September 29, 2022

National Mortgage News Digital Conference 2022: Three Ways Mortgage Lenders Can Prepare For A Digital-First Era

Mortgage professionals know: the industry is undergoing digital transformation, and it’s more important than ever for lenders to have access to the latest financial technology tools. Here at Denim Social, we want to empower mortgage marketers and loan officers with social selling resources that will help pave their way into a bright and people-centric future. To stay ahead of the curve, our team attended the National Mortgage News Digital Mortgage Conference to connect with our mortgage colleagues and learn more about how we can successfully guide customer social media strategies.  

We learned a lot, but here were my three top takeaways: 

  1. Technology solutions are helping institutions better serve customers. 

Mortgage companies, banks, and credit unions are transforming how they interact with consumers. Technology is helping marketers learn more about consumers, so that lenders can provide the right product at the right time and decrease the time it takes to close a loan. This is drastically reducing the friction for the consumer, because it’s now as easy as clicking a button to connect with a loan officer and go through the entire approval process. 

  1. The home buying process looks different than it used to. 

Leaders in mortgage are recognizing that the next generation of homebuyers want and expect the buying process to be different from beginning to end. Today’s buyers expect that information will be readily available online and on social media, and communications between involved parties will be instantaneous and casual. Having a strong online presence signals trust and credibility that is needed for customers to feel confident in their decisions. 

  1. Appearances matter, and it’s essential to look the part. 

Sure, it’s important to have a strong back office system and process in place so that the mortgage business runs smoothly, efficiently, and dependably. However, now that the boom of the last couple of years is coming to a close, it’s time for many lenders to refocus that effort into the front office. Time, effort, and budget must be allocated to making a good impression and catering strategies to meet customers where they already are and on their terms.  It’s a big shift from the old ways of doing things, but loan officers who commit to social selling and create a strong social presence will come out ahead of those reluctant to make the shift. 

The bright side of these industry transformations is that now financial institutions will have more opportunities than ever to grow their brands and personalize their approach to customer interactions and sales. Loan officers especially have more resources than ever to interact with their communities. Social media is the perfect way to stay top of mind, and tools like Denim Social are here to support mortgage lenders, banks, and other services seeking to strengthen their social selling capabilities.

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September 29, 2022

National Mortgage News Digital Conference 2022: Three Ways Mortgage Lenders Can Prepare For A Digital-First Era

By
Adam Christophersen

Mortgage professionals know: the industry is undergoing digital transformation, and it’s more important than ever for lenders to have access to the latest financial technology tools. Here at Denim Social, we want to empower mortgage marketers and loan officers with social selling resources that will help pave their way into a bright and people-centric future. To stay ahead of the curve, our team attended the National Mortgage News Digital Mortgage Conference to connect with our mortgage colleagues and learn more about how we can successfully guide customer social media strategies.  

We learned a lot, but here were my three top takeaways: 

  1. Technology solutions are helping institutions better serve customers. 

Mortgage companies, banks, and credit unions are transforming how they interact with consumers. Technology is helping marketers learn more about consumers, so that lenders can provide the right product at the right time and decrease the time it takes to close a loan. This is drastically reducing the friction for the consumer, because it’s now as easy as clicking a button to connect with a loan officer and go through the entire approval process. 

  1. The home buying process looks different than it used to. 

Leaders in mortgage are recognizing that the next generation of homebuyers want and expect the buying process to be different from beginning to end. Today’s buyers expect that information will be readily available online and on social media, and communications between involved parties will be instantaneous and casual. Having a strong online presence signals trust and credibility that is needed for customers to feel confident in their decisions. 

  1. Appearances matter, and it’s essential to look the part. 

Sure, it’s important to have a strong back office system and process in place so that the mortgage business runs smoothly, efficiently, and dependably. However, now that the boom of the last couple of years is coming to a close, it’s time for many lenders to refocus that effort into the front office. Time, effort, and budget must be allocated to making a good impression and catering strategies to meet customers where they already are and on their terms.  It’s a big shift from the old ways of doing things, but loan officers who commit to social selling and create a strong social presence will come out ahead of those reluctant to make the shift. 

The bright side of these industry transformations is that now financial institutions will have more opportunities than ever to grow their brands and personalize their approach to customer interactions and sales. Loan officers especially have more resources than ever to interact with their communities. Social media is the perfect way to stay top of mind, and tools like Denim Social are here to support mortgage lenders, banks, and other services seeking to strengthen their social selling capabilities.

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SIMILAR POSTS:

Instagram stands out as the shining star of social media platforms. While Facebook still reigns supreme and TikTok grows, Instagram is quickly catching up fast with more than 2 billion users worldwide.

With users under age 34 making up nearly 60 percent of this user population, financial services marketers looking to reach younger generations should take note. And with an estimated sum of $68 trillion in wealth expected to transfer from Baby Boomers to Millennials in the next couple of decades, Millennials are a worthwhile target.

Studies predict that, after inheriting wealth, 80% or more young heirs will seek out a new financial advisor. Considering that 9 in 10 accounts follow at least one business on Instagram and 8 in 10 users find new products and services in the app, it’s a safe bet that Instagram will be a place to influence many Millennials. Wise financial services marketers will meet them where they are with strong Instagram marketing strategies, and the following tips can help:

1. Focus on paid ads

Instagram is a visual platform for sharing photos and videos, so it’s important for brand pages to populate their profiles with organic posts. While this presence is important, organic content isn’t what will move the needle on business goals. Financial services aren’t exactly visually interesting, and organic posts tend to have low reach as they only show up in the feeds of a brand’s current followers. Without the ability to include hyperlinks in captions, they also won’t drive any traffic back to your site. If you want to build the type of following needed to generate new business, including paid advertising in your Instagram marketing strategy is your ticket.

With Instagram advertising, institutions and advisors can target ads to land with exactly the right audience — even outside their follower base — and include links in posts to drive more traffic to the brand. With a specific call to action that directs consumers to learn more about a topic, Instagram ads offer a straight-line path to giving customers the valuable information they desire — in their own time and at their own place. What’s more, Instagram advertising is seamlessly integrated directly into Instagram feeds and stories, creating a smoother user experience all around.

2. Connect with consumers on a local level

Instagram marketing on the corporate brand level is a great starting point, but advertising on behalf of your individual advisors can take your strategy to the next level. Think of it this way: If a consumer sees a well-known brand on social media, they might recognize the name, but they won’t feel an intrinsic connection beyond initial familiarity. In contrast, they’ll feel familiarity and an immediate connection when they see a post from an advisor in their own community. Consumers want to build relationships with brands, and a shared community is a great starting point.

Of course, most advisors and other financial services employees are not experts on how to market the business on Instagram. And marketers know they must keep all social media marketing for their financial institutions compliant to avoid heavy regulatory reprimands. To keep posts compliant, save employees time, and help them build relationships with consumers in their physical communities, financial services marketers can set up and run ads on their behalf.


3. Micro-target content to your audience

As big-name brands like Amazon continue to elevate the digital customer experience with seamless customer service, purchasing, and delivery, customer expectations are higher than ever before. When customers evaluate a financial institution, they compare it not only to other organizations in the industry, but also to tech giants in any industry that give them exactly what they need when they need it.

They expect a high level of personalization and convenience, and Instagram marketing with paid advertising can help you give it to them. Match basic behavioral and geographic data to potential customers on Instagram to target ads, and then track clicks, engagements, and post-click actions. These data points don’t indicate much on their own, but together they offer a rich story about what consumers want. Continually refine your strategy with these data points in mind to deliver the kind of highly personalized experiences your audiences want on Instagram.

With a large Millennial user base that engages actively with brands online and the ability to target highly personalized ads to exactly the right audiences, Instagram is a must-have in any financial services marketing strategy. To learn more about how Instagram marketing can work to drive your business forward, download our guide to building stronger customer relationships on Instagram for free today.

Make the most of your social media pages and posts by optimizing your images and including essential information about your business on each platform. By giving customers an optimal digital experience, you can broaden reach and provide better customer service through your digital platforms.

Facebook

IMAGE SIZING:

Profile picture: 176 x 176px (desktop), 196x 196px (smartphones)

Cover photo: 820 x 312px (desktop), 640 x 360px (smartphones)

Keep the main content of your image centered. On a desktop the photo will display as 840x312px, but on mobile will size down to 640x360px.

Facebook post image: 1200 x 630px

The ideal width for a Facebook post image is 1200px, but height can vary based on what type of device the image display is optimized for. We recommend keeping it at the recommended size to keep consistency on all devices.

When creating a Facebook Ad graphic, any text should not take up more than 20% of the photo. You can find a cheat sheet here: https://www.facebook.com/ads/tools/text_overlay.

Facebook Video: 1280 x 720px

The optimal length for a short-form video on Facebook is 15 seconds to 1 minute; for a long-form video, it is 3 minutes. The maximum file size is 10GB. 

Facebook Link Image: 1200 x 630px

Make sure to claim ownership of your links for the ability to change the link preview photo. You can find more info on that here: https://www.facebook.com/business/help/528858287471922?id=708699556338610.

Carousel Post: 1080 x 1080px

Carousel posts are a great way to display multiple services or features that you offer to your customers. When placing a Facebook ad you can link each carousel photo to a different link, making it easy for people to navigate to your specific products.

Facebook Story: 1080 x 1920px

Make the most of your stories by using all of your space and creating a fullscreen experience.

IMPORTANT PAGE INFORMATION:

Page name:

This is where you can name your Facebook Page, but be sure to keep it shorter than 75 characters.

Page username:

Customize your page URL by adding a username, making it easier for people to locate and navigate people from other digital platforms. Your Facebook URL can include up to 50 characters.

Page call to action:

Facebook gives you a variety of choices on calls to action. For example, if you’d like customers to contact you by email, you can set up a “Send Email” button with your email address connected and ready to go.

LinkedIn

IMAGE SIZING:

Profile picture: 400 x 400px

Upload your business logo here to personalize your profile. If this page is for an individual, this is where you will upload their headshot.

Cover Photo: 1584 x 396px

Having a personalized business cover photo will make your profile look more professional and give you the opportunity to provide page visitors with more of the look and feel of your business. This can include an image related to your business or a graphic with information on services you provide or your business slogan.

LinkedIn post photo: 1200 x 628px (mobile), 1200 x 1200px (desktop)

When targeting an audience on both desktop and mobile, make sure that you optimize for mobile to give people the best experience.

LinkedIn Link Photo: 1200 x 628px (mobile), 1200 x 1200px (desktop)

Providing an image with your link preview can help give viewers a better idea of article content and improve your click thru rates. 

LinkedIn Link Video: 4096 x 2304px maximum, 256 x 144 pixels minimum

The optimal video length for LinkedIn is 30-90 seconds and the maximum file size is 5GB.

IMPORTANT PAGE INFORMATION

Page name:

This is where your business name is located, as well as your company industry, location, and number of followers.

Page description:

Add your business slogan, mission, or a short description that tells people what your company, products, and services can do for them.

X (Formerly Known as Twitter)

IMAGE SIZING

Profile picture: 400 x 400px

Upload your business logo or headshot to personalize your profile.

Cover photo: 1500 x 500px

Be sure to center your content to give your followers an optimized experience on mobile.

