Since the economic crisis of 2008, the financial services industry has struggled with low levels of customer trust.
Technology now provides merchant cash advance (MCA) funders new and innovative communication channels, through which they can establish trust and cultivate the loyalty that was lost on traditional funding services.
Social media marketing for MCA funders plays a significant role in building relationships with customers, and ultimately driving funding requests. Via social media, MCA funders can deliver easily digestible information regarding the funding process, right to the screens of their target audience.
Today we’ll discuss the advantages of social media marketing for MCA funders, as well as review five best practices you can deploy in your social media interactions.
Benefits of Social Media Marketing for MCA Funders
Social media marketing hasn’t been around very long. But since the early 2000s, it has become an essential touchpoint in the sales process for brands. After all, more than two-thirds of the world uses social media, with daily use reaching nearly 2.5 hours on average.
Because financial services is an industry rooted in traditional marketing, it’s been a bit slow to adopt the use of social media.
However, modern fintechs, including MCA funders, need to find creative ways to incorporate social media wisely and safely. You can use social media marketing to:
- Understand customer preferences: By analyzing your audience’s interactions on social media, you can inform your MCA funding process right from the very first engagement.
- Increase brand exposure: Get the audience to become aware of your brand. 83% of marketers worldwide say increased brand exposure has been a leading benefit of their social media marketing.
- Build trust: Customers must first trust your brand before they share personal financial details. By investing in a social media community and regularly engaging with members, you can bring users closer to your brand while fostering loyalty.
- Generate leads: SMEs are actively looking for financing options to weather economic uncertainty. Social media is a huge opportunity for merchant cash advance funders to truly connect with audience segments.
And it’s not just limited to marketing: It’s such a powerful tool that some of the most innovative MCA funders are even incorporating social media into their credit scoring models.
Top Social Media Platforms for MCA Funders
With so many different social media platforms, where should merchant cash advance funders spend their time and resources?
To reap the benefits of social media, you don’t need to be on every platform. Choose a few that align with your audience and start by building a meaningful connection with potential prospects and current customers.
The main social media platforms MCA funders should consider include:
- X
- YouTube
Check out this handy HubSpot guide to better understand how each platform works, the pros and cons, and how they can help your MCA funding business.
Make sure to keep up with the news, as you never know when a platform might face regulatory hurdles or lose favor among your target audience. It’s smart to spread your efforts across multiple platforms, safeguarding your reach.
5 Social Media Marketing Best Practices for MCA Funders
The expectations of your prospects and customers are continually evolving, and you have to let them know that you’re up to speed. Social media is where your audience can engage with your brand, get to know you, and find out why they should do business with you.
Here are five social media marketing best practices for merchant cash advance funders.
1. Know (and Understand) Your Audience
At the heart of any social media strategy is a clearly defined audience. Don’t assume anything, especially when you have data at your fingertips that can give you the truth.
- Where are your ideal customers hanging out online?
- What are their challenges?
- How do they like to engage?
- What do they care about?
By crafting a tailored strategy for each audience on each platform, you’ll be able to hit your target with every piece of content you publish. Over 30% of B2B professionals say that social media has allowed them to build deeper relationships with customers.
Take it deeper by identifying unique audience pain points and how your offerings address those challenges.
2. Research Your Competitors
If you know what your competitors are doing, you can do it better.
Find out the strengths and weaknesses of your competitors, and use this intel to improve your own performance. Take a look at which platforms they’re using, how many followers they have, what kind of content they’re producing (and how their followers engage), and even how often/when they post.
There are many analytics tools available that can track your top competitors and deliver valuable insights.
3. Set Clear and Measurable KPIs
Your social media efforts need a clear content strategy with defined goals. What do you want to accomplish, specifically?
Yes, social media offers you the opportunity to expand your reach with respect to new followers and views. However, consider shifting your focus to engagement (as positive engagement leads to more leads), and decide how you will track your progress.
Be strategic with every action—your social media goals should align with your business goals.
4. Create an Experience Your Customers Will Love
As an MCA funder, there are some predictable questions your customers will have along the journey.
Use your social media channels to provide answers and let your potential customers know what they can expect when engaging with you for funding. Think outside the box when it comes to your content, by anticipating these questions and then answering them in a way your audience understands.
How you engage and personalize your interactions on social media contributes to the overall MCA funding customer experience.
Social media can be a big part of your customer service efforts, so ensure you are engaging with every comment and message in a timely manner. Remember, nearly 80% of customers expect a response within a day of reaching out on social media.
5. Embrace Social Listening
Your reputation will evolve as you open up additional communication channels for your business.
Monitoring what your customers are saying about you can help you understand and make adjustments to your strategy. Watch for brand mentions across social media channels and pay attention to hashtags users are incorporating into their posts.
Don’t be afraid to come right out and ask your audience for their opinion. Is there a feature they want? Something about your funding process they find confusing? Set up a simple survey or make it a point to include Q&A in your social strategy.
Social Media Marketing Resources
Like many worthwhile endeavors, social media marketing requires a bit of learning, strategy, and time. Thankfully, there are many helpful online guides and tools to make your strategy effective and efficient.
These are a few of our favorites:
- HubSpot: If you’re looking for step-by-step guides, templates, and resources for every social platform out there, HubSpot Academy is the place to go. They even have educational courses for refining your social media skills.
- Sprout Social: Analytics, publishing and scheduling posts, social listening—Sprout Social can do it all. With affordable options starting at $199 per month, this platform is like having a team of social media experts working with you to ensure your strategy is solid.
- Hootsuite: This social media management platform makes it easy for brands to create content, schedule posts, and track everything about their social followers. Even if you choose not to use their paid scheduling tools, take advantage of all the free guides and templates for everything from strategy to reporting.
With these tools at your disposal, you’ll improve how you connect with your audience, step up your social media strategy, and save time—all while boosting your results.
Start With Social, Finish With Onyx IQ
With the best practices and resources discussed above, you’re ready to get more out of your social media marketing.
Remember: Your target audience is on social media. They want to engage with you, learn about your brand, and build an authentic connection.
It’s an audience ready and waiting for you.
Once those prospects become customers, use a best-in-class automated loan management platform like Onyx IQ. Built by MCA funders for MCA funders, Onyx IQ provides MCA workflows and templates, a fully integrated ecosystem, and robust reporting—essentially everything you need to supercharge your operations and provide a modern funding experience.
Schedule an Onyx IQ demo today or email us at info@onyxiq.com to learn more.
