Content should offer value, not virality

by. Fatemeh Fakhraie

As much as customers love the memes and photos of charity drives you post, they’re not coming to you because you’re the friend who posts hilarious stuff on Facebook (there’s enough Keyboard Cat to go around, right?). They come to you because you’re their trusted credit union or bank, which means they’re seeking financial advice from you. And they care more about solutions to their financial problems than they do about memes or funny videos.

Helpful content is the best way to attract and keep customers. At its core, this type of content is another form of customer service–you’re providing trustworthy answers to issues people would normally have to call or visit your branch to obtain. While this won’t end your branch visits or phone calls completely (nor should you want it to), creating content that solves smaller issues fortifies your image as a dependable source of information about finances.

Where do I start?

Start by segmenting your audience. Obviously, you’d like everyone reading to fit into the “member” category, but break them down into home buyers, car buyers, students, etc., to create content specifically tailored content.

Once you have these segments, you can figure out their problems. Talk to tellers, loan officers, and social media managers: what are their frequently asked questions? What do they have trouble with? Figuring out what they need help with gives you your content topics.

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