In a landscape inhabited by increasingly demanding digitally-savvy consumers, unpredictable regulations, and a seemingly never-ending stream of competitors, community banks need to leverage every resource and technology available. One such critical resource is social media. As the American Bankers Association states in their Social Media in Banking 2023 Report, “it’s no wonder banks are bullish on investing in social media. It delivers big for very little. Beyond the direct effects, a bank’s social media presence can also generate more local media attention for the bank, creating a rippling circle of mentions, interviews and free advertising.”
Further, according to the American Bankers Association report:
“When asked to name their biggest challenges in achieving these objectives, we heard the following: Tracking results and measuring the impact (60%). Building engagement/followers (53%). Shortage of dedicated marketing staff (51%). Compliance mandates (47%). Lack of clearly defined strategy and objectives (39%). Budget (22%). Social media management tools (21%)”
As you can see, bankers are surely concerned, 60% in fact, about “tracking results and measuring impact.” The fact that social media has become an essential platform for local banks to engage with customers, build brand awareness, and drive growth is nothing new. For social media marketers, however, the challenge lies not only in maintaining an active presence on their social media platforms, but also – and this is the most important component – in making informed decisions that align with their marketing goals. By leveraging social media analytics, community banks can optimize their social media efforts, making them more strategic, targeted, cost effective, and ultimately more successful.
Community banks often operate with a focus on personalized service, community engagement, and relationship-building. Doing so, creates the ability of banks to connect with customers, promote financial products, and enhance their brand reputation. Social media marketing provides bank marketers with an excellent opportunity to accomplish these goals by leveraging platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and TikTok.
However, the true potential of social media marketing lies not just in being active but in being data-driven. Many banks use social media to share content, but without analytics, they’re missing out on valuable insights about their audience's preferences, behaviors, and responses to marketing campaigns. Social media analytics provide these insights, allowing community banks to make smarter decisions.
How to make the most of social media analytics
Social media analytics refers to the collection and analysis of data from social media platforms. These analytics provide bank marketers with critical information on how well their bank's social media efforts are performing, on how well their audience is defined, on what type of content works best, and how people are engaging with the bank’s social media messaging.
Key social media metrics include:
- Reach and Impressions: How many individuals are viewing the content
- Engagement: Likes, shares, comments, and other interactions with the content
- Click-Through Rates (CTR): How many users click on links in posts, leading to a landing page, product page, or blog
- Conversion Rates: How many social media users take a desired action, such taking the next step in the buyer journey, i.e., downloading more detailed product information, or – ideally – opening an account
- Audience Demographics: Data on the age, gender, location, and interests of the audience
- Sentiment Analysis: Understanding the tone and emotion behind comments and feedback, which provides bank marketers insight into how people feel about their bank’s brand and services
By closely tracking and analyzing these metrics, community banks can tailor their social media strategies to maximize impact. So, what are some of the ways that analytics can support more informed marketing decisions?
A better understanding of the audience
One of the key benefits of using social media analytics is gaining a clearer understanding of the target audience. Community banks serve a wide range of customers, from young adults opening their first checking accounts to seniors managing retirement funds. Social media platforms allow banks to reach these groups, but without knowing who is engaging with their content, banks risk wasting resources on ineffective marketing.
By using analytics tools, banks can identify the demographics that engage most with their posts and campaigns. Are they reaching young professionals who are active in saving and investing, or are they connecting more with retirees who need wealth management advice? By understanding who is interacting with their social media, community banks can better tailor their content to meet the needs of these groups.
Improving content strategy
Social media analytics help bank marketers see which types of content resonate most with their audience. Are educational posts on financial literacy driving engagement? Are promotional posts about home loans or savings accounts resulting in clicks and conversions? By analyzing which posts perform well, banks can optimize their content, ensuring that their social posts are truly effective and worth the resource and budgetary expense.
For example, if analytics show that posts featuring local community events, or posts featuring happy employees receive higher engagement, banks can and should prioritize this type of content. Alternatively, if product-specific posts like those about personal loans or savings accounts get lower engagement but higher conversion rates, banks can adjust their content to better balance awareness and direct response efforts.
