Goal: When [potential] clients want finance, they think of you. Achieving this isn’t an easy task but an optimised social media account can help – with engaging posts. Here’s how:
Tip 1: Keep Your Audience in Mind
A great way to ensure your audience is interested in your posts is to think about who they are. For example, if the majority of your clients are first home owners, you’ll be able to find out what specific types of people they are.
It may take some thinking and Googling, but concluding they likely have young kids, work in populated areas and live in the suburbs so commute a long way can be really helpful. This indicates social media content needs to be short and to the point as they won’t have much time to spend reading.
Tip 2: Use Smart Structuring
Aka: Smart Layouts. It means to position text, pictures, quotes, numbers, logos, icons, etc carefully. No one likes to be hit with blocks of text, cliché boring photos or long numbers. Think about paragraphing and what your audience will see first.
If you’re not sure what layout looks best for your audience, have a look at other social media posts. Which style do you find easiest to read?
Tip 3: Create High-Quality Content
Finance is an important subject for most people. Make sure your posts are clean and accurate – check how they read and how the layout looks before posting. Photos should also back this approach up. Use high quality images that will look good on all devices, from a small phone screen to a laptop.
Talking about major news stories normally attracts significant engagement but will your post simply be one of 1000s? If so, creating a post with a different angle on a hot topic is a good idea. For example, an election. Instead of summarising events like so many news sites do, you might share your predictions of the effects on finance or explain in simple terms what the result means for your audience.
Tip 4: Use Intriguing Facts / Topics
Everyone is keen to save money, get the best deals and have access to low rates. Creating posts that reflect common interests in finance is an easy winner.
Remember, most people don’t turn to mortgage brokers for entertainment. They want answers to problems and simple education on finance.
For example, you might post content about a finance seminar you attended and list the key takeaways.
Tip 5: Engage, Don’t Sell
When creating social media content, it’s a relationship building goal with audiences rather than a ‘sell, sell, sell’ goal.
Did you know that only around 10% of your Facebook followers will see your post?
Most social media platforms display content to users based on the likelihood of positive reactions. This doesn’t mean ‘they hit ‘like’ so they’ll see everything I post’.
Naturally, users want engaging and interesting content rather than being bombarded with ads. Social media platforms know this all too well. Their algorithms aim to keep their users happy with interesting content.
A simplified explanation of financial jargon to help people will rank higher than a sales pitch.
Tip 6: Trigger Emotions
Successful and shared content sparks strong emotional reactions. Generally speaking, emotions like cute humour, anger, disgust, sorrow and fear create a lot of buzz but those won’t help in finance when you’re trying to create an image of professionalism.
On the other hand, Fear Of Missing Out (FOMO), curiosity and hope are great emotions to trigger. For example, you might post content telling the story of a client you helped get their first home when they initially struggled so your audience ‘hopes’ you can do the same for them.
Tip 7: Listen to Feedback
It can be nerve wracking when users comment on posts. Defending your business or services when (if) they complain is an easy trap to fall into. If people leave comments on your posts, take note and make sure to consider what they say next time you post. Consider these tips:
Positive comments: Reply and thank the poster.
Negative comments: Apologise quickly and offer to discuss it with them privately. This shows you’re keen to resolve the problem. You’ll also avoid too many back and forths in the public eye. Never fight back or argue with them. If comments are too abusive, you may have to remove them.
Questions: Always give a solid, straight-to-the-point solution so others can see how knowledgeable you are.
To Summarise
Applying marketing strategies and maintaining a strong and professional social media presence is a winner for all brokers. As finance is not a once-off payment, it’s a long term relationship with a client, keeping them engaged and your name front of mind is important. Apply the above tips to your posts and keep on top of your game.
