Benefits Of Social Listening In Financial Services

Pew Research Center reports that Facebook is one of the most popular social media platforms in the United States, with half of American adults also active on Instagram. 

But, how many of them are using their social media to talk about money and ask for financial advice? Are you listening to them? More importantly, are you listening to them in a way that can drive business growth and boost engagement? 

This article discusses how social listening in financial services can help you understand your customers’ pain points and create a personalized solution. It also covers actionable insights to develop a comprehensive strategy. 

What is Social Listening? 

Social listening is monitoring digital conversations on social media channels to better understand:

• How customers feel about your brand (and services)
• What customers like
• Any emerging trends that can help you stay ahead of the curve

This isn’t only social monitoring, where you only track brand mentions. Social media listening is more than that. It gives you real-time insights into sentiment, context, and conversation patterns. 

How Social Listening Works in the Financial Services Industry 

Financial service providers using social listening tools can spot issues and customers’ unmet needs before they transform into bigger challenges. 

For example, if a bank or a financial institution has launched a new mobile app, you could use customer opinions to determine whether you need to implement new features. For example, you might discover through social conversations that users are frustrated with security issues or delayed transfers on weekends. 

You could use this data to offer instant transfers and new security methods like face recognition. 

When you listen, you are creating a personalized experience. Social conversation insights allow financial organizations to tailor their services to their audience and stand out from competitors by responding to users’ issues. 

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The Importance of Personalization in Financial Services

Below are some key benefits demonstrating how social listening in financial services can deliver a more personalized customer service.

Retargeting inactive customers

Social media tools can help identify customers who have stopped using your services – for example, they may not have made any payments through their banking app. The marketing team can launch a reactivation campaign, such as sending an email to address why customers have become inactive. 

Customer feedback is key here. It helps you rebuild trust and encourages clients to resume using your services. 

Evolving customer expectations

Customers’ expectations are always evolving. Today, they’re looking for a more personalized and responsive approach that helps them reach their financial goal. 

For example, many people now use mobile banking apps, which allow them to make payments in different currencies and transfer funds instantly. These apps also offer money-saving vaults or joint accounts. 

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Integration of additional products and services

Listening tools can spot opportunities to help businesses in the financial services industry expand their offerings. If customers frequently mention bundled services, such as personal loans combined with financial planning advice, banks can offer them as part of a one-stop solution. 

How Social Media Listening Drives Personalized Product Development

Social media listening helps financial services brands create personalized products by:

Identifying customer needs and pain points

With an analytics tool, financial companies can gather feedback without asking their customers directly. 

Some people might feel uncomfortable using traditional feedback methods, such as polls or survey forms. However, they may be more honest when writing reviews on social media, and other users might also interact with their posts or comments. 

For instance, students might be concerned about how to refinance private student loans, as information on interest rates and lender options may be unclear. Financial service providers can create resources (like a step-by-step guide) or products that address these pain points when they track these conversations. This makes refinancing options clearer and more accessible. 

Remember that this approach doesn’t only solve the social media user’s issue. It also shows that the financial organization really cares about customer input, which can be a great way to build trust and long-term relationships. 

Analyzing trends

Monitoring industry trends allows financial organizations to discover new technologies, services, and customer demands shaping today’s market. With this information, they can adapt their offerings and create transformative projects. 

To establish themselves as innovative leaders, financial providers can:

• Follow financial services industry experts and influencers: Influencers post product reviews and update their followers with the latest industry news, helping you better understand what’s going on.    
• Track relevant hashtags: If you’re in the banking industry, you can analyze what social media users say by tracking hashtags like #DigitalBanking. 
• Join online communities: LinkedIn groups or Reddit’s r/fintech discussions provide direct access to customer opinions and any ideas they might have on new product development.

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Targeting new audiences

When financial services brands analyze conversations on social media platforms, they can learn about the challenges people face today. An example would be when applying for remote (mainly international) jobs.

Some companies cannot hire people internationally if they don’t have an onsite facility where they want to hire. This is due to legal reasons. For instance, in Germany, people can only work full-time with one company if they’re registered as employees and pay their monthly health insurance contributions. 

