Traditionally, B2B marketers target a “Buying Committee” for example in ”cloud services” this includes the IT Decision Maker (ITDM) at the center surrounded by their team.

However, research by LinkedIn’s The B2B Institute and Bain & Company shows this approach is incomplete.

They identified there are two types of B2B buyers in a buying committee:

1. Target Buyers: Product experts (e.g., ITDM, engineers).
2. Hidden Buyers: Process experts (e.g., procurement, finance, legal).

Why are they called ‘Hidden Buyers’?

Because they don’t engage with B2B content.

The Head of Ops isn’t attending your Cloud Summit webinar; and Deal Desk aren’t downloading whitepapers on Cloud Infrastructure. 

Hidden Buyers aren’t interested in the product solution like the Target Buyers are.

This means they are more-or-less hidden from signals B2B brands use to report campaign effectiveness.

Yet, Hidden Buyers are powerful.

They have almost equal amount of decision-making power in a B2B purchasing decision as the ITDM.

With a business case, the Target buyers (ITDM) do the vendor shortlisting for the solution and need the Hidden/Process buyers to agree to the purchase. However, about 50% of B2B deals get killed by these hidden buyers.

Why?

While Target Buyers care most about the products “advanced features”, “transformational potential” and “innovation”; Hidden Buyers care most about “reliable brands”, “peace-of-mind”, and “vendors that are trusted by my peers”.

Hidden buyers don’t kill the deals because the product is not innovative or transformational for the business; they don’t care. 

Instead, deals frequently fall through because Hidden Buyers are risk-averse and unpersuaded. They kill deals because they are in charge of mitigating risk in the company and if they don’t know the vendor, they won’t likely take a chance on them.

This is important because about 40% of all B2B deals don’t go ahead because of lack of agreement. Deals collapse because it was too hard to persuade Hidden buyers to agree.  

In fact, the study found Hidden Buyers are 70% more likely to reject vendors that are not well-known to them and their peers.

What should B2B Marketers do?

1. Understand the B2B buying Committee is larger than first thought. Expand your targeting to include both Target and Hidden Buyers.
2. Invest in marketing your Brand, not just your Product. The study found deals are done more often and faster with vendors who were well-known across the whole buying group than those that were only known to the ITDM.

Investing in that reputational air cover with the hidden buyers ensures that when the deal comes across their desk they say “Yes, I know this company, I’m aware of their reputation”.

Check out the study here: https://lnkd.in/gNyKHxZM

[**Full disclosure: The views and opinion expressed in this publication are those of the author. They do not reflect the views or opinions of any organisation or entity.]

The post Reaching hidden influencers of B2B buyer groups appeared first on Financial Marketer.

Nothing worthwhile is without risk

Social media and content marketing are one of the most effective ways for asset managers and finance brands to build brand awareness, trust and community. In fact, content marketing generates 3x as many leads as traditional outbound marketing but costs 62% less. Yet, like with everything, using social media comes with some risks.
Recently, Reuters explored the need for finance brands to have risk management strategies in place after Silicon Valley Bank tumbled as a result of reputational damage from a social media maelstrom.

• Reputational Damage: Posting without a strategic approach could harm your image and detract from your brand’s values. Social media isn’t a scary place, but instead should be viewed as an opportunity to expand your reach and connect with investors.
• Compliance Violations: Social media for asset managers is about striking the balance between creative ideas and compliance. Consider who your target audience is and what they want to see. Posting educational content, brand updates and timely investment insights can all help to build brand awareness, improve financial education and form strong connections with investors.
• Cybersecurity Attacks: Hackers often set their sights on social media platforms, making it crucial to fortify your defences and protect your valuable data. Bolster your security measures by employing strong passwords, enabling two-factor authentication, and being mindful of the information shared by you and your social media managers online.
  

  “ One of the best ways for asset managers to mitigate the risks associated with social media is to be transparent. ”

So, should your asset management firm be dissuaded from using social media? No, not at all. Social media can be a powerful tool for you, but you need to be aware of the risks and take steps to mitigate them.