Twitter post photo: 1600 x 900px

Allow your followers to see the entirety of the photo in their feed by adhering to this sizing guideline. The maximum file size is 5MB.

X video: 1280 x 720px (desktop, recommended), 720 x 720px (mobile)

The optimal video length for Twitter is 20-45 seconds and the maximum file size is 512MB.

IMPORTANT PAGE INFORMATION

Underneath your profile photo, your company name and username will be displayed.

Write a short bio to tell people more about your business.

Instagram

IMAGE SIZING

Profile photo: 110 x 110px

Your profile picture will be small, so be sure your image is sized correctly and centered. This is a great place for your company logo.

Profile thumbnail: Displays as 161 x 161px

This is a preview of your large image post, but looks best when the photo posted is square.

Highlight Cover: 1080 x 1920px

Your cover photos should have centered images to give your highlight reel a balanced look. You can also name your highlights, but be concise as they can only be 15 characters long.

Instagram Feed Photo: 1080 x 1080px (square), 1080 x 1350 (portrait), 1080 x 566 (landscape)

The recommended width for all Instagram feed photos is 1080px, but the height can vary. To optimize for your feed display within your profile, we recommend using the sizing listed above to keep your image square.

Instagram Feed Video:  1080 x 1080px (square), 1080 x 1350 (portrait), 1080 x 566 (landscape)

The optimal length for an Instagram video is 30-60 seconds and the max file size is 650MB.

Instagram Feed Ad Photo: 1080 x 1080px

Your ad photo will display the same as a normal feed photo, but with a link attached. When creating an ad in Ads Manager, you’ll be able to upload a separate photo for Instagram to keep your photos optimized for the user experience.

Instagram Story: 1080 x 1920px (portrait), 1080 x 601 (landscape)

Make the most of your stories by using all of your space and creating a fullscreen experience. The maximum length of the story is 60 seconds.

Instagram Reels & Live: 1080 x 1920px

Reels can be used to offer tutorials, demos, or service features. These will be saved under your profile page for viewers to go back and watch at their leisure. The maximum length for Reels is 90 seconds. For Live, this can be used for announcements, events, or other Q&A sessions. These can also be saved for later viewing, and can last up to 4 hours.

So you've invested the time, energy, and money into building a website that details all of your financial products and services, and you have a solid social media strategy in place — but do you have any means of connecting the two? A full digital marketing strategy requires a connection point to lead prospects along the digital journey and toward conversion. Landing pages can serve as the bridges you need.

These pages live on your website and hold information geared toward specific audience segments. For example, if an insurance agent is interested in helping first-time homebuyers with homeowners insurance, a social media post on the subject could include a link to a landing page on your website with even more resources for new buyers.

Landing pages are important because no matter how well-built your website homepage is, it simply can’t serve the needs of every consumer — not conveniently, at least. Without landing pages, site visitors arrive on the homepage and are left to dig through the site for specific information on their own. Landing pages, on the other hand, allow visitors to arrive at your site in the exact place they want to be. It’s the best way for financial institution marketers to quickly and easily offer content that meets the specific needs of various target audiences.

Customers want this level of personalization, and they're open to the idea of trading their information for it. In fact, more than three-quarters of consumers in one study said they would be willing to give more personal data in return for more tailored services. When customers submit their contact information through a form to download the content on your landing page, not only are they getting tailored content, but you're getting data that can fuel more personalized outreach directly to primed prospects. And that leads to higher conversion rates.

Start creating landing pages by planning a page for each promotion in your overall marketing campaign or for each of your target audiences. Then, we recommend the following steps to drive conversion:

1. Keep it simple and direct.

Ultimately, the goal of a landing page for financial institutions is to learn more about prospects by gathering their information in the form field. For visitors, the clearer the path to the field, the likelier they will be to share their data. Don’t fill a page with too many images, multiple offers, and other clutter — you’ll just increase the chances of visitors bouncing off the page before taking action. Instead, stick with concise, clear messaging, easy-to-follow directives, strong calls to action, and impactful design elements.


2. Leverage pre-built, fully customizable templates.

Few marketing professionals have the bandwidth or experience to build a whole webpage on their own. Fortunately, software like Denim Social with landing page functionality will offer pre-built, customizable templates that allow you to start with a page already optimized for conversion.


From there, you can easily customize the content, form fields, colors, images, and video on each page to fit your campaign goals. The key here is to keep a consistent style across pages so each one fits under your overall brand umbrella.

3. Scale, scale, scale!

The real beauty of using pre-built, customizable templates is the ability to design, build, and launch landing pages at scale. Denim Social’s code-free interface makes it easy for anyone to populate many templates with customized elements — no web design expertise required. Just personalize, publish, then easily iterate and adjust based on conversion data.

In practice, this looks like building hundreds or even thousands of highly professional landing pages in just minutes. That’s a lot more opportunity for targeted messaging than one broad website homepage on its own.

Landing pages are one of the most effective tools at your disposal to create tailored experiences, capture valuable information, and generate high-quality leads. With the right platform, any marketer can build landing pages at scale and propel more prospects toward conversion.

Read this guide if you’re asking yourself:

  • Is my social media policy current and comprehensive?
  • How do I ensure social media compliance during M&A?
  • What do I need to consider for direct messaging compliance?

In this guide we will help you think about your all important social media policy and thoughtfully consider how changes in social media tech and even your bank’s structure may impact compliance.

Known as the professional social networking platform, LinkedIn is a powerful tool for social selling, allowing your team to foster strategic customer relationships and build credibility. An important part of your online brand, your LinkedIn profile is a key source of information for people looking to learn more about you.

A strong LinkedIn profile creates opportunities for meaningful connections and interactions with other professionals. But how do you make LinkedIn a successful part of your marketing strategy? Well, for starters, you need to build trust. Use the following best practices to do just that.

1.) Add professional profile and cover photos. According to LinkedIn, a professional headshot makes your profile 21x more likely to be viewed, and profiles with photos get a 40% better message response rate. For best results, upload JPEG or PNG images sized as follows:

  • Profile photo: 400x400 pixels
  • Cover photo: 1584x396 pixels

Pro Tip: Bookmark our Up-to-Date Social Media Sizing & Resource Guide to optimize your images on every social media platform.

2. Write a compelling headline and summary. Your headline and summary should clearly and succinctly state who you are and why someone should connect with you.

  • Headline: More than simply your job title, your headline should answer these two questions: 
  • Who do you help?
  • How do you help?
  • Summary: Use the following framework to write a compelling professional summary:
  • Paragraph 1: In three sentences or less, what is your value prop to your prospective customers? Reiterate your purpose from your headline.
  • Paragraph 2: In three sentences or less, how do you help customers achieve results?
  • Paragraph 3: In three sentences or less, what is your call-to-action for the prospective customer?

Pro Tip: In your headline and summary, be sure to include keywords prospective customers might search for.

3. Engage frequently and consistently. Every week, apply consistent effort to LinkedIn to build credibility and keep content relevant and valuable for customers. Below is checklist of activities we recommend performing on a weekly basis:

  • Post relevant content: Check your content library or search for trending topics in the LinkedIn search bar. You can find some great recent inspiration from others in your field.
  • Post/schedule content at the right time: Generally, the best time to post on LinkedIn is Tuesday through Thursday between 10 and 11 a.m. Content posted in the evenings and on weekends tends to get less engagement. Check out this guide in our Help Center for more information on when to post on various social media channels.
  • Seek recommendations from customers and share success stories: What’s better than telling your networks how great you are? Someone else saying it for you! Positive testimonials, endorsements and reviews go a long way in building your credibility.
  • Check likes, follows, shares, hashtags and comments. Be sure to engage and respond as appropriate. Set weekly or monthly goals for growth and track progress.
  • Grow your network: Join relevant groups in your industry to gain customer insights about needs and interests, follow influencers and connect with others.

Pro tip: Add a 30-minute weekly recurring event on your calendar to go through the above checklist.

LinkedIn should be an essential part of your team’s social selling strategy. Stay visible and build trust with consistency and an optimized profile. 
Looking for a quick reference for all of this information? Check out this infographic.


“If you build it, they will come.” 

While this advice may work in fictional baseball movies, it’s a bad strategy for building your Facebook business page following. 

Successfully growing your page likes and follows requires ongoing attention, but it pays off. 

More followers indicates greater popularity and trust in your brand and also means more eyeballs on your content.

Follow these tips to start growing your following today. 

1. Share meaningful content. Before posting anything on your page, make sure it provides value to your audience. When you do this consistently, your existing followers will share it with their friends, attracting more followers. As you plan your content strategy, think about the topics you can speak to with authority. Then look for gaps in the content already being shared with your audience. Where these two intersect is a great place to focus your thought leadership efforts. 

2. Be consistent. It goes without saying that consistency in voice, tone and style should be inherent in any marketing message. As you work to grow your Facebook page following, it’s also important to aim for consistency in when and how often you post content. When your content quality, quantity or schedule isn’t consistent, it can confuse your audience. Staying on a schedule will improve the experience you deliver and build your business’s credibility and reputation. Use a tool like Denim Social’s Analytics to test and monitor when engagement is at its highest, and design your content schedule accordingly.

3. Invite friends. One of the quickest, most efficient ways to start driving awareness and growing your audience is to invite your friends to follow your page. Remember, your friends have friends, and they might be interested in following your business and your new page.

4. Run ads. A surefire way to grow your following is to run Facebook ads. Ads are an effective tool for promoting your page, boosting your posts, getting more leads, increasing conversions and performing a number of other actions. Keep in mind, however, that it may not always be in your best interest to grow your following just for the sake of a bigger number. You want to attract people who are interested in your products and services (and, in turn, more likely to engage with your content). Using audience targeting strategies will help you reach the right consumer with the right message.

A Facebook business page is an easy and effective way to grow your brand awareness and credibility. Although it’s not as simple as set-it-and-forget-it, if you follow the tips outlined above, you will be well on your way to growing your Facebook fan base. ‍If you need help engaging your audience on social media, get in touch with us today.

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GUIDES

National Mortgage News Digital Conference 2022: Three Ways Mortgage Lenders Can Prepare For A Digital-First Era

Mortgage professionals know: the industry is undergoing digital transformation, and it’s more important than ever for lenders to have access to the latest financial technology tools. Here at Denim Social, we want to empower mortgage marketers and loan officers with social selling resources that will help pave their way into a bright and people-centric future. To stay ahead of the curve, our team attended the National Mortgage News Digital Mortgage Conference to connect with our mortgage colleagues and learn more about how we can successfully guide customer social media strategies.  

We learned a lot, but here were my three top takeaways: 

  1. Technology solutions are helping institutions better serve customers. 

Mortgage companies, banks, and credit unions are transforming how they interact with consumers. Technology is helping marketers learn more about consumers, so that lenders can provide the right product at the right time and decrease the time it takes to close a loan. This is drastically reducing the friction for the consumer, because it’s now as easy as clicking a button to connect with a loan officer and go through the entire approval process. 

  1. The home buying process looks different than it used to. 

Leaders in mortgage are recognizing that the next generation of homebuyers want and expect the buying process to be different from beginning to end. Today’s buyers expect that information will be readily available online and on social media, and communications between involved parties will be instantaneous and casual. Having a strong online presence signals trust and credibility that is needed for customers to feel confident in their decisions. 

