So you’re wondering what type of marketing you should implement for your business? Well, you’ve come to the right place.
The two biggest types of marketing are outsourced and in-house. Both want to promote your business to the best of their ability, but they have a few big differences. Learn more about the differences between outsourced and in-house marketing below!
Welcome to the ultimate guide on how to make the LinkedIn algorithm work for you! If you want to improve your LinkedIn game and ensure that your posts get seen by the right people, you’re in the right place. And to sweeten the deal, we’ve got a free download at the end of this blog post (you’re welcome.)
In this guide, we’ll cover everything you need to know about the LinkedIn algorithm. We’ll explain how LinkedIn categorizes posts, how to avoid being flagged as spam, and how to achieve high-quality status. We’ll also share tips on how to make the most of the golden hour, when to post, how to encourage engagement, and what not to do.
By the end of this guide, you’ll have a solid understanding of how the LinkedIn algorithm works and be equipped with the knowledge to take your LinkedIn game to the next level. So, let’s get started!
These categories are:
So, how can you avoid being flagged as spam? It’s easy, just follow these simple tips:
That’s where things get tricky. Here are a few things to keep in mind:
What’s the deal with golden hour, you ask? It’s not just a trendy Instagram filter – it’s the first hour after you drop a post on LinkedIn. And trust us, you want to make that hour count.
LinkedIn measures the initial engagement to see if it’s worthy of moving on into other people’s feeds. If your post does well in the first hour, it’s much more likely to do well all day, week, or month.
In other words, if you can generate some buzz in that first hour, you’re on your way to LinkedIn fame and fortune. But if crickets are chirping during the golden hour, it’s like your post has been condemned to social media purgatory. So don’t waste your time on lackluster posts – give them the golden hour treatment they deserve!
Not sure where to start? We got you covered.
So, you’ve made it past the first filter – congratulations! But your journey to world domination on LinkedIn is far from over. The next step is to get people to like, comment, and share your post. Think of it like getting a stamp of approval from your audience. The more love you get, the more likely you are to appear in even more feeds. Keep ’em engaged, folks!
To avoid having your content penalized by LinkedIn, it’s important to create high-quality content that resonates with your audience. This means knowing your target audience, understanding what they want to see, and crafting posts that meet their needs. It’s also important to avoid using spammy tactics like engagement bait or excessive tagging. Instead, focus on creating engaging and valuable content that encourages likes, comments, and shares.
On LinkedIn, there are three key factors that influence what appears in your feed.
In conclusion, understanding the LinkedIn algorithm is crucial for anyone looking to increase their visibility on the platform. The algorithm evaluates factors such as engagement probability, interest relevance, and personal connections to determine the relevance of content to its audience. By following the do’s and don’ts of the golden hour and creating high-quality content that encourages likes, comments, and shares, LinkedIn users can boost their engagement and increase their chances of appearing in more feeds.
Want to optimize your business’s LinkedIn page but not sure where to start? Download our freebie, here.
Read on to learn how to leverage your business using LinkedIn. Then, get in touch with our team to schedule your FREE Brand Storytelling Session.
There are two types of marketing available to businesses today: paid marketing and organic marketing. Paid and organic social media are different tools that achieve varying end goals. That being said, it’s critical to understand the pros and cons of both. We introduce you to “Paid vs. Organic Social Media: A Complete Guide.”
Unlike organic social media, paid social media is, well, exactly that, paid.
Paid social media marketing includes posting paid advertisements on social sites and paying to boost existing posts to reach a greater audience of viewers. For example, we’re sure you’ve received an Instagram ad or Facebook ad.
More recently, paid social marketing has increased as consumers have grown more comfortable with the experience of buying directly from their Instagram feeds, for example. Where ads may have once been seen as an annoyance or clogging one’s feed, the ability to target such specific audiences has become a foot in the door for successful paid advertising.
In fact, the best paid social media marketing likely means that at a first glance you didn’t even realize it was an ad! In cases like this, the business targeting you deserves a round of applause. Ads that come off naturally, and not salesy, are the goal when it comes to paid social media marketing.
Overall, paid social media advertising is best suited to target new audiences and convert them into clients. Paid social advertising is commonly used to accomplish the following:
While one option is to attract a new audience, reaching outside of your business’s typical bubble, most often, the best use of paid social media advertising is to target audiences that have already shown an interest in relevant topics.