Risk management strategies for your socials

By putting in place risk management strategies you can feel confident utilising social media to safely and significantly extend your brand’s reach. Here are some risk management strategies you can put into place for your social media channels:

• Create a social media policy: Lay down clear guidelines that outline the purpose and parameters for posting on social media.
• Train employees on social media etiquette: Empower your team with knowledge on how to avoid mistakes, safeguard confidential information, and respond professionally to negative feedback.
• Utilise a social media management tool: Leverage specialised tools to monitor your social media presence, identify potential risks, and maintain timely engagement with comments and messages.
• Have a crisis management plan: Prepare for the unexpected by developing a plan that outlines how you will respond if faced with a social media crisis.

The importance of transparency on socials

One of the best ways for asset managers to mitigate the risks associated with social media is to be transparent. This means being open about investment insights, strategies and financial performance.
Transparency builds trust with investors at all levels and only serves to further solidify expertise.

Beyond transparency

In addition to being transparent, asset managers can also take proactive steps to mitigate the risks associated with social media. This includes:

• Moderating comments and message: You should monitor your social media accounts and remove any comments or messages that are offensive, inappropriate, or misleading. Responding to comments is also an opportunity to respond to soft leads and build a community.
• Responding to negative feedback: When you receive negative feedback, you should respond in a timely and professional manner. You should acknowledge the feedback, apologise if necessary, and explain how you’re addressing the issue.
• Being more ‘human’: Content marketing is a great way of connecting with investors through showing a more ‘human’ side to your brand. Through your tone of voice, the content you produce and the access followers get to behind-the-scenes content you can build a loyal following that recognises who your brand is and what you stand for.

Don’t get caught out

Social media holds immense potential for asset managers, and with the right risk management strategies in place, you can seize the benefits while safeguarding your reputation.

The post Risk-proof Your Socials: Asset Managers’ Guide appeared first on Financial Marketer.

Risky business

At the end of the day, if your content marketing strategy is focused on only one or two social media channels, you’re losing out to the competition that has a diversified social media approach. If your finance brand is only on X or LinkedIn, for example, then you’re only able to reach the audiences that reside there.

According to Sadiye Booker, Senior Social Media Specialist at The Dubs, “Social media is always best when it’s multi-faceted.” She explains, “Being able to blend platforms, audience targeting and content formats allows for key messages to reach audiences where they are most active.”

By sharing content across a multitude of channels you can reach a broader audience and client base. Additionally, being across social media channels (and adapting your key messages for the different target audiences) can enable your finance brand to foster a strong and loyal community. This, in turn, can ensure you continue to improve brand awareness, build trust and strengthen your brand’s authority in the industry.

What we can learn from X

Placing all your eggs in one basket is usually a recipe for disaster. Placing your trust in one company has been seen to backfire a multitude of times, whether that’s the fall of MySpace or the recent controversies of X. After Elon Musk’s purchase of X (that many didn’t see coming), The Guardian estimates that over 32 million X users will leave in the next two years.

X has long been a staple part of most finance brands’ marketing strategy and this news will hit hard if it’s one of the only platforms they have a captured audience on. While it isn’t a cause for alarm yet for finance brands, it is a warning sign to diversify your social media approach now.

As Sadiye explains: “On X, although there has been a lot of noise created recently, understanding how the platform is addressing brand trust and safety concerns is important before any decision should be made to be on or off the platform.”

“What it has also shown us is the significant benefit for finance brands to have a multi-platform social media approach.”

How to adopt a diversified social media approach

Adopting a diversified social media approach is all about producing content that’s tailored to a range of platforms. While some platforms will perform better for your brand, it’s important to have a presence in a variety of locations where your target audience resides.

“Constantly trying new methods and tactics will allow finance brands to diversify their social media approach,” notes Sadiye. “Consider different platforms, don’t base metrics on one platform only, and continuously try different engagement tactics to interact with target audiences and communities.”

