A 2021 report by Statista states that 31.8 million Canadians are on social media. What’s more, according to Online Business Canada, 80% interact with businesses on those platforms, making it the perfect fertile ground for you to connect with new potential clients and educate them on the financial services you offer.

If you’re interested in boosting your social presence and reaping the rewards for your business, read on for our six top tips!

1. Set goals

Before getting started, set measurable goals for your social media strategy. Maybe you want to build awareness about your brand and the financial services you offer, position yourself as an authority in the finance sector, develop relationships with potential clients, or encourage them to contract your services directly through the social platform.

2. Choose the right platforms

With so many social media platforms available, many businesses feel pressured to be on all of them, however, it’s much more efficient to post quality content on just one or two rather than posting everywhere half-heartedly.

So, research where your target audience spends most of their time and focus your energy there. For example, if you want to target Canadians 55+ who are looking for financial advice, know that 75% of them use Facebook at least once a week, followed by 60% on YouTube, and 30% on Instagram, according to Booming Encore.

3. Get to know your audience

Start with what you already know about your audience – Who are they? Where are they? How old are they? And what are the financial concerns that you can help them with? Next, delve deeper by looking at your social media analytics. This will help you develop content that’s relevant to your audience and boost their engagement with your channel.

4. Plan your content

Put together a social calendar to plan your posting schedule and avoid scrambling for quality content at the last minute.

When deciding what to include in your calendar, be sure to focus on quality over quantity – posting thoughtful content once every day or two is preferable to bombarding your followers. This is particularly important when working in the financial sector, where it’s important to gain your audience’s trust and position yourself as an authority in the industry.

Define content categories

To help you come up with high-quality content, it can help to define content categories. Categories relevant to the financial sector could include client testimonials, blog posts on sector-specific topics, timely reposts of industry news, and even FAQs about mortgages or the mortgage sector. When defining your categories, aim for variety in terms of both topic and content format – be sure to include a mix of image, text, and video posts.

Sell strategically

When planning your posts, aim to provide value and don’t overuse the hard sell. Social media is primarily a place for you to connect with your audience and position yourself as an authority in the financial industry. Many businesses use the 80-20 rule – 80% posts which inform, educate, and entertain their audience and 20% which promote their brand and sell their products.

The HomeEquity Bank Broker Launchpad

Social media is an excellent place to introduce your followers to the different financial products that you can offer them in an easily digestible way. To help you communicate about the benefits of the CHIP products, we’ve developed Broker Launchpad, which includes a wide variety of resources including social posts that you can publish on your own channels.

5. Use paid ads

Although a lot of what you post on social media will be organic content, paid ads are an excellent way of boosting your reach and gaining more impressions. They’re also a better place for you to actively sell to your desired audience. To reach those most likely to be interested in your services, social media platforms allow you to target your ads based on criteria such as location, demographics, behaviour, and interests.

6. Build relationships with your audience

Social media makes it possible for you to interact with your audience and gain their trust like never before, so make sure you’re engaging with them by responding to comments and messages. You might even consider going live every so often to answer questions directly from your followers.

With so much advice available, getting started with social media or boosting your current presence can be daunting. We hope these six tips help you leverage these platforms to grow your business.