Pub. 9 2020 Issue 2

March/April 2020 15 l e a d i n g a d v o c a t e f o r t h e b a n k i n g i n d u s t r y i n k a n s a s On your mark, get set, get social! You know that you need a social media marketing plan; you just don’t know where to begin, right? Which platforms make the most sense? Well, here are the ones that should be at the top of your list. As you’ll see, each one is unique, offering its own unique opportunities. Facebook The oldest and by far the most far-reaching of all social channels, Facebook boasts over 2 billion users around the world. This platform has gained popularity among businesses not just for its affluent user base, but also for the variety of options it offers, including professional pages, paid post promotion and native advertising. For financial institutions, Facebook is an ideal channel for reaching an older (55+), affluent market with products such as second home mortgages and retirement vehicles. To learn more, visit https://www.facebook.com/business. Twitter For a long time, Twitter was known as the platform for millennials. All that has changed. For businesses, including banks like yours, Twitter is 1) a way for customers to share compliments and complaints (yes, unfortunately!); and, 2) an opportunity for you to learn more about your customers and to quickly address their needs in terms of products, services and social responsibility, for example. Twitter now offers a series of features geared toward customer service and support, which will “enable businesses to focus on personalized, customer- focused responses in order to provide winning social customer service.” To learn more, visit https://business.twitter.com. Instagram Instagram has a following of approximately 1 billion users. As of August 2019, 36% percent of users were between 25 and 34 years old while 23% of users were between 18 and 24. Instagram users, then, are largely millennials, a desirable market for financial institutions, particularly as they move to a digital banking experience that is “in hand” versus “in branch.” In addition to building social relationships, Instagram also offers paid advertising options. To get started, visit https://business.instagram.com. YouTube YouTube is the second largest social network and second largest search engine in the world. Almost 5 billion videos are watched on YouTube every day. YouTube is an ideal platform for complex products or services — for financial institution, services such as home mortgages, for instance — one, if you’re looking to reach a relatively young audience (perhaps first- time homebuyers) and two, where long-format informational videos can go in-depth on the benefits your products/services offer. YouTube also reaches individuals age 45-64, making it a good vehicle for retirement products. To learn more, visit https://www.youtube.com. All in all, social media channels can be truly effective in helping you introduce new products, cross sell, gain valuable insights into customer preferences, improve customer service and more. Ready to get started? Get out there, then and get social! For more information about how BankMarketingCenter.com can help your bank with social media, contact Neal Reynolds at (678) 528-6688 or nreynolds@bankmarketingcenter.com .