February 28, 2023

Five Tips To Inform Banks' Paid Advertising Budget

Next year’s marketing budget” has quickly become “this year’s marketing budget.” How you allocate your dollars could mean the difference between a record-breaking 2023 or one to forget.

No pressure. Social media can help you reach your marketing goals, but an organic-only strategy is a recipe for under-performance, considering organic content alone only has a 2.2 percent reach on Facebook, 5.3 percent on LinkedIn, and 9.4 percent on Instagram. To crush social media goals this year, your team needs to invest in paid social media advertising.

Determining where to earmark money has always been a challenge for marketers. In a digital world, it’s even more complex because there are so many avenues to take, including both organic content and paid advertising. Don’t overlook either, yet it is important to ensure that your marketing budget breakdown is designed to help you meet (and exceed) your goals.

Here are five tips for bank marketing teams to make the most of paid social media advertising in 2023.

1. Expand your social platform mix

Generation Z is moving deeper into adulthood and significant financial events, such as snagging full-time employment, buying cars, and purchasing homes. With this in mind, your digital advertising content needs to be where young people “live” online. Here’s a hint: They don’t live on Facebook.

That doesn’t mean you should abandon your Facebook page—far from it. Your Facebook business page is where you’ll connect with consumers from older generations and drive engagement with customer support and personable branded content. Your social sellers are just as valuable on Facebook, too, when their posts are targeted toward the needs of older consumers.

To get the most out of your strategy, you need to use a mix of channels for organic and paid advertising. An excellent way to determine which platforms to try first is to research your competitors. Find out where they’re making inroads and seem to be outshining your brand, then use those insights to drive growth in the areas where you want to be more competitive. We’re seeing more and more brands have success with Instagram. This might be your year to expand.

2. Incorporate short-form videos into your social content

From YouTube to Instagram, algorithm-driven, short-form video content will conquer all else in 2023. Almost half of Gen Z uses video sites, such as TikTok and YouTube, to search before Google. Video posts rank higher in searches, keep viewers connected with your posts longer and give you opportunities to humanize your brand while advertising. If you haven’t folded video into your bank’s paid advertising strategy, you need to explore its power sooner rather than later. Remember, though, that consumers no longer gravitate toward long-form content. They like “snackable” videos, such as Instagram Reels.

Of course, not all content has to be released in a video format. Aim for a mixture of video, image, interactive and text formats when you post. Then, track to see which type of content drives the highest metrics for target audiences. As you become more confident in social video advertising, you should see a boost in responses.

3. Think beyond brand advertising with social selling

Building strong, trusting relationships with customers is the foundation of financial marketing. Now is the time to take advantage of social selling. Put simply, social selling is the practice of using associates to post authentic content, humanizing your brand and leveraging their personal networks to form stronger connections with customers.

A successful social selling program involves intermediary-led organic social media publishing, but that shouldn’t be the only angle. Organic content helps cultivate richness and authenticity for the bank brand, but it doesn’t provide value for people who don’t know anything about your institution. A paid social selling strategy is an effective way to get in front of customers you haven’t met and who might not be following your social sellers yet. Organic social strategies build first-degree connections and engagement, while paid strategies provide wider reach and tailored audiences.

These two symbiotic strategies can have a significant effect on ROI in financial services marketing. According to LinkedIn, employees who regularly share content are 45 percent more likely to exceed their quotas, and their companies are 57 percent likelier to generate leads. Which is nothing to scoff at.

4. Experiment with ways to personalize your customer interactions

Paid advertising allows you to do more than just show ads to potential customers;. It also provides a level of personalization that’s hard to attain in organic posts. Whether you’re greeting them by name or collecting location data to recommend a specific bank branch near them, one in seven customers wants their engagements with financial institutions to feel personalized.

How can bank marketers ensure their paid social advertising feels more personalized and genuine? One solution is through highly targeted ads and corresponding landing pages. The more paid advertising content is targeted, the more pertinent and customized it will seem to readers. And remember, the right tech stack platform and tool can help you automate without overspending, so you don’t have to waste staff time and energy on routine tasks.

5. Double down on re-targeting

Privacy laws are moving toward limiting the use of third-party cookies, but you can still re-target ads via popular social media networks. Re-targeting lets you stay in front of a prospect or customer throughout their entire digital journey. With the right content and calls to action, you can drive more traffic back to your bank’s landing pages—and drive new leads into your pipeline.

The conversion rates and ROI of comprehensive re-targeting campaigns can be major. Compared to basic social paid advertising, re-targeting your ads can give you a considerable boost.

Juggling marketing budget allocation from year to year can feel overwhelming. Nevertheless, it is important to determine where to place resources to get the highest possible ROI across the board. Banks benefit when their advertising strategies include investment in expanding social platform presence, incorporating videos into  content, adding social selling to your lineup, personalizing customer interactions and leveraging re-targeting options.

*This article was originally published in ABA Bank Marketing Journal.

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February 28, 2023

Five Tips To Inform Banks' Paid Advertising Budget

By
Doug Wilber
CEO, Denim Social

Next year’s marketing budget” has quickly become “this year’s marketing budget.” How you allocate your dollars could mean the difference between a record-breaking 2023 or one to forget.

No pressure. Social media can help you reach your marketing goals, but an organic-only strategy is a recipe for under-performance, considering organic content alone only has a 2.2 percent reach on Facebook, 5.3 percent on LinkedIn, and 9.4 percent on Instagram. To crush social media goals this year, your team needs to invest in paid social media advertising.

Determining where to earmark money has always been a challenge for marketers. In a digital world, it’s even more complex because there are so many avenues to take, including both organic content and paid advertising. Don’t overlook either, yet it is important to ensure that your marketing budget breakdown is designed to help you meet (and exceed) your goals.

Here are five tips for bank marketing teams to make the most of paid social media advertising in 2023.

1. Expand your social platform mix

Generation Z is moving deeper into adulthood and significant financial events, such as snagging full-time employment, buying cars, and purchasing homes. With this in mind, your digital advertising content needs to be where young people “live” online. Here’s a hint: They don’t live on Facebook.

That doesn’t mean you should abandon your Facebook page—far from it. Your Facebook business page is where you’ll connect with consumers from older generations and drive engagement with customer support and personable branded content. Your social sellers are just as valuable on Facebook, too, when their posts are targeted toward the needs of older consumers.

To get the most out of your strategy, you need to use a mix of channels for organic and paid advertising. An excellent way to determine which platforms to try first is to research your competitors. Find out where they’re making inroads and seem to be outshining your brand, then use those insights to drive growth in the areas where you want to be more competitive. We’re seeing more and more brands have success with Instagram. This might be your year to expand.

2. Incorporate short-form videos into your social content

From YouTube to Instagram, algorithm-driven, short-form video content will conquer all else in 2023. Almost half of Gen Z uses video sites, such as TikTok and YouTube, to search before Google. Video posts rank higher in searches, keep viewers connected with your posts longer and give you opportunities to humanize your brand while advertising. If you haven’t folded video into your bank’s paid advertising strategy, you need to explore its power sooner rather than later. Remember, though, that consumers no longer gravitate toward long-form content. They like “snackable” videos, such as Instagram Reels.

Of course, not all content has to be released in a video format. Aim for a mixture of video, image, interactive and text formats when you post. Then, track to see which type of content drives the highest metrics for target audiences. As you become more confident in social video advertising, you should see a boost in responses.

3. Think beyond brand advertising with social selling

Building strong, trusting relationships with customers is the foundation of financial marketing. Now is the time to take advantage of social selling. Put simply, social selling is the practice of using associates to post authentic content, humanizing your brand and leveraging their personal networks to form stronger connections with customers.

A successful social selling program involves intermediary-led organic social media publishing, but that shouldn’t be the only angle. Organic content helps cultivate richness and authenticity for the bank brand, but it doesn’t provide value for people who don’t know anything about your institution. A paid social selling strategy is an effective way to get in front of customers you haven’t met and who might not be following your social sellers yet. Organic social strategies build first-degree connections and engagement, while paid strategies provide wider reach and tailored audiences.

These two symbiotic strategies can have a significant effect on ROI in financial services marketing. According to LinkedIn, employees who regularly share content are 45 percent more likely to exceed their quotas, and their companies are 57 percent likelier to generate leads. Which is nothing to scoff at.

4. Experiment with ways to personalize your customer interactions

Paid advertising allows you to do more than just show ads to potential customers;. It also provides a level of personalization that’s hard to attain in organic posts. Whether you’re greeting them by name or collecting location data to recommend a specific bank branch near them, one in seven customers wants their engagements with financial institutions to feel personalized.

How can bank marketers ensure their paid social advertising feels more personalized and genuine? One solution is through highly targeted ads and corresponding landing pages. The more paid advertising content is targeted, the more pertinent and customized it will seem to readers. And remember, the right tech stack platform and tool can help you automate without overspending, so you don’t have to waste staff time and energy on routine tasks.

5. Double down on re-targeting

Privacy laws are moving toward limiting the use of third-party cookies, but you can still re-target ads via popular social media networks. Re-targeting lets you stay in front of a prospect or customer throughout their entire digital journey. With the right content and calls to action, you can drive more traffic back to your bank’s landing pages—and drive new leads into your pipeline.

The conversion rates and ROI of comprehensive re-targeting campaigns can be major. Compared to basic social paid advertising, re-targeting your ads can give you a considerable boost.

Juggling marketing budget allocation from year to year can feel overwhelming. Nevertheless, it is important to determine where to place resources to get the highest possible ROI across the board. Banks benefit when their advertising strategies include investment in expanding social platform presence, incorporating videos into  content, adding social selling to your lineup, personalizing customer interactions and leveraging re-targeting options.

*This article was originally published in ABA Bank Marketing Journal.

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Personalization isn’t new to marketing. The process of connecting with customers has been moving in that direction for years, and for good reason. One survey found that 80% of respondents would be more likely to do business with companies that offered personalized experiences. But it seems many financial institutions haven’t yet gotten the news.

If you dig through the numbers, you’ll find that personalization applies to the financial industry. In fact, 72% of consumers rate personalization as highly important in finance. They value text alerts, customized tasks and opportunities to transact more efficiently. They also want digitally driven features that save them time with routine tasks and the ability to track multiple accounts using a single dashboard.

Financial marketers’ job is figuring out how to use personalization to gain (and retain) customers — and how to get leadership to buy in. It’s an easy sell: Personalization enhances the customer experience and also helps teams use social media marketing budgets more efficiently.

But financial marketers are often up against a knowledge gap. Senior management doesn’t always understand a digital-first strategy focused on personalization. Financial institutions historically aren’t known to be early adopters or quick to change, which can leave marketers spending years advocating for updates.

The question is, how exactly do you get buy-in from leadership to start personalizing and investing more money for social media marketing. The following strategies can help you get started:

Target the right people: Social media marketing is about identifying target audiences and catering strategies accordingly. The same applies when securing your social media marketing budget. When looking for buy-in, target those on the leadership team who are likely to understand what excellence in personalization looks like.

Great personalization is omnichannel; it engages consumers on the channels of their choice and it’s deeply human. To humanize marketing beyond the brand level, financial institutions need to reach out to leaders who would be open to highly personalized tactics such as social selling, which puts employees and producers on the frontlines to build relationships for the brand.

Craft the right message: Messaging is critical in marketing — and that goes double for selling the idea of a more personalized social strategy. Your message needs to resonate with your audience, even if your audience is one decision-maker. Link everything back to ROI by explaining that customers weigh bank reputation and online presence when deciding among financial institutions.

Be prepared to explain how you’ll track and increase customer conversion metrics through your campaigns. When arguing for more money toward paid social media advertising, for example, you’ll want to explain how it can boost conversion rates, meaning more customers (and revenue) coming in from your ads. Framing your message in business terms will help you advocate for funds to support personalization at scale.

Present the right data: Use compelling data to bring your message home. With 75% of B2B buyers using social media to make buying decisions, social selling is powerful for attracting new customers. But it’s important to understand whether your customers want to talk to your brand. Your audience is likely more comfortable engaging with brand intermediaries instead; people buy from other people.

