How would you feel if you were researching a new bank or wealth manager, browsing their social media channels to find that a brand claiming to have global reach had a social following of only a couple of thousand?
Your social following can influence consumer perspective on your brand and as Andrew Frith, social media and research director at The Dubs suggests: “Retail and institutional finance brands must look the part and come across as professional, with a sizeable presence in the industry. Having a reasonable level of followers and activity on any brand channel is important to increase consumer trust.” So what does it take to build a social following that gives your brand an air of authority?
Becoming ‘followable’
Building a ‘followable’ social media channel relies on two things: quality content and audience-driven communication.
“Good content will always bring in the crowds,” says Frith. “In the past, brands would use competitions and other ‘quick wins’ to get followers, but those kind of tactics really end up as a spike on the analytics curve in the long run.”
Good content will always bring in the crowds.
Content should be designed to look past the immediate ‘follower gained, follower lost’ metrics, and aim to encourage long-term, engaged followers that become advocates of your brand and its content.
Optimising your content to boost your social following
Before designing messaging and content for your social media channels, you must hone in on exactly which demographic you are targeting. If users feel that your content is ‘for them’ they are much more likely to engage and share it with friends or colleagues.
“Knowing what your target audience wants is key,” says Frith, “that might be information, expert knowledge or tools, so design your content accordingly.”
Once you’ve designed your content, always make sure you give users a clear call to action – most social media platforms have tools to help you design these.
“At The Dubs, we’re really proud to have developed campaigns designed to drive followers for a number of clients. Most recently we worked with Colonial First State Global Asset Management to enhance their follower numbers across LinkedIn and X. By creating a content-driven message that appealed to a very niche audience we were able to increase their X following by more than 600% and their LinkedIn following by 12-13% over a 3 month period, which if continued long-term would equate to a 40-50% increase over a year which is pretty strong growth.”
Promoting your social channels
Last but not least, remember that you can use other channels in your marketing mix to promote your social media channels. Social handles should be included across all of your marketing activity including video, print and emails. Raising awareness of your social channels in your other marketing material is a great way of getting customers that are already engaged with your brand to become new, loyal social followers.
If you’d like to find out how a fresh, content-driven social media campaign could help you build your authority in the financial services market, get in touch.
