Overall, a majority of Australians are unaware of their superannuation, lacking a basic understanding of how it operates and whether or not they have one. 25% of Australians believe they don’t have a superannuation when they actually do. Finder’s superannuation expert, Alison Banney, finds it, “alarming that people are not more knowledgeable about their financial future.” This offers a huge area of opportunity for super funds to educate their clients and build both trust and loyalty. Here we explain why your super fund should be providing educational material as part of your overall content marketing strategy.
The case for educational content
According to Gary Weaven, the founding Executive Chair of Industry Fund Services, super funds should be focusing on improving their content marketing and delivering better financial advice to members. Weaven explains that there’s a massive information gap for super funds to fill, such as providing information on the pension and taxation system, investment strategies and salary sacrificing.
Speaking to The Dubs Managing Director, Josh Frith, “Financial literacy is a huge issue in Australia, so supporting people beyond just their superannuation needs is key to helping and keeping them.”
Providing content your clients need can help you form meaningful connections and foster the trust and loyalty needed to retain them for the long term. In fact, 81% of people note that trust plays a factor in their purchasing decisions, making educational content an important area for super funds to capitalise on.
“The closer a super fund can deliver tailored and personalised content to targeted audiences within its member base then it will have far greater success with its engagement and interaction with members.” Josh explains.
The educational content super funds need to create
There are a number of things to consider when creating educational content. Firstly, you must understand your target audience and create content that aligns with them. For example, a person starting their first job will need different information than someone reaching retirement age. Also, don’t forget about creating content for advisers, this is an opportunity for your super fund to build connections with a large client network.
Secondly, no matter what format you are creating your content in or which audience you’re targeting, your content must be easy to understand. Superannuation can be a complex topic. It’s critical your educational content is simple and engaging, otherwise, clients won’t interact with it.
“ Financial literacy is a huge issue in Australia, so supporting people beyond just their superannuation needs is key to helping and keeping them. – Josh Frith, The Dubs Managing Director ”
Thirdly, you should be creating content in a variety of formats and distributing them across a range of channels. From your website to your social media platforms, you should be sharing this content everywhere a client interacts with your super fund. Additionally, creating a variety of content can help keep your communication channels fresh and engaging, as well as enable your content to appeal to a wider audience. This is where repurposing and reusing content can be helpful. If you create an hour-long webinar that’s housed on your website, you can repurpose this by dividing it into bite-sized videos that can be shared on your social channels.
Super funds doing financial literacy content well
There are a number of super funds already doing financial literacy content well. Both HESTA and Active Super have dedicated learning hubs that deliver great educational content to clients.
HESTA online learning hub offers an interactive video series where clients can find tailored financial advice and guidance about all things superannuation. The best part about these videos is their interactive nature, with different scenarios popping up that clients can click to receive a video specific to their situation. Its content is particularly engaging as videos are story-based, enabling clients to relate and form real connections. HESTA’s learning hub is targeted towards older Australians, either nearing retirement, about to retire or have retired, with all content tailored to this audience.
Active Super’s education hub is targeted toward a different audience, that being Gen Z and Millennials. Bright, fun, and engaging, Active Super’s education hub delivers easy-to-understand super fund information across a diverse range of topics, appealing to those who need to understand the basics as well as those who want to be hands-on investors. Offering webinars, blogs and editorial content, Active Super distributes its education content in a variety of formats. They also have a variety of tools and calculators helping to make it easier for clients to plan for their future, including an interactive tool that allows members to see where and how their money is invested.