That’s why so many financial institutions find it valuable to launch social selling programs that position agents, advisors and loan officers to build customer relationships. Social media is thick with prospects, as 54% today use social networks to conduct product research. Your team can capture prospects where they are with the right strategies, processes and technology.

Decide the right timing: The time to start advocating for personalization is now. Approach leadership about earmarking money for personalization in the budget for social media marketing.

Remember that most financial institutions establish their fiscal budgets for the year and often don’t revisit those budgets for another year. 41% of marketing budgets are based on the previous year, with only 10% revisited quarterly, meaning you should plan ahead for social initiatives that might take more money down the line. You likely won’t get another chance to advocate for that money once the budget is set.

Personalized relationships matter, and it’s time to make the case for an expanded marketing budget to support better personalization. With any marketing strategy, you want to approach the right audience with the right message at the right time. Then, with funds secured, your team can get to the exciting part: attracting prospects with education, keeping customers engaged with personalized messaging, and driving bottom-line impacts.

*This article was originally published in BAI.

With a less than rosy outlook, it’s essential that every mortgage loan officer maintain an edge on the competition. The marketing tactics of the past may not be successful when there are fewer buyers in the pool of prospects. Now is the time to be more strategic and paid social advertising can help loan officers make the most of every marketing penny.

One-third of internet users find new products and brands through paid ads. That’s a lot of opportunity. Paid social is one of the most effective ways to introduce people who aren’t yet following your loan officers to your financial institution at the right place and the right time.

Let’s start with some good news. Although paid social media may feel intimating, if you’re already doing organic social media, you’re off to a great start. But if you’re not using paid social advertising, you’re missing out. Here are three reasons to add it to your marketing strategy:  

1. Understand what’s working in social media

With paid social media ads, you can see immediate results, which makes them great for testing. If a post is underperforming, use A/B testing to experiment with different images, copy, and calls to action and make improvements for the future. A/B testing helps you isolate what elements of your ads need to change by showing what resonates and what doesn’t. This means you’ll never waste a dollar on the wrong creative or message.

Think about it this way, does a billboard ever provide performance data? Didn’t think so.

Further, paid social media insights can even be applied to your organic social media strategy. Did a paid post have unexpectedly high engagement? Use it as a blueprint to try to isolate why. As you see what’s performing, invest more dollars into posts that convert while cutting or changing content that doesn’t.

2. Reach new audiences

Another reason paid social is so important is that organic content only reaches an average of 2.2% of followers of social media platforms. But this doesn’t mean it’s time to ditch organic social media and put all your eggs in the paid basket.

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.

Both organic and paid social media can help increase your reach on social media, and it starts with activating loan officers. A social selling approach can increase your results tenfold and drive higher engagement. Paid social then supercharges your social strategy and helps you reach new prospects.

Complementary paid advertising, breaks through a loan officer’s first-degree social connections to reach second- and third-degree connections, who will include important professional referral sources.

3. Drive leads into conversions.

Don’t let your marketing funnel lead to dead ends. Make sure loan officers are linking back to a website or other relevant brand content. Paid social media ads can generate leads by offering call-to-action options that get attention and clicks.

With the right technology, clicks on social media ads can trigger a loan officer’s CRM. That’s warm leads in their inbox.

With spring buying season on the horizon, now’s the right time to start formulating a plan to differentiate. Paid social media advertising can give loan officers a leg up on the competition. Ready to learn how to start? Check out Denim Social’s guidebook, Getting Started with Paid Social Media Advertising for Financial Institutions.

*This article was originally published in MBA Newslink.

Compliance regulations are the bedrock of the financial services market, and for good reason: They are the gateways to gaining customers’ trust. In today’s increasingly digital market, however, compliance comes with unique challenges. How can an institution position its brand honestly online?

How can it effectively engage with customers while still maintaining strict compliance standards? As financial institutions continue to adopt digital marketing strategies in a complex and shifting environment, they are beginning to run into even more compliance challenges.

Take J.P. Morgan Securities’ recent settlement over record-keeping violations, for example. U.S. regulators fined the company $200 million for failing to archive communications as employees conducted business over WhatsApp and other personal devices. The result was a significant penalty by the SEC and a reminder to digital marketers throughout the industry that compliance matters. As financial institutions dive deeper into social media marketing and become active on new platforms, teams need to be vigilant and nimble.

Two trends are essential to watch. First, the digital rules of the road are changing: Government agencies are modernizing their financial marketing oversight. Though it took six decades, the SEC gave its marketing regulations for financial advisors a much-needed overhaul in 2021. The updated SEC playbook dictates how advisors can advertise, and these new rules are under enforcement as of Nov. 4. In addition, the updated rules signal that regulators are evolving to meet the demands of the current digital landscape.

Disciplinary action is also on the rise. Existing rules are being enforced at a record pace as regulators “lace up their gloves.” For example, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority issued 60 percent more fines in 2021 than in 2020, despite fewer overall cases. FINRA’s increase in “supersized” penalties serves as a reminder that regulators won’t tolerate marketing and communications noncompliance.

Every financial institution is on a unique marketing path. Still, smart marketers are expanding their channel sets, increasing social media volumes, and growing the number of associates engaged in social selling. If your institution has not already, it is time to take a fresh look at compliance in the digital age.

To stay ahead of the regulatory curve, it is essential to create collaboration among relevant departments, adopt supportive technology, and bring your teams along with updated training. Here’s how to do it:

1. Open the lines of communication between marketing and compliance teams.

Digital channel expansion shows no signs of slowing down. Marketing and compliance teams must work together if they want to adopt new channels and marketing tools at the same rate. Though financial institutions cannot control the evolution of the digital landscape, both marketing and compliance can and should control how institutions navigate it.

Marketing and compliance teams should work together to find compliant approaches to new digital communications. There’s a lot to juggle in this process, including adapting to meet customer needs and expectations, keeping an eye on regulations and researching channels. Early and frequent communication is key.

One way to improve that communication is by offering ongoing compliance education to the team. The right technology can help compliance send that feedback to marketing as the teams compliantly adopt new modes of customer communication.

2. Adopt tech tools to help manage the change.

Marketing teams need the right tools to manage effective digital marketing strategies. Social selling, which leverages associates to build relationships on social media, is a perfect example. The strategy is a great way to build organic reach, but financial institutions need to closely monitor associate activity to ensure posts are on-brand and compliant. In other words, financial institutions must ensure that posts are vetted to protect the institution against risk—no matter who posts or where posts appear.

How can banks be certain that associates only post compliant marketing materials to their social media networks? Manual review is one way to monitor content, but it is inefficient and unscalable. Not to mention, it creates bottlenecks and delays in the review process. Smart software solutions can streamline content approvals and provide compliance protection at scale.

In an ideal state of omnichannel marketing, a financial institution is posting to brand pages, targeting paid social advertising, empowering producers to social sell, responding to direct messages, and employing many other tactics. To be scalable—and avoid drawing attention from regulators— institutions need to consider how all these tactics are reviewed, approved and archived.

3. Train associates to understand the part they play.

Education remains a powerful solution to preventing problems. One of the best ways financial marketers can set themselves up for success is by sharing that knowledge with their peers and co-workers.

Every associate needs to understand their unique role in digital marketing compliance. It’s a good practice to empower everyone through education on compliance-related topics, such as how to respond to direct messages, get approval for outgoing content and ensure all communications is archived.

No matter the author or channel, noncompliant marketing materials should not see the light of day. It was true for Facebook posts five years ago and it’s equally relevant for TikTok videos today. The digital landscape will continue to change, but this industry truth will remain steadfast. By opening up communication, adding the right tech to your tool belt and empowering associates, you can continue engaging with your customers online without compliance getting in the way.

*This article was originally published in ABA Bank Marketing Journal.

For financial institutions entering the fourth quarter of the year, budget is on every leader’s mind. For marketers, now is the time to take a step back and assess how the current year’s budget has served the needs of the institution, and determine how to spend wisely in the future. 

In the financial industry, marketing budgets increased over 10% in the past year with social media spend topping the list. This has many marketers rethinking their budgets for social selling and more. The good news is that social media can be one of the best (and most cost-effective ways) to get the most out of overall marketing and generate real business ROI. No matter how large or small a budget, with the right approach, marketers and social sellers can use social media to make new connections and drive results. 

So, what should you be doing with your social media budget? Here are our team’s top suggestions: 

  1. Embrace the season of giving. The last quarter of the year is one of holiday celebrations and an opportunity for financial institutions to connect with customers on a more personal level. It’s the perfect time to spend extra budget – or set a little aside –  for giveaways on social media, charitable drives or donations, or to spread cheer and gratitude for your employees. Social media makes it easy to get the message of giving out to your audience and get them involved
  2. Reach more people with paid advertising. Take your organic social media content further by targeting it to the right audience. Social media works most effectively when brands use a combination of original content and paid advertising, so incorporating both into any marketing campaign is a smart move that can increase reach and convert interested prospects. It doesn’t take a big expense with the right approach, but it can make a big difference in how far your content takes you. 
  3. Invest in your greatest asset: your employees. Consumers trust people more than brands; that’s why empowering loan officers, bankers, agents, or advisors with the resources they need to support their own business along with overall brand goals is vital. Invest in additional trainings for your team or incentivize social selling efforts with dedicated paid budget to the top social sellers every quarter. 
  4. Fuel your strategy by investing in the right financial social media solutions. Perhaps the best thing you can do for your budget is to streamline social media marketing needs into one all-inclusive tool. Platforms like Denim Social allow marketers to schedule out posts, curate content libraries, run paid ad campaigns, and design landing pages to hit the right audiences. It’s the most efficient way to build a social selling program, compliantly and to scale. Saving time and effort by investing in the right tools can help businesses meet customers where they are and get them where they need to be. 

No matter the size or scope of a bank, insurance agency, mortgage lender, or financial firm marketing budget, the end of the year is the best time to assess what’s going right and what might need to change in the coming year. There’s no doubt that social media has a place in every marketer’s budget, and knowing where and how to spend allocated dollars can support business goals and keep financial brands relevant and accessible. Social selling multiplies efforts of money spent on marketing to reach more customers where they are. Marketers that build a smart strategy through a personalized approach on social will be well positioned to get the most out of any budget. 

In the digital age, convenience is king. Digital channels are accessible for customers and scalable for banks, but the lack of emotional connection means clients are less likely to develop brand loyalty. Unsurprisingly, a large percentage of millennials and Gen Xers have no issue switching retail banks.

There’s no fighting the digital revolution, but this doesn’t mean you should stop prioritizing customer experience. If anything, digital places an even higher value on reevaluating customer needs and creating a human-centric approach to connect with them.

We’re past the age of greeting customers with coffee in the bank lobby. Rather than in-person communication, one-to-one omnichannel marketing focuses on using many channels to connect with customers. No two consumers have the same media habits, so it’s essential to personalize their interactions by integrating their preferred channels to create seamless service interactions.

What does this look like for banks? It starts with a diverse range of channel options to meet the preferences and needs of unique customers, and then to translate those human relationships to meet the needs of the channel.

Reaching your customers on their level sounds expensive but can help banks save money in the long run: Increasing retention rates by just 5% can lead to a 25% profit boost, and banks with superior customer satisfaction grow deposits at a faster rate than their competitors.

Here are three guidelines for shaping a personalized omnichannel strategy.

Engage on the customer’s preferred channel: Customers say communicating via their preferred method is the second-most important factor in their business decisions. While the size of today’s media landscape means banks need to be active on multiple channels, data insights can help you identify which ones are worth putting resources into.

Another benefit of using your future customer’s preferred platform is trust. When a bank customer feels heard and catered to, the relationship will be built more on trust. Regardless of which platforms your institution is on, interacting with customers on the one they trust and prefer can also build their trust in you.