“There are vast benefits to a diversified social media approach, including increased brand awareness, engagement and conversion.”

The post A diversified social media approach to financial marketing appeared first on Financial Marketer.

LinkedIn explained for financial marketers

LinkedIn is known for being a trusted platform where users can find accurate information on a variety of topics, from market insights to superannuation information. This is highlighted by users being 2x more likely to seek advice on the platform and 1.7x more receptive to brand messages.

If your finance brand isn’t yet on LinkedIn or doesn’t have a content marketing strategy in place, it’s time you do.

Content that performs best on LinkedIn

Like with any social media app, your content needs to be tailored to the platform and your specific audience. Unlike Instagram or TikTok, LinkedIn has a more professional demographic who are seeking trusted advice and financial information.

As Meredith Olmstead, CEO and Founder at FI GROW Solutions, asserts “LinkedIn is becoming more of a place for trusted advice.” She explains, “Many people default to LinkedIn when they are looking for help because it is still seen as professional and serious.”

Here are three top tips for creating content that hits:

• Double down on video – Videos have experienced a 31% increase globally, showcasing a growing demand for visual storytelling.
• A platform designed for thought leadership – LinkedIn is the perfect place for your thought leadership content to live with users wanting to follow high-profile executives and brands.
• Timely and accurate is a must – It may be obvious, but your content needs to not only be timely but also accurate. Utilising the voices of industry experts is a great way of reaching your audience and fostering engagement.

Overall, LinkedIn is a must for finance brands wanting to build trust, gain engagement and become a thought leader within the industry.

The post 12 benefits for finance brands being on LinkedIn appeared first on Financial Marketer.

Is X right for your finance brand?

With most finance brands on X, if you’re not on it you’re losing out to the competition that is. The latest research shows that its users have a 22% higher interest in financial services topics than general internet users and with it having over 329 million monthly active users (set to increase to 340 million by 2024) to reach new clients you need to be on the platform.

As The Dubs’ Social Media Strategist, Tara Cimino, explains, “It is essential for finance brands that are looking to provide the best content to clients to keep up with the latest financial trends. Considering some of the biggest names in finance regularly take to X with updates, this platform is a great way to stay on top of the latest news, topics and trends.”

Getting X content right

X is an ideal platform to share a variety of content. In fact, you should share a wide assortment of content formats to ensure your marketing remains fresh and engaging.

X is the perfect social media platform for:

• Sharing news
• Building PR
• Sourcing influencers
• Responding to events in real-time

The real-time nature of it means you should be sharing topical information, articles and content as it happens. This could be for things such as market insights.

In addition, it’s a great platform to share short-form videos and infographic content. This style of content is perfect to use to share easily digestible educational content. This content is not only engaging but also will help your finance brand create

3 things finance brands are doing wrong

Overall, finance brand content is focused on a few core areas: education, topical information and corporate communications. To engage an audience and attract new leads, it’s important you have a diverse array of content being shared daily.

To create a strong X content strategy it’s important you don’t:

• Forget about analysing the data metrics
• Only post one format of content
• Create boring content that doesn’t foster engagement

Overall, X is an excellent place for your finance brand to share and distribute your content.

The post Should your finance brand be on X? appeared first on Financial Marketer.

The importance of LinkedIn for finance brands

There’s no denying the value LinkedIn has for finance brands wanting to build trust, brand awareness, and lead generation. In fact, LinkedIn is the most trusted platform with members being 2x more likely to seek advice on the platform and 1.7x more receptive to brand messages. In addition to this, 62% of marketers said LinkedIn generates leads at 2x the rate of the next-highest channel.

Owing to these high levels of trust, LinkedIn is the perfect platform for asset managers, as well as commercial and mortgage lenders, as LinkedIn members are not only willing to trust these finance brands but are demanding informational content from them.

As Meredith Olmstead, CEO and Founder at FI GROW Solutions, asserts “LinkedIn is becoming more of a place for trusted advice.” She explains, “Many people default to LinkedIn when they are looking for help because it is still seen as professional and serious.”

