How finance marketers can connect with audiences
As a finance marketer, you understand how important it is to connect to your audience. After all, it’s their hard-earned money that you are looking at. It takes a lot of trust to get someone to depart with their money in return for a promise – that you will protect and grow their money.
You need to earn the trust at any cost, or you are simply not going to earn anything.
But, as they say, trust cannot be built overnight (you can lose it overnight though). Not even on social media.
In the last few years, social media has completely changed how businesses and consumers connect.
Obviously many brands, even big and established ones, have made mistakes in their attempt to connect with their audience. For instance, in 2017, Adidas’ tweet that said “Congrats, you survived the Boston Marathon!” didn’t go well with the audience as it reminded them of the 2013 Boston Marathon terror attack.
On the other hand, if you look at businesses that have witnessed great success on social media, you will notice something: they all are unconventional in terms of their content and their marketing campaigns and these brands have managed to make an emotional connection with their audience. Consider Airbnb for that matter. It’s average “time on site” is considered to be very good and is mainly credited to Airbnb’s custom content that makes people stop and take a look.
For financial marketers, it can be a little tricky to establish this trust through social media, considering the fact that it’s a highly regulated sector and the one where products are tough to differentiate.
But, then, that’s where the opportunity lies to create that trust. All you need is to learn this simple recipe:
- Just put your product out there.
- Wash away all types of jargons and every single piece of misleading information.
- Add some facts that everyone would like to know. Also, some fun facts.
- Stir it while it differentiates you from others.
- Garnish it with your expertise and words of wisdom.
- Serve it.
It’s alright if you haven’t got this recipe right yet. We have figured out 6 most effective ways to help you connect with your audience. Check them out.
1. First of all, listen
Remember, people come to social media to socialize. They also need to be heard. Listen to them and take note of everything that concerns your business. That information is what you should use in your social media content. So listen first, then talk. Every user out there would feel like you are talking to them directly – like the dinner-table talk.
2. Now you know the problems. Just address them
People love unique insights. So much that they cannot stop sharing it. So instead of saying the same thing as your competitor, come up with something that’s new. Think of a unique solution to the same old problem. In fact, when it comes to finance, there are lots of myths everywhere. Whenever possible, break these myths. For instance, most people believe that insurance is only for old people or making the minimum monthly payment on credit cards is enough. That’s obviously not true.
3. But, stay authentic always
When having fun with financial facts, don’t go over-the-top. Never throw around a made-up number. Like, four in every five individuals prefer personal loan over credit cards. People can easily sniff out imaginary numbers. What they, in fact love, is the real picture.
4. Make an emotional bond
It sounds a lot like a dating site but finance marketing is all about trust and emotions. Make your audience feel that you understand their money problem. Show them how deeply you understand the problem and how committed you are to solving it.
Also, don’t make everything about your business and products. Start campaigns that your audience would enjoy watching or reading. That could be anything, like a candid conversation with fathers on Father’s Day about the spending habits of their children.
5. Use hashtags #Smartly
Hashtags are a great way to summarize your post. Use them smartly. Come up with a unique hashtag. Don’t worry if it’s grammatically wrong. In fact, some of the most memorable hashtags actually don’t make any sense. Like, #PutACanOnIt or #NationalFriedChickenDay.
If you cannot come up with any such tag, just #Smart any topic you want to address. For example: #SmartInvesting or #SmartBorrowing or #SmartInsight or just, #SmartFinancing.
If you are starting a social media campaign, think of a hashtag that reflects your point. Assume that you want to start a campaign to educate people about personal loans. Most of us, at some point or the other, have misused personal loans. Now, all you have to do is play around with the words – borrowers, sometimes, tend to misuse the loan. Shuffle them once more – different people have different ways of misusing personal loans. So, you can start a campaign with #WhatsYourMisuse – to encourage people to share their experiences.
The whole idea is to make your audience think. All you need to do is to ask the right questions.
6. Customize your content for each social media platform
You should tailor your message for each social media platform, even if the message is same. If it’s Instagram, focus more on creating unique visual content. Also, don’t forget to add hashtags. If it’s Facebook, try and use a friendly tone and encourage your followers to participate in your campaigns. Remember, more comments and shares mean better reach.
Don’t overlook platforms like LinkedIn. For finance marketers, it offers a great opportunity to connect with professionals. Make sure the tone in very formal; this also means you need to slow down on hashtags and emojis.
Remember Point No. 2? That’s where YouTube can help. It offers a great way to help you educate your customers and build trust with them. In fact, some banks have already started leveraging the power of YouTube to spread out serious messages without sounding boring.
7. Have patience
Results will not come overnight. You are not the only one trying to get your audience’s attention. There are many more brands who could be competing with you in the same space.
Alright, we know the headline read “6 steps”. That’s just to remind you about building trust. Also, that means you will need to stay focused all the time to maintain that trust. Keep your social media posts about your business and your audience. After all, nobody expects food reviews from a finance marketer. People are looking at you as subject matter experts.