In the classic movie “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,” Ferris misses school to go on a series of crazy adventures. During one famous scene, Ferris’ economics teacher takes attendance and repeatedly calls, “Bueller? Bueller? Bueller? Bueller?” Ferris never answers.
That’s often how it feels when your credit union or community bank posts on social media. You run a promotion, celebrate a national day or do a shoutout – all to never receive a response. It seems like you’re speaking into a void.
How do you escape this cycle of non-engagement? Here are three social media strategies to get you going.
1. Go Where Your Consumers Have Accounts
Let’s start with the most fundamental question: are you posting to the right channel?
Just because a social platform exists doesn’t mean you should post to it. You must concentrate your efforts where most members or customers have accounts. If that’s Facebook and Instagram, awesome. But it’s probably not Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, TikTok and Pinterest. Focus on a couple fruitful channels rather than every app out there.
How do you know where consumers have accounts? You’ll have to look at some demographic data.
For example, it’s true that TikTok is popular right now. However, it’s not popular for every demographic. Males are less likely to use TikTok, and only 32% of TikTok users are 25 to 34 years old. That means TikTok might not be for you if your target is a slightly male, older demographic.
2. Ask Lifestyle Questions
Consumers are more likely to engage when you ask about their lives. What are their favorite movies? What about favorite music? What would they do with $150?
These questions might sound simple, but they show you care about your members or customers. And I mean truly care. Lifestyle questions communicate they aren’t just sales leads. They’re people you want to learn more about.
Make sure you respond to comments too. When a consumer takes time to share their interests, you should take time to acknowledge it.
3. Make Financial Education Fun
Many institutions post financial education tips on social media, and there’s a real need for this advice. But it still doesn’t engage consumers. Why?
It’s not fun.
Education alone isn’t always interesting, so incentivize it. Construct financial education content that’s both useful and fun. For instance, make people solve “finance riddles” to gain access to secret video content. Or maybe tie right answers to giveaway entries.
Ally Bank developed a particularly unique way to make financial education fun. They developed a whole Minecraft world – “Fintropolis” – devoted to it. How can you gamify your social media’s financial education?
Start answering this question and solving other marketing snags when you register for an On The Mark Strategies marketing assessment today. We’ll give your personalized social media strategies to help you increase those engagement numbers.