The importance of LinkedIn marketing can’t be denied, but what content performs best?

Video content is booming

Video content on every platform is currently having its heyday, and LinkedIn is no exception. Video content on LinkedIn has experienced a 31% uptick globally, highlighting the rising demand for visual storytelling.

It can be hard to know how to create the perfect LinkedIn video. With financial services being such a stressful and often complex area for consumers, your video content should always focus on two key areas; education and emotion.

Creating an emotional connection through storytelling can not only improve brand awareness and trust but can help build meaningful long-term relationships. Showcase consumers’ financial stories and encourage empathy. While this does build loyalty it also can help your finance brands’ bottom line, with companies that provide an emotional connection for customers outperforming the sales growth of competitors by 85%.

There’s no better content finance brands can produce over educational content. Consumers want educational content in every format. LinkedIn is the perfect platform to share educational, video content as it has the trust factor to support it. With social media enabling poor financial advice to run rampant, consumers are looking to turn to authorities to supply them with key, factual information. Video content is a great format for educational content, with 94% of marketers agreeing that videos have helped increase user understanding of their product or service.

Build trust and authority with thought leadership

Thought leadership can have a big impact on the customer journey and LinkedIn is a great platform to share this content. In fact, 56% of professionals state a business executive’s presence on social media positively influences their purchase decision, and 66% of professionals say they would be more likely to recommend a brand if they followed a company executive on social media.

Here are four tips for how your finance brand can nail thought leadership. You should always ensure your content is:

• Thoroughly researched and led by an expert
• Paired with an engaging image or video to grab users’ attention
• Brave and takes a clear position on an issue
• Unique and takes an interesting angle on a common topic or idea

Overall, delivering value-driven content is a must when it comes to your finance brand’s content marketing strategy. Having a plan and strategically thinking about the content you produce will ensure your finance brand doesn’t get lost in the milieu of financial content. Thought leadership and video content are where it’s at, so ensure these styles of content are in your plan.

The post Financial marketing cheat sheet for LinkedIn appeared first on Financial Marketer.

TikTok for finance brands

TikTok is known for its memes and dance videos, but is it a good place for finance brands? That depends. If your finance brand wants to connect with interested Gen Zers and also can produce quality content fast, then yes it’s perfect for you. It’s not the perfect fit for every finance brand though.

Undecided? TikTok can reap large rewards if your finance brand does it right and integrates it successfully into your financial content program. Staying on top of trends, understanding your target audience’s interests, and producing value-driven content are all requirements for success.

Wells Fargo & Co asked kids where they learned to handle money, and 35% said social media. Not being on popular platforms like TikTok means you’re not gaining engagement or brand awareness from younger generations. Be where Gen Z is and create content on TikTok.

For Kelly Lannan, Fidelity’s senior vice president for emerging customers, “TikTok has been great, because we know that’s where the next generation of customers is. So many individuals, especially younger audiences, go there for information – even before they go to their own family members.”

What content should your finance brand create?

TikTok is a simple app to understand – short-form video content that lasts for one to three minutes. However, its confusing trends and rapidly evolving content can sometimes be too much for finance brands to wrap their heads around.

When done right, TikTok can gain much greater engagement than other social media. The key to creating great content is to understand your audience. With the rise in popularity of financial content on TikTok, much of the content is rife with errors and poor financial advice. Producing educational content that fills information gaps Gen Z has, can help your finance brand to build trust as you create rapport with users seeking accurate information.

Here are three topics Gen Z engages with the most on TikTok:

• Investing and micro-investing
• Saving and how to reduce debt
• Wealth generation

The post TikTok and financial content marketing appeared first on Financial Marketer.

Lions Global Investors: nailing Facebook content

Facebook is a great social channel to connect and provide valuable content to investors for Singapore asset managers. With over 92% of Singapore’s population using the internet and 4.02 million on Facebook, your asset management firm can build a solid audience if you design a tailored digital marketing strategy.

