At a glance, using social media as a marketing and communications tool in the financial services industry can be complex to understand. How do you build a following? How do you increase engagement? With Halloween upon us, we’ve lined up a few tricks for developing a successful social media presence. From social posts to social presence, we’ve got you covered.
1. Show personality: What makes your brand unique? Are you an industry insider full of valuable knowledge? Infusing your brand with personality ensures that your audience’s interest is captured, whilst being authentic builds trust. Using a consistent tone across all platforms enhances credibility and awareness.
2. Spark intrigue: Whether original or curated, interesting content is what will keep your target audience or followers to stay put and engaged. Where there is a gap in knowledge, there is space to hook followers. Be creative, share valuable resources, keep it stimulating, share your wisdom and top tips, and the social engagements will come rolling in!
3. Listen to your audience: To produce interesting content, you must know what your audience is looking for. By tracking conversations and monitoring social mentions and actions, the engagement strategy can be improved and decisions steered. Understanding what followers want and producing content with that in mind ensures relationships are built and can flourish.
4. Captivate your audience: Bewitch (no pun intended) followers and prospects, make them want to come back for more and wonder what you’ll be sharing next. Sharing facts and data provides your audience with insight into your industry, whilst visual content increases interaction rates (by at least 30% depending on the platform). By generating good quality and varied content, engagement will grow.
5. Stay current: To be seen as a knowledgeable and reliable source of information in an industry differentiates a brand from competition. Staying up-to-date with trends and news demonstrates awareness and ensures that followers are notified of current events. Whether it’s world news or industry-related, nothing says bad taste more than an ill-timed post.
6. Timing is everything: When are your followers and target audience most active? With the sheer volume of social media users, certain niche markets can get overcrowded and posts lost. Testing different options can help find an optimal time to get your posts seen and have your content stand out.
7. Don’t be a ghost: Being active on social media can impact search engine rankings, whilst using a variety of platforms can help you reach a broader audience. By following industry accounts, commenting, replying to messages and asking questions, these interactions provide unique customer service and opportunities for business.
For more information regarding our social media services, contact us here or tweet us at @brandformula_uk.
