PPC for Credit Unions: Top 6 Ways to Increase Loyalty and Gain New Accounts and Members with Paid Search Advertising and Social Media

Financial services are not an impulse purchase. Most consumers do their research before deciding to apply for a financial service or switch financial institutions. This is where pay per click search advertising (PPC) and social media can work for your credit union.

Here are the top 6 ways PPC and Social Media can increase loyalty and gain new accounts & members for your credit union.

1. Local Targeting

• When a prospective customer searches online for credit unions or banks in your area, you want your credit union to show up in their search results.
• For Local targeting, you should have:
  • A claimed and optimized Google My Business (GMB) listing for each location
  • Populate your GMB listing with photos
  • A few real reviews on the GMB listing for each location
  • A unique page on your website for each location

2. Remarketing

• Remarketing ads are a great way to re-engage potential customers to finalize their purchase or make the switch to your credit union by showing them content on other sites after they have visited your site.
• Here’s how remarketing works:

1. A person visits your credit union’s website.
2. A pixel (or cookie) is automatically dropped on the browser of that person by the third-party retargeting service (Google, AdRoll, etc.).
3. The person then leaves your credit union’s website.
4. Online ads from your credit union will be shown to that person as they visit other websites and social media channels. (Your marketing team can design the ad content and decide how frequently and for how long the ad appears to that person).

3. Make Your Ads Relevant

• For Social –
  • You can target audience by demographic criteria, location, etc. when they are in the awareness phase (they’re not yet searching for your exact services but are the right demographic.)
• For PPC –
  • Your potential customer already knows they need this service and are researching.  Service related searches on Google are often in the format of service + location, so that is how many people search for financial options. Use this to determine your keyword phrases and make your ads relevant to your demographic.  Examples:
    • Personal loans in New York City (or “personal loan near me” if they’re on their mobile device)
    • Auto loans in Atlanta Georgia

4. Focus on Lead Capture

• The goal of your social media and PPC should be to drive traffic to your credit union website where you can capture qualified leads.
• When you can capture leads early in the consumer’s buying journey, you can then nurture them with useful content until they show enough interest to have a sales follow-up.
• Examples:
  • Loan and Interest Rates Calculator
  • E-Book
  • Loan Options
  • By Sending Results via an Email, you’re getting a new Lead

5. Monitor and Engage

• The point of social media is to connect with your existing customers and potential customers.
• Make sure to monitor your social media posts and engage with your followers.
• Answer questions, provide feedback, and offer assistance. Those questions and answers can be added to your website as an FAQ section, which is great for both users and search engines (SEO).
• You want social media to be a tool to generate new leads for your credit union and to showcase your strengths as a credit union.

6. Be Visual

• The key to success on social media is to make your posts visual.
• Repurpose and repost content from other channels by making it visual with an infographic or a short video.
• Make your credit union more personable by posting pictures of your credit union employees, inspirational quotes, and humor.

I Want More Leads!

If you are not using PPC and social media for your credit union, you are missing out on leads. If you need help improving your credit union landing page or forming a credit union marketing strategy, please email me at leslie@thesearchguru.com or call my cell directly at 440-463-3871.