Asset management firms like Fidelity and social media don’t always seem like natural companions. Investors pick their asset management firm based on fees, performance, reputation or personal relationships. “Do you have a metaverse money temple where I can meditate?” or “can you have a TikTok cowboy teach me about tax-loss harvesting?” presumably are lower priorities when selecting an asset management firm. (CI did not ask about the metaverse or cowboys in our most recent investor surveys.)
But social media platforms are an area where asset management firms can set themselves apart. Clever firms can draw the attention of the younger, more online Gen Z and Millennial prospects, educate investors and create new customer service channels.
CI’s Asset Management research team recently released a report detailing the social media efforts of asset management firms, with some surprising findings. Every firm posts at least occasionally, and 47% of firms post daily. But the quality and creativity of posts varies. Some firms use social media in a perfunctory manner, promoting commentaries that receive little engagement. Other firms, meanwhile, take advantage of the opportunities social media provides, connecting with investors in unexpected ways.
Below are some sample findings from that social media report, with a particular focus on Fidelity, the most online of the asset management firms in the report.
Fidelity posts everywhere
While every firm posts to social media in some capacity, not all platforms receive the same attention, as some profiles sit abandoned with outdated posts. Fidelity stands out for maintaining a strong social media presence across each of its used platforms. And it uses a lot of platforms: Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube, Reddit, Twitter, Facebook, TikTok, Discord, the Metaverse and Roblox. The firm manages to keep each profile up to date. It also promotes secondary accounts on certain platforms, like an Instagram account tailored toward women, as well as a secondary Reddit page specifically for the firm’s crypto offerings.
Most content focuses on investment education, with commentaries, embedded pictures and videos that offer tips and tricks. Other content, however, is . . . much more experimental. While the firm’s use of Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn are commendable and effective, what really stands out is Fidelity’s embrace of other social media platforms: a crypto-focused subreddit, a pancake tower that teaches kids about money management, a metaverse power petal suit, and a meditation app that plays a melody generated by the market.
Fidelity offers different content on each platform
Fidelity also does well to adapt its social media strategy to each platform. On LinkedIn and Facebook, Fidelity focuses on sharing commentaries, allowing viewers to learn more about the market while scrolling through their feeds. The firm differs in its content for the website formerly known as Twitter, adapting to the platform’s original 140-character count with short and snappy reminders that garner more views than other firms in our coverage set. The firm uses Reddit as both a customer service forum as well as a place to post long-form educational posts full of gifs and memes.
Fidelity’s YouTube page includes both long-form and short-form videos, possibly targeting different audiences. The longer-form videos incorporate interviews with financial professionals, explanations of financial events or concepts, and webcasts. The shorter-form videos include creative and humorous editing, suggesting a lighthearted approach to this content to appeal to younger audiences while making information more digestible. The above Roblox Pancake video serves both as an advertisement for the in-game feature as well as a forum for 13-year-olds to complain in the comments about not receiving the associated in-game badge. Fidelity, commendably, responded to every complaint, even ones in Spanish.
The firm employs a similar light-hearted approach in its TikTok video content as well, using popular trends on the app in its videos to reach broader audiences—with several videos accumulating over one million views, the firm’s tactic of using popular trends succeeds in reaching wider audiences. For example, a cowboy can teach investors about tax-loss harvesting in the below video, which has over 2.5 million views.
@fidelity Wash sales can be a little murky. Here’s an example: Say you buy 50 shares of a tech stock at $10. Then you sell at $7 a share. And 19 days later, buy 100 more shares at $5. That’s a wash sale since you bought the same stock again within the 30-day window. Blake breaks it down here but hit us ➡️ with more questions. #washsale #investing #washsale #investing ♬ original sound – Fidelity Investments
For more on asset management, learn more about CI’s subscription research services. And check out our Insights section for more on the latest happenings in the financial services and healthcare industries.