  1. Appearances matter, and it’s essential to look the part. 

Sure, it’s important to have a strong back office system and process in place so that the mortgage business runs smoothly, efficiently, and dependably. However, now that the boom of the last couple of years is coming to a close, it’s time for many lenders to refocus that effort into the front office. Time, effort, and budget must be allocated to making a good impression and catering strategies to meet customers where they already are and on their terms.  It’s a big shift from the old ways of doing things, but loan officers who commit to social selling and create a strong social presence will come out ahead of those reluctant to make the shift. 

The bright side of these industry transformations is that now financial institutions will have more opportunities than ever to grow their brands and personalize their approach to customer interactions and sales. Loan officers especially have more resources than ever to interact with their communities. Social media is the perfect way to stay top of mind, and tools like Denim Social are here to support mortgage lenders, banks, and other services seeking to strengthen their social selling capabilities.

GUIDES

National Mortgage News Digital Conference 2022: Three Ways Mortgage Lenders Can Prepare For A Digital-First Era

Mortgage professionals know: the industry is undergoing digital transformation, and it’s more important than ever for lenders to have access to the latest financial technology tools. Here at Denim Social, we want to empower mortgage marketers and loan officers with social selling resources that will help pave their way into a bright and people-centric future. To stay ahead of the curve, our team attended the National Mortgage News Digital Mortgage Conference to connect with our mortgage colleagues and learn more about how we can successfully guide customer social media strategies.  

We learned a lot, but here were my three top takeaways: 

  1. Technology solutions are helping institutions better serve customers. 

Mortgage companies, banks, and credit unions are transforming how they interact with consumers. Technology is helping marketers learn more about consumers, so that lenders can provide the right product at the right time and decrease the time it takes to close a loan. This is drastically reducing the friction for the consumer, because it’s now as easy as clicking a button to connect with a loan officer and go through the entire approval process. 

  1. The home buying process looks different than it used to. 

Leaders in mortgage are recognizing that the next generation of homebuyers want and expect the buying process to be different from beginning to end. Today’s buyers expect that information will be readily available online and on social media, and communications between involved parties will be instantaneous and casual. Having a strong online presence signals trust and credibility that is needed for customers to feel confident in their decisions. 

  1. Appearances matter, and it’s essential to look the part. 

Sure, it’s important to have a strong back office system and process in place so that the mortgage business runs smoothly, efficiently, and dependably. However, now that the boom of the last couple of years is coming to a close, it’s time for many lenders to refocus that effort into the front office. Time, effort, and budget must be allocated to making a good impression and catering strategies to meet customers where they already are and on their terms.  It’s a big shift from the old ways of doing things, but loan officers who commit to social selling and create a strong social presence will come out ahead of those reluctant to make the shift. 

The bright side of these industry transformations is that now financial institutions will have more opportunities than ever to grow their brands and personalize their approach to customer interactions and sales. Loan officers especially have more resources than ever to interact with their communities. Social media is the perfect way to stay top of mind, and tools like Denim Social are here to support mortgage lenders, banks, and other services seeking to strengthen their social selling capabilities.

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ALL GUIDES:

Read this guide if you’re asking yourself:

  • Is my social media policy current and comprehensive?
  • How do I ensure social media compliance during M&A?
  • What do I need to consider for direct messaging compliance?

In this guide we will help you think about your all important social media policy and thoughtfully consider how changes in social media tech and even your bank’s structure may impact compliance.

Which roles do you fill when building your bank's marketing dream team? This guide will show you the following:

  • Who does what
  • The right structure to execute strategy
  • How compliance software can help

Enjoy!

It’s no surprise that social media can help drive results for your mortgage business. In fact, the question for most marketers at mortgage lending institutions isn’t IF they should be doing more social media marketing - it’s HOW. Download to learn how to:

  • Scale your social selling program
  • Plan your content strategy
  • Train your loan officers

Like many community banks, Dart Bank wanted to keep customer relationships a top priority. This meant being more available to customers and meeting them where they are. In modern terms, that means on social media.

When Dart Bank learned about how Denim Social supports social selling for loan officers, they knew it was the perfect fit to keep their team engaged at every step of the journey. They wanted to empower their loan officers to create and grow authentic relationships online, never missing an opportunity to connect.

Shelter Insurance® sought to launch a social selling program that would not only create posting efficiency, but also make it easy for agents to establish subject matter expertise via high quality social media content. They also saw an opportunity to empower digitally savvy agents to cultivate leads online to drive business results in a compliant social selling program.

Before launching the program, it was essential that agents understood the pillars of social selling. Together with the Denim Social team, Shelter Insurance® developed a best-in-class program communication, onboarding and training process for agents.

Social selling is just what it sounds like: using social media to sell a product or service. It’s leveraging social to build personal relationships, showcase thought leadership, engage with prospects, interact with existing customers, and ultimately build trust and rapport that will eventually lead to sales.

It enables intermediaries – like insurance agents – to add value to the customer journey where there wouldn’t otherwise be an opportunity.

This guide will help financial services marketers understand why social media should be a core component of their marketing strategy and showcase how the collective reach of their intermediaries’ social media presence can be harnessed to more deeply connect with prospective clients, position producers as thought leaders in their communities, and, ultimately, build trust with clients that translates to positive business results.

It’s called social selling and it works.

The spring 2023 buying season has arrived and with it – you guessed – uncertainty. Spring has long been make-it or break-it season for lenders and loan officers, and despite present conditions, the same holds true this year. But 2023 holds unique challenges and opportunities.

As the season opens, there are a few key considerations the Denim Social team sees as critical for mortgage marketers.

Paid social is one of the most effective ways to introduce people who aren’t yet following your producers, agents, loan officers, or advisors to your financial institution at the right place and the right time.

Paid social is complementary to organic. While organic social builds first-degree connections and facilitates awareness, engagement, and branding, paid social allows you to reach larger, more tailored audiences.

BOK Financial is a financial services partner for consumers, businesses and wealth clients with more than 150 users on the Denim Social platform.

In addition to building brand credibility and establishing loan officer expertise, Denim Social enables their mortgage loan officers to cultivate relationships in social media and organically source leads.

As financial marketers look to the coming year, most are wondering, “what’s next?” While no one can say for sure, our team of experts here at Denim Social are keeping a pulse on what’s new in digital marketing for financial institutions on social media. This guide will not only educate you on the latest trends, but help you make the case for increased investment in social selling and digital marketing strategies at your institution.

Evolve Bank & Trust (“Evolve”) is an $700M+ asset institution with nearly 40 Home Loan Centers (HLC) and nearly 500 employees nationwide. See how Denim Social helped Evolve activate Home Loan Center Facebook pages over the course of just a few months.

Whether you’re in banking, wealth management, insurance or mortgage, relationships are the bedrock of your business.

Considering clients in these industries are handing over the keys to their personal kingdoms, it’s no surprise that trust and connection matter. That’s why successful sales strategies for these industries are focused on building long-term, trusted relationships.

To truly unleash the potential of social, financial institutions need to use social media as a sales tool. It’s called social selling and it works.

The power of social media is undeniable. The ability of banks to engage with and influence customers and prospects via interactive digital channels is an essential tool and a cornerstone of marketing. Gone are the days when it was “nice to have” a presence on platforms such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram. Today, these pathways are helping banks to build relationships that were historically cultivated by tirelessly walking up and down Main Street, shaking hands and leaving behind business cards.

In this case study by Denim Social and American Bankers Association, we take a look at how banks are using social media to ramp up digital engagement and build sales.

As any marketer worth their salt will tell you, analytics should drive your social strategy. The key to success is understanding how to link social media efforts to ROI metrics. Read this guide to learn how to gain insights that matter, optimize your strategy and prove your social success.

AnnieMac is one of the fastest-growing mortgage loan providers in the U.S., serving clients in 42 states. Learn how Denim Social helped their team to streamline its brand’s social media strategy and activate social selling for hundreds of loan officers in just four months.

As mortgage demand surges to historic highs, home purchase and refinance markets remain hot. This is excellent news for loan officers, but it also means the environment is more competitive than ever.

So how can marketers ensure that their loan officers stand out? The answer is social media.

Read this guidebook from Denim Social to learn how you can help your loan officers build strong relationships, stand out from the crowd and win more business using social media.

Every Mortgage Marketer Should Ask Themselves

Compliance is complicated, but don’t let it stop your lending team from making the most of social media. Think you’re ready to start social selling? Ask yourself these five questions!

Every Financial Services Marketer Should Ask Themselves

Compliance is complicated, but don’t let it stop your lending team from making the most of social media. Think you’re ready to start social selling? Ask yourself these five questions!

Stronger Customer Relationships on Instagram

Financial Services companies should be marketing and advertising on Instagram. We break down why, and help you create a strategy to reach new customers- while continuing to build trust in your brand.

How 6 Financial Marketers Are Creating Value in Social Media

Ever wonder what everyone else is doing in social media? We talked to six leading financial marketers about how they’re succeeding today and planning for the next big thing.

Get their insights on strengthening your social strategies, unlocking the power of employee networks and creating next-level content that drives engagement.

Download this guidebook to learn how 3 mortgage lenders are using social media to:

  • Position themselves in a place the community is already looking ... their social media
  • Empower loan officers to engage in local conversations
  • Turn their institution's loan officers into the voice of their brand
  • Build trust within the community

ABA Study: The Current State of Social Media

See what nearly 430 bank marketers had to say when asked questions such as:

  • Is it important to equip your sales personnel with social media accounts?
  • Does your bank measure the impact of your social media use?
  • COVID-19 & Bank Social Media

    Times are different and how you connect with customers and potential customers has changed drastically. In a socially distant world, learn to still build lasting relationships.

    Download and learn the guiding principles for using social media to serve both your customers and communities in the midst of a pandemic.

    GUIDES

    National Mortgage News Digital Conference 2022: Three Ways Mortgage Lenders Can Prepare For A Digital-First Era

    Mortgage professionals know: the industry is undergoing digital transformation, and it’s more important than ever for lenders to have access to the latest financial technology tools. Here at Denim Social, we want to empower mortgage marketers and loan officers with social selling resources that will help pave their way into a bright and people-centric future. To stay ahead of the curve, our team attended the National Mortgage News Digital Mortgage Conference to connect with our mortgage colleagues and learn more about how we can successfully guide customer social media strategies.  

    We learned a lot, but here were my three top takeaways: 

    1. Technology solutions are helping institutions better serve customers. 

    Mortgage companies, banks, and credit unions are transforming how they interact with consumers. Technology is helping marketers learn more about consumers, so that lenders can provide the right product at the right time and decrease the time it takes to close a loan. This is drastically reducing the friction for the consumer, because it’s now as easy as clicking a button to connect with a loan officer and go through the entire approval process. 

    1. The home buying process looks different than it used to. 

    Leaders in mortgage are recognizing that the next generation of homebuyers want and expect the buying process to be different from beginning to end. Today’s buyers expect that information will be readily available online and on social media, and communications between involved parties will be instantaneous and casual. Having a strong online presence signals trust and credibility that is needed for customers to feel confident in their decisions. 

