Capital markets content can easily be overrun by statistics and tables, with figures flitting over your screen faster than Formula 1 cars fighting it out for a podium finish. But unfortunately, data dumps don’t necessarily equate to content interactions that matter. For capital markets to succeed online, they need to provide content throughout their content syndication network that will want investors to say, “Take my money.” And that requires some finessing.
We take a closer look at how to approach content syndication for capital markets with the right content types and formats and how to measure the success of your content strategy.
The Importance of Maintaining Depth in Capital Markets Content
Capital markets have no shortage of information or opportunities to spread that information. But just throwing content out there and hoping something will stick won’t allow these firms to capture the audiences they need to further their business.
Why Depth Matters for Capital Markets Audiences
Industry experts often provide a layer of expertise from their years of experience and insights into the markets over time. Institution investors and asset managers can deep-dive markets and trends and provide:
- An understanding of financial concepts: Finance terms can often get lost in their complexity, but for industry experts, they are easy to break down and deep dive into. The result is that the content resonates with those with the financial acumen to already know the topic and the opportunity to reach an audience still gaining and understanding it.
- Accurate and actionable analysis: Industry experts know which market indicators to look for and which trends will resurface over time. They often provide actionable analysis based on the past performance of funds and market movements to allow investors insight into possible future movements.
Without an insightful deep dive into financial topics, capital markets run the risk of providing superficial, unactionable content. This will push their audience to seek the information elsewhere, which creates an opportunity for a competitor to move in.
Balancing Thought Leadership and Visibility
When using a content syndication network, capital markets must closely watch their content to ensure a consistent message across channels and platforms. They can do this through:
- Content guidelines: Brand and voice guidelines ensure contributors create content that resonates across the entire distribution network.
- Editorial oversight: Someone who understands the editorial requirements of the firm, including compliance, brand, and regulatory matters, should oversee the content across the channels to ensure consistency in quality.
- Expert insights: Financial content often needs an added layer of trust to build credibility and ensure that the content meets the audience’s expectations. The consistent use of expert insights can help firms achieve this.
- Content updates: Content updates are crucial to ensure the firm’s content remains relevant and satisfies regulatory requirements.
Advanced Cross-Channel Content Syndication Strategies
Choosing the right channels means identifying where your ideal target market goes to get information and insights. You’ll want to ensure capital market content stays within your brand guidelines across owned, earned, and paid channels. To achieve this, these channels need to:
- Meet the credibility standards: Readers are more likely to trust content that contains contributions from credible authors. Credible news sites and financial publications such as Reuters and Financial Times meet these criteria in the financial industry.
- Align with the firm’s brand message: These channels should add to the brand image, not detract from it. Your readers should feel more at ease with your brand after seeing content on a channel.
- Provide proper engagement levels: While it might seem to post content on a variety of sites, the content must remain relevant. Review posts to ensure the chosen platforms generate actual interest and there’s sufficient engagement to warrant pushing content through that specific channel.
- Meet regulatory standards: Only distribute content through channels with a proven track record of meeting regulatory standards.
- Meet your audience where they are: A targeted distribution channel will ensure that your content goes to all the channels your audiences frequent, such as education content on social media or reports and insights on LinkedIn.
Repurposing Content for Maximum Impact
Content can and should be used in different ways. One in-depth market analysis, report, or white paper can be used in various formats to reach an audience across various channels. For instance:
- Statistics and figures can be used in insightful charts or infographics
- Research data and analyses can be used to create scripts for video content
- Data can be combined to create helpful blogs and educational content
An example of successful content syndication in the financial landscape is the GoBankingRates white paper, which assists banks in attracting new customers by tailoring the content to their needs. This provides valuable insights that will attract customers across various target markets, and banks simply have to incorporate the information into their blogs, articles, thought leadership pieces, and insights.
Maintaining Strategic Depth in Repurposed Content
While keeping editorial and brand guidelines in place across channels is essential, knowing which channels are best suited and which content types work best for syndicated content is important.
Adapting Content While Preserving Depth
Capital markets can maintain the integrity of their content even when adapting to different platforms simply by:
- Platform-specific formats: The different outlets have different formats that suit their audiences. For instance, content such as infographics, short reels, and bite-sized info work well on social media platforms. For news outlets, consider data-driven formats such as articles or opinion pieces.
- Tone adjustment: Tailor content to the platform’s audience. For instance, blog posts on retail sites are for a broader market, while thought leadership posts are more formal and analytical.
Key Formats for Syndicated Content
There are content formats that work best for capital market firms, such as podcasts, webinars, and blogs. For institutions to gain a greater reach, maintain integrity, and get their message across, multimedia formats such as videos and infographics help greatly without diluting the content. A good example of a capital market firm that uses all these formats well to drive traffic throughout its syndication network is Goldman Sachs through its Marquee program.
Measuring the Success of Your Content Syndication Efforts
It’s crucial to know what happens with your content once you’ve put it out there to ensure your syndication network works for your brand. You can measure the success of your content through metrics and continuous optimization.
Key metrics will reveal just how much and how successfully your audience interacts with your content. Look closely at:
- Engagement rates: A higher engagement rate means that users interact with your content. Ways to increase engagement include content that prompts responses, such as opt-in buttons, comment boxes, and interactive tools.
- Lead generation: Capital market firms need to convey a lot of trust before clients are willing to hand over their personal information. Your lead generation will tell you whether you’ve successfully conveyed trust with your content.
- Client inquiries: The more client inquiries you have, the better your chances of creating a touchpoint with the client. On the flip side, this may also mean that your content doesn’t provide enough information at the get-go, resulting in clients clogging up your contact tools such as messaging and chat services.
Continuous Optimization of Syndicated Content
Every interaction, or lack thereof, can provide you with the necessary insight to leverage your content for better reach. Use data to refine your syndication strategies by:
- Analyzing your audience: Demographic and behavioral data provide insight into your customers’ ages, professions, and locations, which helps you target your content more effectively. For capital markets, you can personalize your content to zero in on their financial needs, whether they require stocks, bonds, or lending services.
- Content personalization: Use behavioral targeting and A/B testing to ensure your content meets the needs of your audience through advanced personalization. This allows you to see which of your calls to action drive more leads and if your headlines attract readers.
- Market and trend analysis: Sentiment insights such as those provided by Hootsuite and Sprout Social will let you know whether your site visitors feel positive, negative, or neutral toward your content on social media.
- Platform-specific insights: You can measure your content’s performance across platforms that go beyond social media within your syndication network with Hootsuite or Buffer. You can also check platform-specific insights like those provided by LinkedIn and X (formally known as Twitter).
Make the Most of Content Syndication Without Sacrificing Your Content Value
Capital market firms can benefit from content syndication to increase their reach. Industry best practices include matching the right content with the platform, delivering a consistent brand voice, and creating a clear editorial pathway for all content types. Constant monitoring of the content performance is critical to understanding which levers garner the best results.
Our content professionals can help you outline a content plan that will make the most of your syndication networks while still keeping the integrity of your brand and message. Talk to one of our content specialists about your content needs.
