The last year has proven that there are no bounds on what industries can utilize influencer marketing. We’ve seen new niches pop up on social media, new talent pools grow rapidly, and content creators of all types find their way in the industry. Most prominently we’ve seen an explosion of finance-based companies, brands, and influencers jump into the mix. We can credit this partially to the rise of the finance sector on TikTok and finance creators who share everything from tips on investing and saving to general financial literacy and education content.
Finance brands have taken notice of this rise in talent and conversation and are moving quickly to partner with these influencers. Seeing growth in this market has been exciting for us as we’ve brought on new clients in the space, built out their influencer programs, and learned alongside them what works and what doesn’t for this specific niche. In the process, we’ve compiled a list of some things that we think financial companies should consider when beginning their journey into influencer marketing and working with talent.
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Here are 4 things for financial companies to be aware of when venturing into influencer marketing for the first time:
Keep Your Pool of Talent Wide
When you begin the process of selecting talent for your influencer marketing campaign it is natural to whittle down your talent pool to a group of influencers who align perfectly with your brand, and in theory, this is what you want. However, we’ve found that in the financial space this can tend to make things a bit tricky.
Narrowing your talent pool down to be too brand-specific is going to present you with a group that is not scalable.
Financial Influencers May Not Be as Receptive to Brand Partnerships
We’ve found that talent in the financial space is a unique group of individuals, unlike talent we’re used to working within other spaces. Typically, these are seasoned finance professionals who have worked in the industry for some time. Most are still full-time working professionals.
In addition to full-time corporate jobs, many are also selling their own financial-based products, such as financial literacy courses. The combination of these factors seems to make this group a bit less receptive and/or reliant on brand partnerships compared to other talent niches and pools. Because influencing is not their full-time gig or something they are reliant on for income they may not be looking for brand deals as diligently.
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Talent May Be Less Reliant and Responsive to Brand Communications
The finance community is a relatively new niche and community in the world of social media and influencer marketing, many of the talents in this space are still figuring out where they fit into the mix. Because many of them are new to influencing/content creation they may not fully understand how the brand partnership process works. Maybe they haven’t gotten in the habit of checking their emails regularly or they don’t have the bandwidth to take on more work in conjunction with their other responsibilities. All of this renders this specific niche of influencer less responsive to brand communications than talent in other niches.
You Need to Tailor Your Campaign for Awareness, Education, and/or Entertainment Value
It’s easy when jumping into influencer marketing to want to create a campaign focused on your specific products or services, and typically this is how we would recommend you operate. However, we have found that within the financial niche this may not be the best format to build a high-performing campaign.
Due to the nature of where this content is being shared, it’s going to be important to tailor your campaign around financial awareness, financial education, and financial entertainment in order to get the best results.
[To share your insights with us, please write to sghosh@martechseries.com]