    1. Appearances matter, and it’s essential to look the part. 

    Sure, it’s important to have a strong back office system and process in place so that the mortgage business runs smoothly, efficiently, and dependably. However, now that the boom of the last couple of years is coming to a close, it’s time for many lenders to refocus that effort into the front office. Time, effort, and budget must be allocated to making a good impression and catering strategies to meet customers where they already are and on their terms.  It’s a big shift from the old ways of doing things, but loan officers who commit to social selling and create a strong social presence will come out ahead of those reluctant to make the shift. 

    The bright side of these industry transformations is that now financial institutions will have more opportunities than ever to grow their brands and personalize their approach to customer interactions and sales. Loan officers especially have more resources than ever to interact with their communities. Social media is the perfect way to stay top of mind, and tools like Denim Social are here to support mortgage lenders, banks, and other services seeking to strengthen their social selling capabilities.

    Download the Guide

    Thank you! Your submission has been received!
    Download Guide
    Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.
    Download Guide
    ALL GUIDES:

    Read this guide if you’re asking yourself:

    • Is my social media policy current and comprehensive?
    • How do I ensure social media compliance during M&A?
    • What do I need to consider for direct messaging compliance?

    In this guide we will help you think about your all important social media policy and thoughtfully consider how changes in social media tech and even your bank’s structure may impact compliance.

    Which roles do you fill when building your bank's marketing dream team? This guide will show you the following:

    • Who does what
    • The right structure to execute strategy
    • How compliance software can help

    Enjoy!

    It’s no surprise that social media can help drive results for your mortgage business. In fact, the question for most marketers at mortgage lending institutions isn’t IF they should be doing more social media marketing - it’s HOW. Download to learn how to:

    • Scale your social selling program
    • Plan your content strategy
    • Train your loan officers

    Like many community banks, Dart Bank wanted to keep customer relationships a top priority. This meant being more available to customers and meeting them where they are. In modern terms, that means on social media.

    When Dart Bank learned about how Denim Social supports social selling for loan officers, they knew it was the perfect fit to keep their team engaged at every step of the journey. They wanted to empower their loan officers to create and grow authentic relationships online, never missing an opportunity to connect.

    Shelter Insurance® sought to launch a social selling program that would not only create posting efficiency, but also make it easy for agents to establish subject matter expertise via high quality social media content. They also saw an opportunity to empower digitally savvy agents to cultivate leads online to drive business results in a compliant social selling program.

    Before launching the program, it was essential that agents understood the pillars of social selling. Together with the Denim Social team, Shelter Insurance® developed a best-in-class program communication, onboarding and training process for agents.

    Social selling is just what it sounds like: using social media to sell a product or service. It’s leveraging social to build personal relationships, showcase thought leadership, engage with prospects, interact with existing customers, and ultimately build trust and rapport that will eventually lead to sales.

    It enables intermediaries – like insurance agents – to add value to the customer journey where there wouldn’t otherwise be an opportunity.

    This guide will help financial services marketers understand why social media should be a core component of their marketing strategy and showcase how the collective reach of their intermediaries’ social media presence can be harnessed to more deeply connect with prospective clients, position producers as thought leaders in their communities, and, ultimately, build trust with clients that translates to positive business results.

    It’s called social selling and it works.

    The spring 2023 buying season has arrived and with it – you guessed – uncertainty. Spring has long been make-it or break-it season for lenders and loan officers, and despite present conditions, the same holds true this year. But 2023 holds unique challenges and opportunities.

    As the season opens, there are a few key considerations the Denim Social team sees as critical for mortgage marketers.

    Paid social is one of the most effective ways to introduce people who aren’t yet following your producers, agents, loan officers, or advisors to your financial institution at the right place and the right time.

    Paid social is complementary to organic. While organic social builds first-degree connections and facilitates awareness, engagement, and branding, paid social allows you to reach larger, more tailored audiences.

    BOK Financial is a financial services partner for consumers, businesses and wealth clients with more than 150 users on the Denim Social platform.

    In addition to building brand credibility and establishing loan officer expertise, Denim Social enables their mortgage loan officers to cultivate relationships in social media and organically source leads.

    As financial marketers look to the coming year, most are wondering, “what’s next?” While no one can say for sure, our team of experts here at Denim Social are keeping a pulse on what’s new in digital marketing for financial institutions on social media. This guide will not only educate you on the latest trends, but help you make the case for increased investment in social selling and digital marketing strategies at your institution.

    Evolve Bank & Trust (“Evolve”) is an $700M+ asset institution with nearly 40 Home Loan Centers (HLC) and nearly 500 employees nationwide. See how Denim Social helped Evolve activate Home Loan Center Facebook pages over the course of just a few months.

    Whether you’re in banking, wealth management, insurance or mortgage, relationships are the bedrock of your business.

    Considering clients in these industries are handing over the keys to their personal kingdoms, it’s no surprise that trust and connection matter. That’s why successful sales strategies for these industries are focused on building long-term, trusted relationships.

    To truly unleash the potential of social, financial institutions need to use social media as a sales tool. It’s called social selling and it works.

    The power of social media is undeniable. The ability of banks to engage with and influence customers and prospects via interactive digital channels is an essential tool and a cornerstone of marketing. Gone are the days when it was “nice to have” a presence on platforms such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram. Today, these pathways are helping banks to build relationships that were historically cultivated by tirelessly walking up and down Main Street, shaking hands and leaving behind business cards.

    In this case study by Denim Social and American Bankers Association, we take a look at how banks are using social media to ramp up digital engagement and build sales.

    As any marketer worth their salt will tell you, analytics should drive your social strategy. The key to success is understanding how to link social media efforts to ROI metrics. Read this guide to learn how to gain insights that matter, optimize your strategy and prove your social success.

    AnnieMac is one of the fastest-growing mortgage loan providers in the U.S., serving clients in 42 states. Learn how Denim Social helped their team to streamline its brand’s social media strategy and activate social selling for hundreds of loan officers in just four months.

    As mortgage demand surges to historic highs, home purchase and refinance markets remain hot. This is excellent news for loan officers, but it also means the environment is more competitive than ever.

    So how can marketers ensure that their loan officers stand out? The answer is social media.

    Read this guidebook from Denim Social to learn how you can help your loan officers build strong relationships, stand out from the crowd and win more business using social media.

    Every Mortgage Marketer Should Ask Themselves

    Compliance is complicated, but don’t let it stop your lending team from making the most of social media. Think you’re ready to start social selling? Ask yourself these five questions!

    Every Financial Services Marketer Should Ask Themselves

    Compliance is complicated, but don’t let it stop your lending team from making the most of social media. Think you’re ready to start social selling? Ask yourself these five questions!

    Stronger Customer Relationships on Instagram

    Financial Services companies should be marketing and advertising on Instagram. We break down why, and help you create a strategy to reach new customers- while continuing to build trust in your brand.

    How 6 Financial Marketers Are Creating Value in Social Media

    Ever wonder what everyone else is doing in social media? We talked to six leading financial marketers about how they’re succeeding today and planning for the next big thing.

    Get their insights on strengthening your social strategies, unlocking the power of employee networks and creating next-level content that drives engagement.

    Download this guidebook to learn how 3 mortgage lenders are using social media to:

    • Position themselves in a place the community is already looking ... their social media
    • Empower loan officers to engage in local conversations
    • Turn their institution's loan officers into the voice of their brand
    • Build trust within the community

    ABA Study: The Current State of Social Media

    See what nearly 430 bank marketers had to say when asked questions such as:

  • Is it important to equip your sales personnel with social media accounts?
  • Does your bank measure the impact of your social media use?
  • COVID-19 & Bank Social Media

    Times are different and how you connect with customers and potential customers has changed drastically. In a socially distant world, learn to still build lasting relationships.

    Download and learn the guiding principles for using social media to serve both your customers and communities in the midst of a pandemic.

    GUIDES

    National Mortgage News Digital Conference 2022: Three Ways Mortgage Lenders Can Prepare For A Digital-First Era

    Mortgage professionals know: the industry is undergoing digital transformation, and it’s more important than ever for lenders to have access to the latest financial technology tools. Here at Denim Social, we want to empower mortgage marketers and loan officers with social selling resources that will help pave their way into a bright and people-centric future. To stay ahead of the curve, our team attended the National Mortgage News Digital Mortgage Conference to connect with our mortgage colleagues and learn more about how we can successfully guide customer social media strategies.  

    We learned a lot, but here were my three top takeaways: 

    1. Technology solutions are helping institutions better serve customers. 

    Mortgage companies, banks, and credit unions are transforming how they interact with consumers. Technology is helping marketers learn more about consumers, so that lenders can provide the right product at the right time and decrease the time it takes to close a loan. This is drastically reducing the friction for the consumer, because it’s now as easy as clicking a button to connect with a loan officer and go through the entire approval process. 

    1. The home buying process looks different than it used to. 

    Leaders in mortgage are recognizing that the next generation of homebuyers want and expect the buying process to be different from beginning to end. Today’s buyers expect that information will be readily available online and on social media, and communications between involved parties will be instantaneous and casual. Having a strong online presence signals trust and credibility that is needed for customers to feel confident in their decisions. 

    1. Appearances matter, and it’s essential to look the part. 

    Sure, it’s important to have a strong back office system and process in place so that the mortgage business runs smoothly, efficiently, and dependably. However, now that the boom of the last couple of years is coming to a close, it’s time for many lenders to refocus that effort into the front office. Time, effort, and budget must be allocated to making a good impression and catering strategies to meet customers where they already are and on their terms.  It’s a big shift from the old ways of doing things, but loan officers who commit to social selling and create a strong social presence will come out ahead of those reluctant to make the shift. 

    The bright side of these industry transformations is that now financial institutions will have more opportunities than ever to grow their brands and personalize their approach to customer interactions and sales. Loan officers especially have more resources than ever to interact with their communities. Social media is the perfect way to stay top of mind, and tools like Denim Social are here to support mortgage lenders, banks, and other services seeking to strengthen their social selling capabilities.

    Download the Guide

    Thank you! Your submission has been received!
    Download Guide
    Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.
    ALL GUIDES:

    Read this guide if you’re asking yourself:

    • Is my social media policy current and comprehensive?
    • How do I ensure social media compliance during M&A?
    • What do I need to consider for direct messaging compliance?

    In this guide we will help you think about your all important social media policy and thoughtfully consider how changes in social media tech and even your bank’s structure may impact compliance.

    Which roles do you fill when building your bank's marketing dream team? This guide will show you the following:

    • Who does what
    • The right structure to execute strategy
    • How compliance software can help

    Enjoy!

    It’s no surprise that social media can help drive results for your mortgage business. In fact, the question for most marketers at mortgage lending institutions isn’t IF they should be doing more social media marketing - it’s HOW. Download to learn how to:

    • Scale your social selling program
    • Plan your content strategy
    • Train your loan officers

    Like many community banks, Dart Bank wanted to keep customer relationships a top priority. This meant being more available to customers and meeting them where they are. In modern terms, that means on social media.

    When Dart Bank learned about how Denim Social supports social selling for loan officers, they knew it was the perfect fit to keep their team engaged at every step of the journey. They wanted to empower their loan officers to create and grow authentic relationships online, never missing an opportunity to connect.

    Shelter Insurance® sought to launch a social selling program that would not only create posting efficiency, but also make it easy for agents to establish subject matter expertise via high quality social media content. They also saw an opportunity to empower digitally savvy agents to cultivate leads online to drive business results in a compliant social selling program.