Humanize your customer interactions: In financial services, people buy from people. Relationships are the bedrock of the industry, so transform those relationships for the digital age. Use social selling to help by having bank employees to work front and center in digital outreach. When customers interact with your bank, are they relating it to a specific person or just a brand?

Promotional emails from a person instead of a generic brand address is a start, but personal communication goes much deeper. Use social media to enable social selling for associates.

Prioritizing social selling can be more efficient by capitalizing on employees’ social reach.

Customize your messaging: It can be easy to send a mass-marketing email to a collection of potential marketing leads — but what’s easy isn’t always what’s effective. Operating on different channels requires understanding the rules of communication for each platform.

Instagram is a visual platform, so it would be out-of-touch for a bank to post word-heavy content there. Instead, use infographics and other image-based material. Taking stock of different social media methods better prepares you to reach audiences effectively.

Banks need to make each communication platform work for the needs of their audience, taking into account the user base and the nature of their business. Design campaigns based around each customer and offer personalization options to tailor these messages further. For example, messages or imagery related to legacy planning may not be well-received on Instagram, a platform dominated by younger users. Similarly, older audiences would likely be uninterested in first-time home buyer content.

It is estimated that for every $100 billion in assets a bank has, it can achieve as much as $300 million in revenue growth by personalizing its customer interactions, so it’s well worth the time investment.

The efficacy of investing in omnichannel marketing will be reflected in customers gained. By investing in personalizing your online experience, the benefits will compound over time as your bank stays front of mind with customers. Personalize your marketing, bring value with empathetic interactions, and humanize every touchpoint to retain your most valued customers.

This article was originally published on BAI.

Banks that do not adapt to the digital world are leaving opportunities on the table. Organic social media is a great way to build a brand and awareness, but that is only a fraction of the potential that lies in fully integrated digital marketing. Banks that utilize omnichannel marketing create a seamless experience regardless of where leads are engaged and wherever they are in the buyer’s journey.

Omnichannel bank marketing is the future—bank marketers meeting people on the channel of their choice, and that means investing in social media. Most customers do not operate off a singular social channel. Rather, financial institutions win when they provide a seamless experience to customers across multiple social platforms in order to maximize their social marketing strategies.

Organic social media is great for creating awareness, but institutions need to be more purposeful in content engagement, consideration, and conversion stages. Rates are not what drive customers to change their financial institution. Emotions are more likely to be the impetus. This is why personalization in digital bank marketing is such a necessity.

There are four crucial steps to take to avoid falling behind the curve while answering the question: What does omnichannel marketing look like for banks?

1. Use paid advertising to engage your audience

Organic content is the foundation of a good social selling marketing strategy, but algorithms will often work against you. Paid social media advertising ensures your content makes it in front of the right eyes.

There is another benefit to going the paid route: Organic reach is often limited to those who are already aware of your institution in some capacity. Paid advertising lets you reach previously untapped audiences and guide them toward the top of your marketing funnel.

To increase your chances of success, use intelligent targeting to focus your ads on the customer’s specific needs. Paid advertising allows for extremely specific targeting, which should be factored into your strategy. Ads for first-time homebuyer mortgages should be in front of those 20- and 30-somethings looking into housing, while retirement ads are better off with the 55+ crowd. The best marketing in the world won’t work if it’s at the wrong time in the wrong place. Identify where in the funnel customers are and target them (on their preferred platform!) with paid advertisements tailor-made to their current need.

2. Guide the audience’s next steps

Social media marketing is just a singular step in a larger walk, so make sure you leave breadcrumbs for leads to follow. Social reach means little if you’re not actually creating conversions. Regardless of whether you use organic posts or paid, don’t forget to include some form of landing page to guide readers back to your brand’s website. There should be no “digital dead ends” in your social strategy. Every piece of the puzzle should connect your audience to another way to engage.

When deciding what landing page to use, curate the page to the post. If your advisor is posting about retirement funds, link to a specific ebook on the subject. Gated content will educate the customer while also providing you with the information needed to start nurturing a lead. It’s a win-win situation.

3. Retarget to convert and retain

Once customers have engaged with your institution, retain that data to inform future interactions, i.e., use retargeting to your advantage by connecting with consumers based on previous engagements. Sometimes, customers may need a nudge to close the conversion. Make sure your marketing allows for that. The right CRM tools will guide retargeting efforts by notifying customers ripe for retargeting. They can also automate messages to send out to your audience, such as email drip campaigns, making sure you reach out at just the right time.

Even after you’ve converted a lead, don’t stop nurturing. The customer journey is cyclical, and new customers will eventually become brand ambassadors in their own right if you give them an experience warranting it. You’ll retain loyal customers and potentially gain references through them.

4. Use technology to scale

Omnichannel marketing addresses the customer’s individual needs during each step of the journey. But undertaking personalization for every customer is a Herculean task, so it needs to be automated and streamlined. This can be more basic, such as setting up newsletters to nurture leads that are automatically sent out at regular intervals, but it doesn’t have to be. The right tools can create connections between your digital marketing strategies and CRM records and automatically keep each other updated.

You also need to consider regulatory compliance with social media posts. A proper social media manager should screen posts for you, flagging any that may contain non-compliant content. Social selling relies on empowering intermediaries to connect with customers directly, so having a good management software in place to oversee all this activity is essential. Technology allows for omnichannel marketing in banks of all sizes. The more tasks you can automate, the more time you allow for higher-level responsibilities.

Omnichannel marketing is a highly effective strategy, but only if it’s implemented wisely. By using technology to their advantage, banks can target a multitude of audiences, allowing for greater reach and more conversions. Effectively utilizing paid ads and understanding how omnichannel allows for more personalized messaging will keep your bank ahead of competitors.

This article was originally published in ABA Bank Marketing.

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GUIDES

Five Tips To Inform Banks' Paid Advertising Budget

Next year’s marketing budget” has quickly become “this year’s marketing budget.” How you allocate your dollars could mean the difference between a record-breaking 2023 or one to forget.

No pressure. Social media can help you reach your marketing goals, but an organic-only strategy is a recipe for under-performance, considering organic content alone only has a 2.2 percent reach on Facebook, 5.3 percent on LinkedIn, and 9.4 percent on Instagram. To crush social media goals this year, your team needs to invest in paid social media advertising.

Determining where to earmark money has always been a challenge for marketers. In a digital world, it’s even more complex because there are so many avenues to take, including both organic content and paid advertising. Don’t overlook either, yet it is important to ensure that your marketing budget breakdown is designed to help you meet (and exceed) your goals.

Here are five tips for bank marketing teams to make the most of paid social media advertising in 2023.

1. Expand your social platform mix

Generation Z is moving deeper into adulthood and significant financial events, such as snagging full-time employment, buying cars, and purchasing homes. With this in mind, your digital advertising content needs to be where young people “live” online. Here’s a hint: They don’t live on Facebook.

That doesn’t mean you should abandon your Facebook page—far from it. Your Facebook business page is where you’ll connect with consumers from older generations and drive engagement with customer support and personable branded content. Your social sellers are just as valuable on Facebook, too, when their posts are targeted toward the needs of older consumers.

To get the most out of your strategy, you need to use a mix of channels for organic and paid advertising. An excellent way to determine which platforms to try first is to research your competitors. Find out where they’re making inroads and seem to be outshining your brand, then use those insights to drive growth in the areas where you want to be more competitive. We’re seeing more and more brands have success with Instagram. This might be your year to expand.

2. Incorporate short-form videos into your social content

From YouTube to Instagram, algorithm-driven, short-form video content will conquer all else in 2023. Almost half of Gen Z uses video sites, such as TikTok and YouTube, to search before Google. Video posts rank higher in searches, keep viewers connected with your posts longer and give you opportunities to humanize your brand while advertising. If you haven’t folded video into your bank’s paid advertising strategy, you need to explore its power sooner rather than later. Remember, though, that consumers no longer gravitate toward long-form content. They like “snackable” videos, such as Instagram Reels.

Of course, not all content has to be released in a video format. Aim for a mixture of video, image, interactive and text formats when you post. Then, track to see which type of content drives the highest metrics for target audiences. As you become more confident in social video advertising, you should see a boost in responses.

3. Think beyond brand advertising with social selling

Building strong, trusting relationships with customers is the foundation of financial marketing. Now is the time to take advantage of social selling. Put simply, social selling is the practice of using associates to post authentic content, humanizing your brand and leveraging their personal networks to form stronger connections with customers.

A successful social selling program involves intermediary-led organic social media publishing, but that shouldn’t be the only angle. Organic content helps cultivate richness and authenticity for the bank brand, but it doesn’t provide value for people who don’t know anything about your institution. A paid social selling strategy is an effective way to get in front of customers you haven’t met and who might not be following your social sellers yet. Organic social strategies build first-degree connections and engagement, while paid strategies provide wider reach and tailored audiences.

These two symbiotic strategies can have a significant effect on ROI in financial services marketing. According to LinkedIn, employees who regularly share content are 45 percent more likely to exceed their quotas, and their companies are 57 percent likelier to generate leads. Which is nothing to scoff at.

4. Experiment with ways to personalize your customer interactions

Paid advertising allows you to do more than just show ads to potential customers;. It also provides a level of personalization that’s hard to attain in organic posts. Whether you’re greeting them by name or collecting location data to recommend a specific bank branch near them, one in seven customers wants their engagements with financial institutions to feel personalized.

How can bank marketers ensure their paid social advertising feels more personalized and genuine? One solution is through highly targeted ads and corresponding landing pages. The more paid advertising content is targeted, the more pertinent and customized it will seem to readers. And remember, the right tech stack platform and tool can help you automate without overspending, so you don’t have to waste staff time and energy on routine tasks.

5. Double down on re-targeting

Privacy laws are moving toward limiting the use of third-party cookies, but you can still re-target ads via popular social media networks. Re-targeting lets you stay in front of a prospect or customer throughout their entire digital journey. With the right content and calls to action, you can drive more traffic back to your bank’s landing pages—and drive new leads into your pipeline.

The conversion rates and ROI of comprehensive re-targeting campaigns can be major. Compared to basic social paid advertising, re-targeting your ads can give you a considerable boost.

Juggling marketing budget allocation from year to year can feel overwhelming. Nevertheless, it is important to determine where to place resources to get the highest possible ROI across the board. Banks benefit when their advertising strategies include investment in expanding social platform presence, incorporating videos into  content, adding social selling to your lineup, personalizing customer interactions and leveraging re-targeting options.

*This article was originally published in ABA Bank Marketing Journal.

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

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.

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.

    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
    GUIDES

    Five Tips To Inform Banks' Paid Advertising Budget

    Next year’s marketing budget” has quickly become “this year’s marketing budget.” How you allocate your dollars could mean the difference between a record-breaking 2023 or one to forget.

    No pressure. Social media can help you reach your marketing goals, but an organic-only strategy is a recipe for under-performance, considering organic content alone only has a 2.2 percent reach on Facebook, 5.3 percent on LinkedIn, and 9.4 percent on Instagram. To crush social media goals this year, your team needs to invest in paid social media advertising.

    Determining where to earmark money has always been a challenge for marketers. In a digital world, it’s even more complex because there are so many avenues to take, including both organic content and paid advertising. Don’t overlook either, yet it is important to ensure that your marketing budget breakdown is designed to help you meet (and exceed) your goals.

    Here are five tips for bank marketing teams to make the most of paid social media advertising in 2023.

    1. Expand your social platform mix

    Generation Z is moving deeper into adulthood and significant financial events, such as snagging full-time employment, buying cars, and purchasing homes. With this in mind, your digital advertising content needs to be where young people “live” online. Here’s a hint: They don’t live on Facebook.

    That doesn’t mean you should abandon your Facebook page—far from it. Your Facebook business page is where you’ll connect with consumers from older generations and drive engagement with customer support and personable branded content. Your social sellers are just as valuable on Facebook, too, when their posts are targeted toward the needs of older consumers.

