HOW TO MARKET YOUR FINANCIAL SERVICES
BY LEVERAGING THE POWER OF SOCIAL MEDIA
Understand How To Use Social Media To Get The Best Results
Whether you're a wealth manager, financial advisor, hedge fund manager, or anyone who provides some form of financial services, the power of social media cannot and should not be ignored, or underestimated in today's digital landscape. However with so many platforms and best practices to consider, it can be difficult to know where to start.
That's why we've created a comprehensive guide to help you enhance your social media strategy in 2024 and beyond.
From understanding the latest trends and technologies to mastering the art of creative content and media flair, this guide has everything you need to build a strong brand presence and reach your target audience effectively. Whether you're just starting your brand's social media journey or looking to refine your existing strategy, we've got you covered.
So, get ready to take your social media efforts to the next level with our in-depth guide, designed specifically for financial services professionals. Discover the latest best practices, tips and tricks, and expert advice to help you maximise your online presence and drive results for your business.
How To Use Social Media Marketing
Social media provides a multitude of opportunities for experimentation and creativity in your financial marketing efforts. However, before diving into various campaigns and tactics, it's crucial to establish clear goals and objectives.
Defining your objectives serves as the foundation for your social media marketing strategy, providing a roadmap for success and direction for your efforts. Without a clear target, it can be challenging to measure progress and make informed decisions for future financial pr campaigns
Don't risk putting in excessive effort without a clear direction - consider your social media goals and objectives as a navigational map, guiding you towards your desired outcome and highlighting key milestones along the way.
Keep Your Social Media Goals SMART
If you’ve already set goals for your business, doing the same for your social media will be easy. Just make sure all your social media goals are SMART. This will look different for everyone but we’ve given a few examples below.
- Specific – numbers are really specific, and social media metrics give you plenty of those
- Measurable – a regular social media audit will help you compare pre and post campaign results
- Attainable – it takes time to grow a social media presence, don’t be too ambitious with initial goals
- Relevant – always refer back to your overall marketing plan before you set any goals for social media
- Time-bound – set a deadline for each goal to help you focus your efforts.
Once you’ve set your goals, you’ll be ready to start developing your social media strategy. But to get this right, you need to understand the latest best practices, not just for each individual platform but for social media as a whole.
Don’t worry though. We’ve got that covered. Are you ready?
We've outlined social media best practices for the most popular platforms below including:
- Facebook best practices
- Twitter best practices
- Instagram best practices
- Instagram stories best practices
- LinkedIn best practices
Social Media Best Practices That Work Across All Platforms
Understand Where Social Media Marketing Fits In
Good social media marketing practice really matters but it’s only one element of your complete digital marketing strategy. That’s why it’s so important to make sure all your social media decisions are in tune with your overall business marketing plan.
Keep On Top Of Current Social Media Trends
Before you make any big decisions about your social media presence and activities, it makes sense to understand the latest trends. This understanding will help you focus your efforts, as well as keep ahead of your competitors.
Don’t be afraid to adjust what you’re doing in response to trends but make sure you carefully consider changes against your marketing goals.
Aim To Build A Happy Social Media Community
We all respond well to a feeling of fellowship, and social media communities are no different. If you’re looking for more active engagement and consumer loyalty, from events to hashtags, social media offers no end of opportunity for community development.
Only Publish High Quality Content
The link between brand perception and your social media posting is tight. Without exception, mediocre content suggests mediocre service, and with the competition for social media recognition being so high, this is the last thing you want.
Focus on high-class content with a clear and defined purpose to ensure purposeful and rewarding engagement.
Encourage ideas and input from other team members but try to limit access to your social media accounts to as few employees as possible. Not only will this increase your consistency, it will also help you maintain professionalism and privacy.
Take A Consistent Approach
Customers love consistency because it makes them feel safe. This doesn’t just count when it comes to products and services, a bit of consistency in social media goes a long way. Make sure your profile style is the same across all your feeds with the same logo and banner images, as well as bio and about information.
Another way of ensuring consistency is scheduled, regular posting times. If you have multiple platforms, consider using automated posting tools to retain a sense of uniformity. Before you set your posting schedule, check your metrics to determine which times are most popular with your audience
Posting similar content across all your channels isn’t cheating, it’s the best way to maintain a professional identity and give your brand a recognisable voice..
Listen And Respond
If you were in the same room as potential customers, you wouldn’t ignore them so make sure you don’t on your social platforms. Not only can timely, helpful responses build consumer trust, they also allow you to grow your understanding of what your customers actually want.