For example, in running a paid ad campaign on Instagram, a recently opened vegan bakery might target local audiences that have recently liked or saved vegan recipes. They know, based on this audience’s previous behavior, that they would likely be interested in their vegan bakery.
To provide a further example… If someone were trying to attract Digital Storyteller, (or any of our employees for that matter!), they might show us an ad for a monthly wine or chardonnay subscription. Well… Because everyone knows we love ourselves a glass! Oh wow, you didn’t know that? Well, it’s time for you to check out our awesome Chardonnay Review series with Andrew Marr, Digital Storyteller’s Owner and CEO.
In this case, organic doesn’t mean twice as expensive—thank goodness! However, your content WILL be healthier than your competition’s through the use of organic social media marketing. But first, what is it?
Organic social media marketing includes the ‘free’ content that your brand shares to your unique accounts. Well, free in terms of money. Organic content creation requires a great deal of time and effort.
The content that you include in your organic strategy may include blog posts, video, visual graphics, infographics, client testimonials, the list goes on. When your business shares organic content to your social media channels, you can assume that it will be seen by one of the following consumers:
As a business, organic social media marketing should be at the foundation of your digital marketing strategy. But why? “Because [organic marketing is] the best way to nurture a connection with your customers at scale.”
Businesses use organic social media tactics to establish their brand voice, build relationships, engage with prospects and clients, and provide stellar customer service.
Let’s dig a little deeper into each of these.
Establishing your brand voice is ideally something you want to do before rolling out your organic social media marketing strategy. Your brand voice determines so much! Your brand voice is the distinct and consistent personality that your business takes on.
Coca-Cola, for example, has a great and clear brand voice. “The Coca-Cola voice is positive, friendly, and down-to-earth… On the market for over 130 years, [their voice’s] purpose [is] to evoke happiness. You can see polar bears, families getting together to have dinner (and a Coke) or friends dancing and smiling—in every marketing campaign you’ll see the concept of happy-life.”
Think about it this way, you probably talk to your Grandma a little differently than your best friend.
Inviting Grandma over for dinner might sound something like, “Hi, Grandma! I’d love it if you joined me for dinner at my house on Friday night at 7 pm” whereas making plans with your buddies might sound more like, “Hey man, wanna grab a pizza Friday?”
Although this example might not be exactly the case with everyone, you can understand the differentiation based on who you’re planning to address. Determining your brand voice works the same way. Identifying your brand voice should start with pinpointing WHO you’re targeting and go from there.
Lastly, making sure your brand voice aligns with your business’s values and goals is critical.
Take a minute to think about those few Instagram accounts or select news pages you’ve always followed on social media. Chances are there have been other news outlets or Instagram accounts that pop up, however, the accounts that you’ve been following longer, you’re more likely to trust and support.
Establishing a following base with whom you can build a relationship is critical. Ideally, you want to become a source that your followers look forward to seeing content from.
Maybe you post a weekly #MarketingMonday video, or consistently share new inventive vegan recipes. Whatever the case, your organic social media content should be a resource that helps build relationships your followers are equally as invested in.
Social media has changed the name of the game for marketers. While we once may not have been able to determine who we’re talking to and who actually views and appreciates our content, social media has provided the insight of every analyst’s dreams.
Growing your business’s organic social media presence and social network creates a platform for your consumers to engage with your brand. Whether it be getting feedback, growing relationships, or otherwise, having conversations with your audience through social media is key to ongoing organic growth.
Stellar customer service is an important aspect of every business. Whether B2B or B2C, ensuring customer satisfaction is the backbone of a successful business. That being said, it can cause frustration when clients don’t know where to turn to gain the support they need to solve problems and answer questions.
Social media can help.
Social media, for many, is often the most reliable source of information. The public nature of social platforms makes them a quickly accessible way for clients or prospects to directly get in touch with a brand. When we’re busy planning a company retreat or Happy Hour for our team, chances are we check social media for reviews and photos.
Additionally, when clients or prospects have issues or challenges, many turn to social media to have their problems solved. Whether it be tweeting Chipotle for forgetting your guac or DMing Nordstrom about a delayed package, social media is the perfect platform for quick, easy problem-solving.
While organic marketing has significant upsides and success factors, there are some notable flaws in pursuing a strictly organic strategy. Due to the ranking algorithms of social media platforms, not all of your content will be seen by all of your followers.
The recent decline in organic reach is due largely in part to the social platforms pushing to create a user experience that is both “meaningful” and “responsible.” The goal is to show followers more of what they like and want to see, which is determined by their ongoing engagement.
