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Jay BachmayerOctober, 28, 20224 min read

Building an Effective Facebook Strategy for your Bank or Credit Union

When it comes to social media marketing, businesses make two common mistakes.

First, they treat every platform the same—as in, they create a single piece of content and promote it across all of their social channels. On one hand, doing that makes a lot of intuitive sense. Why wouldn’t a business want to get the most out of every piece of content? But that assumes audiences expect the same things from every platform when they don’t.

Second, they assume that their audiences will engage with helpful information about the services they provide. This is only sometimes the case. More often, social media is a place people look to for entertainment and connection.

How can you make sure your Facebook marketing strategy aligns with your audience? We’ll provide some of our secrets below.

Keep Users on Facebook

First and foremost, you need to master Facebook’s algorithm—and while there’s quite a lot to it, the most important thing you should remember is to create content designed to keep users on the platform instead of linking them to external destinations (like your website).

Why?

Facebook’s algorithm promotes and prioritizes content that keeps users on its platform longer. The result: Facebook shows your content to more users, making it more likely they’ll choose to engage with it.

“We don’t see everything that organizations we follow publish,” said Cooper Chwialkowski, digital media coordinator at Epicosity. “Facebook has honed its algorithm to recognize the kinds of content most likely to keep users actively engaged on its platform and because it actively bumps it up in your feed, this is the content you’re most likely to encounter.”

It makes sense: Facebook is a business, and user engagement is its currency. The longer users stay engaged on the platform, the better the business does. So, don’t fight it. Use it. Create content that aligns your business goals with Facebook’s business goals, and chances are that you’ll see more consistent engagement.

Bottom line: Think twice before you create a post linking to an external site.

Keep Posts Short and Entertaining

We’ll reiterate: People use social media for entertainment and human connection. Financial institutions aren’t typically celebrated as entertainment engines, but finding your sense of humor and putting it on display can give users a reason to stop scrolling and engage with your content.

“If it reads like something from corporate, users are going to ignore it,” Chwialkowski said. “Make sure your content feels like an actual human being wrote it. This should feel like a conversation.”

Better yet: ask a question of your audience that will fuel humorous responses—thereby generating engagement and providing users a reason to read through (and interact with) the comments.

Consistency is Key

We’ve all been there: When we’re in line, in a waiting room, during a commercial break. When we’re not otherwise occupied, we reach for our phones and scroll through Facebook. The platform has shown to be extremely habit-forming, which is also a lesson you can take into your posting strategy.

Building a consistent posting cadence teaches your audience to keep visiting your page to view and interact with your content. It’s not always about having something groundbreaking to say—often, it’s just about keeping your momentum and saying something.

“Don’t let your organization fall victim to indecision about what to post, said Chwialkowski. “While it’s important to have a content strategy, not every post has to be a work of art. Sometimes, it’s just about getting yourself out there to build the habit.”

If you’re wondering about how often to post, once a day is a good pace to get you started.

When to Boost Posts: Go with the Flow

Like most organizations, your bank or credit union has finite resources it can apply to marketing and you want to make sure you get the most for your money. That’s why it’s a good idea to hold off on putting any resources toward boosting posts until you have a solid idea what kinds of content generates the most organic engagement. Take some time to use Facebook’s analytics tools to examine which posts (and which types of posts) are generating the most views, likes, comments and shares.

“Rather than trying to make something out of nothing by boosting a post with low engagement, take a look at your high performing posts and consider putting some money down on one of those to amplify what’s already working,” Chwialkowski said.

It can take some time and experimentation, but getting to know what your audience likes—and doing more of it—can pay off in the long run and help you create a more sustainable Facebook strategy.

Encourage Your Employees to Share Your Posts

Businesses often say their most important resources are their people—and in the case of successful Facebook marketing, it’s even more true.

We tend to trust and engage with content shared within our social circles. With this principle in mind, it’s a good idea to encourage the team members at your bank or credit union to like, share, and engage with the content you produce. Doing so will increase your posts’ visibility, encourage discussion, and encourage the algorithm to populate your posts higher in users’ feeds.

Not only does all of this this give your messaging more credibility, your people can serve as subject matter experts and catalysts to spark conversations, answer questions and (when needed) correct misperceptions.

If you need help with your social media strategy, we can help. 👉 Contact Epicosity today to visit with one of our experts. 

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Jay Bachmayer

Jay specializes in Finance marketing strategies. He works hand in hand with bank and credit union marketing teams to set goals, launch campaigns, and analyze results. With years of digital, content, and general marketing experience, Jay dedicates himself to connecting modern marketing strategies to financial institutions.

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