Original content isn’t the first thing most of us think of when it comes to banks. But in the age of social media, content is an increasingly crucial component of online marketing campaigns, and the financial services industry has emerged as a major player.

It makes sense that brands such as Citi, American Express and Mint would be drawn to content campaigns. Money and what we do with it is a powerful topic capable of sparking great discussions—you need only look at the success of CNN Money or the Wall Street Journal to see that. Finance journalism has always been heavily dependent on industry experts, many of whom work inside financial institutions. So why shouldn’t those brands put their own experts to work on their own content campaigns? Increasingly they are doing just that.

Brands also see content as an opportunity to target specific customers. A LinkedIn study earlier this year found that 87 percent of the Mass Affluent—the 40 million people in the U.S. with between $100,000 and $1 million in assets, excluding the value of their homes—are active on social media. These are the people financial services companies want to reach, and a significant percentage of them are happy to reach back.

Follow the link below for the full article which also contains a free eBook: “Banking on Content: How the Financial Industry is Pioneering the New Marketing”.

http://www.adweek.com/brandshare/how-finance-industry-leads-way-content-marketing-153288