When a user likes, comments on, saves, or shares your posts, it tells the algorithms that they like that content. Based on their engagement, the platforms prioritize similar content with regards to content, hashtags, and accounts.
Getting your content to reach as many eyes as possible is the ultimate goal, and this is where paid social media tactics come in.
In many cases, the best practice is to implement a strategy that combines both paid and organic social media efforts. Keep reading for a few tips to consider when making the decision of how best to incorporate both.
Not all of your posts need to be boosted and paid. Best practice is to identify your best, strongest organic content, then boost that.
You may decide to boost a specific post that’s focused on an upcoming launch or product update, but your most relevant post during a given timeline may just be a well-crafted organic post that appeals to your target audience and builds a positive relationship.
Regardless of what you decide to boost, how often, and how much funding you allocate towards paid social media marketing, all of your posts should be properly optimized. Even a paid post can perform exceptionally well if it’s well optimized for your target audience.
Posts can be optimized in many different ways:
Overall, optimization is key to ensuring the best possible performance of your content.
We recommend building your organic audience before jumping into paid advertising. By analyzing your organic audience you can answer questions like: Who is looking at my posts? Where does my audience live? What is my audience interested in?
These questions can help tailor your content for the future to ensure that it’s best suited for both your existing audience and the audience members you’d like to earn.
In a perfect world, organic marketing would be everything. But in many cases, organic social media doesn’t provide the booming results many businesses strive for. That’s where paid is brought in.
Once your organic audience is identified, the goal is to continue growing your audience within that very same bucket. Paid social media is helpful in doing exactly that.
One of the most important aspects of both paid and organic social media marketing is to track your results. What’s performing and what’s not? What posts led to the great increase in profile visits? Which produced the greatest increase in new followers?
Paying close attention to the type of content that performs the best for your unique audience is critical as you continue to invest more time and money into ongoing content marketing. Social media channels collect an unreal amount of data from their users, much of which is available for review and analysis by marketers. Take advantage of it!
For more on how you can implement organic content creation to grab your clients’ attention, read on.
The use of social media in financial services is often disputed. Some believe that social media does not hold the same value for business-to-business (B2B) brands as it does in the business-to-consumer (B2C) market.
This, however, is not the case.
While it may be true that B2C companies are often more successful on social media than B2B companies, there are still a multitude of various reasons why building a social media presence benefits a financial services company.
Take it from our Social Media Team at Digital Storyteller: “A marketing strategy without social media is like a margarita without tequila. No one wants that!”
In this article, we’re detailing the key benefits of using social media marketing for financial services companies.
One of the greatest benefits for all businesses to developing a social media presence is to strengthen their existing client relationships.
This may refer to:
Either way, social media networks provide a platform to maintain relationships.
Email marketing and consistent calls are of course another option to nurture relationships! These methods, however, have the potential to get irritating rather quickly.
While blasting your clients’ inboxes with emails may lead them to the dreaded unsubscribe button, they may not feel the need to take such drastic measures when their level of engagement is the casual viewing of sporadic Instagram posts.
Social media provides a relaxed addition to your existing client nurturing process while additionally providing a platform to develop new relationships.
In the same way that Google evaluates content for SEO purposes, viewers evaluate clients based on their authority and expertise. Developing a depth of content on social platforms provides potential clients an opportunity to review your level of expertise within your field.
Over time, existing clientele and prospective clients will likely begin to follow your accounts and engage with your content. Engagement with your content shows that you have a proven following and support system that trusts your business.
Read on to learn more about Instagram engagement.
Social media has turned into an easy, new line of communication.
It has become common for consumers to utilize social media to gain support and answers from companies rather than going through their traditional customer service channels. Various social media platforms provide space where clients are comfortable and familiar.
It is easier for a client to tag, tweet, or comment on a company’s latest post than it is to sit on hold with the customer service line for hours trying to solicit help… No, thanks!
Companies love to see their favorite clients and prospects engaging with them on a personal level through social media. Brands that engage and respond to their clients on social media have overall higher customer satisfaction ratings.
It’s 2022, your clients are on social media—and your competitors are, too.
The truth of the matter is: Brands are expected to have a social presence.
Giving your clients an additional outlet to contact you offers them the support and guidance they’re looking for.
After all, your product or service already serves to solve a problem that they’re facing. Why not fix another one by making yourself more accessible?