    Before launching the program, it was essential that agents understood the pillars of social selling. Together with the Denim Social team, Shelter Insurance® developed a best-in-class program communication, onboarding and training process for agents.

    Social selling is just what it sounds like: using social media to sell a product or service. It’s leveraging social to build personal relationships, showcase thought leadership, engage with prospects, interact with existing customers, and ultimately build trust and rapport that will eventually lead to sales.

    It enables intermediaries – like insurance agents – to add value to the customer journey where there wouldn’t otherwise be an opportunity.

    This guide will help financial services marketers understand why social media should be a core component of their marketing strategy and showcase how the collective reach of their intermediaries’ social media presence can be harnessed to more deeply connect with prospective clients, position producers as thought leaders in their communities, and, ultimately, build trust with clients that translates to positive business results.

    It’s called social selling and it works.

    The spring 2023 buying season has arrived and with it – you guessed – uncertainty. Spring has long been make-it or break-it season for lenders and loan officers, and despite present conditions, the same holds true this year. But 2023 holds unique challenges and opportunities.

    As the season opens, there are a few key considerations the Denim Social team sees as critical for mortgage marketers.

    Paid social is one of the most effective ways to introduce people who aren’t yet following your producers, agents, loan officers, or advisors to your financial institution at the right place and the right time.

    Paid social is complementary to organic. While organic social builds first-degree connections and facilitates awareness, engagement, and branding, paid social allows you to reach larger, more tailored audiences.

    BOK Financial is a financial services partner for consumers, businesses and wealth clients with more than 150 users on the Denim Social platform.

    In addition to building brand credibility and establishing loan officer expertise, Denim Social enables their mortgage loan officers to cultivate relationships in social media and organically source leads.

    As financial marketers look to the coming year, most are wondering, “what’s next?” While no one can say for sure, our team of experts here at Denim Social are keeping a pulse on what’s new in digital marketing for financial institutions on social media. This guide will not only educate you on the latest trends, but help you make the case for increased investment in social selling and digital marketing strategies at your institution.

    Evolve Bank & Trust (“Evolve”) is an $700M+ asset institution with nearly 40 Home Loan Centers (HLC) and nearly 500 employees nationwide. See how Denim Social helped Evolve activate Home Loan Center Facebook pages over the course of just a few months.

    Whether you’re in banking, wealth management, insurance or mortgage, relationships are the bedrock of your business.

    Considering clients in these industries are handing over the keys to their personal kingdoms, it’s no surprise that trust and connection matter. That’s why successful sales strategies for these industries are focused on building long-term, trusted relationships.

    To truly unleash the potential of social, financial institutions need to use social media as a sales tool. It’s called social selling and it works.

    The power of social media is undeniable. The ability of banks to engage with and influence customers and prospects via interactive digital channels is an essential tool and a cornerstone of marketing. Gone are the days when it was “nice to have” a presence on platforms such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram. Today, these pathways are helping banks to build relationships that were historically cultivated by tirelessly walking up and down Main Street, shaking hands and leaving behind business cards.

    In this case study by Denim Social and American Bankers Association, we take a look at how banks are using social media to ramp up digital engagement and build sales.

    As any marketer worth their salt will tell you, analytics should drive your social strategy. The key to success is understanding how to link social media efforts to ROI metrics. Read this guide to learn how to gain insights that matter, optimize your strategy and prove your social success.

    AnnieMac is one of the fastest-growing mortgage loan providers in the U.S., serving clients in 42 states. Learn how Denim Social helped their team to streamline its brand’s social media strategy and activate social selling for hundreds of loan officers in just four months.

    As mortgage demand surges to historic highs, home purchase and refinance markets remain hot. This is excellent news for loan officers, but it also means the environment is more competitive than ever.

    So how can marketers ensure that their loan officers stand out? The answer is social media.

    Read this guidebook from Denim Social to learn how you can help your loan officers build strong relationships, stand out from the crowd and win more business using social media.

    Every Mortgage Marketer Should Ask Themselves

    Compliance is complicated, but don’t let it stop your lending team from making the most of social media. Think you’re ready to start social selling? Ask yourself these five questions!

    Every Financial Services Marketer Should Ask Themselves

    Compliance is complicated, but don’t let it stop your lending team from making the most of social media. Think you’re ready to start social selling? Ask yourself these five questions!

    Stronger Customer Relationships on Instagram

    Financial Services companies should be marketing and advertising on Instagram. We break down why, and help you create a strategy to reach new customers- while continuing to build trust in your brand.

    How 6 Financial Marketers Are Creating Value in Social Media

    Ever wonder what everyone else is doing in social media? We talked to six leading financial marketers about how they’re succeeding today and planning for the next big thing.

    Get their insights on strengthening your social strategies, unlocking the power of employee networks and creating next-level content that drives engagement.

    Download this guidebook to learn how 3 mortgage lenders are using social media to:

    • Position themselves in a place the community is already looking ... their social media
    • Empower loan officers to engage in local conversations
    • Turn their institution's loan officers into the voice of their brand
    • Build trust within the community

    ABA Study: The Current State of Social Media

    See what nearly 430 bank marketers had to say when asked questions such as:

  • Is it important to equip your sales personnel with social media accounts?
  • Does your bank measure the impact of your social media use?
  • COVID-19 & Bank Social Media

    Times are different and how you connect with customers and potential customers has changed drastically. In a socially distant world, learn to still build lasting relationships.

    Download and learn the guiding principles for using social media to serve both your customers and communities in the midst of a pandemic.

    RESOURCES

    NEWS
    September 29, 2022

    National Mortgage News Digital Conference 2022: Three Ways Mortgage Lenders Can Prepare For A Digital-First Era

    By
    Adam Christophersen

    Mortgage professionals know: the industry is undergoing digital transformation, and it’s more important than ever for lenders to have access to the latest financial technology tools. Here at Denim Social, we want to empower mortgage marketers and loan officers with social selling resources that will help pave their way into a bright and people-centric future. To stay ahead of the curve, our team attended the National Mortgage News Digital Mortgage Conference to connect with our mortgage colleagues and learn more about how we can successfully guide customer social media strategies.  

    We learned a lot, but here were my three top takeaways: 

    1. Technology solutions are helping institutions better serve customers. 

    Mortgage companies, banks, and credit unions are transforming how they interact with consumers. Technology is helping marketers learn more about consumers, so that lenders can provide the right product at the right time and decrease the time it takes to close a loan. This is drastically reducing the friction for the consumer, because it’s now as easy as clicking a button to connect with a loan officer and go through the entire approval process. 

    1. The home buying process looks different than it used to. 

    Leaders in mortgage are recognizing that the next generation of homebuyers want and expect the buying process to be different from beginning to end. Today’s buyers expect that information will be readily available online and on social media, and communications between involved parties will be instantaneous and casual. Having a strong online presence signals trust and credibility that is needed for customers to feel confident in their decisions. 

    1. Appearances matter, and it’s essential to look the part. 

    Sure, it’s important to have a strong back office system and process in place so that the mortgage business runs smoothly, efficiently, and dependably. However, now that the boom of the last couple of years is coming to a close, it’s time for many lenders to refocus that effort into the front office. Time, effort, and budget must be allocated to making a good impression and catering strategies to meet customers where they already are and on their terms.  It’s a big shift from the old ways of doing things, but loan officers who commit to social selling and create a strong social presence will come out ahead of those reluctant to make the shift. 

    The bright side of these industry transformations is that now financial institutions will have more opportunities than ever to grow their brands and personalize their approach to customer interactions and sales. Loan officers especially have more resources than ever to interact with their communities. Social media is the perfect way to stay top of mind, and tools like Denim Social are here to support mortgage lenders, banks, and other services seeking to strengthen their social selling capabilities.

    Subscribe to our newsletter and get the latest sent to your inbox.
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    OTHER NEWS:

    Denim Social is proud to be featured in the American Banker Association’s 2023 report on The State of Social Media in Banking.


    In the report, the American Bankers Association asked over 330 banks what they are doing with social media, where they see challenges and opportunities and what the future is likely to bring.


    The report incorporates the survey findings with insight and best practices from other banks from across the U.S. and provides a list of 10 top takeaways to consider.


    “Social media is the heart of social selling,” said Doug Wilber, CEO of Denim Social, which offers the only ABA-endorsed social media management platform for financial institutions. Social selling is the process of building relationships and brand awareness through selected social media platforms, with the aim of boosting not just awareness, but the bank’s sales results. It’s a way of connecting directly with prospects, and can be a powerful complement to tried-and-true methods such as cold calling and email marketing.”

    Learn more about social media opportunities for banks by downloading the report here.

    ST. LOUIS, August 30, 2023 – Capacity, an AI-powered support automation platform, today announced the acquisitions of Denim Social and LumenVox. Capacity’s support automation platform empowers teams to do their best work and deliver valuable customer experiences across channels. With the addition of Denim Social and LumenVox’s products, the platform is charting a course to provide solutions that define the future of work and omnichannel customer engagement for its 1,900+ customers across numerous industries.

    Capacity’s acquisitions of Denim Social and LumenVox are fueling its transformation from a self-service, single channel tool to an omnichannel support and engagement automation platform. Whether providing customer and employee support, assisting agents or reaching out to customers, the Capacity platform now offers a complete solution across web, voice, SMS, email and social media. 

    “Customers need support everywhere. Our expanded platform will free up team members to do their best work while also building more meaningful relationships with their customers,” said David Karandish, CEO, Capacity. “Denim Social’s platform will empower brands to more effectively communicate with customers on their social channel of choice and LumenVox’s tools are key in our expansion into voice automation.”

    Denim Social, based in St. Louis, is a software provider that elevates the way professionals in the banking, insurance, mortgage and wealth management industries connect and sell on social media. With Denim Social integrated into the platform, Capacity users will be able to launch proactive social media campaigns to reach customers and deepen relationships. 

    “Social media is a must-have tool for today’s modern seller. Combining Capacity’s AI-powered automations with Denim Social’s campaign tools will enable users across industries to more effectively stay engaged on social media and focus their time on delivering authentic interactions,” said Doug Wilber, CEO, Denim Social. Wilber has assumed the role of Chief Strategy Officer at Capacity, following the acquisition. 

    LumenVox is a leading global speech and voice technology provider based out of San Diego. LumenVox works with customers to build secure self-service and customer-agent interactions. Its tools will enable Capacity users to transform customer engagement with AI-driven speech recognition and voice authentication technology.

    “The right voice technology can save teams countless support hours. Marrying LumenVox’s technology with the Capacity platform ensures voice is a seamless part of the omnichannel experience,” said Nigel Quinnin, CEO, LumenVox. Quinnin will lead Capacity’s voice initiatives. 

    The acquisitions of Denim Social and LumenVox significantly expand the capabilities and scale of the Capacity platform. Today, Capacity estimates that every month its platform will: 

    • Analyze 3,000,000,000 calls
    • Send 10,000,000 SMS messages
    • Deliver 500,000 social posts
    • Execute 386,000 workflows and automations
    • Deflect 140,000 tickets and emails

    “With these two great additions to the Capacity platform, we’re proudly offering customers an all-in-one solution for support and customer experience,” said Karandish. 

