Your financial services business can thrive through social media by publishing ongoing, valuable and consistent content. Facebook and LinkedIn should be your main focus: they have the largest bases, and the most engaged followers of different age groups. They each require a slightly different approach with content, but many of the principles are the same.
Building a following on Facebook and LinkedIn
Step #1. Make sure your profiles reflect your brand
Your approach here is slightly different on Facebook than it is on LinkedIn.
For your Facebook page, your page needs to reflect your brand. Make sure you use your logo (a high quality version), and ensure all the details on your page are filled out as much as possible. People reading your content will go there to read more content and make sure you’re legitimate, so be sure to give them something to read.
LinkedIn is a little different – you need a company page, but your articles will be published under your personal profile. So, that profile needs to contain as much information as possible about your business, what you do, and your area of expertise. Spend time on your summary to make sure it’s a good sales pitch.
Step #2. Create a content plan
Start by developing a guide for your content. It isn’t so much about how much you post, but consistency.
In short, you want to make sure that each post you make is targeted to a specific customer, and speaks to a challenge they have. Bring value, not a marketing spiel.
Step #3. Develop a strategy for specific Facebook and LinkedIn publishing
This is where we get a little complex! Your content approach for Facebook will be different than on LinkedIn, so here’s how you should break it down:
Rules for financial services publishing on Facebook
- Keep in mind who your main demographics will be on Facebook: usually people in their late 20s and older, and especially those in their 30s, 40s and those approaching retirement. They want to read useful information, but don’t stress them out!
- Be sure to tailor your content towards these demographics and provide material that speaks to their specific needs. For instance, provide inspirational posts about how people can achieve their financial goals, or mistakes to avoid.
- The more specific to a demographic, the better. Avoid general posts and target groups as much as possible.
- Facebook users are looking for depth and above all, value. Don’t just provide them with a short blurb and a link to your blog post – keep the material right there in the post itself, with a link to more material if they want other information.
- Facebook is a prime place for videos. Instead of just publishing a blog post and calling it a day, create a video version, put subtitles on it – for people on the train or at work – and see how it performs.
- Be approachable and don’t use formal language – be accessible! Encourage users to share the post if they find it valuable, and you’ll start to see users tagging in their friends. You may even want to do a livestream Q&A once you build up a good following, as the Facebook platform easily allows for this.
Rules for publishing on LinkedIn
- LinkedIn users are obviously more corporate and business-focused, so your content plans need to be tailored towards those demographics.
- For instance, you may want to consider posting information about the financial realities of running a business, or how to achieve financial independence.
- A key point to remember is that your posts come under your profile – and not your company page. This means your posts should be in the first person and be written by you, not as a “company”. You need to be as accessible and authoritative as possible.
- Videos are growing on LinkedIn, consider turning your written articles into videos as well. Personal videos talking straight to the camera appear more authentic.
Step #4. Hashtags are your friend!
Especially on LinkedIn, use hashtags in your post that describe the content so people can easily find your material. Don’t go overboard, but the more ways for people to discover your content the better.
Step #5. Be prepared to spend some money
This is less true for LinkedIn which generally has a good engagement rate for organic traffic, but Facebook increasingly wants you to spend money to “promote” your posts.
This may seem counterintuitive, but you can target content to very specific demographics. Instead of creating general content to try and hit everyone, create pieces that are very specific and then target them with paid promotion.
Step #6. You need to monitor posts and engage
Don’t just set and forget! Reply to comments, encourage others to share, answer questions as people ask them. Watch who shares your posts – this will help you create more targeted content in the future.
Step #7. Ask for people to share if they like the post
Many writers forget to actually ask! If people like the content, they will share – so don’t be afraid to encourage that behaviour.
Step #8. Promote the page and your articles
Wherever you can, make sure you point people to your page. Send out email blasts, through other social media profiles. Constantly refer back to the content you have on these channels.
It won’t happen overnight. But if you create valuable, targeted content, publish regularly – ideally at least on a weekly schedule – and interact with your followers, you’ll start building a dedicated following over time.