In a sense, this goes along with the previously mentioned need for customer support. Making your brand available on social media is like positioning yourself as their friend. Social media platforms were created to connect friends and share experiences, so why can’t the same be the case with brands?!
Social platforms allow your brand to share a behind-the-scenes look at the people that make your brand what it is. For example, our co-founders, Andrew Marr and Amanda Rogers, each have their series of relevant videos that we share weekly.
Not only do these videos “share the secret sauce” behind our brand, but they also give our viewers insight into the faces behind the brand! Plus, who doesn’t love a chardonnay review!?
The same may also be the case with your brand. Finding a way to interact with your clients on an informal basis allows them to consider you a friend or peer. It creates a relationship of trust and mutual respect: Two things you definitely want in your client relationships.
Lastly, being engaged on social media allows your brand to gain insight. Be it consumer or competitive insights, social media functions as a reporting platform.
The way that consumers engage with your social media account can tell you about their buying behavior, likes, dislikes, and needs.
Instagram, for example, has transitioned its functionality to operate similarly to a search engine for users. Tracking the views of your page, accounts reached, post likes, comments, shares, and saves can provide significant insight into how your brand is performing.
Read on for our article “What is Going on With the Instagram Algorithm!?”
Similar claims can be said about your competitors. One of the benefits of public social media accounts is that you can track insight into your competitors’ content. As they provide content for their followers, you have a front-row seat to see what they’re doing!
If your brand is already on social media, there are additional ways to ensure that you are optimizing your channels. This is particularly the case for financial services companies interacting on social media.
Check out this article for additional tips on the use of social media for financial services companies!
Frequently, our clients ask us, “Should I ask for testimonials?” or, “Do people even read testimonials?” and, “Should we do video testimonials?”
The short answer to all of these questions is… YES!
The bottom line is that we receive a lot of questions around the idea of other people (past or current clients!) talking about what you do as a business and how you help people.
So, how do you request a client testimonial? Listen to our CEO, Andrew Marr, speak more about how to ask for a video testimonial.
Don’t lie, you’ve spent time on Yelp or scoured Google reviews… The truth is, as we all know it, a review can make or break someone’s decision to partner with your business.
Use this fact to your advantage. This means you should showcase clients you’ve helped and those you’ve created great partnerships with (because your business is awesome!)
Collecting and displaying testimonials for the world to see helps prospects know how great it is to work with you. After all, Boast found that 72% of consumers say positive testimonials help increase their trust in a business.
Testimonials are powerful, and video testimonials are especially imperative to tell the story of how you helped people.
Many of us grew up in a culture of not asking for help and not talking about ourselves. Video testimonials, however, go against the grain.
When you ask a client to contribute a testimonial for your business, what you’re essentially asking is, “Please, will you talk about us? Will you talk about how we helped you?”
(Hint: These questions are super consequential to those reading—or watching—your testimonial!)
Different questions you can ask your clients to help guide the testimonial are:
If you ask your client for a video testimonial, remind them that it doesn’t need to be very long at all. Ideally, the video should be very short, 30 seconds to one minute. Keep it straight to the point.
The clients might need some coaching, but it’s very easily done.
Lucky for you, we have an entire article that you can send to your clients to prep them titled, “How to Record a Great Zoom Testimonial.” Check it out!
Once you have the video, put it everywhere. We recommend testimonials live on your website, in blog posts, on LinkedIn, and more. Tell the world how you help people. Hell, shout it from the rooftops!
We’re sure that the clients that you did help will be more than happy to do this for you.
Don’t make things complicated. It’s just five simple steps.
So, you’re a business owner looking to get more clients? (Trust us, you’re not the only one!)
Every business owner ever:
But hold on – before you go all Heidi Klum on us and start looking to get MORE clients… Have you taken a minute to consider how to attract the right clients? Yes, the right clients. After all, you don’t want to be marketing your products and/or services to every person you walk by…
Not sure where to start? Lucky for you, we’ve got Andrew Marr, CEO and Owner of Digital Storyteller on camera to chat about how to attract the right clients.
Let’s see what he has to say.
Clients, for any business owner, are obviously extremely important. Without clients, you’d have no business! (But you already knew that).
This considered, building a successful business and getting more clients is most likely one of your primary goals as a business owner.
Before we jump the gun and talk about getting more clients, however, it’s important to first discuss who the right clients are for you. How can you attract the right clients to your business?
The question isn’t, “Do you want more clients?” Of course, you do! The number one thing is, have you identified your perfect client?