    To get the most out of your strategy, you need to use a mix of channels for organic and paid advertising. An excellent way to determine which platforms to try first is to research your competitors. Find out where they’re making inroads and seem to be outshining your brand, then use those insights to drive growth in the areas where you want to be more competitive. We’re seeing more and more brands have success with Instagram. This might be your year to expand.

    2. Incorporate short-form videos into your social content

    From YouTube to Instagram, algorithm-driven, short-form video content will conquer all else in 2023. Almost half of Gen Z uses video sites, such as TikTok and YouTube, to search before Google. Video posts rank higher in searches, keep viewers connected with your posts longer and give you opportunities to humanize your brand while advertising. If you haven’t folded video into your bank’s paid advertising strategy, you need to explore its power sooner rather than later. Remember, though, that consumers no longer gravitate toward long-form content. They like “snackable” videos, such as Instagram Reels.

    Of course, not all content has to be released in a video format. Aim for a mixture of video, image, interactive and text formats when you post. Then, track to see which type of content drives the highest metrics for target audiences. As you become more confident in social video advertising, you should see a boost in responses.

    3. Think beyond brand advertising with social selling

    Building strong, trusting relationships with customers is the foundation of financial marketing. Now is the time to take advantage of social selling. Put simply, social selling is the practice of using associates to post authentic content, humanizing your brand and leveraging their personal networks to form stronger connections with customers.

    A successful social selling program involves intermediary-led organic social media publishing, but that shouldn’t be the only angle. Organic content helps cultivate richness and authenticity for the bank brand, but it doesn’t provide value for people who don’t know anything about your institution. A paid social selling strategy is an effective way to get in front of customers you haven’t met and who might not be following your social sellers yet. Organic social strategies build first-degree connections and engagement, while paid strategies provide wider reach and tailored audiences.

    These two symbiotic strategies can have a significant effect on ROI in financial services marketing. According to LinkedIn, employees who regularly share content are 45 percent more likely to exceed their quotas, and their companies are 57 percent likelier to generate leads. Which is nothing to scoff at.

    4. Experiment with ways to personalize your customer interactions

    Paid advertising allows you to do more than just show ads to potential customers;. It also provides a level of personalization that’s hard to attain in organic posts. Whether you’re greeting them by name or collecting location data to recommend a specific bank branch near them, one in seven customers wants their engagements with financial institutions to feel personalized.

    How can bank marketers ensure their paid social advertising feels more personalized and genuine? One solution is through highly targeted ads and corresponding landing pages. The more paid advertising content is targeted, the more pertinent and customized it will seem to readers. And remember, the right tech stack platform and tool can help you automate without overspending, so you don’t have to waste staff time and energy on routine tasks.

    5. Double down on re-targeting

    Privacy laws are moving toward limiting the use of third-party cookies, but you can still re-target ads via popular social media networks. Re-targeting lets you stay in front of a prospect or customer throughout their entire digital journey. With the right content and calls to action, you can drive more traffic back to your bank’s landing pages—and drive new leads into your pipeline.

    The conversion rates and ROI of comprehensive re-targeting campaigns can be major. Compared to basic social paid advertising, re-targeting your ads can give you a considerable boost.

    Juggling marketing budget allocation from year to year can feel overwhelming. Nevertheless, it is important to determine where to place resources to get the highest possible ROI across the board. Banks benefit when their advertising strategies include investment in expanding social platform presence, incorporating videos into  content, adding social selling to your lineup, personalizing customer interactions and leveraging re-targeting options.

    *This article was originally published in ABA Bank Marketing Journal.

    Download the Guide

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

    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.

    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.

    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
    GUIDES

    Five Tips To Inform Banks' Paid Advertising Budget

    Next year’s marketing budget” has quickly become “this year’s marketing budget.” How you allocate your dollars could mean the difference between a record-breaking 2023 or one to forget.

    No pressure. Social media can help you reach your marketing goals, but an organic-only strategy is a recipe for under-performance, considering organic content alone only has a 2.2 percent reach on Facebook, 5.3 percent on LinkedIn, and 9.4 percent on Instagram. To crush social media goals this year, your team needs to invest in paid social media advertising.

    Determining where to earmark money has always been a challenge for marketers. In a digital world, it’s even more complex because there are so many avenues to take, including both organic content and paid advertising. Don’t overlook either, yet it is important to ensure that your marketing budget breakdown is designed to help you meet (and exceed) your goals.

    Here are five tips for bank marketing teams to make the most of paid social media advertising in 2023.

    1. Expand your social platform mix

    Generation Z is moving deeper into adulthood and significant financial events, such as snagging full-time employment, buying cars, and purchasing homes. With this in mind, your digital advertising content needs to be where young people “live” online. Here’s a hint: They don’t live on Facebook.

    That doesn’t mean you should abandon your Facebook page—far from it. Your Facebook business page is where you’ll connect with consumers from older generations and drive engagement with customer support and personable branded content. Your social sellers are just as valuable on Facebook, too, when their posts are targeted toward the needs of older consumers.

    To get the most out of your strategy, you need to use a mix of channels for organic and paid advertising. An excellent way to determine which platforms to try first is to research your competitors. Find out where they’re making inroads and seem to be outshining your brand, then use those insights to drive growth in the areas where you want to be more competitive. We’re seeing more and more brands have success with Instagram. This might be your year to expand.

    2. Incorporate short-form videos into your social content

    From YouTube to Instagram, algorithm-driven, short-form video content will conquer all else in 2023. Almost half of Gen Z uses video sites, such as TikTok and YouTube, to search before Google. Video posts rank higher in searches, keep viewers connected with your posts longer and give you opportunities to humanize your brand while advertising. If you haven’t folded video into your bank’s paid advertising strategy, you need to explore its power sooner rather than later. Remember, though, that consumers no longer gravitate toward long-form content. They like “snackable” videos, such as Instagram Reels.

    Of course, not all content has to be released in a video format. Aim for a mixture of video, image, interactive and text formats when you post. Then, track to see which type of content drives the highest metrics for target audiences. As you become more confident in social video advertising, you should see a boost in responses.

    3. Think beyond brand advertising with social selling

    Building strong, trusting relationships with customers is the foundation of financial marketing. Now is the time to take advantage of social selling. Put simply, social selling is the practice of using associates to post authentic content, humanizing your brand and leveraging their personal networks to form stronger connections with customers.

    A successful social selling program involves intermediary-led organic social media publishing, but that shouldn’t be the only angle. Organic content helps cultivate richness and authenticity for the bank brand, but it doesn’t provide value for people who don’t know anything about your institution. A paid social selling strategy is an effective way to get in front of customers you haven’t met and who might not be following your social sellers yet. Organic social strategies build first-degree connections and engagement, while paid strategies provide wider reach and tailored audiences.

    These two symbiotic strategies can have a significant effect on ROI in financial services marketing. According to LinkedIn, employees who regularly share content are 45 percent more likely to exceed their quotas, and their companies are 57 percent likelier to generate leads. Which is nothing to scoff at.

    4. Experiment with ways to personalize your customer interactions

    Paid advertising allows you to do more than just show ads to potential customers;. It also provides a level of personalization that’s hard to attain in organic posts. Whether you’re greeting them by name or collecting location data to recommend a specific bank branch near them, one in seven customers wants their engagements with financial institutions to feel personalized.

    How can bank marketers ensure their paid social advertising feels more personalized and genuine? One solution is through highly targeted ads and corresponding landing pages. The more paid advertising content is targeted, the more pertinent and customized it will seem to readers. And remember, the right tech stack platform and tool can help you automate without overspending, so you don’t have to waste staff time and energy on routine tasks.

    5. Double down on re-targeting

    Privacy laws are moving toward limiting the use of third-party cookies, but you can still re-target ads via popular social media networks. Re-targeting lets you stay in front of a prospect or customer throughout their entire digital journey. With the right content and calls to action, you can drive more traffic back to your bank’s landing pages—and drive new leads into your pipeline.

    The conversion rates and ROI of comprehensive re-targeting campaigns can be major. Compared to basic social paid advertising, re-targeting your ads can give you a considerable boost.

    Juggling marketing budget allocation from year to year can feel overwhelming. Nevertheless, it is important to determine where to place resources to get the highest possible ROI across the board. Banks benefit when their advertising strategies include investment in expanding social platform presence, incorporating videos into  content, adding social selling to your lineup, personalizing customer interactions and leveraging re-targeting options.

    *This article was originally published in ABA Bank Marketing Journal.

    Download the Guide

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

    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.

    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.

    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
    GUIDES

    Five Tips To Inform Banks' Paid Advertising Budget

    Next year’s marketing budget” has quickly become “this year’s marketing budget.” How you allocate your dollars could mean the difference between a record-breaking 2023 or one to forget.

    No pressure. Social media can help you reach your marketing goals, but an organic-only strategy is a recipe for under-performance, considering organic content alone only has a 2.2 percent reach on Facebook, 5.3 percent on LinkedIn, and 9.4 percent on Instagram. To crush social media goals this year, your team needs to invest in paid social media advertising.

    Determining where to earmark money has always been a challenge for marketers. In a digital world, it’s even more complex because there are so many avenues to take, including both organic content and paid advertising. Don’t overlook either, yet it is important to ensure that your marketing budget breakdown is designed to help you meet (and exceed) your goals.

    Here are five tips for bank marketing teams to make the most of paid social media advertising in 2023.

    1. Expand your social platform mix

    Generation Z is moving deeper into adulthood and significant financial events, such as snagging full-time employment, buying cars, and purchasing homes. With this in mind, your digital advertising content needs to be where young people “live” online. Here’s a hint: They don’t live on Facebook.

    That doesn’t mean you should abandon your Facebook page—far from it. Your Facebook business page is where you’ll connect with consumers from older generations and drive engagement with customer support and personable branded content. Your social sellers are just as valuable on Facebook, too, when their posts are targeted toward the needs of older consumers.

    To get the most out of your strategy, you need to use a mix of channels for organic and paid advertising. An excellent way to determine which platforms to try first is to research your competitors. Find out where they’re making inroads and seem to be outshining your brand, then use those insights to drive growth in the areas where you want to be more competitive. We’re seeing more and more brands have success with Instagram. This might be your year to expand.

    2. Incorporate short-form videos into your social content

    From YouTube to Instagram, algorithm-driven, short-form video content will conquer all else in 2023. Almost half of Gen Z uses video sites, such as TikTok and YouTube, to search before Google. Video posts rank higher in searches, keep viewers connected with your posts longer and give you opportunities to humanize your brand while advertising. If you haven’t folded video into your bank’s paid advertising strategy, you need to explore its power sooner rather than later. Remember, though, that consumers no longer gravitate toward long-form content. They like “snackable” videos, such as Instagram Reels.

    Of course, not all content has to be released in a video format. Aim for a mixture of video, image, interactive and text formats when you post. Then, track to see which type of content drives the highest metrics for target audiences. As you become more confident in social video advertising, you should see a boost in responses.

    3. Think beyond brand advertising with social selling

    Building strong, trusting relationships with customers is the foundation of financial marketing. Now is the time to take advantage of social selling. Put simply, social selling is the practice of using associates to post authentic content, humanizing your brand and leveraging their personal networks to form stronger connections with customers.

    A successful social selling program involves intermediary-led organic social media publishing, but that shouldn’t be the only angle. Organic content helps cultivate richness and authenticity for the bank brand, but it doesn’t provide value for people who don’t know anything about your institution. A paid social selling strategy is an effective way to get in front of customers you haven’t met and who might not be following your social sellers yet. Organic social strategies build first-degree connections and engagement, while paid strategies provide wider reach and tailored audiences.

    These two symbiotic strategies can have a significant effect on ROI in financial services marketing. According to LinkedIn, employees who regularly share content are 45 percent more likely to exceed their quotas, and their companies are 57 percent likelier to generate leads. Which is nothing to scoff at.

    4. Experiment with ways to personalize your customer interactions

    Paid advertising allows you to do more than just show ads to potential customers;. It also provides a level of personalization that’s hard to attain in organic posts. Whether you’re greeting them by name or collecting location data to recommend a specific bank branch near them, one in seven customers wants their engagements with financial institutions to feel personalized.

