Digital marketing for friendly societies

Some of the challenges faced by friendly societies are no different to those of other financial institutions (i.e. Consumer Duty, sustainability, D&I, digitisation). But one of the key issues that sits at the very heart of their proposition is whether the public, and more specifically younger people, understand what a mutual is and does, and how this model might benefit them.

With a huge distrust for many banks and financial services and increasing pressures on the welfare state, friendlies should be a shoo-in. Indeed, they need new blood for their own long-term survival but how to attract a new mobile-first, tech-savvy, TikTok generation is a question that may be leaving many at friendly societies scratching their heads.

Leaving aside the importance of a technical website audit, what can be done?

Branding

Normally, branding isn’t an area in which we, at Browser Media, usually get involved. Our mantra is, ‘We don’t particularly care what your logo looks like or where you put it on your website,’ as it rarely affects SEO but if a friendly society is looking to attract a younger demographic, then branding simply can’t be ignored. However, changes to the look and feel of a brand should be ushered in gently via consultation – anything too radical could alienate existing members as the mutual, Nottingham Building Society recently experienced.

A good place to start is by looking at what some of the newer challenger banks (and other sectors outside of financial services) are doing, as that’s what younger audiences will be accustomed to. If a friendly society’s website looks dated, it might attract visitors but they won’t hang around long enough to interact and even less so, trust it with their savings or protection needs.

Keyword research for product content

The second question to ask is how well-optimised a website is and when an audit was last undertaken?

I’m not a fan of constantly tinkering with the meta content on a website for the sake of it. It needs time to bed in and for search engines to understand it and determine where the site should come in the pecking order of SERPS. However, it does need a review from time-to-time and sometimes a refresh of meta content is a good stimulant to invite Google to recrawl your site.

A common mistake made in financial services is optimising around a product name rather than the generic product term, or using industry terminology rather than the words and phrases that real people use. On the flip side, hugely competitive terms will be hard to rank for, so it’s good to look for that sweet spot in the middle.

Once decisions have been made about which product terms to use, the H1, page title and page description all need to work in harmony with each other and with the on-page content too. While keyword research is reasonably scientific its application on the page is more of an art form in terms of appropriate repetition and readability.

Even if a friendly society’s products are mainly sold via intermediaries, it’s important that both the end user and the intermediary can easily find and understand the details of the products online: selling via a third party is no excuse for sloppy SEO.

Long-tail terms and content strategy

Supporting their members and community is in the DNA of friendly societies and indeed, this gives a great deal of comfort to members, new prospects and intermediaries that they are putting their money where its mouth is. It’s what I consider to be ‘due diligence content’. While this altruistic activity may be well received on social media to an already engaged audience, it is, however, unlikely to attract new members via organic search.

Most friendly societies could attract more members by thinking broadly about what support their target audiences need in terms of their finances. For intermediaries, this could be around specific product queries but for consumers it could also be around life goals and milestones that also help the individual make the association between the society and their own finances.

Longtail keywords often show a high intent on behalf of the searcher, so are potentially more likely to convert. If the goal is to attract younger members, then focussing on weddings, understanding the cost of childcare, saving for eldercare etc. will all touch a nerve with this audience.

Social media opportunities for friendly societies

If a prospective member only visited the social media channels of many a friendly society, they could be forgiven for believing that the society is in fact a charity rather than a financial institution. The content often heavily focuses on the do-gooding rather than anything remotely fiscal.

Social media may be top of the funnel when it comes to financial services marketing but it needs to be more than just a way to amplify the social and community work that a friendly society undertakes. When more investment is made into long-tail content, a society will have a selection of evergreen articles and blog posts that can be shared on a regular basis. Crucially, to get the valuable insights within this content, readers will click a link and arrive on the website, where they will have a more meaningful interaction with the society.

Returning to my introduction… if a friendly has got the time, the budget and the creativity to make content for TikTok, then being on this (or similar channels) will certainly reach Gen X but the effort will only be of any consequence if said content is appealing to them. It’s therefore important to question the sort of content that a target audience is seeking when on different platforms or in different places online. If they are there for the funnies, the celebrity or the make-up tips, they probably aren’t in the right frame of mind to be receptive to messages about income protection or children’s ISAs!

For those friendly societies whose focus is B2B, then social media should not be overlooked: a small but loyal social following can still be beneficial.

Link building for friendly societies

Whether you prefer the term online PR, link building or outreach, this should always be part of the marketing arsenal of a friendly society.

There are many ways to create links back to a website but with their member-focus and the good they bring to society, friendly societies have the opportunity to open doors that may not be available to other financial institutions. Having warned against making too much of their ESG activity on social media, from an SEO point of view, having multiple partners and charitable links, offers friendlies rich pickings.

Unfortunately, the outcomes of this type of activity can take a while to come to fruition, not only in terms of links being achieved but also in terms of them having an impact on rankings. It’s always worth remembering that the links that are hardest to build often do your site the most good, so patience really is a virtue here.

Sustainablity

ESG is a priority for many financial organisations. The s (sustainability) means different things in different contexts but for friendly societies, it really has to be about ensuring the long-term viability of their organisation for the good of existing and future generations.  With smaller budgets than some of their ‘unfriendly’ competitors, digital marketing is an area that friendly societies should be embracing. Not only is it often more cost-effective and measurable than other routes to marketing but it is absolutely essential to reach the next gen.