Then, after you’ve identified your ideal client, think: Are you willing to create strategies around that particular client?
At Digital Storyteller, we focus on marketing for financial services companies. The realm of financial services ranges from commercial insurance to wealth advisories, commercial real estate firms, the list goes on.
While we love whisky, chardonnay, puppies, and tacos, we don’t market for companies that have anything to do with these elements. Why not? Because we’ve identified our perfect client (financial services clients) and unfortunately, whisky, chardonnay, puppies, and tacos have nothing to do with this industry (a little sad, right?)
We know it’s difficult not to accept whatever business walks through the door. It’s important, however, to hone in on who your ideal client is and not accept anyone else apart from this target audience.
So, to attract more clients, you have to first, figure out who your perfect client is. Put your energy and resources into that.
Interested in meeting one of our ideal clients? Check out this spotlight we did on our client Frank Crivello, founder and CEO of SBMA Benefits.
Marketing agencies today have more tools than ever to support clients in their marketing efforts. Content creation, website design, SEO optimization, the list goes on. But at Digital Storyteller, we have our eyes on a few agencies in particular. Here are the eight best marketing agencies in San Diego.
Founded: In 2020 by Amanda Rogers
Who We Are: An outsourced Digital Marketing Agency focused on Financial Services Companies
Where: Encinitas
Approach: At Digital Storyteller, we believe that marketing that is fragmented wastes money and time and reduces impact. Our team takes a holistic approach to your messaging and content marketing.
Services:
At Digital Storyteller, we take a holistic approach to digital marketing for financial services companies. Our in-house team offers a range of services from SEO analysis to content creation, sales enablement workflow creation to online reputation management, and everything in between.
We create monthly content through a content calendar focused on the target demographic, areas where clients want to be thought leaders, and keywords to rank for. Our blog articles, SEO work, and strategic sharing on social media creates engagement and improves search rankings.
Our email workflows are optimized for client engagement and prospect outreach, based on each client’s tier of retainer. We also use social media strategically to push content to platforms such as LinkedIn, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, with platform-specific strategies guided by our social media manager and implemented by our social team.
We also offer web builds using WordPress, hosted on Digital Ocean and managed within app containers.
We believe that all elements of digital marketing need to work together, and we provide monthly reporting to show our clients how engagement with their email campaigns, site traffic, social following and engagement, and keyword rankings are building their online presence and creating trust and awareness to shorten sales cycles.
Reach out to our team to learn more.
Founded: 2008 By Reb Risty
Approach:
Specialty: Strategic video content for all your marketing channels. REBL strives to help clients turn viewers into customers by writing and producing amazing video content that makes them stand out from the competition.
REBL offers a range of content marketing services for B2B professional services. Their services are designed to help businesses reach potential customers, build relationships with key stakeholders, generate leads, and establish an authoritative voice in the industry.
Their Brand Builder service involves working with clients to film once per quarter, minimizing the strain on their schedule and investing strategically in pre-production planning to capture all the necessary footage. After the shoot, REBL manages every stage of video production, including editing and production of three video topics/themes per quarter, which are then reconstructed into 12 shorter-length videos for ongoing, multi-channel application every week.
The Social Punch package is custom-designed to help businesses drive awareness, engagement, and leads on social media platforms. The package is based on a business’s specific needs, campaign calendar, target audience, platform, and other variables, and includes video content to promote engagement.
For businesses seeking a comprehensive range of full-length video production, REBL offers the Custom Package, which is priced according to their needs and offers a simple, clean execution style.
Founded: 2010 by Katie Wagner after retiring from her TV news career
Where:
Specialty: Boy, oh boy! KWSM does it all. While every plan is different, they specialize in creating customized digital marketing strategies that help clients get results through:
Their Mission: According to their site, “KWSM exists to help great companies make genuine connections with their customers. We believe good business starts with strong relationships, and the best way to build them is by sharing your story.”
Founded: In 2004
Where: Carlsbad, CA
Our Promise: “We promise to deliver strategic insights. We’ll be easy to work with. And, most importantly, we’ll never leave you in the dark.”
Their Approach: Digitopia uses the phrase process, platforms, people to guide their B2B digital growth strategies.
“We take the stress of inbound marketing off your plate allowing you to focus on all the other important parts of your job. Whether you need…
…we have you covered.”
Founded: In 2001
Specialty: Strategy, lead generation, website, branding, sales conversions, technology and analytics, and more
What makes Brandetize different from other marketing agencies? Brandetize offers:
Founded: By Jacques Spitzer and Adam Wagner! (Raindrop compares these two to oreos and milk and peanut butter and jelly. In other words, they’re the perfect pair!)