Lion Global Investors’ Facebook page produces engaging and easy-to-understand digital content. Its focus on educational content alongside market updates provides value to the everyday investor or soon-to-be investor.

The best part about its educational content is it uses different formats, enabling investors to gain information in new and fresh ways. This can also help ensure you capture an interested audience as your content remains dynamic and engaging. Utilising photos, blog posts and short videos, Lion Global Investors creates a range of digital content for its audience.

Fidelity Investments: winning over audiences on YouTube

YouTube is Singapore’s favourite social media platform, with over 5.08 million users. In fact, 9 out of 10 people in Singapore visit the platform on a daily basis. Creating content people want to watch can be a massive competitive advantage for Singapore asset managers. Building an audience and gaining strong engagement can enable your asset management firm to nurture leads and increase client acquisition.

Fidelity Investments Singapore is one Singapore asset management firm that’s doing YouTube content well. Having joined in 2021, they already have over 2.6 million YouTube views, with their market update videos gaining the most engagement.

Fidelity Investments’ YouTube videos are focused on easy-to-digest, short-form educational content that not only explains the investment market but also how to invest. Its market updates are performed by its investment specialists, helping to build trust and credibility. In fact, 63% of consumers view technical experts as being credible enabling your brand to be viewed as an authority in the industry.

Its educational content is fun, short and engaging. Created using animation, the content is easy to understand and targeted to first-time investors or those wanting to learn more. Understanding your audience and what they want to know is key to creating great educational content.

UOB Group: dominating Instagram

Instagram is one social platform not many Singapore asset managers have taken up, making it a prime opportunity for your asset management firm to build an audience. There are about 3.2 million Singapore users on Instagram and around 21.8 million visits to the social platform a year. Unlike Facebook and YouTube, Instagram has a young audience with around 85% of Singapore users being between the ages of 16-24. This means your content needs to reflect this and should be targeted at a younger demographic of a majority of first-time investors.

One Singapore asset management firm doing content well and has amassed an audience of over 27.8 k followers, is UOB Group. While it produces educational content that’s tailored to first-time investors, what makes its profile different is it has a focus on ‘Telling the ASEAN story, one tile at a time.’

Rather than solely focusing on financial content, UOB Group shares life in Southeast Asia, travel tips, programs users may be interested in, and stunning photography. This dynamic range of content means UOB Group caters to a wider audience, not only people interested in investing but everyday people living in Southeast Asia or wanting to explore it. This broader audience enables UOB Group to generate and nurture leads from a broader section of the Singapore and Southeast Asian community building strong brand awareness.

What Singapore asset managers can learn

At the end of the day, social media is where a majority of Singaporeans spend their time. In fact, 70% of Southeast Asia research and explore new products or services on mobile. To generate and nurture leads, Singapore asset managers must be producing value-driven content across a variety of social channels.

The first step to producing great content that builds an audience is understanding your target demographic. The next step is to produce educational content in a broad range of formats, to ensure content remains fresh, engaging, and interesting.

Gain a competitive advantage, nurture leads and push clients through the customer acquisition journey by joining social media and producing high-quality digital content.

The post Singapore Asset Managers: What they’re doing right appeared first on Financial Marketer.

What is the metaverse?

Facebook’s recent rebrand as ‘Meta’ may have made you think the metaverse is focused solely on Mark Zuckerberg’s social media empire, but it extends far beyond this.

The metaverse is heralding in a new way of interacting with the internet. While currently we utilise the internet and social media through a mobile device or computer, the metaverse will create a virtual reality in which users can have a digital life. Through emerging technologies like holograms, VR, and AR, people can build a second life digitally and subsequently a digital economy can be created. The idea that users can create, buy and sell goods in cyberspace means your future content marketing strategies are going to have to adapt.

