The Role of Influencers in Fintech Marketing

In the fast-paced, rapidly evolving world of financial technology, or fintech, where innovation and trust are key, traditional marketing methods are no longer enough to capture the attention of consumers. Enter financial influencers, or finfluencers: individuals with (some level of) financial expertise, and a substantial online presence and following.

Similar to the exploding popularity of influencer marketing across other industries, fintech influencers have become integral in shaping the way financial services and fintech products like bank accounts, credit cards, budgeting apps, investment accounts, and more are marketed and consumed. 

These influencers often possess specialized knowledge and credibility in the financial and technological sectors and play a crucial role in promoting financial services within the fintech industry, particularly for consumers beginning their financial journeys. The impact of fintech influencers is notable not only in terms of disseminating information about the latest financial products and services, but also in building trust and relatability among consumers, bridging the gap between complex financial technologies and the everyday consumer.

Influencers—both financial experts and creators more broadly—have become invaluable assets for fintech companies seeking to navigate the intricate terrain of digital marketing and establish a more accessible and engaging presence in the financial sector. 

However, because these fintech influencers are dealing with highly regulated financial and banking products, this type of marketing requires careful adherence to applicable rules and a greater level of transparency than the typical TikTok star selling consumer goods.

Using Fintech Influencers to Build Trust and Credibility

According to Betterment, more than half of Gen Z and millennial social media users trust financial advice from influencers. There are a few reasons for this: first, complex financial concepts can often overwhelm consumers. In a world where social media users have grown used to trusting influencers for advice on everything from relationships to fashion to recipes, turning to influencers for financial expertise is a natural next step.

Second, the world of banking has historically been dominated by a certain type of person, and he’s often male, older, and white—not exactly broadly relatable to diverse younger audiences. Some social media users prefer to turn to someone with financial expertise that speaks to their lived experience—for example:

• Tori Dunlap of @herfirst100k “gives women resources and money tools to get their first six-figures earned.”
• Athena Valentine Lent of @moneysmartlatina is “fighting the good fight of bringing financial education to people who look just like [her].”
• Kelly of @momminwithkellyg shares financial advice targeted specifically to busy moms.

Whether consumers are turning to finfluencers for advice about money because their content is easier to digest, more convenient, or squares more closely with their lived experience, fintech influencers have emerged as a valuable bridge between banks/fintech companies and consumers. And as social media users have turned to influencers for financial advice, consumer fintechs have turned to these influencers to get their products out to their follower base.

Fintech Influencers Provide Authenticity, Reach, and Audience Engagement

Money is complex and the current state of capitalism is confusing for many people. It can feel overwhelming, scary, and inaccessible—and sometimes that’s because it is. According to Lent, the creator behind @moneysmartlatina we mentioned above, “A lot of CFPs [certified financial planners] don’t talk to women of color. For a lot of us, there is a wealth gap and there is a wage gap. We don’t have the kind of money that financial advisers want, especially if they are commission-based.”

Regardless of circumstance, background, or identity, access to professional financial information isn’t always possible, and reading the fine print on an investment account isn’t for everyone—or even within their realm of understanding. But a 30-second snippet of information delivered by an expert creator using visually stimulating imagery and helpful examples is accessible to and can be digested by just about everyone, sometimes with more nuance and appreciation of a person’s individual circumstance, and social media users agree. 

There are examples of these types of personal connections across the fintech industry. In Erin Confortini’s budgeting vlogs, she shares actionable tips for budgeting and sells a template her followers can download and Aja Dang shares advice about building an emergency fund. In the comments of these creators’ videos, followers sound off about their strategies and appreciation of the creators’ content.

What these videos have in common is authenticity—Erin’s sitting in her kitchen, wearing leggings perched on a counter stool, filling out her weekly budget spreadsheet, and Aja is applying mascara to her bare lashes while waxing poetic about the importance of saving to her more than 500,000 followers. Their audiences trust Erin, Aja, and their peers, and this level of trust comes in handy when fintech brands partner with influencers like them to sell products and services.

For many people, including those who have felt left out of or excluded from the world of finance, getting advice from someone who’s like a more knowledgeable version of a friend or big sister feels less intimidating and more actionable—not to mention cheaper and more convenient—than talking to a financial planner. In short, influencers harness the power of authenticity to connect with and engage viewers, often surpassing the reach of conventional promotional strategies—and fintech brands are quickly embracing the opportunity to get involved.. 

