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Still handing out free lollipops and branded pens? Fine, but the future of banking isn’t about branded swag and free coffee—it’s about creating seamless digital experiences that build trust and deliver value in ways that resonate with an increasingly tech-savvy customer base.
Modern customers evaluate banks through their social media presence and digital capabilities, seeking institutions that can meet them where they are—on their phones, tablets, and laptops.
The majority of American adults favor digital banking via mobile apps or websites, while a shrinking number of customers opt for in-person visits. This digital transformation extends beyond just banking apps—consumers increasingly turn to social media platforms for financial guidance, product research, and customer support. For financial institutions, maintaining a strong social media presence isn’t just a trend—it’s become essential for competitive advantage and customer engagement.
Banks that seek to “fill the funnel” with younger generations will need to meet those customers where they are, building meaningful connections through social channels while delivering the seamless digital experiences modern consumers expect.
At Ethos, our deep expertise in the industry allows us to help community banks navigate the evolving landscape with clarity and confidence. We provide the tools and insights needed to stay competitive in an increasingly digital world. As you continue to refine your social media strategy, here are key considerations to keep in mind.
1. Understanding the Modern Banking Audience
The banking landscape has undergone a dramatic transformation, with digital channels becoming as crucial as interest rates for attracting the next generation of customers. This evolution is driven by changing consumer preferences and behaviors. According to the 2024 Chase Digital Banking Attitudes Survey, 78% of consumers use their mobile banking apps weekly, with 62% considering them essential to daily life. From sending money to relatives to checking credit scores and redeeming points, mobile banking has become integral to modern financial management.
Young consumers are also reshaping banking expectations. Almost half of millennials and Gen Zers consider online account opening capabilities essential (read: not a nice-to-have, but a must-have) when choosing a bank, and 70% of Gen Zers are already planning for retirement. Additionally, 40% of millennials seek guidance from personal financial advisors, indicating a desire for both digital convenience and professional expertise.
However, this digital transformation comes with its challenges. A 2024 PYMNTS Intelligence report found that while most consumers appreciate online banking convenience, anxiety about online security persists and 71% express concern about generative AI in financial services.
As digital banking continues to grow in popularity among customers, banks are increasingly enhancing their presence on social media. Nearly every bank (95%) surveyed by the American Bankers Association in 2023 has established a presence on Facebook, while 62% engage with customers on Instagram—reflecting a fundamental shift in how financial institutions connect with their audience.
The significance of social media in banking extends beyond the basics. Recent FIS U.S. consumer research reveals that social media has become the primary source of financial advice for younger generations, with 40% of Gen Zers and 36% of millennials learning about finance through social platforms. Surprisingly, less than 25% of this cohort receives financial education from their banking institution. This gap presents both a challenge and an opportunity for banks to enhance their digital educational content.This shift isn’t merely about maintaining relevance—it’s about survival in an increasingly competitive market. Today’s consumers expect more than just a place to store their money; they seek informative, honest, and engaging content that helps them make educated financial decisions right where they spend their time—online.
2. Choosing the Right Platforms
When it comes to social media, where you focus your efforts should be based on the audience you’re trying to connect with. If you’re targeting retirees or pre-retirees, Facebook is still one of the best places to engage with that demographic. For a younger audience, especially if your goal is building long-term loyalty, Instagram and TikTok are your go-to platforms. And if you’re looking to build commercial partnerships or network with other businesses and decision makers, LinkedIn is where you’ll want to be.
While it’s tempting to copy and paste the same content everywhere, the key is focusing your time, energy, and resources on the platforms where you know your audience is already active—and then creating custom content that is specific to their needs. Here’s a general breakdown of what works best in each space:
- LinkedIn: Thought leadership and B2B engagement
- Instagram & TikTok: Connecting with younger audiences through financial education and entertainment
- Facebook: Community engagement and customer service
- YouTube: Long-form financial advice and explainer videos
- X (formerly Twitter): Real-time updates and industry trends
By zeroing in on the right platforms, and customizing your content to your audience and the platform, you can maximize your efforts and make a bigger impact on your audience.
