New Social Media Trends in the Financial Sector in 2024

In recent years, financial service businesses have embraced social selling programs and staff advocacy. Those who combine the data generated by their financial services’ social media efforts into a single source of consumer truth are succeeding.

Financial institutions are successfully connecting with digital clients, differentiating themselves through real-time contact via social platforms. There has been a distinct change from pre-review to post-review, with the industry viewing social media posts as participatory communication rather than static advertising.

Companies are recognizing that social media adds significant value by allowing for distinction through human communication. They add value by integrating it with their CRM systems, monitoring ROI, and guaranteeing compliance. Organizations expect technologies that will assist them in tracking ROI, integrating with CRM platforms, ensuring compliance, and providing best-in-class publishing tools.

Perception of social media in financial services

Social media is sometimes viewed as less important in financial services than other channels such as search, display, and aggregators. There are well-established arguments against investing more in social media in financial services. However, the examples in this section demonstrate that creative solutions are available within the restrictions of compliance.

Customer-focused social media trends

We are seeing an upsurge in social advertising by the financial services sector as a result of their access to precise client data, with Lookalike Audience modelling in Facebook advertisements becoming increasingly popular. This entails categorizing the audience into groups of persons who ‘look like’ their existing customers and website users. Mobile video advertisements on YouTube and retargeting LinkedIn prospects on Instagram to reach the same demographic at a cheaper cost are both effective methods of communicating with potential consumers.

Furthermore, Smart Insights provides financial services marketing strategy across the entire marketing mix and marketing leader strategy and planning.

Financial services’ social media platforms

We’ve compiled a list of social media strategy tips for financial services marketers based on current industry trends and breakthroughs. Social media is a critical component of your company’s online presence, which is why we’ve divided it down per channel.

Meta: Facebook and Instagram

Meta offers great organic engagement, particularly among Gen Z and younger clientele, as well as the ability to attract fresh workforce talent. FS brands are falling behind and have not widely used the visual platform. Meta’s advertising alternatives are simple to handle, especially as mobile video engagement rises, and they include extended advertising options such as’shoppable’ content.

SoFi, an online lender, has successfully increased loan applications by 39% with mobile advertising efforts on Instagram and Facebook. The company’s Instagram posts reflect its strategy to connect with customers.

LinkedIn

LinkedIn is the primary social channel for financial services firms, reaching over 590 million professionals. LinkedIn is used by 98% of the Forbes Fortune 500, with content amplification and networking with prospective clients among the most common reasons for use.

Companies in the financial technology industry are shifting their focus from Facebook to LinkedIn. One reason for this shift is the increasing number of thought leadership articles and personal insights shared by CEOs and other senior leadership figures within financial services organizations. One example of this is the 130% increase in followers for Mastercard APAC.

YouTube

This channel is often utilized by financial services businesses to increase the reach of TV advertising campaigns, create playlists with material about personal finance and investing, and target high-value prospects with pre-roll advertising.

YouTube has witnessed growing adoption by the Fortune 500, with 75% of firms having active accounts, up 67% year on year. According to ComScore, YouTube mobile viewers aged 55-64 increased by 26% year on year in 2018, with the channel attracting 95% of monthly online adults aged 55 and over.

Snapchat

Very few financial institutions have grasped Snapchat. For example, local mortgage brokers might use its geotargeting technologies to increase consultations with first-time homebuyers by using its self-service advertising tools and location-based features to create leads in their immediate area. This, together with searchable Stories, location-based Context Cards, and Snap Maps, could benefit the sector.

Twitter

Financial services firms frequently utilize Twitter to amplify content, track brand mentions and customer complaints, and identify buyer-ready signals. Every single one of the Fortune 500 firms that deal with insurance, commercial banking, or financial data also has a Twitter account.

Maintain your financial services. The social media approach is consistent.

Understanding the strengths of each major social media platform helps financial marketers develop a targeted and controllable social media plan. A good example is TSB, which has promoted its brand position through social platforms using a consistent tone of voice and frequent messages.

Smart insights provides a range of marketing training and tools geared to help channel marketers upskill and grow their knowledge and strategy and planning resources for those who oversee them.

For social media campaigns to be successful, it’s important that all platforms adhere to a common theme and use channel-specific messaging and content.