Imagine a brand that bursts with life across digital and social platforms. They release captivating videos and podcasts covering topics from philanthropy and the future of food to NFTs and the metaverse. Surprisingly, it’s not a trendy startup or a hip influencer, but one of Switzerland’s oldest banks—Julius Bär. Despite being a veteran in the financial industry for 130 years, they’ve proved they’re no strangers to innovation and keeping up with the times.
To achieve their social media goals, Julius Bär sought a suitable partner. Hootsuite, and more specifically, Hootsuite Amplify, a social employee advocacy tool, was selected to expand their online presence. Hootsuite Amplify allowed the Julius Bär team to curate pre-approved content and share it with the company’s employees to disseminate on their social channels. The unique solution enabled employee engagement—making it simple for them to share company news and timely thought leadership around hot topics—while ensuring that the content published complied with regulatory requirements. The company opted to manage owned social content internally while collaborating with Lobeco, a content partner, to create advocacy content for employees to share.
Stemming from their partnership with Hootsuite, Julius Bär achieved the following results:
- 4,600 posts shared on employee social channels since the program launch
- 5.3 million impressions on LinkedIn from employee posts
- 12,500 clicks to the website from employee posts (equivalent to 160,000 CHF in ad value)
Banking on employees to spread the word
Employee advocacy emerged as a global initiative, reaching beyond the Swiss headquarters. Dividing the company into 20 groups, Julius Bär conducted Hootsuite onboarding, providing social media training, best practices advice, and guideline awareness in just one hour. This approach empowered employees worldwide to champion the brand on social media, fueling brand recognition and driving engagement. Juliana Bonfá, a relationship manager based in São Paulo, discovered the power of social media in enhancing brand awareness, even in areas with limited recognition. With Hootsuite’s auto-scheduling feature, she efficiently manages posts, maximizing the impact of her efforts.
Investing in ideas
Through Hootsuite Amplify, Julius Bär’s brand ambassadors on LinkedIn reached an audience more than twice the size of the brand channel, underlining the success of their employee advocacy strategy. It’s not surprising that 350 active brand ambassadors can reach a much larger audience than a single brand channel. In fact, according to Social Media Today, brands saw eight times more engagement with content shared by employees vs. owned channels. The breadth of topics in Julius Bär’s content library was also impressive: with topics ranging from
NFTs and the metaverse to the YOLO economy and the future of food. Predicting which of these topics will resonate with the investment world can be a challenge, making engagement tracking and data a vital part of the company’s content strategy and planning. According to Julius Bär, it all depends on the story and how it’s told. As a result of their strategy, the company’s rich content ecosystem covering diverse topics has truly appealed to their audience and they continue to cultivate an engaged following.
Paying it forward
Beyond financial and business topics, Julius Bär’s social media reach is harnessed to highlight their philanthropic endeavors, foundation initiatives, and support for the arts. Sharing personal experiences and human stories created a connection with the audience as well as addressing sensitive topics such as wealth inequality, which is one of the focuses of Julius Bär’s own foundation.
Looking ahead, Julius Bär is excited about the unexpected benefit of Amplify—fostering stronger connections between employees. Feedback and shared stories enhance internal relationships while simultaneously attracting new talent to join their social media efforts.
As the company continues to expand its social media impact, Julius Bär looks forward to further strengthening their presence, building relationships, and embracing the dynamic landscape of the digital era. With a focus on innovation, they remain committed to evolving and staying ahead of the competition, proving that age is no barrier to success in the ever-evolving world of social media.