14 of the most recognizable retirement brands

John Hancock Financial

Acquired in the early 2000s by the Canadian-based financial services company Manulife, John Hancock was originally founded in 1862 and named after John Hancock, a patriot of the American Revolution. Headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, the firm provides life insurance, mutual funds, 401(k) plans, long-term care insurance and annuities in the U.S.

Their social media presence expands on this story, presenting a more human side to the company. Profiles feature interesting stories related to upcoming holidays — say, Veteran’s Day — and educational initiatives that the company is currently participating in in its community.

One of the main cause marketing campaigns that John Hancock Financial spearheads is their sponsorship of the Boston Marathon. In fact, their official Twitter handle is @JHBoston26, which sounds more like a regular user than an official Twitter handle for a national company. On this Twitter handle, they strive to motivate, inspire and concentrate on posting relevant stories about athletes and other marathons around the country. They also won a LIMRA 2014 Social Media Bowl award for this campaign, which was created with the intent of helping Boston recover from the devastating impact of the 2013 marathon bombings.

Here are their numbers:

Facebook: 12,797 likes on their official page; 991 likes on John Hancock Investments

Twitter (company page): 23,100+ followers

Twitter (Boston Marathon page): 35,000+ followers

LinkedIn (group or company page): 27,096 followers

YouTube: 527 subscriptions; their most popular video is “2013 Boston Marathon: Defending champions return,” posted two years ago, with 250,845 views.

Google+: No profile

Instagram: No profile

Pinterest: No profile

Approximate estimate of total social media reach: 99,511 followers

Merrill Lynch

Originally an investment firm, Merrill Lynch was founded in 1914 at 7 Wall Street in New York City. Today, it is the wealth management division of Bank of America, which acquired it at the height of the 2008 financial crisis.

Easily recognized by their logo, a bull, Merrill Lynch doesn’t have an official Facebook page, which is both interesting and a bit bizarre, since Facebook is the main focus of many brands these days. On Twitter, they have one of the highest follower counts we have ever seen for a financial services firm. Maybe the fact that they don’t have an official Facebook page is the reason why their Twitter follower count is so high, because they are concentrating on growing and nurturing that specific audience.

The company does seem to have a bit of a social identity crisis, however; some of the content that they post links to Bank of America pages. That said, their Tweets do provide interesting tidbits about investing and financial management.

Here are their numbers:

Facebook: No profile 

Twitter: 382,000+ followers

LinkedIn (group or company page): 348,750 followers

YouTube: 2,834 subscriptions; their most popular video is “Health care and the data revolution,” posted one year ago, with 803 views.

Google+: No profile

Instagram: No profile

Pinterest: No profile

Approximate estimate of total social media reach: 733,584 followers

Great-West Financial

This company’s heritage dates back to 1891, when Jeffry Hall Brock founded Great-West Lifeco Inc. in Winnipeg, Canada. In 1906, Great-West Life opened its first U.S. sales office in Fargo, North Dakota. Fast-forward a few decades to 1979, and the U.S and Canadian operations split, with U.S. headquarters currently located in Greenwood Village, Colorado.

Today, the company specializes in offering insurance, retirement and other financial services. But here is where it gets a little bit confusing. Great-West has an official company page for LinkedIn, but all of its retirement offerings are housed within another brand, which launched about a year ago, called Empower Retirement. It seems as though Empower Retirement is their consumer-facing brand, while their Great-West brand is more for financial professionals.

On social, their story unfolds, especially on Facebook and Twitter. There, Empower Retirement posts educational material about finance and retirement, with blogs and white papers. However, their Twitter is also focused on their love of all things Denver, such as the Denver Broncos NFL team.

Their YouTube channel seems to have just launched; they only had two videos at time of publication.

Here are their numbers:

Facebook: 3,403 likes

Twitter: 13,600+ followers

LinkedIn (group or company page): 7,706 followers on GW company page; 11,764 followers on Empower Retirement page

YouTube: 28 subscriptions; their most popular video is “Thinking further ahead: Season tickets,” posted two months ago, with 1,713 views.

