SPONSORED CONTENT PRESENTED BY MARGLE MEDIA
The short answer? Yes.
The popular social media app is where the next generation of customers are. On the flip side, approximately 31% of TikTok users are 35 years or older. (These are your home buyers, kid education savers and retirement investors.) That’s a huge demographic with impressive user percentage rates.
And while TikTok isn’t the end-all, be-all—it’s not the only social channel you should focus on—your financial institution needs to be in the space. But why?
TikTok is the fastest-growing social platform, boasting more than one billion monthly active users (Statista). And your competitors are beginning to infiltrate the platform, reeling in those Gen Zers and younger Millennial consumers and capitalizing on the older ones. If you don’t want the market to move past you, starting the integration process to include TikTok in your digital ecosystem would be wise.
What is a digital ecosystem?
A digital ecosystem is the whole digital media of a brand: your website, social networks, and applications, which are interconnected and work simultaneously to make your digital strategy more effective.
Financial institutions need to migrate into digital ecosystems now to remain relevant in the future. To better serve your banking customers, drive revenue, and get ahead of your competition, a strategically enabled digital ecosystem puts businesses in a position to win more business. Establishing a well-thought-out digital ecosystem today will help support your bank against your competition tomorrow. And setting a strategic digital ecosystem starts with a solid digital marketing strategy.
How can Margle Media help my bank establish a digital marketing strategy that informs what is included in my digital ecosystem?
Before deciding what your digital ecosystem will include, you need an ecosystem foundation that starts with a solid digital marketing strategy, answering the question: “what am I trying to achieve?” This strategy will inform what is accomplished and what kind of content needs to be put in the foundation.
Here, it’s all about understanding your vision and what success looks like for a given project. We’ll discuss challenges and opportunities. We’ll collaborate with your team to determine your specific goals and objectives.
Once we understand your vision and goals, our team will build a complete social and digital strategy to crush said goals in the most cost-effective way possible. We start by gathering data and building a sound foundation.
Our approach
We’re driven by data and guided by creativity; these two go hand-in-hand. Once we understand what’s achieving the best results, we double down on that, then continue to analyze and adjust to achieve optimal performance.
We plan
You now know that Margle starts with a digital strategy. We take the time to dig into your business, brand, products, services, and customers before we go to market so that our plan of attack is informed.
We execute
Execution is the exciting part, where we get to let our creative chops shine. We roll up our sleeves and work making content, writing copy, developing campaigns, and launching ads.
We iterate
The Feedback Loop, we call it. We understand that the digital space is an ever-changing environment. We don’t pretend to know everything up-front. Refining what is (and what is not) working is a process you can’t skip.
Our services
We tell brand stories and make them relevant through creative that’s not just seen but remembered.
Digital Strategy
As mentioned earlier, this is the foundation of any successful digital marketing plan. We pride ourselves on developing a strategy (your “blueprint”) that is tangible and actionable through:
- Immersive Q/A
- Competitive Analysis
- Digital Marketing Audit
- Audience Insights
- Digital Ecosystem
- Rollout and Launch
Creative and branding
Our in-house creative team will cover all of your bases from concept through execution. We develop informed, data-driven content tailored to the platform and audience to deliver your message and encourage action through:
- Graphic Design
- Photography
- Video Production
- Illustration
- Animation
- Video Editing
Paid media
Media buying is an art as much as a science. We love data and tirelessly test and optimize our strategies to ensure that you always get the best possible results from your ad spend. We focus on:
- Paid Media Strategy
- Management
- A/B Testing
- Analysis
Social media management
Having a social presence is a must in today’s world. It will bring authority to your financial institution, increase customer trust, and is a foundation for a long-term digital marketing effort. We focus on:
- Planning
- Scheduling and Posting
- Analytics
- Monitoring
- Engagement
- All Platforms
Website design and development
With conversion, SEO, and a mobile-first mentality, we can provide anything from simple recommendations to an entirely new build. We specialize in:
- Website Audit
- Collaborative Process
- Hosting Support
- Development
- Launch Support
- Ongoing Maintenance
Reporting and analysis
We don’t see this as a service, necessarily, but as a critical element of our services because it’s what ties everything together and informs improvements. We focus on:
- Weekly and Monthly Reports
- Google Analytics
- Business Manager Metrics
- Insights and Recommendations
- Website Behavior Analysis
If your bank is looking for increased engagement, awareness, and serious ROI,
contact us to help you get started.
Now that Margle Media has helped my bank establish a digital marketing strategy, how do we decide what my digital ecosystem will include?
What your digital ecosystem includes is based on what your goals are and what your customer needs.
Every digital ecosystem should include:
- a top of funnel effort (min one digital avenue for generating eyes).
- a middle/bottom of funnel effort (min one digital avenue at this part of the funnel; a min one effort post-conversation should be in place, too).
Our overall mission as your marketing partner is to better position your bank to provide the right messaging to the right segment via the suitable medium to make the most efficient impact on potential and existing customers. Then, we’ll drive them further down the funnel regardless of where they enter it.
The specific platforms of choice are ideally based on the objectives of your bank and the demographics and audience you’re looking to attract. Given that all banks should talk to an older and a new, younger demographic, there are likely platforms that fit almost all digital ecosystems.
These are some form of a Google effort (middle/bottom of the funnel), some form of a social media effort (middle/bottom of the funnel), and some form of a programmatic buy (top of the funnel with the intention of pure traffic generation being the outcome) to cover your bases.