This is where employers of record services come in. They make it easier to manage international teams and can act as the local employer on behalf of the hiring company. This ensures that financial service providers comply with legal obligations while meeting the needs of new audiences. 

Keyhole’s Role in Social Listening for Financial Service Providers

Keyhole is a social listening tool that equips financial service providers with real-time consumer insights on social media. These insights allow marketers and customer experience teams to refine their marketing strategies and product personalization to meet the customers’ needs. 

The tool comes with several features. For example, it:

Helps you uncover global trends: 

The platform reveals global insights, helping institutions create financial solutions for both local and international audiences.

Analyzes patterns: 

Keyhole constantly monitors your social media posts and reveals your target audience’s reactions. Through interactions (likes, comments, and shares), you can find out which content resonates most with your audience. This helps you decide whether to adjust your messaging or refine your marketing campaign. 

Protects your brand: 

Receive alerts on negative feedback as soon as it’s posted. Don’t ignore them. The most important thing is that you address it professionally before it escalates.

According to a 2025 BrightLocal survey, 89% of respondents are more likely to use a company if it responds to both positive and negative reviews. 

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Thank the social media user for their honest review and provide a solution.

Analyze sentiments: Keyhole provides sentiment analysis, which tells you whether your customers are satisfied with or feel frustrated about your brand or competitors. Leverage this data to fine-tune your messaging and tone based on how customers really feel. 

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Helps you connect with influencers (with a click): With Keyhole, you can find influencers within the financial industry and monitor your influencer campaigns on one platform—all without having to switch between tabs to analyze different URLs.

Read more: How To Find The Right Influencers

Tips for Enhancing Marketing and Customer Experience 

Marketing and customer service teams can transform raw social data into actionable insights to boost engagement and improve product development. The following tips discuss how to implement these strategies and measure the overall impact of your campaign. 

Putting your social listening efforts into action

To get started:

• Start small: First, determine which social channels your audience uses the most. If your customer base is mostly active on Facebook and X (formerly Twitter), for example, monitor those platforms first. Then, expand to other channels. 
• Set clear objectives: What do you want to achieve? Decide whether you’re looking to boost customer satisfaction, refine your messaging strategy, or improve your product features.
• Use social media tools: Keyhole automates your data collection and analysis process. You don’t have to dig manually to explore influencer collaboration opportunities or discover what students are saying about your finance loans. 

Leveraging data  

Here’s how you can use the data you extract from the social media tool:

• Analyze regularly: Perform regular reviews to stay current on trends and customer reviews. For instance, a credit union can schedule monthly sentiment analyses on posts focusing on loan processing times. Based on feedback, they can refine their protocols.
• Collaborate: Share customer feedback with your team. Let’s say your social media tool shows that customers don’t have a clear overview of fee structures for loan payments. Your marketing and product development teams can collaborate to revise the messaging and improve transparency. 
• Segment your audience: Use different categories for your target audience based on their geographic location (as an example). Then, the financial team can create personalized products tailored to regional preferences.

Read more: Social Media Marketing: What It Is And How To Build Your Strategy

Measuring impact and optimizing campaigns

The last step is about monitoring, testing, and revising your social media strategy:

• Establish key performance indicators (KPIs): Define your target metrics, such as sentiment changes or engagement rates. After analyzing your social media listening data, aim to increase social media engagement by 15%. 
• Test: Run pilot campaigns to test new services and messaging. Launching a temporary campaign on a new savings product could help you gather real-time social feedback before the official rollout.  
• Monitor return on investment (ROI): Monitor improvements, such as new account openings and sales performance. Check if your analytics tool has been effective in helping you achieve these goals. This ensures your social investments are delivering measurable results and driving business growth.

Final Words

Listening on social media is transforming the way financial service providers engage with their target audience. Capturing real-time insights, like how people react to new features, helps institutions create personalized products that cater to individuals’ needs. 

Author

Guillaume is a digital marketer focused on handling the outreach strategy at uSERP and content management at Wordable. Outside of work, he enjoys his expat life in sunny Mexico, reading books, wandering around and catching the latest shows on TV.