Optimizing ad spend
Paid advertising on social media can be a powerful tool for community bank marketers in reaching a broader audience, promoting specific products, or driving traffic to the bank’s website. However, to get the most out of their ad budget, banks must continuously optimize their campaigns based on performance.
Analytics provide insights into which ads are delivering the best return on investment (ROI). For instance, by tracking click-through rates and conversion rates, banks can determine whether an ad targeting first-time homebuyers is more effective than one promoting savings accounts. Based on these insights, bank marketers can reallocate their ad spend to their best-performing campaigns, improving cost efficiency and driving greater ROI.
Engaging with the community
As we all know, community engagement is at the heart of what local banks do best AND differentiates from nationals, and neobanks. Social media provides an extension of this community focus into the digital world. By monitoring social media analytics, banks can see how well they are engaging with their local community online.
Sentiment analysis – the process of analyzing customer opinions and emotions about a brand, product, or service through NLP (Natural Language Processing) – can enhance the bank marketer’s ability to gauge the tone and emotion behind customer interactions. Are people happy with the bank’s services, or are there recurring complaints? Understanding customer sentiment through social media allows marketers to respond appropriately, whether it’s celebrating positive feedback or addressing concerns that could damage the bank’s reputation.
Analytics also show which community-focused posts—like sponsorship of local events, charity drives, or financial literacy workshops—generate the most positive responses. With this data, community bank marketers can continue to strengthen their ties with the community and build trust through targeted, positive engagement.
Tracking and measuring success
Every social media campaign should have clear goals, whether it’s increasing brand awareness, driving traffic to the bank’s website, or promoting a specific product or service. Social media analytics allow community banks to track these goals in real-time and measure success against key performance indicators (KPIs).
For example, a campaign aimed at encouraging students to open checking accounts might focus on increasing website visits from social media, sign-ups for online banking, or engagement with educational content about financial independence. By tracking these KPIs, banks can determine whether their campaigns are meeting their goals, and if not, they can adjust the strategy in real-time to improve performance.
Maintaining compliance with regulations
Operating in a highly regulated industry, community banks must always make compliance with federal, state, and local regulations a priority. Social media analytics can help marketers ensure messaging compliance by monitoring interactions, collecting and storing data for audits, and tracking any flagged content that could raise regulatory concerns.
In conclusion ...
Social media marketing presents a valuable opportunity for community bank marketers to engage more successfully with customers, promote their products, and build the lasting relationships necessary for long-term success. However, without the insights provided by social media analytics, marketers can find themselves struggling to make the informed decisions that help drive meaningful results.
What are some of the functionalities bank marketers can implement to enhance their social media performance and with it, their return on investment? Here are a few: A robust content library that facilitates content sharing, recycling and approval routing. An AI-powered content function. An intuitive analytics dashboard that provides a real-time snapshot of key performance indicators, such as click-throughs, sentiment, engagement, shares, and conversion. A curation tool for accessing relevant content. And, last but by no means least, automated scheduling.
Incorporating a social media management solution that incorporates the aforementioned features, community banks can ensure their social media efforts are as effective and efficient as possible. Now, bank marketers can better understand their audience, improve their content strategy, optimize their ad spend, engage with the community, and most importantly, grow their share of wallet.
Bank Marketing Center
Here at bankmarketingcenter.com, our goal is to help you with that topical, compelling communication with customers — developed by bank marketing professionals for bank marketing professionals — that will help you build trust, relationships, and revenue.
We also want to share what we know – and learn along the way – with all our community banking friends. Whether it’s the latest on AI technology, suggestions on how to attract and retain top talent, or the importance of data protection, we’re here to make bank marketing the best that it can be.
Want to learn more about what we can do for your community bank and your marketing efforts? You can start by visiting bankmarketingcenter.com. Then, feel free to contact me directly by phone at 678-528-6688 or via email at nreynolds@bankmarketingcenter.com. As always, I welcome your thoughts.