Comerica Bank How We Grew Instagram Views 1,212% in 10 Months

Comerica Bank's "Small Business of the Game" series had a real problem. The content existed, the partners were already there, and the intent was right. But the posts were logo graphics with short captions and a tag. Nobody was watching, and nobody was sharing. The small businesses being featured deserved better, and so did the results.

RANDOM served as Comerica's social media agency for several years. This is the story of how we rebuilt one program from the ground up and what happened when the bank stopped leading with the brand and started leading with the customer.

The Series That Existed but Wasn't Working

The original format was simple: a static graphic featuring a small business partner's logo, a short caption, and a tag. It was clean and compliant, but not as impactful as it could have been.

The series was meant to celebrate real Comerica small business customers, but the execution buried them. The bank's branding came first. The business owner's story came last, if at all. The result was content that looked like every other bank post.

The underlying asset was strong. Comerica (now part of Fifth Third Bank) was one of the top 25 commercial banks in the US, with a customer base spanning Texas, Michigan, California, Florida, and Arizona. Their small business partners had genuinely compelling stories. The problem was that nobody had built a format to tell them.

How RANDOM Rebuilt It From the Ground Up

We rebuilt the series as a vertical video format. A small business was featured every month, filmed on location, with the business owner as the main character and the bank in a supporting role.

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The key decisions that drove the results:

Story before brand. Every video opened with the business, not the bank. Who runs it, what they make, why it matters. Comerica's role was context, not the headline. That single shift changed how viewers experienced the content.

Pre-production before production. We planned specific shots, angles, and key moments before anyone picked up a camera. Comerica's own team handled on-site filming and sent us raw footage for editing. No studio, no added production budget. Just a clear shot list given to whoever was holding the camera.

Longer captions with real substance. The average caption across the series was 349 characters, close to a full paragraph. Enough to explain who the business owner is, what the business does, and why the partnership with Comerica matters. Short captions assumed the viewer already cared. Longer ones gave them a reason to.

Consistent platform strategy. LinkedIn carried the series as a B2B and commercial banking signal. Instagram and Facebook reached sports fans and the small businesses' own customers. The platform roles stayed fixed for the entire ten months.

Navigating compliance without losing the voice. Every video went through Comerica's legal, compliance, and brand review process. Keeping the small business owner's actual voice intact through that process required clear direction upfront and close collaboration with Comerica's internal team. That's where a lot of financial content loses its personality, but this one didn't.

The Organic Results in 10 Months

All of this was without paid media or additional production budget.

• 1,212% increase in Instagram views per post compared to Comerica's standard Reels.

• 3.7x more effective at gaining new followers than baseline content.

• 20,000+ views on a single Instagram post — the best-performing post on the channel for the entire year.

• 1,596 average LinkedIn impressions per post, up 4.1% year over year.

The format worked because it gave real people something to share. Small business owners shared their own features. Their customers watched. Their communities engaged. The bank's content stopped being something Comerica pushed out and started being something people wanted to pass along.

The industry noticed too. The Small Business of the Game series earned a Gold W3 Award, a Silver Telly Award, and a PR Daily Award in 2026 — recognition that the work held up not just in the metrics but against the broader standard of what good content looks like.

How to Apply This to Your Own Brand

You don't need a bank budget or a formal agency partnership to apply the same principles. Here's where to start:

• Lead with the customer, not the brand. Whatever series you're building, make the customer or partner the main character. Your brand's role is to create the context, not dominate the frame.

• Plan shots before you shoot. A simple shot list, wide, medium, and close-up, and a clear idea of the moments you need to capture will produce better footage than improvising on location.

• Write captions that actually say something. Give viewers a reason to care before they watch. Who is this person? What do they do? Why does it matter?

• Assign each platform a specific job and keep it. Don't post the same content the same way everywhere. Decide what each platform is for and let that guide how you adapt the content for each one.

• Shoot on-site, not in a studio. Real locations make content feel real. A business filmed in its own space will always outperform the same business filmed against a clean backdrop.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you measure the success of a video content series for a financial brand? Track views, follower growth, and reach per post against your historical baseline, not against industry benchmarks. A 1,212% lift means something different for a bank with 5,000 followers than one with 500,000. Set your baseline in the first month and measure movement from there.

Do social media videos for banks need to be professionally produced? Not necessarily. The Comerica series was filmed on-site by the bank's own team using a clear shot list. Production quality matters less than authenticity and planning. A well-directed phone video of a real customer in their real environment will outperform a studio shoot with no story behind it.

What is the best social media format for financial brands in 2026? Vertical video consistently outperforms static content for reach and follower growth across Instagram and Facebook. For LinkedIn, document posts and text posts with a strong point of view perform best for B2B audiences. The format should serve the platform's native behavior, not the brand's comfort level.

How long should social media captions be for financial services brands? Long enough to give the viewer context and a reason to care, and short enough that they finish reading. For the Comerica series, an average of 349 characters worked well. The right length depends on the platform: Instagram rewards a strong hook followed by substance, LinkedIn rewards depth, and Facebook sits somewhere between the two.

Can a financial brand maintain personality through a compliance review process? Yes, but it requires planning ahead. Establish the tone and language guidelines before content goes into review. The more clearly a brand defines what its voice sounds like, the easier it is for legal and compliance teams to approve content that fits rather than flatten everything to a generic standard.

Ready to elevate your digital marketing strategy? Chat with our team today!