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About This Report

155 Respondents

The annual Social Assurance Marketing and Compliance Report represents a compilation of marketing compliance trends across the financial industry with a focus on banks and credit unions. The objective of this report is to provide financial brands with a snapshot of how other organizations in the industry are managing and navigating marketing and compliance best practices, processes and regulation. This report provides a peek at:

Roles

Report Contributors

How financial brands are navigating social media marketing

Processes and best practices being utilized to execute marketing compliance management

Advertising investments and trends in social and digital media

The top compliance concerns in financial marketing

How banks are managing and tracking CRA activities and investments

Overall Presence on Social Media

By taking a dive into how financial brands are managing their social media presence, we can provide peer banks and credit unions the ability to compare their activity and contemplate future social investments. Facebook remains the most popular channel for financial brands and has trended as the top channel in our report for the past three years. Just over 89% of survey respondents indicated that they have a Facebook page for their brand.

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The largest channel change from last year was the adoption of Instagram. In 2018, only 30% of financial brands surveyed maintained an Instagram page. This almost doubled in 2019, with 56% now indicating their financial brand is maintaining an Instagram page at the brand level. Another channel that saw an increased investment in 2019 was YouTube. Over half (51%) of brands shared that they are using YouTube to connect with their communities. LinkedIn, Twitter, Snapchat and Pinterest usage at the brand level are also all up from 2018. We’ve covered a social media platform usage at the brand level in Figure 1.

As social media users look for a more personalized experience, financial brands are taking note and approving the use of branded individual pages. At a high level, these pages are used to humanize the brand, establish personal connections and increase sales. Individual pages also allow agents, such as loan officers, to stay relevant with prospects and customers. While we have seen an increase in the use of individual pages each year, many brands are still reluctant to leverage this type of social networking. Just under 15% of financial brands indicated that they permit loan officers, business bankers and executives to maintain profiles on Facebook; only 10% allow for individual LinkedIn profiles.

Platform Usage

Agent Networking

As financial brands move forward in analyzing their investments in social networks, they should carefully evaluate their target audiences and which social networks are most effective in engaging those audiences. For example, with the oldest class of Generation Z getting ready to graduate from college, platforms like Instagram are a must for financial brands. Brands should also consider using social to humanize their brands and allow agents (such as loan officers and influencers) to develop a personal extension of their brand.

Key Takeaway

Figure 1: Primary Brand Page Channels

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Financial brands of varying sizes found that utilizing marketing management software, such as Social Assurance, drastically improved their marketing and compliance communication and coordination. There was a notable difference in perceived value of their investment based on bank or credit union size. While only 35% of those in asset size of less than $500 million are investing in software, 52% of those up to $1 billion and 61% of those over $1 billion have implemented tools. The growth of those not participating and looking to do so in 2020 was consistent for all sizes at approximately 27%.

By utilizing marketing management software, brands are more confident in their processes and archival management. When asked about areas of marketing and compliance process management, respondents who were currently using marketing management tools were consistently more confident in their processes than those who were contemplating implementing such tools. For example, 29% of respondents who were using management software felt that they could improve on archival and reporting compared to 64% of those planning to implement software.

Overall, respondents were split on if their approval process workflows could be improved; 35% shared that they felt their processes could improve while that same number said they believe they didn’t need to change their processes. The other 29% weren’t sure if their approval process workflows could change. Financial brands were equally split on things like archiving and reporting and audit preparation while over half (55%) indicated that they could improve their customer feedback and engagement management processes. Figure 2 provides a full breakdown of areas covered.

While 45% of overall respondents are utilizing marketing management software, only 18% of those are leveraging the software for records archival. The majority (52%) shared that they are using system drive folders to store records. An additional 22% manage their marketing collateral through paper and binders. The remainder of respondents said they use a third party compliance firm or agency, don’t archive or selected other.