    How can bank marketers ensure their paid social advertising feels more personalized and genuine? One solution is through highly targeted ads and corresponding landing pages. The more paid advertising content is targeted, the more pertinent and customized it will seem to readers. And remember, the right tech stack platform and tool can help you automate without overspending, so you don’t have to waste staff time and energy on routine tasks.

    5. Double down on re-targeting

    Privacy laws are moving toward limiting the use of third-party cookies, but you can still re-target ads via popular social media networks. Re-targeting lets you stay in front of a prospect or customer throughout their entire digital journey. With the right content and calls to action, you can drive more traffic back to your bank’s landing pages—and drive new leads into your pipeline.

    The conversion rates and ROI of comprehensive re-targeting campaigns can be major. Compared to basic social paid advertising, re-targeting your ads can give you a considerable boost.

    Juggling marketing budget allocation from year to year can feel overwhelming. Nevertheless, it is important to determine where to place resources to get the highest possible ROI across the board. Banks benefit when their advertising strategies include investment in expanding social platform presence, incorporating videos into  content, adding social selling to your lineup, personalizing customer interactions and leveraging re-targeting options.

    *This article was originally published in ABA Bank Marketing Journal.

    Download the Guide

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

    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.

    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.

    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

    RESOURCES

    NEWS
    February 28, 2023

    Five Tips To Inform Banks' Paid Advertising Budget

    By
    Doug Wilber
    CEO, Denim Social

    Next year’s marketing budget” has quickly become “this year’s marketing budget.” How you allocate your dollars could mean the difference between a record-breaking 2023 or one to forget.

    No pressure. Social media can help you reach your marketing goals, but an organic-only strategy is a recipe for under-performance, considering organic content alone only has a 2.2 percent reach on Facebook, 5.3 percent on LinkedIn, and 9.4 percent on Instagram. To crush social media goals this year, your team needs to invest in paid social media advertising.

    Determining where to earmark money has always been a challenge for marketers. In a digital world, it’s even more complex because there are so many avenues to take, including both organic content and paid advertising. Don’t overlook either, yet it is important to ensure that your marketing budget breakdown is designed to help you meet (and exceed) your goals.

    Here are five tips for bank marketing teams to make the most of paid social media advertising in 2023.

    1. Expand your social platform mix

    Generation Z is moving deeper into adulthood and significant financial events, such as snagging full-time employment, buying cars, and purchasing homes. With this in mind, your digital advertising content needs to be where young people “live” online. Here’s a hint: They don’t live on Facebook.

    That doesn’t mean you should abandon your Facebook page—far from it. Your Facebook business page is where you’ll connect with consumers from older generations and drive engagement with customer support and personable branded content. Your social sellers are just as valuable on Facebook, too, when their posts are targeted toward the needs of older consumers.

    To get the most out of your strategy, you need to use a mix of channels for organic and paid advertising. An excellent way to determine which platforms to try first is to research your competitors. Find out where they’re making inroads and seem to be outshining your brand, then use those insights to drive growth in the areas where you want to be more competitive. We’re seeing more and more brands have success with Instagram. This might be your year to expand.

    2. Incorporate short-form videos into your social content

    From YouTube to Instagram, algorithm-driven, short-form video content will conquer all else in 2023. Almost half of Gen Z uses video sites, such as TikTok and YouTube, to search before Google. Video posts rank higher in searches, keep viewers connected with your posts longer and give you opportunities to humanize your brand while advertising. If you haven’t folded video into your bank’s paid advertising strategy, you need to explore its power sooner rather than later. Remember, though, that consumers no longer gravitate toward long-form content. They like “snackable” videos, such as Instagram Reels.

    Of course, not all content has to be released in a video format. Aim for a mixture of video, image, interactive and text formats when you post. Then, track to see which type of content drives the highest metrics for target audiences. As you become more confident in social video advertising, you should see a boost in responses.

    3. Think beyond brand advertising with social selling

    Building strong, trusting relationships with customers is the foundation of financial marketing. Now is the time to take advantage of social selling. Put simply, social selling is the practice of using associates to post authentic content, humanizing your brand and leveraging their personal networks to form stronger connections with customers.

    A successful social selling program involves intermediary-led organic social media publishing, but that shouldn’t be the only angle. Organic content helps cultivate richness and authenticity for the bank brand, but it doesn’t provide value for people who don’t know anything about your institution. A paid social selling strategy is an effective way to get in front of customers you haven’t met and who might not be following your social sellers yet. Organic social strategies build first-degree connections and engagement, while paid strategies provide wider reach and tailored audiences.

    These two symbiotic strategies can have a significant effect on ROI in financial services marketing. According to LinkedIn, employees who regularly share content are 45 percent more likely to exceed their quotas, and their companies are 57 percent likelier to generate leads. Which is nothing to scoff at.

    4. Experiment with ways to personalize your customer interactions

    Paid advertising allows you to do more than just show ads to potential customers;. It also provides a level of personalization that’s hard to attain in organic posts. Whether you’re greeting them by name or collecting location data to recommend a specific bank branch near them, one in seven customers wants their engagements with financial institutions to feel personalized.

    How can bank marketers ensure their paid social advertising feels more personalized and genuine? One solution is through highly targeted ads and corresponding landing pages. The more paid advertising content is targeted, the more pertinent and customized it will seem to readers. And remember, the right tech stack platform and tool can help you automate without overspending, so you don’t have to waste staff time and energy on routine tasks.

    5. Double down on re-targeting

    Privacy laws are moving toward limiting the use of third-party cookies, but you can still re-target ads via popular social media networks. Re-targeting lets you stay in front of a prospect or customer throughout their entire digital journey. With the right content and calls to action, you can drive more traffic back to your bank’s landing pages—and drive new leads into your pipeline.

    The conversion rates and ROI of comprehensive re-targeting campaigns can be major. Compared to basic social paid advertising, re-targeting your ads can give you a considerable boost.

    Juggling marketing budget allocation from year to year can feel overwhelming. Nevertheless, it is important to determine where to place resources to get the highest possible ROI across the board. Banks benefit when their advertising strategies include investment in expanding social platform presence, incorporating videos into  content, adding social selling to your lineup, personalizing customer interactions and leveraging re-targeting options.

    *This article was originally published in ABA Bank Marketing Journal.

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    OTHER NEWS:

    With inflation still looming, clients and prospects remain cautious about spending and investments. This is especially evident in how today’s investors choose which financial advisors to work with (and how your brand acquires new prospects). As clients’ financials become even more vulnerable during market volatility, they need to know that their financial advisors are ready to build plans to help them meet their financial goals.

    Current and potential investors are looking for trustworthy advice—and building strong relationships is key to that. To truly cultivate financial advisor and client relationships that will lead to client acquisition and retention, bank financial advisors can be very effective through social selling.

    The importance of social selling for financial advisors

    Social selling is precisely 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 clients and ultimately build trust and rapport that will eventually lead to more accounts opened.

    It’s understandable that people might feel afraid and confused during market volatility, which is what makes social selling a critical trust-building opportunity. With social selling, financial advisors meet investors online in meaningful ways.

    Marketers now recognize the modern power of social media, and in today’s market your financial advisors can use social to reassure clients. When 73 percent of clients who work with financial advisors feel more prepared for a recession, it’s essential that financial brands proactively discuss the value of advice. But to do that successfully, advisors need to be at the center of the conversation.

    However, a social media brand presence does not equal a solid social selling strategy. You need your advisors to meet prospects throughout the buying journey, which requires investing in comprehensive social selling campaigns to connect with investors and build trust. When deciding who handles their investments, people don’t choose institutions; they choose people. So, help your advisors build those relationships online.

    How to build trust with potential clients using social selling

    This should go without saying, but prospective clients are already getting financial advice on social media. In fact, Gen Z is five times more likely to get financial advice on social media channels than people age 41 and over.

    To stay visible and competitive, your brand’s financial advisors can use social selling to become financial micro-influencers in their local communities. At its core, social selling is about the human element of one person’s relationship with another. Not just client to bank.

    Here are four ways to empower financial advisors to build impactful relationships with clients and new prospects:

    1. Post consistently

    If an advisor is new to using social selling, don’t worry. The first key to using social media to build trust and relationships is simple: consistency. Advisors should post often to stay top-of-mind with investors and build algorithmic preference. Consistency ensures that advisors are providing value to clients and prospects on a regular basis.

    And remember, every post counts. Not every post will get the engagement marketers hope for (or even the same amount), but each post should feel intentional and authentic to the advisors publishing it. Also, when your advisors post, they need to make sure there is a goal and specific audience for each one.

    2. Upload quality content to favor the algorithm

    Consistent posts are crucial, but you also have to ensure that advisors are posting high-quality content. One hot tip is to include a video or image (social media posts with images tend to garner more engagement). Also schedule posts for the ideal time for target audiences. After all, it doesn’t matter how great a post looks if no one sees it.

    Marketing teams can also help intermediaries craft copy that opens the door to conversations with their audiences, such as asking open-ended questions, soliciting responses, or featuring polls that can be answered on the spot. Social posts are at the top of any new client’s journey, so helping your social sellers craft posts with interactive elements will lead to more engagement and conversions.

    3. Source content from trusted third parties

    To facilitate advisors’ trust-building with clients and prospects, it is critical to ensure they only share information from credible third-party sources. There’s a lot of bad financial advice and misinformation out there. If the audience suspects that an advisor is full of baloney, the brand risks losing a lot of trust.

    Social content libraries can help ensure social sellers have access to trustworthy, fact-checked third-party content. It’s essential that financial advisors add personal commentary to make third-party content more authentic and personable.

    4. Encourage authenticity

    It seems simple to say, but trust hinges on authentic relationships. Today’s investors want to work with real people who connect with them on a human level. That’s why it’s so important to instruct and encourage advisors to be themselves when social selling. Suggest that they put some of their personality into their social selling posts, talk about things that are important to them, or ask their networks questions. (If this keeps you up at night from a risk perspective, know that approval tools can help ensure compliance.)

    When people interact with your advisors through social selling, they’ll see how much reliable value those advisors 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) advisors yet.

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

    *This article was originally published in ABA Banking Journal.

    There’s no doubt about it: Firms that prioritize digital connections with clients are the ones who will succeed in the future. 

    I was thrilled to speak at this year’s SIFMA Social Media & Digital Marketing Seminar. From compliance pros to financial advisors, we were all there to learn more about digital transformation and what’s next for the client experience. I was there to speak, sure, but I most enjoyed listening to how financial services leaders are navigating the real-world digital challenges and building strategies that enable their institutions to thrive.  The common thread in every discussion was there – relationships will always be the top priority for firms and advisors.  

    Here are a few other key trends I saw emerge from the discussions: 

    1. Social media is an integral part of digital transformation. As the industry undergoes massive digital transformation, social media will continue to play an important role in the client experience. For industries that go to market through intermediaries, it’s an essential communications channel. Helping your team understand the importance of social media and its value in creating real business results should be a pillar in a more robust digital transformation. .
    2. Education and training are necessary for advisor success. While most financial advisors see the power of social, they need support from marketing teams to be successful. From content resources to functional training, advisors are hungry for marketing guidance to optimize their strategies. 
    3. Compliance and marketing have to work together. Teams need to work for, not against, one another in order to be successful in any social media or digital marketing strategy. There will always be risk for financial services providers sharing information online, but with a coordinated approach, marketers can be confident that anything being shared is approved. 

    The future of the industry is bright and digital transformation offers the opportunity to reach even more potential clients. Marketers can use the power of social media to support advisors and provide clients an experience that converts. Denim Social can help institutions with tools and resources to make building those meaningful relationships easy. See how social selling works in our Social Selling Guidebook for Financial Institutions

    Personalization isn’t new to marketing. The process of connecting with customers has been moving in that direction for years, and for good reason. One survey found that 80% of respondents would be more likely to do business with companies that offered personalized experiences. But it seems many financial institutions haven’t yet gotten the news.

