Fintech Content Marketing Strategies for 2021

We’re a month or so into the New Year (has everyone taken a moment to exhale from 2020 yet?), which means we have the better part of 2021 to look forward to. Many people are doubling down on marketing efforts and looking for new, engaging, effective ways to improve fintech content marketing strategies for 2021. If that’s you, we have some unique ways you can punch up your marketing in the new year. 

Go Mobile-First

It’s no secret that mobile is the main channel for things like online search and online shopping. With global smartphone users topping 3.5 billion (a 9.3% increase over 2019), businesses must cater to users on this channel. Fintechs, being rooted in technology, probably understand this better than anyone else; however, it can still be challenging to go completely mobile-first. A few more reasons on the why, and then we’ll show you how.  

• 95% of people in the U.S. own a mobile phone.
• People spend more than 3.5 hours per day on their mobile devices.
• 93% of millennials have compared online deals using a smartphone.
• Mobile commerce sales will account for more than half of all e-commerce sales by 2021. 

When it comes to applying this mobile knowledge to your fintech content marketing strategies, your focus should be on optimizing design, content, and visuals. 

Ensure Content Fits Mobile

It’s easy to layout content for desktop screens where the width can accommodate a lot of text and moving pieces. Mobile is different. Some businesses think it’s a good idea to create less content or different content for the mobile site, and that’s a big no-no, too. Instead, focus on creating your site for mobile-first, using text, titles, headings, and subheadings that are the appropriate length considering how they might appear on a mobile screen (test!). Be sure to use the same URLs for mobile and desktop pages, too (no “m dot” for mobile site pages, please). Google relies on the similarity between mobile and desktop layouts and pages for ranking purposes. 

Visualize Your Visuals

While it’s critical to get text, copy, and headlines right on mobile, images and other visuals are equally important. When you include images and videos, be sure you’re using the same alt text on every version of your website. Again, keep the URL for images and videos the same so that they get indexed. In a similar vein, use the same markup, image titles, captions, and descriptions on both mobile and desktop versions of your site, and be sure that image formats work on both. Finally, keep video content above the fold, making it easy for users to get to it fast on mobile devices. 

Cover Your Search Basics

You want to make sure that your content is available to and accessible by search engines. Verify that your mobile site content is visible to Google’s search crawler. You can use a robots.txt testing tool and/or confirm ownership of your mobile site via Google Search Console. Be sure that you’re using the same meta tags on all versions of your website, including tags for “nofollow” and “noindex,” as these will impact how your pages rank.

Engage With Social

If you’re in B2B business, you might be inclined to skip over this section…and you’d be making a big mistake. One of the gravest errors any business can make when it comes to content marketing strategies for 2021 is to ignore social. Whether you like it or not, people spend time on social media sites — even B2B decision-makers. Rather than shrugging off social media as an ineffective content marketing tactic, find ways to make it work for your unique business. In reality, people are far more inclined to engage with businesses on social media, so harnessing that activity can actually give your content marketing a valuable boost when done correctly. Here are a few ideas to mix things up and find a social presence that works for your organization. 

Make it Personal

Social media should rarely if ever, be used to sell. Many people use social media to promote their content and thought leadership, but you can find ways to make it much more personal than that. Consider using your Instagram page to showcase your team and culture. B2B is still people buying from people, and what better way to show your prospects who they’re buying from than by highlighting the people that work for your organization? Feature a different employee each week and include some photos and background about that person that explains who they are beyond just another face behind a cubicle (or screen). It’s a great way to add humanness to your brand and loop people into the kind of culture you embrace. 

Make it a Personality

If your brand embraces quirkiness, consider creating a social personality. You’re probably familiar with many B2C brands that excel at this (we’re looking at you, Wendy’s), but B2B can benefit equally from leveraging a persona that people can relate to. It doesn’t even need to be quirky. Considering that we’re talking about fintech content marketing strategies, consider tapping a robot-like mascot that can help distribute content for your brand, and engage in conversations with your followers. 

Make it a Handshake

Just like a handshake, social media only works if there’s more than one person involved. Your social streams should not be a one-directional flow of information. Keep tabs on comments and @ mentions and be sure that you’re responding when appropriate. Many organizations use social media as a customer service channel. Leverage tools like SproutSocial or Hootsuite to keep tabs on how people are interacting with you and the best ways to respond. 

Get Bold With Content

It’s 2021 and fintech content marketing is exploding. Everyone and their grandmother is doing it and you’ll need to get a bit bolder if you want to stand apart from the pack. While the tried and true thought leadership, blogging, and ebook route is a great start, be sure to mix it up and keep things fresh. If your brand has long-relied on written content, try mixing things up with more infographics and videos. Even blog posts can be spiced up with a two-minute summary video that someone from your team can shoot on an iPhone. 

If you’ve been a blog-oriented company, try investing in some more long-form content like reports, white papers, or ebooks. Even if you don’t have the budget to invest in Forrester-caliber research, SurveyMonkey and Google Forms can go a long way in gathering unique findings and insights from your prospects and customers. That data can also be turned into captivating infographics or animated videos to draw new visitors to your site.

Focus on Engagement

Churning out a smorgasbord of high-quality content is wonderful, but if no one is engaging with your brand, you’re not getting the biggest bang for your buck from your fintech content marketing strategy. The handshake principle outlined in the social media section above applies to all your content marketing. No one likes to be talked at in a conversation, so why would you do that with your content? Think about some of the following ideas to make it compelling for people to interact with your organization: 

• Add tools and resources to your site (calculators, quizzes, etc.) that people can use
• Create a Quora-style community where people can post questions, provide their own insights, and engage with other industry professionals on relevant topics
• Work webinars, online events, and other interactive sessions into the content mix
• Encourage or highlight user-generated content (UGC) on your website
• Host a Q&A session on Twitter
• Do an Instagram Live session where you talk with industry experts and allow people to ask questions

Repeat Fintech Content Marketing Strategies from 2020

Yep. If it’s not broken, don’t fix it (or focus instead on upgrades rather than total re-works). Depending on where you’re at in your fintech content marketing journey, you may have already tapped into strategies and tactics that work well for your brand. If that’s the case, keep moving! You’ve achieved the highly-coveted rank of “it’s working well”, which is a success in the hyper-crowded fintech space where content is oozing out of the internet. Of course, you always want to push for improvement, so consider using some of the strategies above to augment what you’re already doing. No matter what, embrace the fact that it’s a new year and a new window of time to get creative, produce exciting content, and succeed!