4 Social Media Tactics Every Financial Professional/Institution Should Be Using

Meera Norton

4 Social Media Tactics Every Financial Professional/Institution Should Be Using

Social media has become a key tool for financial institutions, offering more than brand awareness. It’s a space to connect with customers, build trust, and provide value.

With 88% of banks actively using social media and nearly half of Gen Z and millennials relying on these platforms for financial advice, social media plays a significant role in shaping customer engagement with financial services.

Showing up on social media is not enough. Financial professionals need a thoughtful approach to make a lasting impression.

This article explores four key strategies—humanizing your brand, leveraging social listening, managing reviews, and ensuring compliance—to help financial institutions thrive online. These strategies help build stronger relationships, improve engagement, and deliver measurable outcomes.

1. Humanize Your Brand with People-Forward Content

Audiences respond to authentic stories that focus on people. Posts featuring employees or customers consistently outperform generic content, creating stronger connections and building trust. Employee-shared posts, for example, generate twice the engagement of brand-only updates, making them a valuable tool for visibility and relationship building.

Steps to Humanize Your Brand:

Highlight Real Stories: Share employees’ achievements, celebrate customer successes, or show behind-the-scenes moments to create relatable and engaging content.
Use Authentic Visuals: Replace stock photos with genuine images and videos that reflect your institution’s personality and credibility.
Encourage Conversations: Ask meaningful questions in posts to spark dialogue. Responding quickly to comments helps deepen connections and maintain engagement.

Focusing on people-forward content builds stronger relationships and reinforces your institution’s role as a trusted partner.

A strong social media strategy starts with a complete and optimized presence across key platforms. With only 64% of financial services locations listed on Facebook, many institutions are missing critical opportunities to connect with their audiences. Building trust begins with ensuring every branch or agent is easily discoverable online, which lays the groundwork for meaningful engagement through social platforms where consumers spend much of their time and attention online.

Steps to Build Trust and Engage Effectively:

Complete Profiles for Every Location: Establish profiles for all branches and agents on platforms like Facebook and LinkedIn. Accurate and consistent branding, contact details, and service information create a professional digital presence that instills confidence and builds trust.
Build a Following: Encourage current and potential clients to follow local social profiles in order to build a local audience; share content that appeals to that audience and is useful, informative, and reflective of your brand’s expertise.
Respond Thoughtfully: Engage with customer feedback—positive or negative—quickly and professionally. Timely responses demonstrate attentiveness and reinforce your commitment to customer satisfaction.
Share Authentic Stories: Highlight employee achievements, celebrate customer successes, or showcase real-life experiences to build credibility and humanize your brand.

Building a digital presence and actively engaging with your audience turns feedback into actionable steps, deepening relationships and reinforcing loyalty. As April Rudin, CEO of The Rudin Group, emphasizes, “Social media fosters meaningful connections across the client journey.” A robust presence paired with active engagement positions your institution as a trusted partner in the financial space.

3. Lean Into Reviews and Reputation Management

Customer reviews are critical in building trust, visibility, and growth for financial institutions. Responding to reviews shows your dedication to customer feedback, while thoughtful engagement strengthens your reputation and improves search rankings.

Institutions like First Montana Bank have used SOCi’s tools to improve review management, which has increased brand awareness and strengthened customer relationships.

Steps for Handling Reviews:

Respond Promptly and Professionally: Address all reviews, including negative ones, to demonstrate your commitment to resolving concerns and valuing customer input.
Encourage Positive Feedback: Invite satisfied customers to share their experiences. A substantial volume of positive reviews helps build trust and attract new clients.
Track Review Patterns: Use SOCi to identify recurring themes in reviews. Address consistent issues to improve your services, and highlight frequent praise to reinforce your messaging.

A thoughtful approach to reviews can strengthen customer loyalty and position your institution as a trusted financial partner.

4. Keep Up with Compliance and Risk Management Rules

Social media provides significant opportunities for financial institutions but also brings complex regulatory challenges. Failing to address compliance risks can lead to costly fines, reputational damage, and customer distrust. With 91% of banks having social media policies and 84% of activities reviewed during regulatory exams, compliance is a critical component of any social media strategy.

Steps to Strengthen Compliance and Protect Your Brand:

Mitigate Risks with SOCi Shield: SOCi Shield reduces compliance risks through real-time alerts that prevent non-compliant content from being published. Its archiving capabilities preserve user activity, providing a clear audit trail and supporting regulatory reviews.
Provide Ongoing Training: Educate employees on evolving compliance requirements and your institution’s social media policies. Ongoing education prepares teams to navigate regulations confidently and avoid common pitfalls.
Streamline Approvals and Workflows: Use SOCi Shield’s centralized platform to manage content approvals efficiently. This approach simplifies compliance processes while maintaining a clear record for audits.
Automate Guidelines Across Locations: SOCi Shield enforces brand and regulatory guidelines across all branches, helping maintain consistency while empowering local teams to contribute content within set parameters.
Protect Customer Data: Strengthen data security measures in social media interactions to safeguard sensitive customer information. SOCi Shield’s robust encryption and adherence to GDPR standards are vital for industries like finance.

A proactive approach to compliance minimizes risks and builds trust with customers and regulators. Balancing innovation and adherence to guidelines positions your institution as a leader in the financial space, delivering secure and reliable social media engagement.

A well-executed social media strategy builds trust, increases engagement, and drives measurable growth for financial institutions. Choosing the right platforms and tailoring content to their unique audiences lays the foundation for a strong digital presence.

Platforms like Facebook and LinkedIn cater to professional audiences, while TikTok provides opportunities to engage with Gen Z—a generation increasingly seeking financial advice on social media.

As April Rudin observes, “Early adopters in financial services are now realizing the benefits of increased visibility and interaction.” A thoughtful approach to platform selection helps create meaningful connections and positions your institution as a trusted resource.

SOCi’s Genius Social tools can help your institution effectively manage and scale its social media efforts across platforms. Request a demo today to discover how SOCi can support your strategy and amplify your local impact.