3. Content Strategies That Work
In today’s digital-first banking landscape, customers crave more than just financial services— they seek real connections and transparent communication from their financial institutions. The most effective banking content strategy embraces honesty and authenticity, recognizing that modern consumers can easily spot (and will reject!) inauthentic messaging.
Successful banks understand that humanizing their brand is crucial to building lasting trust. This is something banks have actually known and embraced for a long time—it’s why they rely so heavily on individual bankers and forming in-person relationships with customers. But now that our world has shifted to be more heavily in a digital space, banks need to figure out how to bring that individual, human and personal touch to their digital engagement.
For decades, financial institutions have built their reputations on face-to-face interactions, where personal bankers knew their customers by name and understood their unique financial situations. These relationships fostered trust and loyalty that benefited both parties. However, the rapid digitalization of banking services has created both opportunities and challenges.
While digital banking offers unprecedented convenience, it risks losing the personal connection that traditionally distinguished banking relationships. Forward-thinking financial institutions are now implementing strategies to humanize their digital presence.
Rather than appearing as faceless institutions focused solely on transactions, banks must showcase their human side through employee stories, behind-the-scenes glimpses of company culture, and meaningful community involvement. This transparency helps transform the traditional rigid banking image into one of an approachable, trustworthy financial partner.
Educational content serves as the foundation, with banks sharing valuable insights on personal finance, investment strategies, and money management. However, the delivery matters as much as the information itself. Whether through engaging short-form videos, interactive Q&A sessions with financial advisors, or customer success stories, content must feel authentic, approachable and resonate on a personal level.
User-generated content plays an increasingly vital role here as well, seeing as customers trust their peers’ experiences more than brand messaging. By amplifying real customer voices and experiences, banks demonstrate confidence in their services while building credibility through social proof. This approach creates a cycle where transparency builds trust, and trust encourages more customers to share their positive experiences.
Here are a few content ideas to get you started:
- Educational Content: personal finance tips, investment education, budgeting guides
- Behind-the-Scenes & Humanization: employee spotlights including new hires and promotions, company culture, bank-sponsored causes such as food drives or job fairs, ribbon cuttings
- Customer Success Stories & Testimonials: building trust through real experiences, commercial partnerships
- Interactive Content: polls, Q&As, and live sessions with financial advisors
- Short-Form Video & Reels: explaining complex financial topics in an engaging way, company culture
- User-Generated Content: encouraging customers to share their banking experiences
4. Optimizing Social Media Ads for Better ROI
Social media ads have become an indispensable tool for banks looking to improve their outreach and engagement in today’s digital landscape. Currently, social media ads for financial services and products fall under the Special Ad Category. This means that the only specific targeting available is location (and does not include gender, age, behavior and interest options, and zip code). Meta provides a curated list of interests that can be targeted, specifically designed for special ad category campaigns to prevent discrimination. Though targeting options for banks are limited on social media, these ads remain a great way to tell your brand story and enhance customer engagement.
Social media platforms offer a unique space for storytelling and brand building. Through visually appealing content and authentic narratives, banks can showcase their values, community involvement, and customer success stories. This approach fosters trust and relatability among consumers, making them more likely to choose a bank that resonates with them on a human level.
Moreover, social media ads have transformed from one-way announcements into crucial interaction hubs between banks and their customers. By strategically encouraging comments or questions on advertisements, financial institutions create opportunities for meaningful engagement. However, this approach comes with heightened customer expectations—research shows that 74% of social media users expect responses within 24 hours.
This shifting digital landscape means the “post and forget” strategy is no longer viable. Banks that respond promptly to inquiries demonstrate their commitment to customer service excellence while simultaneously strengthening relationships by making clients feel genuinely heard and valued. Conversely, financial institutions that fail to engage in a timely manner risk creating a perception of indifference that can leave existing clients feeling disconnected and discourage potential customers from pursuing relationships.
In today’s always-on digital environment, responsive social media management has evolved from a nice-to-have feature into an essential component of a bank’s customer experience strategy and reputation management system.
5. Leveraging AI & Automation for Personalization
In today’s digital-first banking landscape, artificial intelligence is revolutionizing how financial institutions engage with customers on social media platforms. The introduction of Bank of America’s Erica virtual assistant demonstrates the transformative potential of AI in banking communication. By deploying sophisticated chatbots and AI-powered response systems, banks can provide 24/7 customer support while reducing operational costs.