    Capacity’s acquisitions of Denim Social and LumenVox closely follows a deal with Textel, an enterprise SMS provider, earlier this year. Capacity will maintain its headquarters in St. Louis. With the acquisitions, its headcount is now more than 100 employees. The terms of the transactions are confidential.

    For more information on how Capacity helps teams do their best work, please visit capacity.com/omnichannel.

    About Capacity

    Founded in 2017, Capacity is a support automation platform that uses AI to promote self-service, providing immediate Tier 0 and Tier 1 support for customers and internal teams. Capacity answers over 90% of FAQs and escalates more pressing, nuanced issues to the right person. Capacity works across web, voice, SMS, email and social media to help teams do their best work. For more information, visit Capacity.com.

    About Denim Social

    Denim Social is a Software As A Service (SaaS) provider that powers social selling programs. The Denim Social platform helps brands empower their producers to compliantly communicate, share, and sell on their social channels of choice. Denim Social partners with forward-thinking marketing teams in regulated industries including banking, mortgage, insurance and wealth management. The social selling platform is used by corporate level admins and local producers to amplify brand messaging and power sales on social media. For more information, visit DenimSocial.com.

    About LumenVox

    LumenVox is an industry-leading provider of speech-enabling software, bringing the power of voice to customers worldwide and facilitating billions of customer interactions. The LumenVox software portfolio consists of Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) with transcription, Call Progress Analysis (CPA), Voice Biometrics, and Text-to-Speech (TTS). Designed to be highly flexible, accurate, and scalable, LumenVox helps some of the world’s largest cloud-first companies reimagine customer engagement by delivering exceptional voice experiences. LumenVox also provides self-service tools that enable customers to easily tune, adjust, and create language models. For more information, visit LumenVox.com.

    *This article was originally published in PRNewswire.

    Today, Denim Social is proud to announce the release of Social Sidekick, an AI-assisted feature that helps users compose social media posts. Available and easy-to-access within the Denim Social platform, Social Sidekick helps jump start content creation and copywriting. .  

    We know it can be hard for users to find their voice on social media. Social Sidekick uses the power of AI to take an idea and bring it to life through a thoughtfully crafted social media post. Whether you’re a social selling program manager or an individual user, Social Sidekick will make putting pen to paper a breeze so you can spend more time generating authentic ideas and less time wordsmithing. 

    .

    “With Social Sidekick Denim Social users never have to start with a blank screen again,” said Doug Wilber, Denim Social’s CEO. “Social Sidekick makes social post creation fast and easy, helping social selling program managers work more efficiently in supporting their distributed teams.”

    Social Sidekick is an available upgrade in the Denim Social platform and can generate content customized to the needs of all four major social media networks. Compliance is fully integrated in Social Sidekick, so teams never have to worry about unapproved content being published. 

    Wondering what Social Sidekick can do for your team? Consider these use cases: 

    • "I try to give my sales teams the best social media content I can, but encouraging them to find their own voice and craft authentic content consistently is challenging. Social Sidekick not only makes my own copywriting faster, it gives my sales teams a tool they can use to feel more confident in sharing their own thought leadership on social."
    • “I’m a social seller and found an interesting financial education article online that I want to share on social media, but I have serious writer’s block. Social Sidekick can help summarize the article for me, making it easy to whip up a customized post.”
    • “I’m in compliance and am apprehensive about the risk that comes along with new tech. Social media posts created with Social Sidekick can be reviewed and approved within the Denim Social platform, protecting our brand and individual social sellers.”

    If these situations sound familiar, Denim Social may be able to help. Book a demo today to see Social Sidekick in action

    Denim Social has been named to the HousingWire 2023 Tech100 list for mortgage. The exclusive list of honorees recognizes the most innovative technology in the mortgage industry. 

    The Tech100 program provides housing professionals with a comprehensive list of the most innovative and impactful organizations. The list can be leveraged to identify partners and solutions to the challenges that mortgage lenders and real estate professionals face every day.

    “In a competitive environment, every edge matters for mortgage loan officers,” said Doug Wilber, CEO at Denim Social. “A social selling program managed with our platform empowers mortgage loan officers to use social media to reach prospects, build relationships and close more deals.”

    This is Denim Social’s first appearance on the HousingWire list. The platform is used by more than 250 institutions in mortgage, banking, wealth management and insurance. 

    To learn more about how Denim Social can help mortgage loan officers activate social selling, read our guidebook, Helping Mortgage Loan Officers Achieve Success with Social Media Marketing.

    Customer relationship-building is one of the greatest value drivers for insurance agents. A benchmark analysis from McKinsey & Co. found agents with deeper customer relationships have higher product density than those lacking in relationships — often cross-selling three or more products per customer.

    With that in mind, it’s essential that agents understand how to best leverage their humanity and personality to truly connect with their audiences. In today’s age, this extends to how agents present themselves and connect online.

    When prospective clients meet an agent for the first time, they’re asking themselves, “Is this person likable? Can I trust them?” Clients want to feel an authentic connection that gives them peace of mind and assures them that someone has their best interests at heart.

    This desire for connection isn’t limited to the insurance industry. In fact, 88% of consumers say that authenticity is a key factor when deciding the brands they like and support, and that trust is vitally important to entering working relationships. That desire for trust grows exponentially when it comes to insurance sales because the business is built around protecting clients’ futures.

    Insurance agents have a head start on this — their businesses have always been rooted in authenticity. But as digital transformation in the insurance industry continues, it’s more important than ever that agents assert themselves through authenticity on social media. It’s no different from what agents and other insurance professionals have been doing in person for years. It’s about conveying expertise, building trust, and showcasing industry knowledge — except now it’s within the digital universe. Social media provides a new platform for staying top of mind with customers and prospects alike.

    So, how should agents be more authentic on social media? Same as they would offline — with relationships.

    Good selling starts with genuinely listening to clients and being authentic, no matter what. Insurance agents are there to identify clients’ life needs and build a solution to protect them against loss. They must genuinely care about clients’ needs to find the right solutions and demonstrate that level of care to earn trust.

    Here’s how agents can bring that energy to social media:

    View social media as an opportunity to provide value. Marketers and agents alike already know that authenticity is important to customer acquisition. That same authenticity should show up in social media activity.

    Agents should still be themselves, just on digital channels. After all, in the insurance business, agents are selling a promise that a consumer may or may not ever see delivery on. If the client never has an accident, they’ll never make a claim.

    This means a lot of time can pass between a point of sale and delivery of promise.

    With the rise of social media, however, there is a growing opportunity to deliver value in the long term. Whether it’s sharing thought-leadership articles, checking in with clients on social media, or providing digital tools to help educate clients, the digital landscape provides ample opportunity to reinforce proof of agent value on an ongoing basis. Including both paid and organic social media marketing for insurance agents in the mix of sales practices is critical.

    This won’t replace traditional tools like phone, email and in-person meetings, but having a mix of organic and paid content alongside them will complement other relationship-building efforts, keep agents top of mind, and continually provide value to clients and prospects.

    Lean into the power of real-life experience. There’s a good chance that agents live and work in the communities they serve. Agents should use that advantage with prospective clients when building their authentic brands. Showing on social media what’s happening in their communities and their offices will help foster a sense of belonging and drive interest among followers.

    Need more marketing ideas for insurance agents? Look to everyday experiences. If an agent runs into someone at a local event, they should take a selfie and tag the person on Instagram, Facebook or LinkedIn. If a client drops off cookies, the agent should post a photo and a heartfelt message about what it meant to the team. Social media followers will connect with those real-life moments far more than they would with a branded post.

    Embrace storytelling. Too often, social media marketing for insurance agents consists only of market statistics or limited-time promotions. While this type of content can absolutely be useful and helpful, it’s not enough on its own. Think about the brands you follow: Would statistics and discounts be enough to get you engaged?

    Social media is about creating a narrative, not just posting facts or promotions.

    Agents should share the true picture of what it’s been like to grow a practice. Tell client stories about how they’ve benefited from your insurance products (with permission and privacy in mind, of course). When agents share authentically, they build trust with clients and prospects.

    Be themselves. If agents are only professional and stuffy, audiences won’t connect. Agents and marketers alike shouldn’t be afraid to let a little personality shine through on social media. Thought leadership can create credibility and demonstrate expertise, and it’s always better received when served up by a real-life person.

    That’s what social selling is all about.

    Posting is only one part of the strategy. Agents should also comment on and engage with clients’ posts as appropriate. Two-way communication is critical to building authenticity. Think about it as if you were having an in-person conversation; there would be plenty of back-and-forth throughout the discussion. Did a client become a grandparent? Their agent should congratulate them. Social selling is all about creating conversation, just like in real life.

    Engagement provides the added benefit of personalization. Customers don’t want to feel like marketing collateral. When agents engage with them honestly and authentically, they’re well on their way to creating deep, lasting consumer relationships.

    Building authenticity through social media is similar in principle to building authenticity in real life; it’s just using a different medium to do so. When intermediaries share personal stories and helpful content with clients in a way that reflects their true personalities, they’ll build lasting relationships both online and offline that will serve as the foundation of future sales.

    *This article was originally published in Insurance Journal.

    Denim Social, a leading provider of social selling software for the mortgage industry, is proud to announce it has joined The Mortgage Collaborative. Together, the two organizations will educate mortgage lenders on the power of social selling and help them elevate their social selling programs to increase mortgage loan officer success. 

    The Mortgage Collaborative empowers mortgage lenders across the country with better financial execution, reduced costs, enhanced expertise and improved compliance. As consumer behavior shifts online and in a highly competitive marketplace, The Mortgage Collaborative also helps members reach and access prospective clients. 

    “Social selling is an essential tool for today’s mortgage lenders,” said Tom Gallucci, Senior Vice President of Business Development at The Mortgage Collaborative. “Partners like Denim Social will help our members build trust online, stay compliant and, most importantly, close more deals.”

    Members of The Mortgage Collaborative and customers of Denim Social will have access to member only pricing, resources and training. 

    “We’re excited to be a part of The Mortgage Collaborative – an organization that so many of our customers gain great value from already. We’re looking forward to collaborating with TMC on special content and resources, as well as forging deeper connections with members,” said Doug Wilber, CEO of Denim Social. 

    Click here to learn more about Denim Social and the Mortgage Collaborative’s partnership.

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    September 29, 2022

    National Mortgage News Digital Conference 2022: Three Ways Mortgage Lenders Can Prepare For A Digital-First Era

    By
    Adam Christophersen

    Mortgage professionals know: the industry is undergoing digital transformation, and it’s more important than ever for lenders to have access to the latest financial technology tools. Here at Denim Social, we want to empower mortgage marketers and loan officers with social selling resources that will help pave their way into a bright and people-centric future. To stay ahead of the curve, our team attended the National Mortgage News Digital Mortgage Conference to connect with our mortgage colleagues and learn more about how we can successfully guide customer social media strategies.  

    We learned a lot, but here were my three top takeaways: 

    1. Technology solutions are helping institutions better serve customers. 

    Mortgage companies, banks, and credit unions are transforming how they interact with consumers. Technology is helping marketers learn more about consumers, so that lenders can provide the right product at the right time and decrease the time it takes to close a loan. This is drastically reducing the friction for the consumer, because it’s now as easy as clicking a button to connect with a loan officer and go through the entire approval process. 