Compliance and Ethical Considerations

Although using influencers to market financial products can yield great results, it’s not as simple as selling a trending protein shake—and there are far greater consequences if you break the rules when selling fintech solutions.  There is no shortage of bad financial advice online—for example, influencers who tell their followers to copy the investment strategies of the rich might be leading people toward financial decisions that aren’t appropriate for their income level, net worth, or age.

And brands have a responsibility to their consumers—both ethical and legal—to stand behind accurate, sound, and properly disclosed financial advice. Just look at these recent examples of what happens when fintech influencer marketing goes wrong:

• Last year, the SEC charged eight social media influencers for promoting stock manipulation schemes on Discord and Twitter.
• Fundrise was fined when they paid over 200 influencers and newsletter publishers to market its investment platform without disclosures as required by law. 

While marketers can typically get away with writing a script about how great their brand’s coffee is and handing it off to an influencer to record and post with a simple “Sponsored” hashtag, that’s not the case when it comes to money. 

In the realm of financial information, misinformation can have severe consequences. Fintech companies engaging influencers should vigilantly ensure the accuracy of their content by working closely with legal and compliance teams to determine guidelines, review influencer briefs, scripts, and disclosures. Brands should prepare influencers for multiple rounds of review and equip them with accurate and responsible information. A good brief is critical here: yours should include the following elements, ideally in a visual presentation (like a PowerPoint):

• Campaign context and overview
• Campaign goals
• Agreed upon assets (i.e., two Instagram Reels with caption, link in bio, one IG story, one Reel cross-posted to TikTok)
• Share an example of a video (can be for a different brand or an organic video from another influencer or past campaign) that effectively communicates a similar topic or leverages a style you’d like the influencer to use
• Timeline and critical dates
• Watchouts (i.e., “don’t use dollar signs or imagery that connotes wealth, as our legal team doesn't allow us to insinuate that you’ll get rich from these investments” or “please don’t call our product a bank, we are a financial service app”

A detailed brief is time consuming and a bit arduous, but it will save you headaches down the road.

Content Strategy, Creation, and Distribution for Fintech Marketing

Fintech companies can get a lot of bang for their buck by working with influencers instead of, or in addition to, traditional advertising outlets because influencers create digestible and authentic content. But the ethical and legal nature of the regulatory landscape is inherently at odds with that authenticity. 

Finding a balance is doable, and marketers shouldn’t be discouraged by the challenge. If done correctly, the benefits of working with influencers to promote fintech products like bank accounts, credit cards, budgeting apps, investment accounts, and more can far outweigh the costs.

How is it done? Start by following these four steps:

1. Choose your channel

Not all channels are created equally, and you have many to choose from. YouTube is best for longer form content, and its UX allows for easily accessible/clickable links—which is crucial when conversions are important. It caters to slightly older users, favoring Millennials and older Gen Z-ers. Instagram and TikTok are best for bite-size content that drives views. Views are more affordable than YouTube, and both channels’ audiences skew slightly younger, with audiences skewing towards 18-24. X, formerly known as Twitter, is a consideration, too, but given the limited nature of the platform, X is better as an add-on than a standalone channel for influencer marketing. 

2. Find the right influencers

Arguably the most important part of the process is finding the right influencer. You should work with a creator who speaks regularly about topics relevant to the product—for example, a budgeting app might partner with @thebudgetmom, who prides herself on “sharing daily real-life money tips [and] helping you transform your financial life.” But an in-app brokerage account would be better shared online by an investing expert than a budgeting pro; someone like Andrei Jikh might be a better choice.

While it can be tempting to find the next not-yet-well-known influencer who’s willing to take a couple hundred dollars to make a video, it’s better to engage a professional who’s familiar with the regulatory landscape of finance because they’ve partnered with a financial institution before.

If you’re handling your own influencer search (as opposed to enlisting an agency), a good place to start is just by searching via relevant hashtag. Searching “budgeting” or “how to invest” on Instagram and TikTok will show you thousands of popular videos; from there, you can track down influencer profiles, where you can view their follower count on their profile, and typically find contact information for the creator or their agent.

There’s no hard and fast rule for follower count, or even a standard price per video based on follower count, because influencers set their own rates. But typically, creators with over a million followers will charge five figures (and up) for videos, and creators with fewer than twenty-five thousand probably aren’t worth working with—especially because content typically only hits about a third of a creator’s audience.

Creators with profiles younger than a year, with fewer than twenty-five videos on their profile, or without any previous brand work on their pages probably aren’t a great investment yet, either. If you’re hoping to contract videos across platforms, make sure they’re an expert in the channels you’d like them to be live on—i.e., don’t ask a YouTuber to create an Instagram reel if they’re not big on Instagram. 

