The following article was written by freelance writer Yael Warman.
Why is it so important for a company to learn how to market stocks? Simple: the goal of promoting stock is to attract investors and to subsequently push stock prices higher. Stock promotion is challenging, especially for small companies. Wall Street often ignores them in favor of larger and more reputable corporations. The key, then, is to generate buzz to catch the attention of potential investors.
Fortunately for financial brokers, promoting stock is easier today because of the Internet. Gone are the days of the old “boiler rooms” where stock promoters would traditionally make cold calls and urge potential investors to buy stock. Today, promoting stock is easier and more effective—especially with a well-put-together content marketing plan.
The content marketing tips below can help you achieve this.
Offer Engaging Content that Speaks the Language of Investors
Your audiences are experienced traders who are familiar with different industry climates. At the very least, they’ll have done plenty of research and study beforehand. This means they are attracted to content that can add to their knowledge.
This also means you can — and are encouraged to — produce content using advanced language and topics that people in the industry will appreciate.
Think Like a Stockbroker and Diversify Your Content.
The beauty of content production lies in the variety of formats you could choose from like video, image, graphics, or text. Writing content for newsletters, articles, and blogs is the most efficient for promoting stock, especially if you already have a website. If you don’t have a website, you can opt for paid content or “sponsored” articles – another effective mechanism.
Refine Your Social Media Strategy — For Every Platform
SEOs today will affirm that social media integration is valuable for content marketing campaigns. It is also applicable when promoting stocks. Finance may not be a trendy niche, but the people in this industry are just like everyone else; they are present on social media.
So, if your audience profile of a stockbroker is a middle-aged man in a suit who spends most of his time reading the newspaper, your perspective needs an urgent update! Financial professionals today are Internet-savvy, adept at using tech tools and other software to monitor stock options — and have social media accounts.
Apply Posting Techniques and Develop a Strategy Per Platform.
Through the clever use of hashtags, the appropriate integration of pop culture, and a refined social media strategy, your content marketing can reach more people.
You need to create a plan for each major platform you have an account in. After all, the requirements for Facebook promotion are different from those of Instagram or Twitter. Take a look at the cheat sheet below:
- Facebook: needs high text content, media attachments like photos or videos, and minor use of hashtags
- Instagram: requires high-quality images, concise text posts, and an extensive use of hashtags
- Twitter: calls for concise but engaging content (140 characters) and vetted hashtags; media attachments are optional but highly recommended
Share content directly on social media or use these platforms to share your website blog or sponsored content. Whatever content you produce, leverage hashtags and optimum posting times to boost your visibility.
Misleading Content
In 2014, Forbes.com published an article that discussed the success of a small biotech company, CytRx, in developing a brain cancer treatment. Days after that, CytRx’s stock value doubled to $6.90 per share.
This successful promotion did not last long, however.
CytRx and the investor relations firm it hired, DreamTeam Group, received a class action suit for placing an articles in Forbes and other major industry websites without any indication that they were paid-for content. After this revelation, Forbes.com suspended the contributor who wrote the article and removed all his previous articles from the site.
A Commandment in Stock Brokerage and Stock Promotion: Stay Compliant.
When promoting your trading platform and the stocks you offer, don’t give misleading guarantees. Neither should you neglect to add a full disclosure in all off-page content you produce for content marketing.
Publish sponsored content in websites that provide clear and transparent guidelines for sponsored articles (ex: they attach the “Sponsored” tag or something equivalent to it). Otherwise, you will be under fire for non-compliance.
Note that in the United States, the Enforcement Division of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is vigilant about policing fraudulent stock promotion practices. In Europe, the MiFID II aggressively regulates against non-compliance.
Let your products speak for themselves. Instead of hard selling and promising success—which is a major turn-off for industry professionals—provide content from credible sources that highlight the value of the stocks you sell. Provide your audience with accurate information to help them arrive at a wise decision, and inevitably you’ll find that your online influence will grow.