ABN AMRO receive a significant ROI from their investment of time, organisation and creativity ABN AMRO were finding it increasingly difficult to stay relevant in a media environment that is forever expanding and with so much content being consumed online each day the Netherlands bank needed a solution that enabled them to break through the noise. Using LinkedIn’s Sponsored Updates, ABN AMRO were able to deliver relevant and up to date content to their target audience’s LinkedIn news feeds. In addition to leveraging Sponsored Updates to deliver their content, they also reorganised their publishing cadence and adopted a publisher’s mindset around financial education. A content calendar, editorial board and by using their employees as their “secret weapon”, ABN AMRO maximised the effect of their content marketing investment. The results from the Sponsored Updates campaign speak for themselves with engagements rates as high as 3.25% and on average twice as high as internal benchmarks. Check out the full case study here

1. ABN AMRO
ABN AMRO leverages Sponsored Updates to adopt a
publisher’s mindset around financial education
Challenge: Staying Timely and Relevant
ABN AMRO Bank’s retail and corporate banking customers
in the Netherlands have an ongoing need for financial
insights and education, but the main challenge is staying
relevant in a sea of information. “We have such a wide
target audience that consumes lots of news in a day, which
makes it very difficult to be relevant with every message,”
says Jeroen van de Ven, Social Media Manager for ABN
AMRO. “We want to make sure we are continuously timely
and relevant to each audience.”
Solution: Targeted Always-on Content
Sponsored Updates, combined with an always-on strategy,
helped ABN AMRO deliver a steady stream of targeted
content to its retail and corporate customers, building
engagement over the long term instead of just certain times
of the year. “Our updates are a combination of news with
a high financial impact on our customers, and content that
starts conversations around common questions,” he explains.
With LinkedIn’s targeted Sponsored Updates, ABN AMRO
was able to customise their content to the appropriate
audience. For example, one Sponsored Update targeted at
their retail customers pointed out that Dutch rents are on the
rise, while mortgage rates remain low – and the bank linked to
a worksheet to help customers figure out if buying would be
better than renting. While other Sponsored Updates targeted
at their corporate banking audience featured research on the
economy, financial markets, and commodities, delivered via
their ABN AMRO Insights website.
One of the keys to ABN AMRO’s always-on strategy is the
adoption of a publisher’s mindset with their legal and PR
teams which allows them to react quickly to news and trends
in finance. “We have a daily editorial board where Legal
and Compliance are consulted, when necessary, by our
PR and press teams. This publisher’s mindset allows us to
quickly create updates that respond to customer concerns –
often posting a response to a new story in just a few hours.
Previously, this took several days.”
Jeroen van de Ven
Social Media Manager
ABN AMRO
“We can best service our customers when we can anticipate their needs and reach out in the right context with relevant
information at the right time. Our always-on strategy became a success because LinkedIn helped us by engaging the
right audience.”

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Results: Increased Engagement
Engagement rates as high as 3.25% on the retail side and
2% with corporate banking content
Average engagement rates 2X higher than internal
benchmarks
Over 28,000 visits to ABN AMRO Insights site in one month
Inspiration for Marketers
Employees are a valuable “secret weapon” in scaling your
always-on content campaign, and ABN AMRO’s social media
team communicated with them early and often to share their
content. “We send a content calendar to our employees every
week, explaining what we’ll be posting to our Company Page
and when,” says van de Ven. “Everyone thought it was a good
idea – and now, we have 600 people who can share our content
with their connections.”
ABN AMRO’s Sponsored Updates (English translations
below) focused on a combination of financial tips and
current news to position their bank as a thought leader in
personal finance.