Specialty: Simply put, Raindrop helps build your brand and build your audience. At Raindrop, “our goal with every client is to take you to your next level by helping new audiences to discover you, crafting deeper relationships with your core audiences and allowing you to confidently be the best version of yourself.”
Plus, their video production is top-notch! In fact, they have accrued more than 400,000,000 video views for their clients, been awarded two Emmys, and have produced the #1 performing Youtube ad of 2020.
The Story Behind the Name: It all begins with this quote: “True friendship looks like raindrops coming together on a window-sill; beautifully and effortlessly before your eyes.”
As written on their site, “I think we can all agree; best friends are… well, the best. They are there for us, cheering us on, listening to us and helping us to live our best lives. We imagined that same level of trust, open communication and fun-loving spirit as the foundation for our work.
“The result is a truly special connection with our clients that we believe inspires even greater work. Being a Raindropper means partnering generously and creating strategically. We revel in the success of our clients and celebrate the collaborative culture that we share as a team.”
With Offices In… San Diego, Los Angeles, New York, and San Francisco
Who Are We? Power Digital is “a cutting-edge, nationally recognized digital marketing agency dedicated to elevating your brand through innovative marketing solutions, custom strategies, channel expertise, and flawless execution.”
Some Rules They Live By: Integrity, loyalty, trust, challenge yourself, find the solution, embrace change, don’t take yourself too seriously, and more as seen here!
What They Do: A better question would be, “What don’t they do!?” Power Digital offers:
Founded: By David Rodnitzky out of a coffee shop in Pacifica, CA, in 2008
Their Motto: Infinite Possibilities. Infinite Growth.
Why They Rock: 3Q Digital is growing, growing, growing! With six U.S. locations, two international presences, and over 20 virtual locations, this marketing agency can work with you wherever you are!
3Q Digital Offers…
At the end of the day, there isn’t a hard and fast answer for which marketing agency you should use. Each company is unique! (But we think you should choose to work with us!) If you’re ready to take a look at what our outsourced marketing services would look like for you, contact our team at Digital Storyteller today.
We know we’d make a great team, we’re just waiting on you!
We are not a one-size-fits-all society, nor are our websites. As our physical world becomes more aware of creating physical accessibility, we should also understand the importance of facilitating web accessibility as well.
As we spend more time surfing the web, learn more about how to increase inclusivity for people with disabilities. It’s just good practice, and it also benefits your company.
So you want to market your business, but you’re not sure where to start?
We wanted to share our favorite resources that make us successful in our industry so you can be successful in yours.
When you think of marketing, what do you think of? For many, it’ll include billboards, that one realtor’s face on a bus stop, or the not-so random ads when you’re scrolling through Instagram.
It’s actually much more than that. Yes, paid ads have their time and place to increase your exposure, but let’s let you in on a little secret: there’s a better way to market yourself, and it’s not by relying on ads.
I know, shocking.
You See a Doctor Every Year, Shouldn’t Your Site? The same way that your own health sometimes requires a little TLC or a trip to the doctor’s office for extra attention, your site does too.
We’ve talked time and time again about the importance of content marketing and why consistently producing strong content is an ideal marketing strategy. That being said, we know it can be easier said than done.
Here are all our best tips on how to organize content.
In a world where we have varying options on how to engage with potential clients, reels open the door to adding your personal flair. From informational how-to videos like how to make your grandma’s top-secret cookie recipe to a silly clip on your opinion of this week’s Bachelor rose ceremony, the possibilities are endless.
When most people consider their brand’s success on social channels they jump immediately to wanting tons of likes, comments, and followers on their profiles. While these factors are important in many cases, there’s more to social media than these tracking measures.
As a B2B financial services company, you may be questioning whether having a social media presence matters for your marketing strategy. We’ll keep it pretty simple for you: It does.
Social media has become a critical part of any marketing strategy. Whether it be organic or paid, B2B or B2C, and so on, social media marketing plays an important role in strategizing for any business.
That being said, social media is constantly evolving and changing. While platforms are updated to best serve their users, it can make it complicated and challenging for marketers to keep up with. Luckily, we’re here to help.
One of the questions we get asked most commonly by new clients is, “Which social platforms should we be on?” Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, TikTok, the list goes on!
