BANK INFLUENCERS 2015 SOCIAL MEDIA GOALS As 2015 begins, it is important to reflect on the time that has passed, to see how the marketing landscape has changed. In order to be relevant to consumers lives, banks need to be active in the communities in which they reside, whether those be in-house or online. With 72% of all internet users being active on social media, banks can no longer ignore the influence it has on consumers lives. As of 2014, 89% of users are aged 18-29, 70% are aged 30-49, 60% are 50-60 years old. Therefore, the assumption of social media only being used by younger generations, should be put to rest. This is where many consumer s reside, and therefore should be incorporated into every bank s marketing strategy. Social media is constantly changing. That being said, multiple trends arise year after year. As the only company in the banking industry solely dedicated to social media, mosa Marketing reached out to bank influencers to better understand what social media goals they have for 2015. We found that many of their goals aligned with three digital trends that have been projected for 2015: 1. Content Marketing 2. Audio and Visual Content 3. Activating Employees and Communities Content marketing Content marketing is defined by The Content Marketing Institute as, the technique of creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and acquire a clearly defined audience - with the objective of driving profitable customer action. It is a continuous process that is built upon the idea of owning media, rather than paying for it. This form of marketing is very noninvasive. The idea is that if a business provides consistent, valuable information to its target audience, when the opportunity arises to make a purchasing decision a consumer will reward that business with their loyalty. Over the past few years, content marketing has seen success, and received greater exposure. Businesses are taking note. In fact, over 59% of marketers plan on increasing their content marketing budgets this year. Audio and visual content Audio and visual content has seen a significant increase in popularity over recent years. Online content with relevant visuals receives nearly twice as many views as those without. With that comes added platforms, such as Pinterest, Instagram, and YouTube. Many brands are turning to these platforms to create visual content and receive greater engagement.
The infographic below highlights the usage of three of the most popular visual social platforms Activating employees and communities Activating employees and communities has become important when understanding that social media is a conversation. Employees can be a brand s biggest advocates. Activating employees on social media, can provide banks with many benefits. Consumers trust information from within their networks. It comes with no financial burden to the bank, because employees write positive things about where they work because they want to. They understand the bank, and therefore are a source of trusted information. It creates transparency, which speaks volumes to consumers about the bank. Many of the benefits that come from activating employees also surface when brands activate individuals within a community. When a business continuously activates people in the community, you create brand advocates. According to The Content Marketing Institute, 92% of consumers trust brand advocates. They are trusted because their motive for recommending something comes from having a continuous positive experience, and wanting to help others. Its approval hasn t been paid for rather it has been earned. Once a consumer becomes an advocate for your bank, their loyalty will be long-lasting. Many of the bank influencers we spoke with, hit on these three trends, but also revealed additional goals they have for 2015. Their responses are provided below:
1 BRADLEY LEIMER Head of Innovation at Santander Bank Connect with Bradley on Twitter: @leimer My New Year s Resolution is to focus more on evangelizing the use of Twitter and LinkedIn within banks to build communities, curate content, and educate. Banks need defined social media programs to encourage business use, collaboration, business development, and access to these channels. I plan to connect more in person to people, companies, and groups that I meet through social communities. It s crucial to truly building relationships, and understanding synergies. But social definitely helps to bridge proximity initially. 2 LARS BREDAHL Digital Marketing Coordinator at First Bank Connect with Lars on Twitter: @LarsBredahl First Bank s social media presence grew significantly in 2014 with the help of educational content and community engagement. I d like to see this trend continue while developing more localized content to better reflect the values of community banking. On a personal note, I d like to create more. With so much web content at my fingertips, it s easy to go down the rabbit hole and spend too much time consuming. In 2015, I d like to exercise my creative muscles and build things for both work, and self-expression. 3 CHASE BATT AVP Human Resources and Training Manager at MutualBank Connect with Chase on Twitter: @chase556 I need to use my ipad more in the work setting to take notes during meeting and to view documents such as agendas, etc to reduce printing. I ve dabbled with this, and like the simple notes feature that I can email myself to review later. Through social media, I want to try to use vine-like videos as well as YouTube, to deliver training content to the bank. In the past, at MutualBank we ve seen success using videos for training purposes. I d like to take this to the next level, through short Take 5 videos that consist of no more than 5 minutes of content, to train on a various topics. With that, I d also like to better involve social media in our recruiting efforts.
4 I am determined to break the Guinness World Record for most Christmas carolers. I think this MATTHEW ALTRUDA would be an awesome community event, and I Social Media and have always wanted to break a world record. I truly Marketing Event believe Ann Arbor will have my back. On social Coordinator media, I want to spread local awareness of how at Bank of Ann Arbor teamwork makes the dream work, of keeping your community healthier. It isn t only our city s job to Connect with Matthew on keep Ann Arbor clean. I d like to use social media Twitter: @TreeTownSound to spread awareness, and empower people to lend a helping hand. 5 JIM MAROUS Partner at The Financial Brand Connect with Jim on Twitter: @JimMarous In 2015, I d like to build more social connections on LinkedIn and Twitter to provide community for #Finserv sharing. If I m being honest, I d like to improve my time management skills to balance research, publishing, and family responsibilities better. 6 PYRAMAX BANK Connect with PyraMax Bank on Twitter: @PyraMaxBank From a numbers standpoint, we d like to see a total of 7,500 Facebook Likes, 1,250 Twitter Followers, and 1,250 LinkedIn Followers. On all of those fronts, it s close to, if not double our current followers. We ve seen some solid growth in 2014, and see no reason that we can t accomplish growth in 2015. More importantly, we d like to increase our interactions on social media. Having lots of followers is nice, but we d like to become more of a go-to for information, as well as a customer service resource, while continuing to be an entertaining account to follow. We ve expanded beyond Facebook, Twitter, and Linkedin to include Pinterest and Instagram. Therefore, we would also like to grow our presence in those spaces as well.