    1. The home buying process looks different than it used to. 

    Leaders in mortgage are recognizing that the next generation of homebuyers want and expect the buying process to be different from beginning to end. Today’s buyers expect that information will be readily available online and on social media, and communications between involved parties will be instantaneous and casual. Having a strong online presence signals trust and credibility that is needed for customers to feel confident in their decisions. 

    1. Appearances matter, and it’s essential to look the part. 

    Sure, it’s important to have a strong back office system and process in place so that the mortgage business runs smoothly, efficiently, and dependably. However, now that the boom of the last couple of years is coming to a close, it’s time for many lenders to refocus that effort into the front office. Time, effort, and budget must be allocated to making a good impression and catering strategies to meet customers where they already are and on their terms.  It’s a big shift from the old ways of doing things, but loan officers who commit to social selling and create a strong social presence will come out ahead of those reluctant to make the shift. 

    The bright side of these industry transformations is that now financial institutions will have more opportunities than ever to grow their brands and personalize their approach to customer interactions and sales. Loan officers especially have more resources than ever to interact with their communities. Social media is the perfect way to stay top of mind, and tools like Denim Social are here to support mortgage lenders, banks, and other services seeking to strengthen their social selling capabilities.

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    Retail banks in the U.S. are facing a major customer attrition challenges. According to a recent Bain report, customers make as many as 55 percent of financial-related purchases from their primary bank’s competitors. While primary banks may be able to retain customers’ savings and checking accounts, the report suggests that they’re likely losing out on lucrative sales when it comes to loans, credit cards and investments.

    Considering that almost one-third of those who defected from their primary bank did so in response to a direct offer from a competitor, wise marketers will up their customer engagement and outreach efforts to retain more customers. Affordability of products is the top reason for customer defection, which marketers may not have much say in, but it isn’t the only contributing factor. Digitization has also been a major catalyst. Namely, the strong digital products and experiences that some banks offer—and others do not.

    Bank marketers who can jump onboard the digitization train to meet customers where they are with engaging, valuable messaging will be much more likely to keep customers coming back again and again for each of their financial needs. The following strategies can help:

    1. Put the human element front and center

    Traditional banks have an innate advantage over digital direct banks: The human touch. Leveraging this benefit, especially when it comes to increasingly digital customer interactions, can lead to measurable improvements in customer retention.

    One way to ensure the human touch remains part of every customer touchpoint is to focus on personalization. A February Insurance Thought Leadership piece revealed that 72 percent of people ignore marketing that’s not highly personalized. So targeting relevant content to the right recipients is essential, especially when digitization can easily strip the human element out of an interaction. Personalizing messaging and services to be relevant and valuable to the specific needs of each customer can bring the human element into focus even in a digital world.

    One way to create more relevant, personalized outreach is to practice social selling, or leveraging a bank’s employees on social media. People can relate more to other people than they can to big brand names. When your employees are the ones getting in front of customers virtually, it humanizes the digital customer experience and sets the stage for trusting and loyal relationships to come. What’s more, employees also tend to have further reach and engagement on brand-related social posts than brand pages alone, so they can expand the impact of your messaging exponentially.

    2. Create digital pathways to human interactions

    When considering how to anchor all digital marketing for financial services around the human element, keep in mind that every pathway should connect prospects and customers directly to a human.

    For example, a social media post from an employee could include a link to a landing page on your website where visitors can learn more valuable information on the topic of the post. On that landing page, you can include valuable content, such as a guidebook, behind an information request form. When users submit their names and email addresses, they will receive the content and your sales team members can reach out to them directly with a human-centric, personalized outreach approach.

    When prospects and customers know they’re just an email or phone call away from a real person at your organization, they’re likely to turn to you instead of an impersonal digital direct bank for their next financial need.

    3. Focus on customer retention just as much as acquisition

    Bringing in new prospects gets a lot of attention from financial services marketers, sometimes at the expense of retaining current ones. But focusing on customer retention and continuously improving the digital customer experience will help secure more revenue when it comes to additional services such as loans and credit cards.

    Listen to the needs of customers and keep refining your personalization tactics to meet their needs. Every time you get in front of a current customer with relevant, valuable messaging or content, you help build trust in that relationship and increase the chances of that customer coming to you for whatever service they need next.

    It’s true that people will always be drawn to brands that offer more affordable products and services. But money isn’t the only reason people look outside of their primary bank to fulfill their financial needs. Banks that differentiate by focusing on digitization alongside the human element will find that it’s easier to keep current customers from looking for greener pastures.

    This was originally published on ABA Bank Marketing.

    In today's digital age, social media platforms have become essential tools for professionals in various industries to connect with clients, share valuable insights, and build their brand. Instagram, with its visual appeal and highly-engaged user base, is no exception. For financial professionals, leveraging Instagram can be a powerful way to showcase expertise, establish credibility, and build stronger relationships. In this blog post, we will discuss the best practices for building your Instagram business profile as a financial professional that will give your social selling a boost.

    Choose a Professional Username and Profile Picture

    Start by selecting a username that reflects your name or your financial business's name. Keep it simple and easy to remember. Use a high-quality profile picture, such as a professional headshot or your company logo. This picture will be the first impression potential followers have of you.

    Optimize Your Bio

    Craft a concise and informative bio that clearly defines your role and expertise. Use relevant keywords, such as "Financial Advisor," "Mortgage Loan Officer,” or "Insurance Agent." Include a brief but captivating description of the value you provide to your customers. Highlight any unique selling points or specializations.

    Content Strategy

    Determine your content niche. Share content that aligns with your expertise, such as investment tips, financial planning advice, or market insights. Develop a content calendar to ensure consistency. Aim for a mix of educational, inspirational, and personal posts. Use high-quality images and graphics to enhance your posts. Visual appeal is essential on Instagram!

    Engage Your Audience

    Respond promptly to comments and direct messages. Engaging with your followers builds a sense of trust and connection. You want your followers to engage with your posts, so do the same for them! Like, comment, and share to help increase visibility. 

    Use Hashtags Wisely

    Research and use relevant hashtags to increase the discoverability of your posts. Utilize both industry-specific and popular hashtags. Best practice is to use 5-10 hashtags per post as they relate to the content. 

    Collaborate and Network

    Collaborate with influencers or other professionals in your industry. Guest posts or shoutouts can expand your reach. Attend industry events and share your experiences on Instagram. It’s all about taking those in-person relationships online, too.

    Educate and Inform

    Share informative and educational content that empowers your audience. Explainer videos, infographics, and step-by-step guides can be especially valuable. Stay up-to-date with the latest financial news and trends, and share your unique insights with your followers. Always provide value!

    Analytics and Optimization

    Regularly analyze your Instagram Insights to understand which content performs best and when your audience is most active. Use this data to refine your content strategy and posting schedule for optimal engagement.

    Promote Your Services

    While Instagram is a platform for sharing valuable content, don't forget to promote your services subtly. Share client success stories or case studies to showcase your expertise in action.

    Stay Compliant

    Ensure that your posts comply with industry regulations and guidelines. Be transparent about any potential conflicts of interest. Luckily, platforms like Denim Social that are built for the financial services industry can help with that! 

    In conclusion, Instagram can be a valuable tool for financial professionals to connect with clients and prospects. By following these best practices, you can build a strong and trustworthy online presence that sets you apart in the competitive world of finance. Remember that consistency and authenticity are key to establishing a successful Instagram business profile for financial professionals. See our Denim Social guide to building stronger customer relationships on Instagram here


    Connecting with customers and prospects on social media is a natural extension of the financial services industry becoming more digital. Consumers expect the businesses they patronize to be on the same social platforms they use — and they expect those brands to be ready to interact with them. Case in point: A survey of over 500 social media users found that nearly three-quarters follow organizations on social platforms, and the vast majority of them interact with those brands on social.

    Social media is the perfect tool for financial institutions to build brand awareness, meet the demand for greater digital engagement, recruit prospective customers, and drive referrals.

    While social media is a great way to connect with customers and prospects, it’s not without its risk. It’s essential to use social media tools that will keep your team in compliance. 

    1. START WITH A SOCIAL SELLING STRATEGY.

    There are few limits to how you can connect with customers and prospects on social media, but it needs to be about more than posts from a brand page. Direct messaging is always an option for private communication, but to reach more people at scale, social sellers (i.e., agents, loan officers, financial advisors, intermediaries, etc.) should also be posting original content, resharing educational articles, responding to comments and questions, and liking others’ posts. With so many options, it’s important for marketers to craft a social selling strategy that guides social sellers in their social interactions on behalf of the institution.

    A well-thought-out strategy can ensure effective social selling. For instance, rather than posting on channels at random and hoping for the best, social sellers can determine which social media platforms suit them best based on audience engagement and follower counts; then they can focus their efforts there. Consider also equipping intermediaries with a library of branded content they can mix in with their personal posts. This strategy will inform your all-important social media policy moving forward.

    2. TURN YOUR STRATEGY INTO A DETAILED POLICY.

    In a heavily regulated industry, it’s essential for firms to have a comprehensive social media policy. This is a package of brand messaging in a detailed policy to help ensure consistency when social sellers post on your behalf.

    Take the plan you mapped out in your strategy and turn it into a documented policy that intermediaries can access easily. Social media and the way people use it continues to evolve, which is why your social media policy should always be a work in progress. Make updates periodically to account for shifts in your approval workflow, changes in messaging, and general social media best practices. As social sellers become savvier, your policy will grow more detailed.

    3. MAKE TRAINING AN ONGOING EFFORT.

    Intermediaries who are new to social media will require initial training — but it shouldn’t be a one-and-done initiative. Hold regular social selling workshops to keep all social sellers up to date on your social media policy and messaging.

    You can also use workshop time to walk your team through any tools you invest in to fuel social media efforts. Denim Social, for example, offers live product demos you can share to show them how to use the technology and get the most benefit. 

    Demonstrate how the software streamlines the approval process for posts and automatically archives them for future reference. The more they know, the more comfortable they’ll be using such tools to facilitate social selling efforts. The great news is, our customer success team is here to help get your team trained and ready.

    Social media opens up a world of opportunity for financial institutions to reach and engage customers and prospects, but that doesn’t mean you should set your team free to do as they please. The right strategy and social media management software can make it a lot easier to avoid mistakes and create a successful social selling strategy. Want to see how Denim Social can help your team up their social media game? Schedule a demo today!

    Instagram stands out as the shining star of social media platforms. While Facebook still reigns supreme and TikTok grows, Instagram is quickly catching up fast with more than 2 billion users worldwide.

    With users under age 34 making up nearly 60 percent of this user population, financial services marketers looking to reach younger generations should take note. And with an estimated sum of $68 trillion in wealth expected to transfer from Baby Boomers to Millennials in the next couple of decades, Millennials are a worthwhile target.