While this may seem like future technology like you’d see in the Matrix, it may occur sooner than you might think. In fact, 74% of adults will join or consider joining the metaverse in the future. Additionally, at the 2022 Superbowl, an ad for the metaverse played in which an animatronic dog was sold and then reunited with his friends virtually in the metaverse. Conversely, another ad by Salesforce went against the metaverse, suggesting people were better off interacting with the real world with the #TeamEarth as their call to action. While it’s difficult to say whether the metaverse will become our new normal, these ads do signal the idea that virtual reality will be created sooner rather than later and your content marketing strategy will need to keep up.

So how can you adapt your content marketing strategy to align with the advent of the metaverse?

Adapting your content strategy to the metaverse

It’s clear to see the introduction of the metaverse will shake up the future of financial content marketing. Here are three ways your brand can stay ahead of the competition:

1. Begin integrating emerging technologies

The metaverse will rely heavily on AR and VR technology and the ability for your finance brand to be accessed virtually. To find inspiration about how your finance brand can incorporate this technology take a look at Westpac New Zealand.

“Not so long ago augmented reality was considered a futuristic prop in the movies, but a growing number of people believe it has the potential to change our lives as much as the internet and mobile phone,” said Simon Pomeroy, Chief Digital Officer with Westpac.

2. Immersing your brand in the metaverse

The first step to adapting your content marketing strategy is understanding exactly what you can do within the metaverse. Creating virtual stores or gaming experiences are some ways you can do so. Many large brands are already setting up shop, with international brands like Nike filing for patents and creating partnerships with businesses like RTFKT who design virtual sneakers and accessories for the metaverse. Think outside of the box and consider how you can benefit customers within cyberspace through virtual experiences.

Solving customer queries, creating educational gaming experiences, or building an AR storefront are just some ways your finance brand can integrate itself within this new digital reality.

3. Tailor your content appropriately

Just like with any content marketing strategy it’s important you understand who is using the metaverse, how much they’re utilising it, and what they’re using it for. As it’s quite an advanced and new technology, it’s safe to say the majority of users will be young – Gen Z or Millennials.

Benefits of the metaverse for finance brands

The metaverse can have large-scale, positive impacts on finance brands around the world. Owing to its virtual nature, your brand can gain greater exposure without the usual geographical constraints. The virtual marketplace space can also ensure your finance brand has another method of acquiring clients, outside of traditional means like in-person sales or websites.

At the heart of it, the metaverse is creating new and unique opportunities for finance brands to increase their customer acquisition and global brand awareness. But to do this, will require your finance brand to evolve technologically, build consumer-centric hardware systems and platforms, and think outside the box.

It’s time to think about moving your brand into cyberspace.

The post Financial Marketing in the Metaverse appeared first on Financial Marketer.

While the perception of Facebook is that it’s a place for younger audiences and not suitable for serious content like LinkedIn, research is showcasing this may not be quite accurate. Instead, Facebook’s major users are in their 30’s to 40’s and the fastest growing demographic are seniors aged 65 and over. This means your facebook content strategy should reflect who truly utilises the platform which are those over 30.

Facebook relaunches as Meta

In a bold attempt to re-dominate the social media landscape Facebook has relaunched as Meta with the aim of evolving how we individuals connect. While Facebook will remain being called Facebook, Meta now encompasses all of Facebook’s brands and businesses. The ‘metaverse’ as Facebook’s Founder Mark Zuckerberg has dubbed it, has a vision of integrating the real and digital world together through technologies like visual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR).

After the pandemic it’s not difficult to see how jobs, friendships and families may move to live in the digital world more wholly. The niche technologies like VR and AR may come to be more widespread, encompassing peoples work and social lives. In this way Meta is hoping to be the leader in removing the barriers between reality and the digital world.

To see this already in action you only need to look at the recent launch of Ray-Ban Stories. You can now buy Ray-Ban sunglasses that have an in-built camera enabling you to capture photos and videos as you walk and then you can share them across Facebook and other social media apps.

Who is actually using Facebook

With the first Facebook users now entering their 30’s and 40’s, Facebook is faced with an aging population. In fact, in the UK and US around 3 million users under the age of 25 will quit using the app.