3. Set ground rules, plan carefully, and plan again

Some marketers think working with influencers is as simple as sharing a few DMs back and forth, aligning on a go-live date, and letting the influencer do their thing. But effective influencer campaigns, especially in fintech, require careful planning.

Marketers should work closely with legal and compliance to align on influencer briefs that give influencers guardrails while still leaving room for interpretation and authenticity. And they should meet with influencers to answer any questions and underscore the importance of communication, sign-off, and compliance.

4. Content strategy should leave room for interpretation, but not too much room

By narrating personal stories and experiences, influencers transcend the corporate facade. The key to working with influencers as a fintech brand is maintaining this authenticity, and allowing the creator to do what they do best: establish an emotional connection with their followers.

Don’t be too prescriptive (you might not want to write a script for the influencer), but do give them guidelines. For example, a campaign could be structured around a prompt like, “Talk about the messages you received about money when you were growing up, and how your approach to saving has changed, then share with your followers three of your favorite features from our budgeting app.” This prompt gives them room to create authentic content, without treading into dangerous territory. 

Running an Effective Fintech Marketing Campaign with Influencers

You’ve chosen your creator partners, written briefs or scripts, and you’re penning creator contracts. There are a few more things to consider before you (and the creator) sign that dotted line.

Many fintech marketing influencer campaigns marry the authenticity of influencer marketing with the targeting power of paid by contracting and producing made-for-paid content. There are a few reasons to do this: first is to reach more people. Five years ago, an influencer might reach around 70% of their followers with a post. Today, it’s more like 30%-40%. Second is to push your dollars further. According to one study, paid ad placements with influencers drove 53% higher click through rates, 19% lower cost per actions, and had a 99% probability to outperform BAU ads alone.

Influencer ads can be run in a few ways; regardless of the direction, you’ll need to work these into contracts, and you should expect a price increase compared to contracting organic influencer content alone.

The four main types of influencer ads are as follows:

• Allowlisted ads run under the creator’s handle on their social media account
• Dark posts run under the creator's handle but do not appear on their social media feed
• Brand-owned ads run under the brand’s social media handle and typically uses influencer generated content from sponsored posts
• Boosted post is a limited form of allowlisting that is “boosted” through the social media platform and temporarily shown to a larger audience as an ad

If you’re going to contract paid ads, it’s a good idea to think about best practices ahead of time: you’ll want a few versions to A/B test, ideally of different lengths, with the brand name and a hook in the first few seconds. You might want the creator to leverage brand fonts/logos, or perhaps you prefer to have them stick with their typical style—either way, this information should be communicated with creators upfront.

Creators shouldn’t give you any pushback on providing one round of revisions, as long as it’s in the contract, but beyond that, you’ll likely incur a fee, so it’s best to provide any props, guidelines, watchouts, and disclaimers upfront, just like you would for organic content. 

Fintech Influencers Aren’t Right for Every Situation

Not all financial products are best sold by financial influencers. For example, if you’re marketing a banking product created specifically for children or teens,  it’s probably safer from an ethics and compliance perspective, as well as more effective, to work with a parenting influencer who can speak to parents of the product’s would-be consumer—their children. B2B financial products are another gray area: bank accounts for businesses are only relevant to business owners; it’s more strategic to work with influencers who create content for entrepreneurs compared to partnering with a creator known for providing budgeting or individual investment advice. 

If you’re marketing a financial product aimed at an audience that requires higher levels of consideration, you might need to think outside of the box, and go a little deeper in the research phase of your sourcing since this is more niche influencing. Ask yourself what advice your target audience is looking for online, and work with whoever’s giving it. Parents of teens might not follow accounts that provide budgeting advice for teens, but they probably are following accounts that share parenting advice. Search “get my teen to load the dishwasher” or “teen screentime”—tons of creators have things to say about these topics.

Conclusion

Fintech influencers can effectively bridge the gap between complex or inaccessible financial concepts and the layperson, while sharing information about a brand or its product with hundreds of thousands or even millions of viewers. But transparency, accuracy, and responsible content dissemination are imperative.

Before undertaking an influencer campaign, make sure legal and compliance teams are on board, give ample time for reviews and revisions, and don’t expect a campaign to get off the ground in a matter of days. Today, consumers have a strong sense of skepticism of traditional media and advertising, but influencers serve as a trustworthy source of relatable information for the masses. That holds powerful potential for marketers in the finance industry, and if done right, a fintech influencer campaign can translate the connection they have to the consumer to one between the consumer and the brand. 

Want to learn how to launch a successful influencer program for your fintech company? Drop us a line at growth@rightsideup.co to get started.