    Studies predict that, after inheriting wealth, 80% or more young heirs will seek out a new financial advisor. Considering that 9 in 10 accounts follow at least one business on Instagram and 8 in 10 users find new products and services in the app, it’s a safe bet that Instagram will be a place to influence many Millennials. Wise financial services marketers will meet them where they are with strong Instagram marketing strategies, and the following tips can help:

    1. Focus on paid ads

    Instagram is a visual platform for sharing photos and videos, so it’s important for brand pages to populate their profiles with organic posts. While this presence is important, organic content isn’t what will move the needle on business goals. Financial services aren’t exactly visually interesting, and organic posts tend to have low reach as they only show up in the feeds of a brand’s current followers. Without the ability to include hyperlinks in captions, they also won’t drive any traffic back to your site. If you want to build the type of following needed to generate new business, including paid advertising in your Instagram marketing strategy is your ticket.

    With Instagram advertising, institutions and advisors can target ads to land with exactly the right audience — even outside their follower base — and include links in posts to drive more traffic to the brand. With a specific call to action that directs consumers to learn more about a topic, Instagram ads offer a straight-line path to giving customers the valuable information they desire — in their own time and at their own place. What’s more, Instagram advertising is seamlessly integrated directly into Instagram feeds and stories, creating a smoother user experience all around.

    2. Connect with consumers on a local level

    Instagram marketing on the corporate brand level is a great starting point, but advertising on behalf of your individual advisors can take your strategy to the next level. Think of it this way: If a consumer sees a well-known brand on social media, they might recognize the name, but they won’t feel an intrinsic connection beyond initial familiarity. In contrast, they’ll feel familiarity and an immediate connection when they see a post from an advisor in their own community. Consumers want to build relationships with brands, and a shared community is a great starting point.

    Of course, most advisors and other financial services employees are not experts on how to market the business on Instagram. And marketers know they must keep all social media marketing for their financial institutions compliant to avoid heavy regulatory reprimands. To keep posts compliant, save employees time, and help them build relationships with consumers in their physical communities, financial services marketers can set up and run ads on their behalf.


    3. Micro-target content to your audience

    As big-name brands like Amazon continue to elevate the digital customer experience with seamless customer service, purchasing, and delivery, customer expectations are higher than ever before. When customers evaluate a financial institution, they compare it not only to other organizations in the industry, but also to tech giants in any industry that give them exactly what they need when they need it.

    They expect a high level of personalization and convenience, and Instagram marketing with paid advertising can help you give it to them. Match basic behavioral and geographic data to potential customers on Instagram to target ads, and then track clicks, engagements, and post-click actions. These data points don’t indicate much on their own, but together they offer a rich story about what consumers want. Continually refine your strategy with these data points in mind to deliver the kind of highly personalized experiences your audiences want on Instagram.

    With a large Millennial user base that engages actively with brands online and the ability to target highly personalized ads to exactly the right audiences, Instagram is a must-have in any financial services marketing strategy. To learn more about how Instagram marketing can work to drive your business forward, download our guide to building stronger customer relationships on Instagram for free today.

    Make the most of your social media pages and posts by optimizing your images and including essential information about your business on each platform. By giving customers an optimal digital experience, you can broaden reach and provide better customer service through your digital platforms.

    Facebook

    IMAGE SIZING:

    Profile picture: 176 x 176px (desktop), 196x 196px (smartphones)

    Cover photo: 820 x 312px (desktop), 640 x 360px (smartphones)

    Keep the main content of your image centered. On a desktop the photo will display as 840x312px, but on mobile will size down to 640x360px.

    Facebook post image: 1200 x 630px

    The ideal width for a Facebook post image is 1200px, but height can vary based on what type of device the image display is optimized for. We recommend keeping it at the recommended size to keep consistency on all devices.

    When creating a Facebook Ad graphic, any text should not take up more than 20% of the photo. You can find a cheat sheet here: https://www.facebook.com/ads/tools/text_overlay.

    Facebook Video: 1280 x 720px

    The optimal length for a short-form video on Facebook is 15 seconds to 1 minute; for a long-form video, it is 3 minutes. The maximum file size is 10GB. 

    Facebook Link Image: 1200 x 630px

    Make sure to claim ownership of your links for the ability to change the link preview photo. You can find more info on that here: https://www.facebook.com/business/help/528858287471922?id=708699556338610.

    Carousel Post: 1080 x 1080px

    Carousel posts are a great way to display multiple services or features that you offer to your customers. When placing a Facebook ad you can link each carousel photo to a different link, making it easy for people to navigate to your specific products.

    Facebook Story: 1080 x 1920px

    Make the most of your stories by using all of your space and creating a fullscreen experience.

    IMPORTANT PAGE INFORMATION:

    Page name:

    This is where you can name your Facebook Page, but be sure to keep it shorter than 75 characters.

    Page username:

    Customize your page URL by adding a username, making it easier for people to locate and navigate people from other digital platforms. Your Facebook URL can include up to 50 characters.

    Page call to action:

    Facebook gives you a variety of choices on calls to action. For example, if you’d like customers to contact you by email, you can set up a “Send Email” button with your email address connected and ready to go.

    LinkedIn

    IMAGE SIZING:

    Profile picture: 400 x 400px

    Upload your business logo here to personalize your profile. If this page is for an individual, this is where you will upload their headshot.

    Cover Photo: 1584 x 396px

    Having a personalized business cover photo will make your profile look more professional and give you the opportunity to provide page visitors with more of the look and feel of your business. This can include an image related to your business or a graphic with information on services you provide or your business slogan.

    LinkedIn post photo: 1200 x 628px (mobile), 1200 x 1200px (desktop)

    When targeting an audience on both desktop and mobile, make sure that you optimize for mobile to give people the best experience.

    LinkedIn Link Photo: 1200 x 628px (mobile), 1200 x 1200px (desktop)

    Providing an image with your link preview can help give viewers a better idea of article content and improve your click thru rates. 

    LinkedIn Link Video: 4096 x 2304px maximum, 256 x 144 pixels minimum

    The optimal video length for LinkedIn is 30-90 seconds and the maximum file size is 5GB.

    IMPORTANT PAGE INFORMATION

    Page name:

    This is where your business name is located, as well as your company industry, location, and number of followers.

    Page description:

    Add your business slogan, mission, or a short description that tells people what your company, products, and services can do for them.

    X (Formerly Known as Twitter)

    IMAGE SIZING

    Profile picture: 400 x 400px

    Upload your business logo or headshot to personalize your profile.

    Cover photo: 1500 x 500px

    Be sure to center your content to give your followers an optimized experience on mobile.

    Twitter post photo: 1600 x 900px

    Allow your followers to see the entirety of the photo in their feed by adhering to this sizing guideline. The maximum file size is 5MB.

    X video: 1280 x 720px (desktop, recommended), 720 x 720px (mobile)

    The optimal video length for Twitter is 20-45 seconds and the maximum file size is 512MB.

    IMPORTANT PAGE INFORMATION

    Underneath your profile photo, your company name and username will be displayed.

    Write a short bio to tell people more about your business.

    Instagram

    IMAGE SIZING

    Profile photo: 110 x 110px

    Your profile picture will be small, so be sure your image is sized correctly and centered. This is a great place for your company logo.

    Profile thumbnail: Displays as 161 x 161px

    This is a preview of your large image post, but looks best when the photo posted is square.

    Highlight Cover: 1080 x 1920px

    Your cover photos should have centered images to give your highlight reel a balanced look. You can also name your highlights, but be concise as they can only be 15 characters long.

    Instagram Feed Photo: 1080 x 1080px (square), 1080 x 1350 (portrait), 1080 x 566 (landscape)

    The recommended width for all Instagram feed photos is 1080px, but the height can vary. To optimize for your feed display within your profile, we recommend using the sizing listed above to keep your image square.

    Instagram Feed Video:  1080 x 1080px (square), 1080 x 1350 (portrait), 1080 x 566 (landscape)

    The optimal length for an Instagram video is 30-60 seconds and the max file size is 650MB.

    Instagram Feed Ad Photo: 1080 x 1080px

    Your ad photo will display the same as a normal feed photo, but with a link attached. When creating an ad in Ads Manager, you’ll be able to upload a separate photo for Instagram to keep your photos optimized for the user experience.

    Instagram Story: 1080 x 1920px (portrait), 1080 x 601 (landscape)

    Make the most of your stories by using all of your space and creating a fullscreen experience. The maximum length of the story is 60 seconds.

    Instagram Reels & Live: 1080 x 1920px

    Reels can be used to offer tutorials, demos, or service features. These will be saved under your profile page for viewers to go back and watch at their leisure. The maximum length for Reels is 90 seconds. For Live, this can be used for announcements, events, or other Q&A sessions. These can also be saved for later viewing, and can last up to 4 hours.

    So you've invested the time, energy, and money into building a website that details all of your financial products and services, and you have a solid social media strategy in place — but do you have any means of connecting the two? A full digital marketing strategy requires a connection point to lead prospects along the digital journey and toward conversion. Landing pages can serve as the bridges you need.

    These pages live on your website and hold information geared toward specific audience segments. For example, if an insurance agent is interested in helping first-time homebuyers with homeowners insurance, a social media post on the subject could include a link to a landing page on your website with even more resources for new buyers.

    Landing pages are important because no matter how well-built your website homepage is, it simply can’t serve the needs of every consumer — not conveniently, at least. Without landing pages, site visitors arrive on the homepage and are left to dig through the site for specific information on their own. Landing pages, on the other hand, allow visitors to arrive at your site in the exact place they want to be. It’s the best way for financial institution marketers to quickly and easily offer content that meets the specific needs of various target audiences.

    Customers want this level of personalization, and they're open to the idea of trading their information for it. In fact, more than three-quarters of consumers in one study said they would be willing to give more personal data in return for more tailored services. When customers submit their contact information through a form to download the content on your landing page, not only are they getting tailored content, but you're getting data that can fuel more personalized outreach directly to primed prospects. And that leads to higher conversion rates.

    Start creating landing pages by planning a page for each promotion in your overall marketing campaign or for each of your target audiences. Then, we recommend the following steps to drive conversion:

    1. Keep it simple and direct.

    Ultimately, the goal of a landing page for financial institutions is to learn more about prospects by gathering their information in the form field. For visitors, the clearer the path to the field, the likelier they will be to share their data. Don’t fill a page with too many images, multiple offers, and other clutter — you’ll just increase the chances of visitors bouncing off the page before taking action. Instead, stick with concise, clear messaging, easy-to-follow directives, strong calls to action, and impactful design elements.


    2. Leverage pre-built, fully customizable templates.

    Few marketing professionals have the bandwidth or experience to build a whole webpage on their own. Fortunately, software like Denim Social with landing page functionality will offer pre-built, customizable templates that allow you to start with a page already optimized for conversion.


    From there, you can easily customize the content, form fields, colors, images, and video on each page to fit your campaign goals. The key here is to keep a consistent style across pages so each one fits under your overall brand umbrella.

    3. Scale, scale, scale!

    The real beauty of using pre-built, customizable templates is the ability to design, build, and launch landing pages at scale. Denim Social’s code-free interface makes it easy for anyone to populate many templates with customized elements — no web design expertise required. Just personalize, publish, then easily iterate and adjust based on conversion data.

    In practice, this looks like building hundreds or even thousands of highly professional landing pages in just minutes. That’s a lot more opportunity for targeted messaging than one broad website homepage on its own.

    Landing pages are one of the most effective tools at your disposal to create tailored experiences, capture valuable information, and generate high-quality leads. With the right platform, any marketer can build landing pages at scale and propel more prospects toward conversion.

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