    If you dig through the numbers, you’ll find that personalization applies to the financial industry. In fact, 72% of consumers rate personalization as highly important in finance. They value text alerts, customized tasks and opportunities to transact more efficiently. They also want digitally driven features that save them time with routine tasks and the ability to track multiple accounts using a single dashboard.

    Financial marketers’ job is figuring out how to use personalization to gain (and retain) customers — and how to get leadership to buy in. It’s an easy sell: Personalization enhances the customer experience and also helps teams use social media marketing budgets more efficiently.

    But financial marketers are often up against a knowledge gap. Senior management doesn’t always understand a digital-first strategy focused on personalization. Financial institutions historically aren’t known to be early adopters or quick to change, which can leave marketers spending years advocating for updates.

    The question is, how exactly do you get buy-in from leadership to start personalizing and investing more money for social media marketing. The following strategies can help you get started:

    Target the right people: Social media marketing is about identifying target audiences and catering strategies accordingly. The same applies when securing your social media marketing budget. When looking for buy-in, target those on the leadership team who are likely to understand what excellence in personalization looks like.

    Great personalization is omnichannel; it engages consumers on the channels of their choice and it’s deeply human. To humanize marketing beyond the brand level, financial institutions need to reach out to leaders who would be open to highly personalized tactics such as social selling, which puts employees and producers on the frontlines to build relationships for the brand.

    Craft the right message: Messaging is critical in marketing — and that goes double for selling the idea of a more personalized social strategy. Your message needs to resonate with your audience, even if your audience is one decision-maker. Link everything back to ROI by explaining that customers weigh bank reputation and online presence when deciding among financial institutions.

    Be prepared to explain how you’ll track and increase customer conversion metrics through your campaigns. When arguing for more money toward paid social media advertising, for example, you’ll want to explain how it can boost conversion rates, meaning more customers (and revenue) coming in from your ads. Framing your message in business terms will help you advocate for funds to support personalization at scale.

    Present the right data: Use compelling data to bring your message home. With 75% of B2B buyers using social media to make buying decisions, social selling is powerful for attracting new customers. But it’s important to understand whether your customers want to talk to your brand. Your audience is likely more comfortable engaging with brand intermediaries instead; people buy from other people.

    That’s why so many financial institutions find it valuable to launch social selling programs that position agents, advisors and loan officers to build customer relationships. Social media is thick with prospects, as 54% today use social networks to conduct product research. Your team can capture prospects where they are with the right strategies, processes and technology.

    Decide the right timing: The time to start advocating for personalization is now. Approach leadership about earmarking money for personalization in the budget for social media marketing.

    Remember that most financial institutions establish their fiscal budgets for the year and often don’t revisit those budgets for another year. 41% of marketing budgets are based on the previous year, with only 10% revisited quarterly, meaning you should plan ahead for social initiatives that might take more money down the line. You likely won’t get another chance to advocate for that money once the budget is set.

    Personalized relationships matter, and it’s time to make the case for an expanded marketing budget to support better personalization. With any marketing strategy, you want to approach the right audience with the right message at the right time. Then, with funds secured, your team can get to the exciting part: attracting prospects with education, keeping customers engaged with personalized messaging, and driving bottom-line impacts.

    *This article was originally published in BAI.

    With a less than rosy outlook, it’s essential that every mortgage loan officer maintain an edge on the competition. The marketing tactics of the past may not be successful when there are fewer buyers in the pool of prospects. Now is the time to be more strategic and paid social advertising can help loan officers make the most of every marketing penny.

    One-third of internet users find new products and brands through paid ads. That’s a lot of opportunity. Paid social is one of the most effective ways to introduce people who aren’t yet following your loan officers to your financial institution at the right place and the right time.

    Let’s start with some good news. Although paid social media may feel intimating, if you’re already doing organic social media, you’re off to a great start. But if you’re not using paid social advertising, you’re missing out. Here are three reasons to add it to your marketing strategy:  

    1. Understand what’s working in social media

    With paid social media ads, you can see immediate results, which makes them great for testing. If a post is underperforming, use A/B testing to experiment with different images, copy, and calls to action and make improvements for the future. A/B testing helps you isolate what elements of your ads need to change by showing what resonates and what doesn’t. This means you’ll never waste a dollar on the wrong creative or message.

    Think about it this way, does a billboard ever provide performance data? Didn’t think so.

    Further, paid social media insights can even be applied to your organic social media strategy. Did a paid post have unexpectedly high engagement? Use it as a blueprint to try to isolate why. As you see what’s performing, invest more dollars into posts that convert while cutting or changing content that doesn’t.

    2. Reach new audiences

    Another reason paid social is so important is that organic content only reaches an average of 2.2% of followers of social media platforms. But this doesn’t mean it’s time to ditch organic social media and put all your eggs in the paid basket.

    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.

    Both organic and paid social media can help increase your reach on social media, and it starts with activating loan officers. A social selling approach can increase your results tenfold and drive higher engagement. Paid social then supercharges your social strategy and helps you reach new prospects.

    Complementary paid advertising, breaks through a loan officer’s first-degree social connections to reach second- and third-degree connections, who will include important professional referral sources.

    3. Drive leads into conversions.

    Don’t let your marketing funnel lead to dead ends. Make sure loan officers are linking back to a website or other relevant brand content. Paid social media ads can generate leads by offering call-to-action options that get attention and clicks.

    With the right technology, clicks on social media ads can trigger a loan officer’s CRM. That’s warm leads in their inbox.

    With spring buying season on the horizon, now’s the right time to start formulating a plan to differentiate. Paid social media advertising can give loan officers a leg up on the competition. Ready to learn how to start? Check out Denim Social’s guidebook, Getting Started with Paid Social Media Advertising for Financial Institutions.

    *This article was originally published in MBA Newslink.

    People buy from people. It’s an old adage in business that still holds true today: Trust and relationships are the bedrock of insurance. A deeper agent-customer relationship means more products sold over a longer period. It’s crucial to understand that trust extends to the world of digital, especially social media.

    In today’s environment, it’s not enough to release content from your carrier’s social accounts and hope that consumers will connect with it. Your strategy needs to include agents, the advisors building customer relationships in their communities. Enabling agents to leverage social media to engage and form bonds with existing and potential customers opens the door to agent-centered digital sales. As part of a bigger digital strategy, a social selling program for intermediaries helps establish their presence within the digital landscape, showcasing thought leadership, building relationships, and ultimately growing business.

    Why Is Social Selling Important for Building Trust in Insurance?

    As digitization continues to be a hot topic, one thing has remained steady: the agent’s role. Although many customers are accustomed to buying auto coverage online, for example, that isn’t the case as their needs mature. Just because a customer is digital-first doesn’t mean they don’t want human guidance, especially when protecting their futures.

    Social selling is a powerful addition to an agent’s toolbox (and your marketing toolbox!). After all, most consumers spend roughly two and a half hours online daily. So, agents who engage their online networks through social media are more likely to expand their prospect and customer relationships.

    However, it’s not enough to show up in digital spaces. “Being there” is a great first step but doesn’t ramp up trust-building in a systematic, measurable way. Instead, you need to establish digital marketing strategies that lean on social media and social selling as powerful sales tools (which they are!).

    Here are some key steps:

    1. Identify your agents’ social maturity.

    There will always be varying levels of social media experience from the agent perspective. From naysayers to dabblers to experts, evaluating and segmenting your agent group is critical before constructing a social selling program.

    The agents most comfortable and active on social media often become early adopters and champions of internal social selling programs and digital marketing strategies. With some education and profile optimization, this elite team is an incredible tool for securing more buy-in. Getting them started on social selling before their peers allows them to gain experience with the process, build interest, and better advocate for the strategy.

    2. Educate agents on the value of social media as a sales tool.

    Agents might assume that because they have social accounts for their business, they must be social selling. They’re not. Social selling is much more than “keeping up” a social media account. It’s consistently posting organic content, strategically weaving in paid advertising, and engaging with an audience. Just like in-person relationship building, the value comes in the conversations and connections. Agents should continually engage and turn those conversations into digital-first relationships to grow their business.

    It’s worth the effort to teach your agents about the unique benefits social selling can bring to their roles. Patience and demonstrating value are key. One way to demonstrate that value is by sharing a striking social selling statistic: 80% of salespeople who hit at least 150% of their goals say they’ve leveraged technology consistently to connect with consumers. That statistic is hard for ambitious, high-performing agents to ignore. More agents will be willing to get on board with social selling when they believe it can directly affect their paycheck, promotions, and commissions. (And it can!)

    3. Invest in a comprehensive social selling platform.

    Social selling at scale can seem overwhelming for even the most seasoned leaders. Understanding that not all social media management tools are created equal is the best place to start. Finding a platform dedicated to social selling, especially one that’s industry-specific, is key.

    A solid social selling tool should do several things. It should enable a small and mighty team of marketers to manage a robust content library, analyze the broader story of the value of agent social selling, and monitor and archive from a compliance and regulatory perspective. Most of all, it needs to be easy for agents to use.

    After choosing a social selling platform that does all these things, it’s good to run some test drives with your expert social media users (the agents who were first identified as being active on social media). Beginning with a concentrated group of agents allows everyone involved to learn the social selling tool’s nuances before scaling. After the initial user group is up and running, it’s easy to fold more agents into the process.

    4. Collect data and optimize over time.

    Getting your agents to believe in social media as a powerful relationship-building tool is the foundation of any successful social selling program. Building a content library to help position them as thought leaders within their social networks is the next layer. Once agents have adopted the concept of social selling and are posting regularly, you can establish benchmarks for what social selling means for your organization.

    It’s important to track social selling like any other marketing or sales program. You can set general KPIs to start, such as agent adoption, basic content usage, and engagement. More KPIs can be added to the mix later, such as return on ad spend and leads generated.

    Finally, it’s essential to make sure agents know social selling is a slow-and-steady process. The power of social selling grows over time — the way trust and good relationships do. When done correctly and patiently, it can move the sales needle in trackable ways.

    Whether in person or online, consumers will always value the guidance of a trusted advisor. Building that trust and providing value through an effective social selling strategy with the above steps is crucial to establishing your agents’ positions within the digital landscape. Some things change in business, but others never do: “People buy from people” will always be true.

    *This article was originally published in Digital Insurance.

    Consumers’ relationships with banks have changed a lot in the last decade. EY found that more than a quarter of bank customers worldwide tried neobanks in 2021 alone. According to Capco, 53 percent of millennials moved their funds to different banks from May 2019 to May 2021, and 42 percent of Gen Zers did the same.

    Today’s consumers are quick to change services when something does not suit them. Though this shift has the potential to affect customer retention rates, it also provides an opportunity for institutions looking to acquire new customers.

    Banks need to be using the most effective, up-to-date tools and tracking metrics if they want to stay competitive and gather valuable intel about conversions. That does not mean banks should be just capturing how many likes or comments their social sellers’ posts receive. They certainly should, but it’s more about shifting understanding of some of these vital metrics to leverage them to convert more customers. Tracking click-through rates, reach and how your offline conversions factor into customer acquisition are all critical for making the most of your bank’s social selling strategy.

    Let’s get into the details.

    Social selling: Now is the time to start.

    First and foremost, if your social media goal is to increase customer acquisition to grow revenue, then a social selling strategy that measures conversions is best. If you are reading this, your bank is probably employing social selling already and you have realized what a boon it can be to your marketing efforts.

    For those unfamiliar with social selling, however, it is the process of using associates’ social posts to lay a foundation for your brand and build relationships with customers. People want to communicate with other people (not a corporate account), and social selling allows your officers, advisors and more to connect with your audience on a more human level and engage within their own community networks.

    What metrics are important in social selling strategies focused on conversions?

    Leveraging a social selling strategy for customer acquisition is all about being able to gather and analyze more data about your customers. The more knowledge you have about how customers interact with your social selling efforts, the easier it is to adjust your approach to get the most conversions. By tracking important metrics and understanding how they impact customer acquisition, that data can inform your social selling strategies and bring in more customers.

