January 25, 2024
Want to connect with your customers authentically and credibly? You’ve come to the right place. That’s because influencer marketing is a powerful promotional tactic that’s helping brands reach their target audience in a way that connects, supports consideration and ultimately converts.
This is why we’re always surprised to hear decision-making marketers, founders and leaders come up with objections and obstacles. Enter our myth-busting Head of Influencer Marketing – Julia Lucas – who’s here to address the misunderstandings that might be holding your business back.
You’re on social, aren’t you? That’s where influencers reign supreme and regularly communicate with their loyal followers. And when you consider that 86% of Gen Z follow influencers but only 42% follow brands this need to have a presence where your potential customers are will only become more important. (For comparison, the Millennial split is 78% influencers and 53% brands.)
Your products and services might require a lengthy consideration phase – for example, a potential customer might need to see your name several times in several different environments before acting – and influencers can support this process. That’s because adding them to your marketing strategy not only allows you to manage flipped follower trends, but also to experiment with new social channels. For example, just because you're working with an influencer on TikTok doesn't mean you can't leverage that content on Instagram to maximise exposure. As Julia says: “It’s about adding diversity to your portfolio, becoming more engaging and giving potential customers a deeper understanding of your brand.”
Remember, this form of marketing is not a standalone conversion tool, however, it’s a great component in your overall efforts to build trust and awareness through continuous engagement. Julia’s advice? Looking beyond ‘finfluencers’ and financial experts when selecting your content creators and focus on finding someone who aligns with your brand values and can effectively reach your target audience. Like C6’s collaboration with Brazilian actor Isabella Scherer, who talks about how her credit card supports her love of eating and travelling.
Jump the obstacle: Discover more about building long-term relationships with influencers in this episode of The FML Podcast.
Yes, but this transparency is key to creating stronger connections with potential customers. And with 69% of consumers trusting influencers, friends and family over information coming directly from a brand, now’s the time to partner with those who pride themselves on authenticity – something that’s all-important in today’s digital age.
Influencers can show off products and services in a way that doesn’t feel ‘salesy’ so think of them as your ambassadors, as Current has done when onboarding younger groups who might never have had a bank account before. Chief technology officer Trevor Marshall attributes this to their marketing campaigns, which over the past six years have involved over 1,000 social media influencers, including a long-term partnership with YouTuber MrBeast.
In an era where traditional ads often come across as intrusive, repetitive and irrelevant, influencer marketing provides a natural and authentic alternative. It enables audiences to connect with brands in a way that traditional advertising falls short, addressing their interests and needs without disrupting their digital experience.
Jump the obstacle: People are used to seeing the #ad or #sponsored hashtag in their posts to meet disclosure requirements, so view your paid partnerships with pride.
Ok, navigating the rules of engagement – from first contact through to signing a contract contract – requires a strategic approach. And according to Julia, the first step is understanding your target audience and aligning influencers with their interests.
“Think about who your target audience listens to – from lifestyle creators for neobanks to more finance-savvy influencers for trading platforms. This can be a manual job, but it’s worth doing to ensure they speak the same language as your potential customers and are aligned with your brand values.”
You might decide to do this in-house or you could use an agency that’ll come to the table with a roster of influencers, fabulous negotiation skills, expert compliance knowledge and transparent billing structures. You just need to think about the best approach for your business in terms of time management and cost-effectiveness.
Jump the obstacle: Talk to us today about identifying and approaching the right influencers to deliver on your marketing objectives and campaigns.
We get it – the unique regulatory landscape of fintech requires careful consideration and ensuring your influencer campaigns adhere to industry- and market-specific standards demands a nuanced approach. That’s where the experts come in.
Beyond that, you’re going to want to provide a clear creative brief, but influencers are often most effective when they can do their own thing. Keep in mind that it’s relatability that matters most to consumers, so don’t be too prescriptive beyond regulatory considerations and trust in their process and the way they speak to their followers.
Jump the obstacle: Striking the right balance between compliance and creativity is paramount, which is something we discuss with Stephen Carroll – head of fintech and regulated services at TikTok – in this instalment of The FML Podcast.
Ok, let’s make a distinction. There’s how an influencer marketing campaign performs – which you measure by using bespoke affiliate links with a UTM tag that will send information to your analytics platform – and then there’s effectiveness.
We’ve already spoken about the slow burn of awareness-building and consideration, making it unlikely someone’s going to sign up for a money-saving app the first time they see an influencer talking about it. In other words, trust-building should take precedence, meaning engagement metrics such as likes, shares and comments are more indicative of success than immediate conversions.
“The effectiveness of your influencer collaboration should revolve around the value your brand receives,” says Julia. “That’s why we always advocate for long-term campaigns as opposed to one-offs (unless it's a product launch) because then you see a creator constantly talking about a product or service and genuinely using that product – in that way, it engages and educates the target audience.”
Jump the obstacle: If you’re considering your advertising options, listen to our discussion about why fintechs should leverage influencer and paid marketing together to accelerate their reach.
Think influencer marketing is a trend? Think again. By making use of the reach and credibility of collaboration with creators, you can connect with your target market in a way that resonates and builds trust.
Contact us to find out more.
Catalyse your fintech’s growth.
Building a fintech is hard—we make the growth part easy. Let’s connect.