Processes

Marketing Process and Archival Management

Archival

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Figure 2: Top Marketing and Compliance Processes Improvement Areas

While financial brands are split when it comes to efficiency of their marketing and compliance processes, only 45% of respondents indicated that they use a software tool to help them manage these processes. Furthermore, only 35% felt that their overall processes for marketing and compliance management could improve. As brands step back and take an honest look at their practices and the ability to enhance productivity through process management tools, would their answers be the same?

Key Takeaway

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When it comes to areas of focus for both compliance and marketing teams, the survey group said that they are most focused on social media product, brand and/or community promotions (85%). This is followed by Unfair, Deceptive or Abusive Acts or Practices (UDAAP) compliance (50%) and Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) marketing (47%). Other areas of focus are audit preparedness (33%), new Americans with Disabilities Act compliance for web pages (22%) and incentive-based promotions (20%). Please note that respondents could select three areas.

While social media may be a main focus area for marketing and compliance teams, a large majority (78%) also said that social media is the most difficult area for their teams to manage from a compliance perspective. This was followed by online advertising (47%), email marketing (36%) community marketing (26%) and print marketing (21%). You can see a breakdown of all compliance categories in Figure 3. Please note that respondents could select three areas.

Products: What’s Difficult to Manage

Compliance Concerns

Figure 3: Technologies Challenging Compliance Teams

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Many brands have significant trepidation when covering several topics mentioned above on social media. When it comes to promoting products, brands should keep these key points in mind:

Figure 4: Products Challenging Financial Brands

Key Takeaway

Most respondents (82%) said that mortgages and home equity loans are the most challenging products to discuss on social media. Other topics of challenge were direct deposit accounts (26%), personal loans and trusts/investments (15% each, respectively). A breakdown of products challenging financial brands is available in Figure 4.

Content: What’s Difficult to Discuss

When running a paid ad on Facebook, it may fall under a Special Ad Category. This means that the audience selection will be limited to help protect people on Facebook from unlawful discrimination (e.g., credit and employment opportunities).

For any posts that mention a rate, a disclosure must be available within one click of that post. This applies to organic and paid posts.

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Managing CRA

In this year’s survey, we asked how community banks are managing their Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) activities to better understand how their community involvement can be translated into community relations marketing. When asked which area of CRA was the most difficult to track, 66% said community service hours. About a fourth of our respondents (21%) said low- to moderate-income (LMI) loans. Respondents were more confident in tracking community investments (9%) and community donations (4%). Figure 5 covers a breakdown of how financial brands are currently managing their CRA requirements. Please note that respondents could choose more than one answer for each area.

Figure 5: How Financial Brands Manage CRA

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2019 Budget

Comparing Your Advertising Spend

2020 Budget

Paid Channels

Social media and digital marketing are the fastest growing areas of ad spend across many industries. About a fourth of our respondents (21%) are currently spending $20,000 or more. The majority (51%) of those surveyed also shared that they intend to increase their spend in 2020. You can learn more about advertising spend in Figure 6 below.

Key Takeaway Some brands showed a lack of confidence in their advertising investment; 19% were unsure of their 2019 spend and 29% are unsure of their increase in spend for 2020. If a brand is lacking confidence in understanding platforms, type of advertising, etc., partnering with a firm knowledgeable about the financial industry can help them successfully execute their social media and digital marketing budgets.

Figure 6: Advertising Channels and Spend

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About Social Assurance

Our team helps banks and credit unions:

Visit socialassurance.com to schedule a demo, learn more and access our free webinars, blogs and other resources.

The content in this report may be used and redistributed only in the event of full citation and reference back to Social Assurance’s website (socialassurance.com). Written consent must be provided by Social Assurance in the event that this report (in whole or in part) will be shared without citation and reference to Social Assurance’s website.

We amplify financial brands in their communities through software, social and digital solutions built to reach more customers and make compliance officers happy.

• Manage their social media and traditional marketing materials using just our software• Develop and execute strategic social media campaigns, content, advertising and reporting• Create, approve, monitor, manage and archive social media content• Monitor and manage branch and agent social media activity• Capture and manage digital listings and reviews• Track and report on CRA activity

We’re proud to partner with more than 1,500 community financial institutions.