This means Facebook currently has a much older audience actively using its features. In Australia users in the 13-17 year age gap had the lowest share of active usage and the highest demographic of users were between the ages of 26 and 34. These figures are much the same in the UK and US, with the 26-34 year age group being the largest demographic base. In fact, a study conducted by Pew Research in 2019 found only 51% of US teens between 13 and 17 said they used Facebook, which is a sharp decline from their 2015 study where 71% said they did. While this may be bad news for Facebook, it’s important information for your finance brand to understand.

Recognising that Facebook has a higher age group actively using the app, compared to Instagram and Snapchat for example, means your content strategy should reflect this. Creating content that’s targeted towards an older age group, over the late teens and early twenties age group, will see you generate more meaningful leads and create stronger customer relationships.

What is Facebook changing

Other than Facebook’s relaunch as Meta, over the past few years they have been making changes to their app to both protect and encourage participation in younger users. Their current three main priorities are:

• Creators (individuals that contribute content to Facebook in the form of videos, written content, and photos – they often amass followings that then enables them to earn money)
• Commerce
• Building the next computing platform

This indicates two areas for finance brands to refocus their marketing strategies towards; creators and commerce. Understanding how to utilise creators and the commerce platform to leverage and capture the attention of Facebook’s 3.6 billion users is critical for your finance brand to gain a competitive edge. Identifying and creating a marketing strategy that utilises creators in making innovative and creative campaigns that live on Facebook Stories, Facebook’s newsfeed and soon Facebook Reels, will be one way to stand out from the crowd.

To address the aging population, Facebook has created a multi-year plan to target a younger demographic. Some of the key areas Facebook will be targeting include:

• Mental health products
• Updating friends networks
• Altering the news feed algorithm to showcase content from pages users don’t follow
• Reinforcing Facebook Groups through introducing Groups+
• Facebook Reels

For finance brands not all of these changes will be relevant. The ones that are include the alterations to news feed algorithms, the changes to Facebook Groups and the introduction of Facebook Reels.

What finance brands need to know

So, how should this inform your finance brand’s marketing strategy? At the core of it, currently your finance brand’s social amplification strategy on Facebook should be geared towards the current older demographic, meaning you can share slightly more serious and sophisticated products and services. However, you should be prepared to alter your content if Facebook’s plan to gain a younger demographic is successful. Remaining agile and adaptable on Facebook will be key to staying ahead of the competition and standing out from the crowd.

In terms of changes, Facebook Reels will work similar to Instagram Reels, as it attempts to compete against the mammoth social media app: TikTok. Creating short, fun and educational content in this format will be a great way to capture the attention of interested users. Working with creators will also benefit your finance brand with Facebook looking to focus on improving their influencer user-base more.

With Facebook altering their news feed algorithm once again, this will give your finance brand a greater opportunity to connect with users. They will be making efforts to show content from businesses and pages users don’t follow to create greater engagement and ensure users are never bored. This is a prime opportunity for your finance brand to be discovered by active users on a daily basis helping to generate leads and build brand awareness. Your content should therefore be engaging and capture the attention of users quickly. Ensuring you recognise your target audience and build content accordingly, Facebook can become a great area for your brand to gain interest from new market segments.

Finally, while Groups+ hasn’t yet been launched, it aims to challenge LinkedIn by enabling the easier creation of tight knit groups, allowing people to host their resumes, and advertise jobs. While Facebook Groups has always been an area for finance brands to benefit from if they have the resources, Groups+ has the opportunity to heighten the rewards. Helping to build authentic relationships with consumers as well as increase trust and loyalty, Groups+ is looking to build a younger user base on the platform through forming stronger connections with users and brands.

As Facebook attempts to grab the attention of young people, this marks a prime opportunity for agile finance brands to stay ahead and gain a competitive edge. By exploiting Facebook’s new features and creating targeted content your finance brand can generate leads, build authentic connections with consumers and heighten customers trust and brand awareness.

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