Eighty-eight percent of banks are active on social media, according to Insider Intelligence. To enhance their social strategies, many banks and fintech providers are adding influencer marketing to the mix. Influencer marketing for banks is helpful, but it comes with challenges, including strict regulations on marketing and advertising. To help financial brands navigate this marketing path, here are topics and tips to consider:
Why banks should embrace influencer marketing
Influencers have a knack for connecting with their audience and encouraging them to take action. Through influencer marketing, your bank can:
Attract new customers
It’s not easy to attract new customers in this industry. It’s a crowded space with many options for customers to explore, so banks need a way to stand out. By adding influencer marketing to your strategy, you can connect with your target audience via influencer-generated content.
Make a personal connection with your target audience
Finances aren’t a glitzy topic. Checking accounts, lines of credit and managing money are essential, but how do you make them attractive to prospective customers? Influencer marketing can help. Through creative, personalized campaigns, influencers can connect with followers in a way traditional ads can’t.
Generate new marketing ideas
By building a long-term relationship with an influencer, you can brainstorm new ways to promote your products or services. You can evaluate campaign metrics to see what’s working and bounce ideas off each other based on the data.
The challenges influencer marketing presents for banks
Influencer marketing for banks comes with strict regulations, which, in turn, makes it hard to find influencers to work with. Let’s explore these challenges further.
Content restrictions and compliance
Promoting financial services differs from promoting a trendy dance or hot new tech gadget. Some laws and guidelines govern advertising in this sector. Many, many agencies are involved, from the FDIC and SEC to ethical organizations, the content and message shared by an influencer must meet strict standards.
Failure to comply can have severe consequences. For example, the SEC recently charged seven influencers in a $100 million securities fraud scheme.
You’ll need to communicate content requirements to influencers.
Finding experienced, willing influencers
With such restrictions, it’s sometimes difficult to find influencers willing to work with financial brands. Influencers may worry about potential consequences, for starters, but many also worry about giving up creative control. Influencers are creative by nature, and they know their audience, so the fear of producing inauthentic content can be worrisome.
Tips for success
While influencer marketing may have its challenges, many brands in the financial niche successfully deploy influencers to promote their brand and products. What makes them successful? Here are some tips:
Scout the right influencer
You should always look for influencers that align with your brand, but look at an influencer’s tone, credibility, and knowledge of banking and money management. You can use an influencer marketing platform to begin and narrow your search, but spend some time combing through the accounts of your final few. You can also tap our full-service campaign management team for help sourcing influencers.
Consider employees as influencers
Employees can be influencers. For banks, sometimes it’s easier to tap employees who already know about your brand, mission and products as influencers. Your marketing team can assess interest in an employee influencer program and provide guidance to help employees share educational and promotional content.
Consider existing customers as influencers
Many brands look to their contact list to scout influencers. Do you have a client or two that you’d consider brand advocates or ambassadors? Are they willing to share their story? If so, you can transform their experiences with your accounting software, investment app, or other products into shareable testimonials.
Provide an influencer brief and communicate
Whether you work with external or internal influencers within your company, you should create an influencer brief for each campaign. A brief guides creators with the campaign’s goals, content types, deadlines, and any restrictions that must be followed.
It’s not enough to have a phone conversation with an influencer or a quick 15-minute meeting with your employee influencers; give them a document they can reference.
Communicate content restrictions, explain the content review process, and be available for questions to ensure content meets your needs.
Get personal
The best way to connect with your target audience is to get personal. Rather than promoting a product, promote a solution. Rocket Money, for example, worked with influencers to explain how its app identifies recurring subscriptions so you can save money. The influencer talked about her experience with the app and how she used it to stop subscriptions, save money, and make a budget.
These personalized, problem-solving videos are an excellent way for banks and financial brands to connect with real customers.
Provide edutainment
Influencer content that can entertain and educate is a winning combination for banks. Consider the YouTube video below, where a money-managing influencer talks about how the Honeydue platform can stop couples from fighting about money. She presents a real, relatable problem and then gives a demo of the platform.
Influencer marketing can help banks connect with customers and build long-term relationships. While it does take careful planning and communication, influencer campaigns can drive engagement, brand awareness, and sales, all of which can help your bank thrive.
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