Deciding which platforms work best for your business is important to ensure that you delegate your time and resources towards a strategy that’s going to move the needle for your brand.
Here are the top four social media platforms that we believe all financial service companies should be on.
Often known as the “original” social media platform, Facebook has begun to drop slightly in usage and engagement. While this is the case overall, it still plays an important role and holds unique value in the world of social and business.
Facebook is approaching its 20th anniversary following its creation in February 2004.
In recent years, however, Facebook has become largely a pay-to-play platform. While paid ads aren’t necessarily mandatory for success on the platform, statistics show that putting a little money behind your Facebook strategy has the power to make a significant difference.
Facebook takes its in-house marketing one step further by providing real-world case studies of companies that have found marketing success on their platform. These various stories provide quotes, statistics, and examples from clients on how they successfully implemented strategies on the platform.
At Digital Storyteller, we have adopted similar strategies when working with Facebook. Each of our clients has a Facebook page to which we share organic content. We produce custom content weekly and share blog posts, visuals, infographics, videos, and more.
We pinpoint each client’s strongest posts and work with them one-on-one to set a realistic budget to boost posts. Following post boosts, we delve into reporting to assess the success of each given boost.
Facebook provides statistics on reach, clicks, cost per click, and engagement in a simplified easy to navigate manner that makes sharing reporting with our clients a breeze.
Bottom line: Make sure your business is on Facebook.
We’re going to give Instagram a nickname: “The social beast.” Since its launch in 2010, it’s amassed over 500 million users. Over 60% of users log in daily, averaging a total of 3.5 billion likes.
Instagram is a critical platform for businesses in addition to individuals. Nearly 49% of businesses have accounts on the platform.
Compared to its competitors, engagement with brands on Instagram is 10 times higher than on Facebook, 54 times higher than on Pinterest, and 84 times higher than on Twitter. Safe to say they’re doing pretty well!
But how can you tailor your Instagram account to your audience? Like Facebook, Instagram offers a pay-to-play option by boosting your posts to a relevant audience. That being said, this doesn’t hold quite as much power with Instagram as it does with Facebook.
But why? Instagram’s goal is to create organic experiences for its users. Its algorithm pays attention to what videos users watch, what they like, which hashtags and account types they follow, and what engagement types they utilize.
Based on these factors, Instagram creates an organic experience by boosting and promoting what they think a user is most likely to want to see.
Based on these features, it’s important that when using Instagram as a social media platform, you tailor it to your audience. One of the best ways that we’ve found to do this is by getting down to the nitty-gritty and creating buyer personas.
Imagine you’re selling cookbooks… Your target audience might be Jennifer. Jennifer is a married stay-at-home mother of three that loves following influencers that share new recipes and provide inspiration for her girl’s night dinner party. Jennifer is a perfect audience for this product.
Things might be different if Jennifer were a 12-year-old girl that uses Instagram to follow her favorite celebrities and learn the latest TikTok dances. Making sure that you identify and tailor to your ideal audience is critical to the success of your Instagram usage.
Read on to learn more about the ever-changing Instagram algorithm.
Another important aspect of Instagram usage for businesses is curating your bio and your feed in a way that represents your brand voice. Consistency is key when it comes to creating content that your audience genuinely wants to see. This starts with your bio.
Your bio is the first thing people see when they visit your account, essentially representing your virtual storefront. You have a short blurb—150 characters to be exact—to communicate who you are, and what you do, and ideally convince people to follow you and engage with your content.
While Instagram does not allow for direct linking in their captions or individual posts, they offer the opportunity to share one single link in your bio. Better use it wisely to make sure you’re directing traffic where you want it!
One helpful resource that we can’t commend enough is utilizing a link-building site such as those offered by Metricool or LinkTree. Both of these sites create the ability to provide users with multiple site links within one URL.
Having a well-curated Instagram “feed” or “grid” is also a huge advantage to developing a professional business Instagram account. As previously mentioned, consistency is key.
Whether it be utilizing personalized photos, brand colors, a common filter, or even a precise layout template, there is a multitude of options when it comes to how to set up your post grid.
Here’s an example of one of our client’s Instagram grids, Voit Real Estate Services.
Cool, right? Nice, clean, and cohesive.
Moreover, it’s a notable fact that about 40% of customers respond better to visual content than they do to written content. With this in mind, it’s no surprise why Instagram is a massive hub for marketing opportunities.
LinkedIn is a marketing MUST in the financial services industry.
