.

    ST. LOUIS, August 30, 2023 – Capacity, an AI-powered support automation platform, today announced the acquisitions of Denim Social and LumenVox. Capacity’s support automation platform empowers teams to do their best work and deliver valuable customer experiences across channels. With the addition of Denim Social and LumenVox’s products, the platform is charting a course to provide solutions that define the future of work and omnichannel customer engagement for its 1,900+ customers across numerous industries.

    Capacity’s acquisitions of Denim Social and LumenVox are fueling its transformation from a self-service, single channel tool to an omnichannel support and engagement automation platform. Whether providing customer and employee support, assisting agents or reaching out to customers, the Capacity platform now offers a complete solution across web, voice, SMS, email and social media. 

    “Customers need support everywhere. Our expanded platform will free up team members to do their best work while also building more meaningful relationships with their customers,” said David Karandish, CEO, Capacity. “Denim Social’s platform will empower brands to more effectively communicate with customers on their social channel of choice and LumenVox’s tools are key in our expansion into voice automation.”

    Denim Social, based in St. Louis, is a software provider that elevates the way professionals in the banking, insurance, mortgage and wealth management industries connect and sell on social media. With Denim Social integrated into the platform, Capacity users will be able to launch proactive social media campaigns to reach customers and deepen relationships. 

    “Social media is a must-have tool for today’s modern seller. Combining Capacity’s AI-powered automations with Denim Social’s campaign tools will enable users across industries to more effectively stay engaged on social media and focus their time on delivering authentic interactions,” said Doug Wilber, CEO, Denim Social. Wilber has assumed the role of Chief Strategy Officer at Capacity, following the acquisition. 

    LumenVox is a leading global speech and voice technology provider based out of San Diego. LumenVox works with customers to build secure self-service and customer-agent interactions. Its tools will enable Capacity users to transform customer engagement with AI-driven speech recognition and voice authentication technology.

    “The right voice technology can save teams countless support hours. Marrying LumenVox’s technology with the Capacity platform ensures voice is a seamless part of the omnichannel experience,” said Nigel Quinnin, CEO, LumenVox. Quinnin will lead Capacity’s voice initiatives. 

    The acquisitions of Denim Social and LumenVox significantly expand the capabilities and scale of the Capacity platform. Today, Capacity estimates that every month its platform will: 

    • Analyze 3,000,000,000 calls
    • Send 10,000,000 SMS messages
    • Deliver 500,000 social posts
    • Execute 386,000 workflows and automations
    • Deflect 140,000 tickets and emails

    “With these two great additions to the Capacity platform, we’re proudly offering customers an all-in-one solution for support and customer experience,” said Karandish. 

    Capacity’s acquisitions of Denim Social and LumenVox closely follows a deal with Textel, an enterprise SMS provider, earlier this year. Capacity will maintain its headquarters in St. Louis. With the acquisitions, its headcount is now more than 100 employees. The terms of the transactions are confidential.

    For more information on how Capacity helps teams do their best work, please visit capacity.com/omnichannel.

    About Capacity

    Founded in 2017, Capacity is a support automation platform that uses AI to promote self-service, providing immediate Tier 0 and Tier 1 support for customers and internal teams. Capacity answers over 90% of FAQs and escalates more pressing, nuanced issues to the right person. Capacity works across web, voice, SMS, email and social media to help teams do their best work. For more information, visit Capacity.com.

    About Denim Social

    Denim Social is a Software As A Service (SaaS) provider that powers social selling programs. The Denim Social platform helps brands empower their producers to compliantly communicate, share, and sell on their social channels of choice. Denim Social partners with forward-thinking marketing teams in regulated industries including banking, mortgage, insurance and wealth management. The social selling platform is used by corporate level admins and local producers to amplify brand messaging and power sales on social media. For more information, visit DenimSocial.com.

    About LumenVox

    LumenVox is an industry-leading provider of speech-enabling software, bringing the power of voice to customers worldwide and facilitating billions of customer interactions. The LumenVox software portfolio consists of Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) with transcription, Call Progress Analysis (CPA), Voice Biometrics, and Text-to-Speech (TTS). Designed to be highly flexible, accurate, and scalable, LumenVox helps some of the world’s largest cloud-first companies reimagine customer engagement by delivering exceptional voice experiences. LumenVox also provides self-service tools that enable customers to easily tune, adjust, and create language models. For more information, visit LumenVox.com.

    *This article was originally published in PRNewswire.

    Whether you love or loathe social media's infiltration into every element of our personal and professional lives, there's no denying that this powerful medium is never going away. Social networks are growing bigger and stronger by the day. Forward-thinking achievers in every industry understand this and have responded by leaning all the way into social selling.

    For the unaware, social selling is using social media to sell a product or service by showcasing authenticity, strengthening relationships with clients and prospects, and building thought leadership. In social selling, advisors use their own social pages to promote content about their brand and services, but with a personal spin.

    Everyone from dog groomers to financial advisors are utilizing multiple social networks to build a following and bolster their personal brands, and those who fully embrace social media's ubiquity outperform their competitors and win more business. It's as simple as that.

    The key, though, is finding a way to stand out from the competition online. There's a big difference between "doing social media" and doing it well.