Here’s where TikTok comes into play. As we discussed earlier, this platform is only one piece of the puzzle; it’s also necessary to incorporate other social platforms into your digital ecosystem. But if you’re not using TikTok, you’re behind the times, and the market is moving past you. Consumers (especially the younger demographic (Gen Z, Millennials) are choosing digital and social, and you need to be leading the way to ensure you’re effectively communicating with your future customer. You need to be where your customers need you.
Enter TikTok.
Why is TikTok so important for my bank?
TikTok has sprung up as one of the highest-performing social media platforms to date, and it’s not showing any signs of slowing down.
Let’s talk numbers. They’re pretty mind-blowing. Let’s go!
Key TikTok stats
- 1 billion people use TikTok
- 850 minutes per month are spent on TikTok per user
- TikTok was the second-most downloaded app in 2020
- TikTok was downloaded 850 million times in 2020
TikTok engagement rates
The key indicator of social media success—engagement—is the highest on TikTok, according to TikTok statistics. Here are some TikTok statistics on engagement rates across three platforms for comparison from Upfluence:
- Instagram micro-influencers: 3.86% engagement rate
- YouTube micro-influencers: 1.63% engagement rate
- TikTok micro-influencers: 18% engagement rate
- Instagram mega-influencers: 1.21% engagement rate
- YouTube mega-influencers: 0.37% engagement rate
- TikTok mega-influencers: 35% engagement rate
TikTok outperforms from an engagement perspective.
Monthly active user counts
The estimated monthly active user count on TikTok is roughly 1.1 billion. This is a huge deal, considering the following usage statistics:
- Facebook: 2.8 monthly active users
- YouTube: 2 billion monthly active users
- Instagram: 1 billion monthly active users
- TikTok: 1.1 billion monthly active users
Crazy, right? TikTok is giving social media giants a run for their money in just a few short years. Considering the giants have been around for 10-15 years, it’s pretty impressive.
The most famous person on TikTok is @charlidamelio, with roughly 142 million fans. If you look at Instagram for comparison, she only has 49 million, giving an excellent example of how different social media platforms can have different outcomes.
Building a cross-platform presence on social media is a big deal, and when you note the potential to reach more users in your target audience, you may find you have more success on one network over another.
Now’s probably a good time to talk about awareness. TikTok will only add to the awareness of your financial institution. And when a consumer sees you on TikTok, they’ll think about you. Then that consumer will see an ad on social, Google, etc. That’s a win.
Is TikTok an affordable platform for my bank’s budget?
Yes!
The TikTok advertising cost averages around $9.50 cost per mille (CPM), meaning per 1,000 views. For example, CPM on the TikTok platform is much lower than on Facebook, with averages around $20-$25.
Deborah Boyland, the founder of Fintech Content Ltd., says: “TikTok is an important social media channel for banks and credit unions. First of all, it’s cheap compared to other channels. The low cost per click of TikTok ads is insane. You can get great results with a small budget.”
And a big bank with an equally big marketing budget could potentially wholly dominate the space.
But regardless of whether you’re a big or a small bank, irrespective of your budget, financial institutions that begin their TikTok journey now will be better positioned for future growth.
If your bank is looking for increased engagement, awareness, and serious ROI,
contact us to help you get started.
Why is Margle Media the best digital marketing agency to infuse TikTok into your bank’s digital ecosystem?
First, the Margle team uses the platform; we integrate ourselves into it on a personal and professional level. We’re experts because we’re users. We watch TikTok videos and create content to experience the platform, and we love doing it.
Secondly, we understand that just like on any other social media platform, if you want to create an online presence for your bank and succeed, you need to create engaging and intriguing content that appeals to your targeted audience. Because creating this type of content makes them want to watch and interact with your content further. And we know how to do that.
The goal is to make TikTok understand the relevancy and quality of your content, making its algorithm promote your content on as many feeds and For You pages as possible. And we know how to do that, too.
We like this example from FNB Community Bank in Midwest City, Oklahoma: the bank was an early TikTok creator with a small budget… but significant results. Julie Waddle, Assistant Vice President and Marketing Manager told Independent Banker that a few of the bank’s videos have tens of thousands (even millions) of views. Her words: “TikTok brings awareness and different eyes to our name that would not have seen us before.”
A bank with $570 million in assets? Not bad.
FNB’s videos aren’t flashy—that’s not what TikTok is about. They have homegrown, authentic content, and the TikTok feel. FNB Community Bank posts TikTok videos about financial topics: creating a budget, why you shouldn’t leave a balance in Venmo (they aren’t FDIC insured, which means you could lose your money if Venmo shuts down), and other feel-good, all-around fun financial stuff. There’s footage of the bank’s ugly sweater contest and recipes for pumpkin spice cookies.
Who doesn’t want to watch that?
TikTok isn’t about beautifully curated content; it’s about authentic content that speaks directly to your bank’s consumers. And Margle gets it. We’re an authentic team, so authenticity comes easily.
Banks have an opportunity to use social media for education and entertainment on critical financial topics. Personal finance, mortgage advice, crypto, and investing are all TikTok niches for banks.
Because it’s 2022, and TikTok is the future.
If your bank is looking for increased engagement, awareness, and serious ROI,
contact us to help you get started.