LinkedIn differs from other social media platforms because it is more strongly based on personal and genuine connections. The “friend of a friend,” “we met at a conference,” or “Oh, I recognize that brand name” attitudes go a long way in today’s day and age.
The unique circumstances that we’ve experienced over the past two years as a result of the ongoing pandemic have further changed the name of the game when it comes to professional networking.
A survey conducted by LinkedIn themselves revealed that “B2B buyers are 5X more likely to engage with a professional via a warm introduction than via cold outreach.”
While cold outreach is a reality for many B2B businesses, LinkedIn offers these businesses the capabilities to connect with their audiences on a more personable level. Additionally, it allows for more accurate persona targeting.
In addition to serving as a virtual professional networking platform, LinkedIn has positioned itself as a leader in news delivery. The same survey previously mentioned also shares that 79% of small and medium businesses consider industry-specific news/articles to be the most valuable content shared on social media.
Social media platforms, LinkedIn in particular, have enabled users to identify the news sources and industries that they want to hear from specifically. Rather than opening up the morning paper and spending time sifting through the garbage that you’re not interested in, hop on your LinkedIn account in the morning to see what your followers have posted lately.
The people that users follow and engage with are often the sources that they want to hear from. Enabling users to deliberately identify the sources they want to see and eliminate (or simply just not follow) the ones that they don’t wish to see content from has turned LinkedIn into somewhat of a personalized news outlet.
Twitter is a great platform to keep your business’s personality alive.
While financial services companies more commonly target more professional and refined messaging, Twitter offers the opportunity to incorporate your brand’s voice more casually.
Being that Twitter only allows posts that contain up to 280 characters, you’ve got to figure out what you want to say and just SAY IT. Removing the fluff and the details is sometimes the best way to get across and be remembered for what’s important.
While starting your morning by reading the latest news articles or blog posts might be your favorite part of the day, sometimes all your consumers want is quick, simple facts. You’ve been there, right?
Adding a human element to your brand is made easy by the relaxed, casual voice most often shared on Twitter. Whether it be celebrating a holiday with a hashtag (#HappyWomensDay or #HappyEarthDay), often your company’s tweets don’t need to be as much of an event as full-blown in-depth content.
While writing a blog post or filming a video might take hours of prep, edits, and reviews, posting a one-line tweet may be an opportunity to simplify.
That being said, a successful Twitter strategy usually involves tweeting from five to 15 times daily. While each tweet in and of itself may be a simplified way to reach out to your audience, doing it more often is what’s going to help move the needle.
It’s often noted that it takes people an average of 11-13 touch points before a message truly breaks through. With that in mind, tweeting five to 15 times a day provides an opportunity to interact with your audience on various occasions.
Another important fact about Twitter for financial services companies, in particular, is the growing challenge of compliance with specific Twitter terms and conditions. The financial industry is highly regulated on social media.
Companies need to state clearly who they are, and what they do, clarify any risks or benefits, and provide full transparency about all of their services. GDPR is therefore not the only regulation that financial businesses need to obey.
Many other directives were implemented in banking industries in the last few years. Whilst not all of them have a direct impact on social media communication, some of the legal initiatives do.
Take a look at MiFID II, which is focused on refining consumer information and making it easier to understand.
You might be surprised to see this one on the list, but we couldn’t help but mention it: Pinterest!
Pinterest is an image sharing and social media platform with over 400 million monthly active users. These ‘pinners’ (so they’re called!) use the platform to find inspiration and ideas for their interests and hobbies.
At Digital Storyteller, we’ve recently started to grow our Pinterest account by sharing information on user-generated content, site audits, client management, organic marketing, and more!
Pinterest is awesome because you can link to specific URLs on your “pin,” which grabs a user’s attention through use of a photo.
For example, below is a ‘pin’ we posted when the news hit that Elon Musk decided to purchase twitter. This pin linked to our article titled, “What’s Going to Happen to Twitter?” Here, we provide more information on the subject.
Using Pinterest in this way builds your business’s credibility, and encourages users to come back to your page for inspiration or information.
So, give it a shot! Get your business Pinning.
When it comes to implementing an effective social media strategy for your business, there is much to be considered. Various platforms perform better or worse based on your business type, target audience, and intended involvement level.
If you’re looking for support in developing a social media strategy and don’t know where to start, reach out to our team of experts at Digital Storyteller.
With our specialization in the financial services industry, our experience and expertise is growing stronger every day. Call or contact us today for more information or to schedule your FREE brand storytelling session.