7 DAWN MELESKO Director of Social Media at BankMobile Connect with Dawn on Twitter: @DawnMelesko In 2015, I d like to take a photography class, and do more yoga. From a social media standpoint, I d like to raise awareness for @BankMobile by creating engaging visual content and campaigns. 8 I would like to get more engagement on my blog from bankers. I currently average only 1-2 comments per post. As I read other successful blogs, I JEFF MARSICO EVP of Bank Strategy note that they get more engagement than me. But at The Kafafian Group, I also note, that their engagement comes mostly Inc from other banking or technology consultants. Is this because bankers don t read blogs, or don t Connect with Jeff on comment on them? I m not sure. 2015 is the time Twitter: @JeffMarsico for me to figure that out. Personally, I want to develop the habit of using the Outlook Task tool, instead of relying on memory to get things done. As I get older, memory is letting me down. I forgot to respond to your right? (That s ok Jeff, we forgive you!) Taking my personal resolution a step further, I d like to be a better example of kindness and spirituality for my children. 9 CHRISTOPHER MCGILL President & CEO at East River Bank Follow Christopher on Twitter: @Christopher_ERB For my 2015 resolution, I d like to quote Seth Godin (@ThisIsSethsBlog). Awareness, education, and action.
10 THE EQUITABLE BANK Connect with The Equitable Bank on Twitter: @EquitableBank There s always room to improve our social media presence, and the start of 2015 proves no different. We have two key resolutions. The first, is to be more visual. The popularity of sites/apps like Pinterest, YouTube, and Instagram demonstrate the power of having good visuals. Second, is to improve our content. We want to make sure that whatever we put out, that it is engaging and interesting to our audience. There s a lot of information out there. We need to have fresh content that s going to make people take notice. Social media is constantly changing. We re sure that as the year goes on, we ll have something new to work on - but that s part of what makes social media so fun! 11 HUNTER YOUNG SVP of Marketing and Digital Banking at First Bank Connect with Hunter on Twitter: @EHunterYoung I d like to create more meaningful content for people to whom I m connected. With that, I hope to grow my audience! In 2015, I need to exercise better. Too many stretching days at the gym, haven t exactly been helping me get into the shape I want to be in! 12 BANKMOBILE Connect with BankMobile on Twitter: @BankMobile We d like to use social media to help positively disrupt the banking industry, and give the people what they ve been asking for - a bank they love!
13 CHERYL TANENBAUM SVP & CFO at Intracoastal Bank Connect with Cheryl on Twitter: @Ctanenbaum I want to continue to grow my list of followers, especially on Twitter, so that I can promote Tweets from Intracoastal Bank. I d also like to use Twitter to share more information about other areas of interest in the financial world. 14 GARY C. KERN VP & CIO at MutualBank Connect with Gary on Twitter: @GaryCKern I want to continue to make an impact on my community. One of my goals is to leverage LinkedIn better. I ve recently been appointed President of the local Civic Theatre Association. I ve also started a Technology Workers Networking Group (AITP affiliate), and I d like to continue to have a positive impact through those avenues, as well as others. Through social media, I d like to leverage LinkedIn better. I think keeping track of new social media platforms (SnapChat, Vine, Skype, Instagram, Google+, etc) should be a priority for me, in the upcoming year. I already sense the younger crowd (I have 2 teenageers), starting to de-emphasize Facebook and existing social media, as they look for the new thing. Lastly, I sense more video interaction in the future. 15 ARCHIE MCDONNELL JR. President & CEO at Citizens National Bank Connect with Archie on Twitter: @archiemcdonnell I enjoy posting things that mean the most to me, like pictures of my family and my favorite college football team. But, I also like to use it to stay informed of my favorite subjects. By following these subjects, I am able to make great connections with people who have the same interests as me. In 2015, I d like to continue to do this, stay up to date on banking industry news, create more connections, and continue to tell Citizens National Bank s story.
16 KRISTI THURMON First Security Bank Connect with First Security Bank on Twitter: @FSBank Our New Year s Resolution is to provide more compelling content to reach 18-25 year olds, and consumers in the market for new homes. 17 PRESTON KENNEDY President at Bank of Zachary Connect with Preston on Twitter: @BankPres I ve resolved to use social media more to leverage our online virtual bank branch. I m also going to write more and explore publishing opportunities. 18 CHRIS FINDLEY VP at First United Bank Connect with Chris on Twitter: @findleychris In 2015, I hope to multi-task less, and to try and be more present. My social media resolution, is to engage with my followers more. As one can see from the responses, many goals have been laid out for 2015. Whether it be, increased content marketing efforts, implementation of visual content, activating of community members, increasing social media following, or breaking world records - the expectations have been set high.
Does your bank have a particular social media goal for 2015? Post it in the comments section of our blog. Social media is constantly changing, and therefore trends will continue to make themselves apparent as the year continues. Throughout the month of January, all of mosa s blog posts will focus around trends banks should expect to see throughout the year. To ensure you don t miss a post, subscribe to our blog, for a weekly email newsletter update. Questions or comments regarding this report can be directed to: mosa Marketing 1 Bridge Plaza North, 2nd Floor Fort Lee, New Jersey, 07024 Email: hl@mosaone.com Website: http://www.mosaone.com Facebook: fb.me/mosamarketing Twitter: @mosamarketing Blog: http://www.mosaone.com/blog