Banks can leverage AI to analyze vast amounts of social media data, enabling them to create hyper-personalized content that resonates with specific customer segments—from first-time homebuyers to retirement planners. However, banks face significant hurdles in implementing these technologies, including data privacy regulations and concerns about algorithmic bias.
6. Compliance & Security in Social Media Marketing
Social media presents both opportunities and challenges for banks as they navigate the complex world of financial regulations. While these platforms offer powerful ways to connect with customers, the strict regulatory environment means every post must be carefully considered. Many financial institutions have found themselves caught between two imperatives: the need to engage meaningfully with their audience and the requirement to maintain strict compliance with financial regulations.
To manage this balance more efficiently, forward-thinking banks are leveraging AI-powered content review systems that automatically scan social media posts for compliance issues. But even with these technological advances, challenges persist. The rapid evolution of both social media platforms and financial regulations means banks must constantly adapt their strategies and update their compliance frameworks. It’s a dynamic landscape that requires vigilance, creativity, and a deep understanding of both regulatory requirements and social media best practices.
Interestingly, some banks have found a creative solution by shifting away from product-focused content entirely. Instead, they’re building relationships through community-oriented content—sharing stories about local events, employee volunteer work, and interactive contests. This approach helps them maintain an active social media presence while sidestepping many regulatory hurdles.
7. Measuring Success & Optimizing Performance
To truly understand social media performance, financial institutions must go beyond basic follower counts and likes. Tracking and analyzing the right metrics allows banks to optimize their social presence, build meaningful customer engagement, and inform data-driven business decisions.
Impressions serve as your visibility gauge, showing how many times your content appears in users’ feeds. For banks, strong impression numbers indicate market awareness—crucial when introducing new financial products or educational content. While impressions alone don’t tell the whole story, they help measure your brand’s digital reach.
Engagement reveals how your audience interacts with your content through likes, comments, shares, and saves. High engagement signals that your message resonates with customers and prospects, particularly important for educational content about financial wellness and community involvement posts. Pay special attention to shares and saves, as these indicate content valuable enough for users to advocate for or reference later. These particular metrics also signal to the algorithm that the content is of high value and worth sharing to a broader audience.
Engagement Rate provides context by measuring engagement against impressions. This metric helps you understand if your content truly connects with viewers or simply reaches a large audience with minimal impact. For financial content, engagement rates typically range from 1-3%, with higher rates indicating exceptional audience resonance.
Click-Through Rate (CTR) directly ties to conversion potential by measuring how often viewers take action on your content, such as visiting your website or accessing a loan application. This metric is especially valuable for product launches or promotional campaigns.
A/B testing enhances these metrics by comparing two versions of content with a single variable changed—such as different headlines, images, or calls to action. For banks, this approach can optimize everything from promotional posts about mortgage rates to financial education content. Regular analysis of these metrics enables continuous improvement of your social media strategy, helping banks make data-driven decisions while maintaining authentic connections with their audience.
Looking Ahead
The path to success in financial services is clear: social media excellence is no longer optional, but a strategic imperative. Today’s winning institutions understand that digital engagement requires a delicate balance—maintaining professional authority while creating authentic connections that resonate with modern consumers.
Whether you’re a community credit union or a national bank, your social media strategy should reflect your unique strengths while remaining adaptable to evolving market dynamics. The most successful organizations will be those that effectively humanize their brand without compromising their professional credibility, creating honest content that educates, engages, and builds lasting relationships with customers who increasingly expect to find their financial partners in their social feeds.
The time to enhance your social media presence is now. Your future customers are already scrolling, so let’s make sure they find you.
About Ethos
Ethos is a multiplatform branding agency that develops and executes integrated marketing campaigns across multiple channels for companies inside and outside of Maine. At Ethos, we believe that the most effective way to set a company’s marketing course is by finding its core truth – its ethos. We know that once we discover and communicate that core truth, we can truly make a difference for each client’s unique marketing and business objectives. With Ethos, you get more than a marketing agency. You get a long-term partner whose goals are your goals. Learn more about the Ethos approach and the work we’ve done for our clients. Want to have a conversation about your brand’s core truth? Contact us today!