Listening in on social media can also help you keep an eye on what your competitors are up to. Setting aside regular time for competitive analysis can really help you keep track of rival campaigns. It will also inform your own social media practice.
Social Media Best Practices For Individual Platforms
Of course, as well as following the cross-platform tips for social media marketing above, you need to make sure you’ve got a good understanding of the best practices for each platform you use. Every social media has its own subtle nuances so this is all about getting the right balance of consistency and variation.
Facebook Best Practices
When it comes to marketing, it takes a brave brand to ignore the power of Facebook. With a mind-blowing 2.9 billion users every month, this social media giant offers a level of opportunity you won’t find anywhere else. But size has its disadvantages.
Because Facebook is so big, your only route to visibility is to get the fundamentals right. Check out our Facebook best practices for businesses below.
- Set up and optimise a Facebook business page
- Post regularly but don’t compromise on quality or relevance
- Get the conversations started with questions, Facebook polls, and Facebook groups
- Include short, snappy videos in your Facebook posting schedule
- Consider Facebook paid advertising for reliably higher visibility
Twitter Best Practices
You only have to look at the news to see the influence Twitter has over so much of our lives. There’s really no other platform like it when it comes to sharing information quickly, and starting conversations with an interested audience.
With over 396 million users, Twitter isn’t top of the social platform popularity list but you definitely shouldn’t be ignoring it. Make the most of your efforts on this spirited platform with our top Twitter best practice tips.
- Plan ahead using a content calendar but keep an eye on daily trends
- Go for snappy copy, and strong visuals
- Join conversations but also create your own interaction through retweets, questions and polls
- Make sure your landing pages answer the questions potential customers are asking
- Don’t make selling the focus of all your tweets. Allow for information and fun as well
Instagram best practices
Instagram’s popularity is all about the visual impact of its posts. Centred on storytelling, this imagery specialist is perfect if you’re looking for a super-engaged audience who want a deep and meaningful relationship with your brand.
Instagram is one of social media’s fasted growing platforms, and its 2.35 billion active users as of 2024 offers a huge potential audience. With the emphasis on visuals, getting up to speed with Instagram best practices is vital.
We have our top tips below.
- Make storytelling your priority
- Focus on super-high quality visual media. If it’s below standard, don’t use it
- Select colours and filters for visual consistency and balance
- Use social insights to measure, and build on engagement success
- Consider Instagram paid advertising for increased visibility
Instagram Stories Best Practices
Instagram stories have become so important to social media marketing that we’ve given them their own section here. With their 24-hour visibility, stories add a sense of excitement and urgency to your posting.
They also allow for a laid back, unofficial approach that will give your audience even more reason to love your brand. When you upload a story, it appears at the top of your followers’ feeds, so you need to get your Instagram stories best practices right.
Here we go with our top tips.
- Use stickers purposefully but also maximise on their potential for creative fun
- Keep the stories that really matter by adding them to your highlights
- Build connections with user-generated content but always credit the creator
- Keep it relaxed and informal, stories should be welcoming, inclusive and fun
- Get your employees involved to tell your whole business story
LinkedIn Best Practices
If B2B is important to you then you should be taking LinkedIn’s unique collection of business professionals seriously. Trusted by businesses, and somewhat separate from the noise of other platforms, LinkedIn has over 740 million members.
When it comes to new business partners, stellar recruitment, and potential customers, LinkedIn can make a difference. Here are our top tips for LinkedIn best practices.
- Make sure you’ve created, and optimised a company page
- Connect with related LinkedIn community groups and other members
- Make sure your posts are regular, creative, and informative
- Encourage colleagues to add your company page to their personal profiles
- Be helpful. Join in conversations, and share your expertise
Social Media Marketing Best Practices
In the fast-paced financial services industry, having a strong and consistent social media presence can be the difference between success and falling behind. A well-crafted balance of creativity and control is essential in leveraging social media best practices to enhance your overall digital marketing strategy.
By combining your unique brand voice with effective planning, you'll be able to harness the power of social media and make it work for you. Social media best practices serve as a starting point for a larger digital transformation that will increase brand recognition, engage potential clients, and drive valuable leads.
Don't miss out on the opportunity to make social media your most important marketing tool. Contact us today to find out more about how our team of financial marketing experts can work with you to build a high-end social media presence that will increase your brand awareness, engage potential customers, and generate the leads you've been looking for.
Shane McEvoy is a seasoned SEO and inbound marketing expert with nearly 30 years of experience in advertising. He established Flycast Media, a specialist B2B digital agency, and is a published author of two well-received guides while contributing to several industry publications - read his complete profile here.
