A successful strategy for banks is one that prioritizes personalization and relationship building through social media.
By Doug Wilber
Ppersonal relationships are the foundation of the financial advisory industry. Nearly 75 percent of investors prioritize personal relationships when evaluating investment providers, Deloitte found. That’s why providers — even online brokers and robo-advisor firms — are taking care to retain the human touch. Even with a growing trend towards digital automation to streamline commerce and more, the human connection is still paramount.
Bank marketers must reflect this by personalizing the digital experiences they create for customers and wealth management prospects. Investors are used to receiving personalized content online, including from their favorite vendors. They expect the same levels of customization from their service providers.
The benefits of customer personalization are mutual for investors and banks. When customers receive content tailored to their needs and financial situations, they better understand their investment options and feel empowered to make the right financial decisions. And when they see wealth advisors who address their specific needs—such as estate planning, retirement, or education—they will naturally feel like those advisors understand their needs and can help them.
Conversely, when banks and advisors neglect personalization, they risk what Bain and Company calls “hidden defect,” or customers buying high-margin products like loans, investments and credit cards from competitors. Even if investors do not leave, they will go elsewhere to place their investments and buy new financial products. Many defecting customers are attracted to direct personalized offers. That said, almost 80 percent of customers surveyed by Bain said they would have bought from their major financial institutions if the banks had made equivalent offers.
It is clear that by creating improved digital experiences, banks can retain their customers’ business and even gain share of wallet. So how can they adapt their bank marketing strategies to prioritize customer personalization and build relationships?
1. Embrace a social selling strategy.
Whether financial advisors like it or not, their digital profiles influence how they are viewed by prospects. Almost 50 percent of investors say social media influences who they hire as a financial professional. And 33 percent report seeking financial advice online, according to The Hartford Funds Financial Advisor report. Wealth advisors should use social media to build rapport (and trust) with clients and prospects. When they demonstrate their value routinely, they are more likely to be top of mind when customers are ready to buy. Here’s how strong digital profiles lay the foundation for social selling.
Social selling adheres to the same core principles as personal selling: building relationships with customers, demonstrating knowledge, educating them, and helping them solve their problems. Everything happens only online. Social selling empowers financial advisors to add value to clients through digital means when they wouldn’t have been able to otherwise. After all, sales reps who regularly share content are 45 percent more likely to exceed their quotas. So it’s worth wealth advisors’ time to improve their social profiles and engage with contacts.
2. Connect with customers on their favorite channels.
Investors are getting their information somewhere. it’s essential to find out where that information is coming from and meet investors where they are.
Financial advisors should then create profiles on those channels and organically engage with potential clients. Why? Twenty percent of investors told Hartford Funds that a wealth advisor’s social media presence was their single deciding factor when evaluating a financial professional.
For older investors, these might be traditional news feeds on Twitter or Facebook. For younger investors, these could be newer channels like TikTok. More than a third of Gen Z Americans say they get financial advice from TikTok, and only 24 percent of investors in this age group get advice from financial advisors, according to a recent Vericast survey. This represents a huge opportunity for financial advisors to gain the business of new investors by meeting them through these channels. The key is to make every engagement enjoyable and authentic so clients don’t feel like financial advisors are just trying to sell to them.
3. Create relevant customer journeys.
Social media posting is a great start, but if bank marketers want to drive ROI, they need to create more robust digital journeys. The key to connected investor journeys is to avoid digital dead ends and always provide clear next steps.
Early in the journey, wealth advisors need to interact and create two-way dialogue online with existing audiences. They should then expand their audience through tactics such as paid social media advertising, which can help them reach investors similar to their current customers or new target audiences.
In their social posts, financial advisors can direct audiences to content-driven landing pages that contain downloadable resources in exchange for contact information, which can help capture results. At every step of the way, investors should see value, whether it’s through the educational content wealth advisors share, access to more in-depth resources or complementary consultations.
Banks benefit when they embrace customer personalization in their marketing strategies to keep customers engaged, build rapport and ultimately close more sales. This starts with giving wealth advisors the right processes and technology to deliver education and personalized offerings. Once properly empowered, advisors can meet clients where they are, establish themselves as trustworthy, generate more leads and reduce the risk of “hidden churn” over time.
Doug Wilber is the CEO of Denim Social, a leading provider of social media management software that empowers marketers in regulated industries to manage organic social media content and paid social media advertising on one platform.
