As a CEO it’s your job to ensure that all operations of your company run smoothly. That being said, there’s obviously quite a bit on your plate to maintain and keep track of. The team that reports to you is responsible for managing the details of their respective departments under your guidance and support.
At Digital Storyteller, we find the right audience of people that want to follow your tax law updates and we write content that addresses their real-world problem to position you as a thought leader in your industry. Keep reading to learn how Digital Storyteller is a pot of gold for financial services companies!
Oftentimes many B2B businesses write off social media marketing based on the consideration that it’s too boring or not effective enough to be worth their while. But this isn’t necessarily the case. While it is true that the top brands that dominate social media are largely B2C brands, social media should be a part of every successful marketing strategy.
Holiday gifting can be overwhelming. Check out our B2B gifting suggestions to make your life easier this holiday season!
financial services, do you know the importance of organic content marketing for your organic traffic?
As a Financial Services Company, making the decision between outsource marketing efforts and keeping them internal can be a challenge.
3 best small business marketing ideas so that you can fall in the small portion of startup businesses that don’t fail. Originally posted by Express Text
3 best small business marketing ideas so that you can fall in the small portion of startup businesses that don’t fail. Originally posted by Express Text
At Digital Storyteller, we specialize in creating content for companies in the Finance Services Industry. While we’ve become experts during our time here, navigating financial terms and acronyms can be confusing for someone who is not familiar with the industry.
In our Brand Storytelling session, we narrow down exactly what the client wants to convey in their messaging and how to bring that message to a broader audience. We ask these types of questions: Who is your audience? Where do you want to focus your attention? How do you want your brand to be portrayed to your intended audience? How do you build an audience of value?
To begin, you have to consider the type of content you are sending out to your target audience. What is the brand you are trying to portray with your content? For our financial service companies, that often means everyday inspiration and relevant business information — a quote from a beloved thought leader or an information video on the current state of the economy.
Once you have defined the brand that is going to be portrayed, start aggregating content. Anyone can easily start a conversation around a financial topic, the struggle is keeping the conversation and audience captivated. Sending out content multiple times a week is key to keeping the conversation relevant and interesting. It doesn’t matter how many people are sharing your content, what matters is that it is getting to the right people.
A key part of implementing this content is creating a framework. Create a framework that implements various types of content to create one big brand story. So for some of our financial services companies, we focus on helping small businesses understand their financial statements and how to implement proper financial reporting. Be specific with your audience and how you can help them in both the future and the present.
Finally, in order to captivate audiences, you must add some creativity and personality to your content. Think about this: How do you portray your brand personality? What is going to make someone want to learn more about your company? And how do you simplify that for someone who may not be as educated on financial literacy? Finding ways to include simple language to describe complex ideas can be difficult but it is necessary to create high-quality content.In order to help our clients get specific about how they want to portray their brand to their audience, we conduct a Brand Storytelling Session. This session includes a 2-hour brainstorming meeting to discuss how the leaders of your company view your brand, how others view your company, and how we can bridge the gap between those two points of view. Contact us for more information and to schedule your Brand Storytelling Session!
Despite the industry’s old school tendencies, the use of social media in financial services organizations is no longer an option. According to research from Medium, at least 98% of all Fortune 500 companies use at least one form of social media.
At the advisor level, Putnam Retail Management found 84% use social media for the finance industry business. Ninety-two percent of them said social media has helped them gain new clients.
The average asset gain for financial advisors using social media was $1.4 million in the 12 months before the Putnam survey. The most effective advisors using social media in financial services increased assets under management by 10% in just a year.
Is your financial services organization using social media effectively? If not, you’re losing business to your competitors.
Of course, finding new clients is not the only benefit of social media. And at the same time, there can be plenty of challenges to using social media in a regulated industry. Here’s everything you need to know about developing a social media strategy for financial services in 2020.
1. Focus on compliance
FINRA, FCA, FFIEC, IIROC, SEC, PCI, AMF, GDPR—all the compliance requirements can make your head spin. Many advisors and agents now work remotely. It’s critical to have compliance processes and tools to guide their use of social media.
Get your compliance team involved as you develop your social media strategy. They’ll have important guidance on the steps you need to take to protect your brand.
For example, they can explain separating personal and business use of social media. They should also weigh in on what kinds of links advisors share.
It’s also important to have the right chain of approvals in place for all social media posts. For example, FINRA states: “A registered principal must review prior to use any social media site that an associated person intends to use for business.”
2. Archive everything
This falls under compliance, but it’s important enough that it’s worth calling out on its own. According to FINRA, “firms and their registered representatives must retain records of communications related to their “‘business as such.’” Those records must be kept for at least three years.
3. Conduct a social media audit
In a social media audit, you document all your company’s social channels in one place. You also note any key information relevant to each. At the same time, you will hunt down any impostor or unofficial accounts so you can have those shut down.
Start by listing all the accounts your internal team uses regularly. But remember—this is just a starting point. You’ll need to look for old or abandoned accounts and department-specific accounts.
While you’re at it, make note of the social platforms where you don’t have any social accounts. It might be time to register profiles there. Even if you’re not ready to use those tools yet, you might want to reserve your brand handles for future use.
SIX is a Swiss finance company. When they conducted a social media audit, they discovered 80 unofficial social media accounts. Among them were dozens of fake accounts on Facebook. Fake accounts create a significant risk for financial companies and can erode public trust.
4. Implement a social media policy
A social media policy is a living document. It guides social media use within your organization. That includes accounts for your advisors and agents.
Your compliance, legal, IT, information security, human resources, public relations, and marketing teams should all have input into this document. It will help you maintain a consistent brand identity while reducing compliance challenges.
It will also define team roles and approval structures so everyone understands the workflow of a social post. This clarity upfront can help reduce frustrations that social media in financial services might not move as quickly as it does in other industries.
Using social media for finance industry purposes can also come with security risks. Be sure to include a section in your social media policy that outlines security protocols for the less-sexy aspects of social media. For example, prescribe how often to change passwords and how often software should be updated.
5. Commit to doing it right
The Putnam survey found that an active presence is a critical component of a social media marketing strategy for financial service accounts. Simply creating a social profile is not enough. Zero percent of the advisors who have only a passive presence on social media gained new assets through social channels.
Compare that to the highest achievers. They brought in average new assets under management of $15.3 million. Eighty percent of those high achievers pay for a premium level of service on a social network, rather than sticking only to free tools.
Training is also an important factor. The high-achieving advisors were much more likely to have received training. They learned from colleagues or a consultant, rather than figuring out how to use social tools by themselves.
Don’t you think you need training? Consider that 61% of those Putnam surveyed identified themselves as social media experts. However, Putnam found only 15% of them really were.
And when you’re ready to take your social strategy to the next level, we have the tools to help!
