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Podcast Episode 27: Executives at all levels at community banks and credit unions want to reach younger audiences, but how do you get in front of younger audiences online? The FI GROW team discusses how community financial institutions can reach younger audiences via Facebook and Instagram Ads.
Transcription:
Have you ever been talking about something that's really useful and thought that's a great idea? Let's hit record so we can share this with everyone. If you're looking for best practices for your bank or credit union, join us while we talk all things, sales, marketing, and strategy for financial institutions. Let's make it happen with FI GROW Solutions.
Meredith Olmstead:
Hi everybody. I am Meredith Olmsted, CEO and founder of FI GROW Solutions. We are an inbound marketing and sales consulting agency, and we work exclusively with financial institutions. And I am here with our digital ads manager, Ida Burr. Say hi Ida.
Ida Burr:
Hey everyone.
Meredith Olmstead:
So we were just having an awesome conversation about how banks and credit unions can appeal to a younger audience online. We specifically kind of think a lot about social media, but I think some of this like branches out into potentially Google or on your website, that kind of thing, but really a lot of this focus is on social. And so I thought let's press record and talk a little bit more about some of these suggestions, because I think a lot of marketing executives and executives at all levels, really at banks and credit unions are trying to reach younger audiences. There's a lot of competition out there with FinTech and with online only financial institutions and options.
Meredith Olmstead:
So when you have smaller regional banks and credit unions that are trying to compete for younger business, they really want to know, okay, how can I get in front of those people, those younger audiences online? So we were talking a little bit about that. And the first thing we were talking about was Facebook ads, which also controls Instagram because Facebook owns Instagram. So that ad platform really controls a lot of reach in the social media world. So Ida, how do you reach younger audiences using Facebook ads?
Ida Burr:
Yeah. So I mean, it has to be years ago at this point, Facebook no longer lets financial institutions target by age specifically. We used to be able to just say, only show these ads to people between the ages of 18 and 30 and like that was that. You could no longer do that. You have to target everyone over the age of 18. So one little kind of work around that we've figured out is if you create an ad set that only shows on the Instagram story and Instagram reel placements. So instead of checking that automatic placement setting in the ad set, you would select manual placements and select all the stories.
Meredith Olmstead:
Okay.
Ida Burr:
These tend to skew much younger. I mean, obviously it's not perfect. You are going to get a wide range of ages still.
Meredith Olmstead:
Okay.
Ida Burr:
But we do tend to see like usually with Facebook feed, you see it skewing higher. Whereas with these, if you look at the demographic, it is usually under like 40,
Meredith Olmstead:
Yeah.
Ida Burr:
Is where majority of the views come from.
Meredith Olmstead:
Okay. So we've basically started then not just placing ads in the feed, which is like the permanent pictures on Instagram or on Facebook, but also in the story placements, because that's where a lot of people who are using like Snapchat, they've kind of gotten to the habit of, oh, let's go look at the stories first because they disappear within 24 hours and we don't want to miss those. So they start with the story views first, then head down into the feed. And we're also seeing reels there. Ida, are you able to do ads for reels now for financial institutions?
Ida Burr:
Yes. So on Instagram you can select the Instagram reel placement as well. So that's when people are scrolling through those short videos.
Meredith Olmstead:
Okay.
Ida Burr:
And again, that tends to skew younger. So we have been adding that placement as well.
Meredith Olmstead:
Okay. It's hard. The problem with it, right, is that you can report on the ad results in those placements, but you can't report on the age impacts, right?
Ida Burr:
Yeah.
Meredith Olmstead:
Like it's really hard to like say, okay, we reached this number of people between the ages of 18 and 25. Like you can't really do that anymore.
Ida Burr:
Yeah, exactly. And like the thing is you can't select the ages at all. So if you're looking at like charts of reach and things like that, they'll show you it, but to break it out into,
Meredith Olmstead:
By ages.
Ida Burr:
An easy, yeah.
Meredith Olmstead:
Yeah. It's hard.
Ida Burr:
It's just...
Meredith Olmstead:
We also talk about content that you're creating. So like using imagery on your website or in ad placements, or just organically on social. So using imagery that shows a range of age ranges and definitely shows some people on the younger side of things as well, that can help. And the other thing is creating and sharing content that appeals to younger people. So like could be anything around making your first budget, or how to afford college, or coming out of college and managing your student debt payments. All of that kind of great content could be really appealing to younger audiences.
Meredith Olmstead:
You could also have things like around some of your products and services, like first time home buyer content. So a checklist on how to go through your first home inspection or home tour or something like that, or even how to negotiate with a car dealer for the first time. So a lot of that kind of content can be related to your products and services, but skew towards a younger audience to help get in front of, some of those younger people and try to build trust and rapport with them as they're out there doing some of their research online for your products and services.
Ida Burr:
Yeah. And this is something you can look internally at too, like looking at new accounts that are being opened and like seeing if they tend to skew higher or lower, like a HELOC type product may be something for the older audience because they already own their home. They've been paying it off for years. They have equity in it.
Meredith Olmstead:
Yeah.
Ida Burr:
Whereas something like saving for a wedding or budgeting for your family or things like that could be something that skew younger like 30s.
Meredith Olmstead:
Gotcha.
Ida Burr:
Or.
Meredith Olmstead:
Yeah. The other thing that we've talked about is using some of these new creative features, especially on Instagram, like filters, save filters so you're consistent, buttons, the little stickers and things you can put all around on stories or even on reels or other kinds of content there. And just making like that, all that kind of stuff, appeals to a younger audience. So trying to use some of those like little features and functionalities, maybe be a little bit more fun with your posts or with the content that you're creating. Add a little visual interest and stay a little bit up with the new, like the latest kind of approach to creating content online.
Ida Burr:
Yeah, absolutely. And even if you're creating ads for both. So if you're creating Facebook ads and you're creating Instagram ads for the same product, even changing up the language a little bit in the ads or, and definitely changing up imagery. We use a third party tool to create the videos for the story ads, just because the functionality in the Facebook ads manager isn't really all there. They look much nicer if you create them in a third party tool.
Meredith Olmstead:
Okay.
Ida Burr:
We like to use Wave. It's very easy. It has like the sizes already set and it has templates already set. So it is very, it's quick, once you get like your template in there with your brand colors and everything.
Meredith Olmstead:
Gotcha.
Ida Burr:
But in the ads manager, they do give you the option to overlay like a poll or a GIF or something like that.
Meredith Olmstead:
Okay.
Ida Burr:
So it is very easy to add a quick poll to it and make it a little bit more fun or add some stickers and things like that.
Meredith Olmstead:
Yeah. I think the key is not to be afraid to show your personality, show the human side of your institution, highlight individual employees, give them an opportunity to be silly, to make a boomerang, to show behind the scenes content, like all of that is going to skew towards a younger audience and appeal to a younger audience. And just trying to be fun and personable and interactive, and maybe be a little funny too. I think all of that, that approach to content to be a little bit not so stodgy, not so buttoned up, but like really being a little bit more personable, excuse me. And interactive, I think is key.
Ida Burr:
Absolutely. Yes.
Meredith Olmstead:
Awesome. Well, thank you so much, Ida. I think these are some great tips for people on how to appeal to a younger audience. If you're interested in learning more about FI GROW, please don't hesitate to reach out to us on figrow.com. We also have lots of other great podcasts and content on our blog as well as FI GROWTH Academy, which has some great trainings on how to run your own social media ads and pay per click ads for financial institutions. So just, let's just get out there and make it happen.
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