    The difficulty with differentiation

    As we all know, the internet is more than likely the first place individuals go to get advice these days — financial, familial, and absolutely everything in between. So when people go online to search for guidance on money matters, they won't find you if you aren't there, actively promoting your expertise and services.

    There's no stronger business case for social media (and social selling) than that: It's where your potential customers are. Meet them there and give them what they need. If you don't, someone else will.

    To set yourself apart as a financial advisor, you need to be able to sell yourself — not just your firm. Sure, many financial advisors are intermediated and you likely don't have free rein to post everything you might want to on social channels, but that shouldn't be a deal-breaker. There's still plenty to say without risking any backlash or drawing the ire of regulators.

    Put your fears aside

    Though some in the financial industry might feel wary or daunted by interacting directly with clients or prospects, online exchanges matter in today’s market. Brands that use a more generic social-media strategy can end up sounding too promotional, focused more on boosting the brand to a broad audience instead of forging real connections. Rather than creating original content that speaks to their particular audience, financial institutions treat these social channels as glorified billboards instead of networking opportunities for each individual advisor.

    That’s too bad because there’s real power behind social selling today. When comparing the social media potential of brands vs. individuals, one study found that employees have 10 times the reach and double the engagement of the brands they speak for. The best sellers in large companies, meanwhile, were the ones who regularly used technology to foster connections with new prospects or existing clients. Building genuine relationships pays off for both advisors and brands.

    So, how does someone improve their social-selling efforts? How can financial advisors use the power of their individuality to differentiate themselves from their peers? Here are five tips to help you better accomplish social selling on your personal pages:

    1. Ask an expert

    Even if you’re on board with tapping into the potential of authentic relationship-building through social selling, you still need the right tools and training for the job. After all, your area of expertise is in the valuable services you provide to your clients, not online marketing.

    An excellent move for advisors is to seek advice from your firms’s marketing or branding team. Not only can they help you develop an effective social-selling strategy, but they can also provide you with the resources and tools you need to more effectively and efficiently create, plan, and schedule your posts. Compliance experts can also educate you on the rules that govern social media in the financial services industry. Ideally, your firm provides continuous training and tools to ensure you stay on the right side of regulations.

    2. Be real

    The type of posts that most people see on their social-media feeds are at least partially determined by an algorithm. These algorithms are generally designed to serve up content that users are most likely to engage with in one way or another. This can be a huge advantage, but it also means that you can’t expect to stay on people’s minds if you deliver bland, uninteresting content that isn't relevant to your audience.

    That doesn’t mean you should go posting clickbait or try to shock people (there’s definitely such a thing as bad engagement). Instead, the best way to get and keep people’s attention is to be your real self. Post about what matters to you and do it in your own voice, not just copying/pasting brand posts. Post about local happenings that people in your area might care about. Speak to the challenges you hear clients ask about most. In social selling, authenticity is the fastest way to start building deeper and more lasting relationships.

    3. Consistency is key

    How much engagement your posts garner will often depend on when and how often you post. Not only does each channel (like Facebook or LinkedIn) tend to have different times when engagement is at its peak, but your specific audience may also have their own preferences. A little research here can go a long way.

    Build a sustainable cadence and stay the course. Consistency is crucial. If you post more than once a day, make sure that each has a few hours to shine on its own. And if a post is getting a particularly high response rate, wait a while before potentially drowning it out with something new. Remember: Algorithms are looking for engagement, not frequency.

    4. Mix it up

    Another way to ensure better engagement (and a better response from the algorithm!) is to mix up the type of content you share. Your online presence should be a healthy medley of brand, industry, and personal and community content.

    You will need to figure out what the right balance for your own audience is. Think about what they care about, the questions they ask when you work together, or specific local concerns. The bottom line in every case is to make sure you’re maintaining a variety of relevant content in your social selling strategy.

    5. Give and take

    Approach social media as a conversation, not a bullhorn. Social selling is about more than just getting engagement — it’s also about engaging with your audience in return. This give and take is how relationships are made and strengthened, whether they be prospects or clients you know and love.

    Don’t just be reactive by responding only to comments or likes on your posts. Take time to respond to others’ posts as well, whether they’re customers or other thought leaders in the industry. This doesn’t always have to be through comments, either; a simple like can let people know you’re paying attention to what they have to say.

    Social selling is a powerful tool that can help financial advisors bring in new prospects and keep old clients coming back for more advice through the power of relationship and trust building. However, in order to rise above the noise, you can’t lean on your — or your firm’s — reputation. Instead, you need to establish an authentic presence for yourself that showcases exactly what makes you the right person for the job.

    Learn more by downloading our Social Selling Guidebook for Financial Institutions.

    Connect & Convert on Social

    Successfully scale conversion optimized campaigns across all social media channels with built-in compliance, publishing tools, and more.
    Book a Demo

    Connect & Convert on Social

    Successfully scale conversion optimized campaigns across all social media channels with built-in compliance, publishing tools, and more.
    Book a Demo

    Connect & Convert on Social

    Successfully scale conversion optimized campaigns across all social media channels with built-in compliance, publishing tools, and more.
    Book a Demo