    To use social selling to its full potential and give your conversion rates a boost, focus on the following metrics:

    1. Reach

    You might be wondering why we’re talking about such a basic metric, but a combination of reach and following can be a strong measure of your conversion-driving social selling strategy. LinkedIn reports that associates have social networks 10 times larger than most brands.

    Access to your social sellers’ connections is part of the beauty of social selling. Naturally, these connections extend your reach. With the right tools, your bank can measure its reach as a brand and as a collective of social sellers and then use that information to shape the social conversation, engage more deeply and drive more conversions.

    2. Click-through rate

    The click-through rate (or CTR) of any given post might be the most important number to track when it comes to building a social strategy that converts. After all, you want people to not just read your content; you want them to take action by clicking through to your landing page.

    So, a good landing page is also essential. Your page should include all the benefits you can offer customers right away. It should also have an easy-to-spot form where users can input their information in return for educational content. The customer gets to download something that improves their business or life, and your loan officers or advisors get their contact information—it’s that easy.

    The good news is that social selling can provide a major advantage here, too: Employee posts consistently have double the CTR of corporate brand accounts, according to LinkedIn.

    3. Offline conversions

    One thing to remember when you’re dialing in your social selling metrics is that your strategy still needs to connect with other tools (such as your CRM) that can tie back to and measure offline conversion and acquisition activities. It’s important to track metrics such as customer churn, net promoter scores and customer retention costs. This data is still vital in conjunction with traditional digital metrics.

    Online, this connection to deeper institutional systems allows you to easily monitor and flag important actions, such as downloads, click-throughs and renewal rates. Then, you can create attribution data that ties conversions back to your social selling efforts. Without this connection, you would be unable to accurately measure offline conversions and how those numbers affect your larger social selling strategy.

    In today’s tech-savvy environment, banks benefit by using the most effective, up-to-date tools and metrics to drive conversions with their social selling. Customer acquisition is essential to the health of any financial institution and there is no better way to meet those customers than by leveraging your social selling strategy to the max. Tracking critical metrics such as offline conversions, CTRs and overall reach must be part of that strategy if you want to take advantage of insights to convert customers.

    This article was originally published in ABA Banking Journal.

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    February 28, 2023

    Five Tips To Inform Banks' Paid Advertising Budget

    By
    Doug Wilber
    CEO, Denim Social

    Next year’s marketing budget” has quickly become “this year’s marketing budget.” How you allocate your dollars could mean the difference between a record-breaking 2023 or one to forget.

    No pressure. Social media can help you reach your marketing goals, but an organic-only strategy is a recipe for under-performance, considering organic content alone only has a 2.2 percent reach on Facebook, 5.3 percent on LinkedIn, and 9.4 percent on Instagram. To crush social media goals this year, your team needs to invest in paid social media advertising.

    Determining where to earmark money has always been a challenge for marketers. In a digital world, it’s even more complex because there are so many avenues to take, including both organic content and paid advertising. Don’t overlook either, yet it is important to ensure that your marketing budget breakdown is designed to help you meet (and exceed) your goals.

    Here are five tips for bank marketing teams to make the most of paid social media advertising in 2023.

    1. Expand your social platform mix

    Generation Z is moving deeper into adulthood and significant financial events, such as snagging full-time employment, buying cars, and purchasing homes. With this in mind, your digital advertising content needs to be where young people “live” online. Here’s a hint: They don’t live on Facebook.

    That doesn’t mean you should abandon your Facebook page—far from it. Your Facebook business page is where you’ll connect with consumers from older generations and drive engagement with customer support and personable branded content. Your social sellers are just as valuable on Facebook, too, when their posts are targeted toward the needs of older consumers.

    To get the most out of your strategy, you need to use a mix of channels for organic and paid advertising. An excellent way to determine which platforms to try first is to research your competitors. Find out where they’re making inroads and seem to be outshining your brand, then use those insights to drive growth in the areas where you want to be more competitive. We’re seeing more and more brands have success with Instagram. This might be your year to expand.

    2. Incorporate short-form videos into your social content

    From YouTube to Instagram, algorithm-driven, short-form video content will conquer all else in 2023. Almost half of Gen Z uses video sites, such as TikTok and YouTube, to search before Google. Video posts rank higher in searches, keep viewers connected with your posts longer and give you opportunities to humanize your brand while advertising. If you haven’t folded video into your bank’s paid advertising strategy, you need to explore its power sooner rather than later. Remember, though, that consumers no longer gravitate toward long-form content. They like “snackable” videos, such as Instagram Reels.

    Of course, not all content has to be released in a video format. Aim for a mixture of video, image, interactive and text formats when you post. Then, track to see which type of content drives the highest metrics for target audiences. As you become more confident in social video advertising, you should see a boost in responses.

    3. Think beyond brand advertising with social selling

    Building strong, trusting relationships with customers is the foundation of financial marketing. Now is the time to take advantage of social selling. Put simply, social selling is the practice of using associates to post authentic content, humanizing your brand and leveraging their personal networks to form stronger connections with customers.

    A successful social selling program involves intermediary-led organic social media publishing, but that shouldn’t be the only angle. Organic content helps cultivate richness and authenticity for the bank brand, but it doesn’t provide value for people who don’t know anything about your institution. A paid social selling strategy is an effective way to get in front of customers you haven’t met and who might not be following your social sellers yet. Organic social strategies build first-degree connections and engagement, while paid strategies provide wider reach and tailored audiences.

    These two symbiotic strategies can have a significant effect on ROI in financial services marketing. According to LinkedIn, employees who regularly share content are 45 percent more likely to exceed their quotas, and their companies are 57 percent likelier to generate leads. Which is nothing to scoff at.

    4. Experiment with ways to personalize your customer interactions

    Paid advertising allows you to do more than just show ads to potential customers;. It also provides a level of personalization that’s hard to attain in organic posts. Whether you’re greeting them by name or collecting location data to recommend a specific bank branch near them, one in seven customers wants their engagements with financial institutions to feel personalized.

    How can bank marketers ensure their paid social advertising feels more personalized and genuine? One solution is through highly targeted ads and corresponding landing pages. The more paid advertising content is targeted, the more pertinent and customized it will seem to readers. And remember, the right tech stack platform and tool can help you automate without overspending, so you don’t have to waste staff time and energy on routine tasks.

    5. Double down on re-targeting

    Privacy laws are moving toward limiting the use of third-party cookies, but you can still re-target ads via popular social media networks. Re-targeting lets you stay in front of a prospect or customer throughout their entire digital journey. With the right content and calls to action, you can drive more traffic back to your bank’s landing pages—and drive new leads into your pipeline.

    The conversion rates and ROI of comprehensive re-targeting campaigns can be major. Compared to basic social paid advertising, re-targeting your ads can give you a considerable boost.

    Juggling marketing budget allocation from year to year can feel overwhelming. Nevertheless, it is important to determine where to place resources to get the highest possible ROI across the board. Banks benefit when their advertising strategies include investment in expanding social platform presence, incorporating videos into  content, adding social selling to your lineup, personalizing customer interactions and leveraging re-targeting options.

    *This article was originally published in ABA Bank Marketing Journal.

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    With inflation still looming, clients and prospects remain cautious about spending and investments. This is especially evident in how today’s investors choose which financial advisors to work with (and how your brand acquires new prospects). As clients’ financials become even more vulnerable during market volatility, they need to know that their financial advisors are ready to build plans to help them meet their financial goals.

    Current and potential investors are looking for trustworthy advice—and building strong relationships is key to that. To truly cultivate financial advisor and client relationships that will lead to client acquisition and retention, bank financial advisors can be very effective through social selling.

    The importance of social selling for financial advisors

    Social selling is precisely 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 clients and ultimately build trust and rapport that will eventually lead to more accounts opened.

    It’s understandable that people might feel afraid and confused during market volatility, which is what makes social selling a critical trust-building opportunity. With social selling, financial advisors meet investors online in meaningful ways.

    Marketers now recognize the modern power of social media, and in today’s market your financial advisors can use social to reassure clients. When 73 percent of clients who work with financial advisors feel more prepared for a recession, it’s essential that financial brands proactively discuss the value of advice. But to do that successfully, advisors need to be at the center of the conversation.

    However, a social media brand presence does not equal a solid social selling strategy. You need your advisors to meet prospects throughout the buying journey, which requires investing in comprehensive social selling campaigns to connect with investors and build trust. When deciding who handles their investments, people don’t choose institutions; they choose people. So, help your advisors build those relationships online.

    How to build trust with potential clients using social selling

    This should go without saying, but prospective clients are already getting financial advice on social media. In fact, Gen Z is five times more likely to get financial advice on social media channels than people age 41 and over.

    To stay visible and competitive, your brand’s financial advisors can use social selling to become financial micro-influencers in their local communities. At its core, social selling is about the human element of one person’s relationship with another. Not just client to bank.

    Here are four ways to empower financial advisors to build impactful relationships with clients and new prospects:

    1. Post consistently

    If an advisor is new to using social selling, don’t worry. The first key to using social media to build trust and relationships is simple: consistency. Advisors should post often to stay top-of-mind with investors and build algorithmic preference. Consistency ensures that advisors are providing value to clients and prospects on a regular basis.

    And remember, every post counts. Not every post will get the engagement marketers hope for (or even the same amount), but each post should feel intentional and authentic to the advisors publishing it. Also, when your advisors post, they need to make sure there is a goal and specific audience for each one.

    2. Upload quality content to favor the algorithm

    Consistent posts are crucial, but you also have to ensure that advisors are posting high-quality content. One hot tip is to include a video or image (social media posts with images tend to garner more engagement). Also schedule posts for the ideal time for target audiences. After all, it doesn’t matter how great a post looks if no one sees it.

    Marketing teams can also help intermediaries craft copy that opens the door to conversations with their audiences, such as asking open-ended questions, soliciting responses, or featuring polls that can be answered on the spot. Social posts are at the top of any new client’s journey, so helping your social sellers craft posts with interactive elements will lead to more engagement and conversions.

    3. Source content from trusted third parties

    To facilitate advisors’ trust-building with clients and prospects, it is critical to ensure they only share information from credible third-party sources. There’s a lot of bad financial advice and misinformation out there. If the audience suspects that an advisor is full of baloney, the brand risks losing a lot of trust.

    Social content libraries can help ensure social sellers have access to trustworthy, fact-checked third-party content. It’s essential that financial advisors add personal commentary to make third-party content more authentic and personable.

    4. Encourage authenticity

    It seems simple to say, but trust hinges on authentic relationships. Today’s investors want to work with real people who connect with them on a human level. That’s why it’s so important to instruct and encourage advisors to be themselves when social selling. Suggest that they put some of their personality into their social selling posts, talk about things that are important to them, or ask their networks questions. (If this keeps you up at night from a risk perspective, know that approval tools can help ensure compliance.)

    When people interact with your advisors through social selling, they’ll see how much reliable value those advisors 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) advisors yet.

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

    *This article was originally published in ABA Banking Journal.

    There’s no doubt about it: Firms that prioritize digital connections with clients are the ones who will succeed in the future. 

    I was thrilled to speak at this year’s SIFMA Social Media & Digital Marketing Seminar. From compliance pros to financial advisors, we were all there to learn more about digital transformation and what’s next for the client experience. I was there to speak, sure, but I most enjoyed listening to how financial services leaders are navigating the real-world digital challenges and building strategies that enable their institutions to thrive.  The common thread in every discussion was there – relationships will always be the top priority for firms and advisors.  

    Here are a few other key trends I saw emerge from the discussions: 

    1. Social media is an integral part of digital transformation. As the industry undergoes massive digital transformation, social media will continue to play an important role in the client experience. For industries that go to market through intermediaries, it’s an essential communications channel. Helping your team understand the importance of social media and its value in creating real business results should be a pillar in a more robust digital transformation. .
    2. Education and training are necessary for advisor success. While most financial advisors see the power of social, they need support from marketing teams to be successful. From content resources to functional training, advisors are hungry for marketing guidance to optimize their strategies. 
    3. Compliance and marketing have to work together. Teams need to work for, not against, one another in order to be successful in any social media or digital marketing strategy. There will always be risk for financial services providers sharing information online, but with a coordinated approach, marketers can be confident that anything being shared is approved. 

