How Social Are You, Anyway?

Seven Social Media Marketing Tips for Financial Institutions

1. Ignore social media at your peril

Here are some statistics that will either excite you or scare you:

• There are now more than 2 billion active social media users worldwide and this is growing at an amazing annual pace of 25%
• Nine out of ten U.S. companies are active on social media
• Question: Are you one of them?
• Question: Do you know what you are doing on social media?
• Question: Are you reaping benefits?
• Question: Or not?

My advice to you: get excited about the opportunity to engage and market using social media!

2. Customers and prospects

There is not a single demographic that is not active in social media.  Well, maybe babies and toddlers (except have you seen some of those little children glued to their parents’ tables or Smartphones?).

Facebook, the most popular social platform, boasts 72% of all American adults!

And to show the diverse demographics of the users, check this out:

• 77% of women are users,
• 82% of adults aged 18-29,
• 79% of adults aged 30-49,
• 64% of adults aged 50-64 and
• An incredible 48% of adults over 65!

This is just a teaser for you. Have a look at some of the other demographics and social media trends.

Now, imagine this:  These people are your customers and your potential customers.

What a wasted opportunity if you are not investing heavily into getting to know them better.

3. Listen

One of the first activities on social media is to monitor what real people – your customers – are saying about you.

4.   Engage

The next, logical thing to do is to engage them in a conversation.  This could be one that they start or one that you start, it doesn’t really matter. The important aspect is to either take the initiative or be responsive (which can only happen if you are listening, in the first place).

5.   Connect

When you engage your customers, you connect with them at a level that is not possible with other types of traditional marketing. By listening, by responding and by having a conversation, you are taking the connection to a new, higher level. And the amazing part of this is that, today, you are able to make this close connection on a truly human-to-human level without ever having to have face-to-face encounter in a physical branch.  It really works!

6.   Stay Connected

The story doesn’t end there. Once you connect, don’t make the mistake about forgetting about that connection.  Figure out how to stay connected.  During the first engagement, you found out something about that individual.  Now, it’s important to use that information in a manner that makes sense – one that is appropriate, relevant and ongoing.  The conversation will evolve and change, but staying connected to your customers through these social media channels should not be an afterthought.  It should be part of your entire marketing strategy.

7.   Repeat

Now that you have the formula, repeat it.  Repeat it with each and every individual customer and contact that you are able to make. And repeat the formula on an ongoing basis with all of your connections. When you think about the sheer marketing opportunity this offers, how can you help but get excited? I know I can’t!

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Finally, to help you on this social media marketing journey a number of resources are either available now or being introduced in the market every day.

This is but the tip of the iceberg and the beginning of a long and profitable journey for your financial institution.

Image Credits:

1.     By Ibrahim.ID [CC BY-SA 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

2.     By Intel Free Press [CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Content Credits:

Fast Company – 5 Trends That Will Change How Companies Use Social Media in 2016

Pew Research Center – The Demographics of Social Media Users

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