Scroll through the social media feed of almost any bank or credit union and you'll notice something. It's fine. Inoffensive. Thoroughly, aggressively fine. Stock photography of people looking thoughtfully at laptops. Copy that reads like it survived six rounds of legal review.
Which, to be fair, it probably did.
But "fine" doesn't stop the scroll. It doesn't build loyalty. And in a category where most consumers feel zero emotional connection to their financial institution, it's a significant missed opportunity.
I've spent a good chunk of my career doing financial services social media copywriting. I've watched brands talk themselves into mediocrity over and over again. Here's why it happens — and what actually works.
Why financial services social media is so bad
The problems are almost always the same three things.
Compliance paralysis. Legal teams exist for good reasons. But when every piece of copy has to survive committee review, the life gets edited out of it. The brand voice that started as "approachable and human" ends up reading like a terms and conditions page. The fix isn't to ignore compliance — it's to involve them earlier, build guardrails that protect the brand without muzzling it, and write copy that's both legally sound and worth reading.
Corporate voice by default. Financial services brands default to formal, institutional language because it feels safe. But your customers aren't formal and institutional. They're trying to figure out if they can afford a vacation. Stressing about their kid's college fund. Wondering whether they're saving enough. Writing to them like they're attending a shareholder meeting is a choice. Not a good one.
No real strategy. Posting three times a week is not a social media content strategy. Sharing rate announcements and holiday graphics is not a content strategy. A real strategy starts with one question: what do we want people to think, feel, or do after they see this? If you can't answer it, you're just filling a calendar.
What good financial services social media actually looks like
A few years ago, I led the social media copywriting and content strategy for a student checking account growth campaign at MIDFLORIDA Credit Union. The goal was simple — grow teen checking accounts. The challenge was real: how do you get teenagers (and their parents) to care about a checking account?
The answer wasn't to pretend we weren't selling a product. It was to sell it like we actually understood who we were selling it to.
We didn't write about features. We wrote about the feeling of having your own money, your own card, your own financial independence — for the first time.
The strategy deliberately split by platform and audience. Instagram content used lifestyle photography and conversational copy written for teenagers. Facebook content was aimed squarely at parents. Blog content served three distinct jobs: financial advice for Gen Z, persuasion content for parents, and practical onboarding tips for new customers. Every piece had a specific person and a specific job to do.
The results:
None of that happened because we wrote great compliance-approved copy. It happened because we started with the audience — what they cared about, where they were, what would actually make them stop — and built the content strategy backward from there.
The fix
It's simpler than most brands want to believe.
Audit your content for the "so what." Go through your last 30 posts. Ask: why would anyone who doesn't already bank with us care about this? If you can't answer it, the post shouldn't exist.
Write for one person, not a demographic. "Adults 25–54" is not a person. "A 32-year-old trying to figure out whether she should open a Roth IRA or pay down her student loans" is a person. Write for her.
Segment your audience — really. The MIDFLORIDA campaign worked in part because we stopped writing one thing that had to appeal to everyone. Teens and their parents want different things. They respond to different messages. Meet them where they are.
Give your content a job description. Every piece should have a clear purpose — awareness, education, conversion, retention. No job? No post.
Financial services brands have more interesting things to say than they realize. The problem isn't the category. It's the assumption that "safe" and "good" are the same thing. They're not. Safe is just boring. And boring doesn't grow checking accounts.
If your brand is ready to stop being fine and start being worth reading, let's talk. I've spent 20+ years making complex financial topics feel human — and I'd love to do it for you.