    The future of the industry is bright and digital transformation offers the opportunity to reach even more potential clients. Marketers can use the power of social media to support advisors and provide clients an experience that converts. Denim Social can help institutions with tools and resources to make building those meaningful relationships easy. See how social selling works in our Social Selling Guidebook for Financial Institutions

    Personalization isn’t new to marketing. The process of connecting with customers has been moving in that direction for years, and for good reason. One survey found that 80% of respondents would be more likely to do business with companies that offered personalized experiences. But it seems many financial institutions haven’t yet gotten the news.

    If you dig through the numbers, you’ll find that personalization applies to the financial industry. In fact, 72% of consumers rate personalization as highly important in finance. They value text alerts, customized tasks and opportunities to transact more efficiently. They also want digitally driven features that save them time with routine tasks and the ability to track multiple accounts using a single dashboard.

    Financial marketers’ job is figuring out how to use personalization to gain (and retain) customers — and how to get leadership to buy in. It’s an easy sell: Personalization enhances the customer experience and also helps teams use social media marketing budgets more efficiently.

    But financial marketers are often up against a knowledge gap. Senior management doesn’t always understand a digital-first strategy focused on personalization. Financial institutions historically aren’t known to be early adopters or quick to change, which can leave marketers spending years advocating for updates.

    The question is, how exactly do you get buy-in from leadership to start personalizing and investing more money for social media marketing. The following strategies can help you get started:

    Target the right people: Social media marketing is about identifying target audiences and catering strategies accordingly. The same applies when securing your social media marketing budget. When looking for buy-in, target those on the leadership team who are likely to understand what excellence in personalization looks like.

    Great personalization is omnichannel; it engages consumers on the channels of their choice and it’s deeply human. To humanize marketing beyond the brand level, financial institutions need to reach out to leaders who would be open to highly personalized tactics such as social selling, which puts employees and producers on the frontlines to build relationships for the brand.

    Craft the right message: Messaging is critical in marketing — and that goes double for selling the idea of a more personalized social strategy. Your message needs to resonate with your audience, even if your audience is one decision-maker. Link everything back to ROI by explaining that customers weigh bank reputation and online presence when deciding among financial institutions.

    Be prepared to explain how you’ll track and increase customer conversion metrics through your campaigns. When arguing for more money toward paid social media advertising, for example, you’ll want to explain how it can boost conversion rates, meaning more customers (and revenue) coming in from your ads. Framing your message in business terms will help you advocate for funds to support personalization at scale.

    Present the right data: Use compelling data to bring your message home. With 75% of B2B buyers using social media to make buying decisions, social selling is powerful for attracting new customers. But it’s important to understand whether your customers want to talk to your brand. Your audience is likely more comfortable engaging with brand intermediaries instead; people buy from other people.

    That’s why so many financial institutions find it valuable to launch social selling programs that position agents, advisors and loan officers to build customer relationships. Social media is thick with prospects, as 54% today use social networks to conduct product research. Your team can capture prospects where they are with the right strategies, processes and technology.

    Decide the right timing: The time to start advocating for personalization is now. Approach leadership about earmarking money for personalization in the budget for social media marketing.

    Remember that most financial institutions establish their fiscal budgets for the year and often don’t revisit those budgets for another year. 41% of marketing budgets are based on the previous year, with only 10% revisited quarterly, meaning you should plan ahead for social initiatives that might take more money down the line. You likely won’t get another chance to advocate for that money once the budget is set.

    Personalized relationships matter, and it’s time to make the case for an expanded marketing budget to support better personalization. With any marketing strategy, you want to approach the right audience with the right message at the right time. Then, with funds secured, your team can get to the exciting part: attracting prospects with education, keeping customers engaged with personalized messaging, and driving bottom-line impacts.

    *This article was originally published in BAI.

    With a less than rosy outlook, it’s essential that every mortgage loan officer maintain an edge on the competition. The marketing tactics of the past may not be successful when there are fewer buyers in the pool of prospects. Now is the time to be more strategic and paid social advertising can help loan officers make the most of every marketing penny.

    One-third of internet users find new products and brands through paid ads. That’s a lot of opportunity. Paid social is one of the most effective ways to introduce people who aren’t yet following your loan officers to your financial institution at the right place and the right time.

    Let’s start with some good news. Although paid social media may feel intimating, if you’re already doing organic social media, you’re off to a great start. But if you’re not using paid social advertising, you’re missing out. Here are three reasons to add it to your marketing strategy:  

    1. Understand what’s working in social media

    With paid social media ads, you can see immediate results, which makes them great for testing. If a post is underperforming, use A/B testing to experiment with different images, copy, and calls to action and make improvements for the future. A/B testing helps you isolate what elements of your ads need to change by showing what resonates and what doesn’t. This means you’ll never waste a dollar on the wrong creative or message.

    Think about it this way, does a billboard ever provide performance data? Didn’t think so.

    Further, paid social media insights can even be applied to your organic social media strategy. Did a paid post have unexpectedly high engagement? Use it as a blueprint to try to isolate why. As you see what’s performing, invest more dollars into posts that convert while cutting or changing content that doesn’t.

    2. Reach new audiences

    Another reason paid social is so important is that organic content only reaches an average of 2.2% of followers of social media platforms. But this doesn’t mean it’s time to ditch organic social media and put all your eggs in the paid basket.

    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.

    Both organic and paid social media can help increase your reach on social media, and it starts with activating loan officers. A social selling approach can increase your results tenfold and drive higher engagement. Paid social then supercharges your social strategy and helps you reach new prospects.

    Complementary paid advertising, breaks through a loan officer’s first-degree social connections to reach second- and third-degree connections, who will include important professional referral sources.

    3. Drive leads into conversions.

    Don’t let your marketing funnel lead to dead ends. Make sure loan officers are linking back to a website or other relevant brand content. Paid social media ads can generate leads by offering call-to-action options that get attention and clicks.

    With the right technology, clicks on social media ads can trigger a loan officer’s CRM. That’s warm leads in their inbox.

    With spring buying season on the horizon, now’s the right time to start formulating a plan to differentiate. Paid social media advertising can give loan officers a leg up on the competition. Ready to learn how to start? Check out Denim Social’s guidebook, Getting Started with Paid Social Media Advertising for Financial Institutions.

    *This article was originally published in MBA Newslink.

    People buy from people. It’s an old adage in business that still holds true today: Trust and relationships are the bedrock of insurance. A deeper agent-customer relationship means more products sold over a longer period. It’s crucial to understand that trust extends to the world of digital, especially social media.

    In today’s environment, it’s not enough to release content from your carrier’s social accounts and hope that consumers will connect with it. Your strategy needs to include agents, the advisors building customer relationships in their communities. Enabling agents to leverage social media to engage and form bonds with existing and potential customers opens the door to agent-centered digital sales. As part of a bigger digital strategy, a social selling program for intermediaries helps establish their presence within the digital landscape, showcasing thought leadership, building relationships, and ultimately growing business.

    Why Is Social Selling Important for Building Trust in Insurance?

    As digitization continues to be a hot topic, one thing has remained steady: the agent’s role. Although many customers are accustomed to buying auto coverage online, for example, that isn’t the case as their needs mature. Just because a customer is digital-first doesn’t mean they don’t want human guidance, especially when protecting their futures.

    Social selling is a powerful addition to an agent’s toolbox (and your marketing toolbox!). After all, most consumers spend roughly two and a half hours online daily. So, agents who engage their online networks through social media are more likely to expand their prospect and customer relationships.

    However, it’s not enough to show up in digital spaces. “Being there” is a great first step but doesn’t ramp up trust-building in a systematic, measurable way. Instead, you need to establish digital marketing strategies that lean on social media and social selling as powerful sales tools (which they are!).

    Here are some key steps:

    1. Identify your agents’ social maturity.

    There will always be varying levels of social media experience from the agent perspective. From naysayers to dabblers to experts, evaluating and segmenting your agent group is critical before constructing a social selling program.

    The agents most comfortable and active on social media often become early adopters and champions of internal social selling programs and digital marketing strategies. With some education and profile optimization, this elite team is an incredible tool for securing more buy-in. Getting them started on social selling before their peers allows them to gain experience with the process, build interest, and better advocate for the strategy.

    2. Educate agents on the value of social media as a sales tool.

    Agents might assume that because they have social accounts for their business, they must be social selling. They’re not. Social selling is much more than “keeping up” a social media account. It’s consistently posting organic content, strategically weaving in paid advertising, and engaging with an audience. Just like in-person relationship building, the value comes in the conversations and connections. Agents should continually engage and turn those conversations into digital-first relationships to grow their business.

    It’s worth the effort to teach your agents about the unique benefits social selling can bring to their roles. Patience and demonstrating value are key. One way to demonstrate that value is by sharing a striking social selling statistic: 80% of salespeople who hit at least 150% of their goals say they’ve leveraged technology consistently to connect with consumers. That statistic is hard for ambitious, high-performing agents to ignore. More agents will be willing to get on board with social selling when they believe it can directly affect their paycheck, promotions, and commissions. (And it can!)

    3. Invest in a comprehensive social selling platform.

    Social selling at scale can seem overwhelming for even the most seasoned leaders. Understanding that not all social media management tools are created equal is the best place to start. Finding a platform dedicated to social selling, especially one that’s industry-specific, is key.

    A solid social selling tool should do several things. It should enable a small and mighty team of marketers to manage a robust content library, analyze the broader story of the value of agent social selling, and monitor and archive from a compliance and regulatory perspective. Most of all, it needs to be easy for agents to use.

    After choosing a social selling platform that does all these things, it’s good to run some test drives with your expert social media users (the agents who were first identified as being active on social media). Beginning with a concentrated group of agents allows everyone involved to learn the social selling tool’s nuances before scaling. After the initial user group is up and running, it’s easy to fold more agents into the process.

    4. Collect data and optimize over time.

    Getting your agents to believe in social media as a powerful relationship-building tool is the foundation of any successful social selling program. Building a content library to help position them as thought leaders within their social networks is the next layer. Once agents have adopted the concept of social selling and are posting regularly, you can establish benchmarks for what social selling means for your organization.

    It’s important to track social selling like any other marketing or sales program. You can set general KPIs to start, such as agent adoption, basic content usage, and engagement. More KPIs can be added to the mix later, such as return on ad spend and leads generated.

    Finally, it’s essential to make sure agents know social selling is a slow-and-steady process. The power of social selling grows over time — the way trust and good relationships do. When done correctly and patiently, it can move the sales needle in trackable ways.

    Whether in person or online, consumers will always value the guidance of a trusted advisor. Building that trust and providing value through an effective social selling strategy with the above steps is crucial to establishing your agents’ positions within the digital landscape. Some things change in business, but others never do: “People buy from people” will always be true.

    *This article was originally published in Digital Insurance.

    Denim Social has been named to the HousingWire 2023 Tech100 list for mortgage. The exclusive list of honorees recognizes the most innovative technology in the mortgage industry. 

    The Tech100 program provides housing professionals with a comprehensive list of the most innovative and impactful organizations. The list can be leveraged to identify partners and solutions to the challenges that mortgage lenders and real estate professionals face every day.

    “In a competitive environment, every edge matters for mortgage loan officers,” said Doug Wilber, CEO at Denim Social. “A social selling program managed with our platform empowers mortgage loan officers to use social media to reach prospects, build relationships and close more deals.”

    This is Denim Social’s first appearance on the HousingWire list. The platform is used by more than 250 institutions in mortgage, banking, wealth management and insurance. 

    To learn more about how Denim Social can help mortgage loan officers activate social selling, read our guidebook, Helping Mortgage Loan Officers Achieve Success with Social Media Marketing.

    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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    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