Google+: No profile

Instagram: No profile

Pinterest: No profile

Approximate estimate of total social media reach: 36,501 followers

Pacific Life

Specializing in annuities, life insurance and mutual funds, Pacific Life was founded in Sacramento, California in 1868 by Leland Stanford. The railroad tycoon had been governor of California for one term (two years back then), before becoming a California State Senator. He also founded Stanford University as a memorial to his only son.

Easily recognizable by the breaching whale on their logo, it is interesting that Pacific Life’s following on social media isn’t bigger. Their posts are a mix of articles from their blog, retweeting mentions by their followers on Twitter, and publicizing their many, many community and foundation initiatives to help non-profits.

Here are their numbers:

Facebook: 10,713 likes

Twitter: 1,752 followers

LinkedIn (group or company page): 9,829 followers

YouTube: 281 subscriptions; their most popular video is “Pacific Life ‘Protect your future,’” posted eight months ago, with 259,986 views. 

Google+: No profile

Instagram: No profile

Pinterest: No profile

Approximate estimate of total social media reach: 22,575 followers

The Principal Financial Group

Founded in 1879 by Edward Temple as the Bankers Life Association in Chariton, Iowa, The Principal Financial Group offers businesses and individual clients financial guidance and other products. They are headquartered in Des Moines, Iowa, with offices around the world.

On their Facebook page, while their number of likes isn’t mind-blowing, the engagement they have received on their posts is. They post an interesting mix of articles about visualizing retirement, as well as fun social events that cater to social media users. Their latest:

“What’s something thrilling you want to do in retirement? Share in the comments below by Oct. 31. We may have an artist draw it for you! #SeeYourRetirement.”

That post alone was liked by 7,807 people, and shared 559 times (you can see it here). The post has a very cool drawing of what seems like one of the Facebook users on her retirement dream, which is to travel and stay in haunted hotels.

Another post from the same campaign gathered 50,865 likes, 2,137 shares and 1,085 comments. Talk about having high engagement on social media!

Here are their numbers:

Facebook: 30,159 likes

Twitter: 12,400+ followers

LinkedIn (group or company page): 33,497 followers

YouTube: 2,386 subscriptions; their most popular video is “Financial challenges,” posted one year ago, with 1,501,932 views.

Google+: 218 followers

Instagram: No profile

Pinterest: No profile

Approximate estimate of total social media reach: 78,660 followers

Northwestern Mutual

Originally called the Mutual Life Insurance Company of the State of Wisconsin, Northwestern Mutual was founded in 1857. The company claims that even though future dividends aren’t guaranteed, they have “paid a dividend every year since 1872” on their website. In 2000, they changed their name to Northwestern Mutual, since they now also offer other products, not just life insurance.

According to Fortune magazine, Northwestern Mutual acquired LearnVest, a financial planning startup website, for $250 million in March of this year.

On social media, the company balances a mix of posts, varying from financial literacy articles from their blog to white papers, inspirational quotes, seasonal posts and their cause marketing campaigns.

Here are their numbers:

Facebook: 56,879 likes

Twitter: 10,400+ followers

LinkedIn (group or company page): 99,328 followers

YouTube: 1,568 subscriptions; their most popular video is “A foundation for life,” posted five years ago, with 80,900 views.

Google+: 466 followers

Instagram: 979 followers

Pinterest: 330 followers

Approximate estimate of total social media reach: 169,950 followers

AXA

Headquartered in Paris, France, AXA was founded in 1817 under another name, but its roots in the U.S. go all the way back to 1859, when Henry Hyde left the Mutual Life Insurance Company of New York to start his own firm, the Equitable Life Assurance Society of America. In 1992, AXA acquired Equitable. (An interesting fact about Equitable is that they supported the American College in launching the CLU professional designation program in 1927.)

AXA seems to have been gaining ground on the social media front by posting a mix of articles from their blogs and from around the Web, as well as interesting stories about their employees, thus humanizing their brand.

Here are their numbers:

Facebook: 40,983 likes

Twitter: 15,600+ followers

LinkedIn (group or company page): 33,933 followers

YouTube: 336 subscriptions; their most popular video is “From a gift to a legacy,” posted two years ago, with 123,860 views.

Google+: 8 followers

Instagram: 2,182 followers

Pinterest: No profile

Approximate estimate of total social media reach: 93,042 followers

See also:

Consumers vote best and worst:

• • Life insurance carriers
  • Health insurance carriers