Finfluencers: Social media finance gurus & their role in BFSI marketing plan

Finance as a category of content has observed exponential growth in recent years and social media networks are now experiencing the rise of finfluencers. Here experts outline their role in BFSI marketing plan.

Financial influencers or Finfluencers share investor information, pros and cons, and related risks for stock trading, personal finance, and more branches of the Finance industry. They have been touted to fill in the knowledge gap caused by the low financial literacy rate and lesser sources of information that focus less on education and more on industry updates.

This strengthens their role in a BFSI marketing plan, and here the experts highlight how.

The Panelists

• Ajinkya Kulkarni, Co-founder, Wint Wealth
• Ayush Shukla, Founder, Finnet Media,
• Sharan Hegde – Finance Influencer
• Anushka Rathod – Finance Influencer Manisha Dokania – Head Marketing, Edelweiss Mutual Fund

The Definition Of Finfluencers

Manisha shares that unlike other influencers, finfluencers are focused on a category of industry, which is Finance and their content is specified to investment. Ayush adds that within this branch of content too, there are two-sub categories - massy finance and personal finance.

Anushka says that finfluencers are not just used for product placement but product integration by creating content that educates the consumer. They talk about the product, its pros and cons, and the category risks.

Sharan shares that finfluencers work on more than just entertaining concepts, they try and add value to their audience's life, and give them a tangible benefit and not just entertain them or make them laugh.

Also Read: Expert Speak: Cryptocurrency – Marketing crypto without marketing crypto

The Right Finfluencers

Choosing influencers that suit the brand image and engage a relevant audience is strenuous, but it's more taxing to partner with the right influencer when finance is involved. The experts share the process of due diligence in choosing the right influencer.

Manisha mentions content and credibility of the finfluencer, quality and correctness of the content, the goal of the brand, and target audience, are a few elements to factor in and also make sure that the collaboration should not be forceful.

Sharing insights on choosing the right finfluencer, Manisha Dokania of Edelweiss Mutual Fund, shares that credibility, quality, and correctness of the content are parameters that should be focussed on…

Ayush shares that finance brands are very performance-oriented and it shouldn't be the first focus, especially for finance start-ups, brand or product awareness are also key metrics that should be looked at while partnering with influencers.

Ajinkya shares that trust is one of the most important factors for collaboration with finfluencers, the audience's trust in the finfluencers' content holds core value. "We try to figure out which influencers or expert has high trust, credibility, and correctness".

Credibility Of Content

Credibility is the essence of content in the Finance category, as the audience is not just consuming the content but also making their real decisions based on it. Here the finfluencers share their process of creating credible content.

Sharan shares if a piece of content is not making sense, it should be discarded, and one shouldn't post just for the sake of the posting. He adds that a slate of reputed publishers is tracked by his team for the source of information. Although the 6 content researchers are sometimes still not enough, reputed publishers may also be wrong.

Financial models suggested through his content are built, tried, and tested, and it may take about 2-3 days to arrive at a conclusion of a model being recommendation-worthy. He also focuses on the captions and not just video, as it is a part of the content where several details can be shared.

Anushka states that along with bringing in the expertise from her educational background and thorough research, she also accounts for the insights from experts in her network who can examine the practical applicability of financial instruments.

Role Of Finfluencers In BFSI Marketing Plan

One of the most prominent questions around finfluencers has been where can they support the consumer journey at optimum levels, as credibility and awareness is something they can help brands with. But the typical consumer journey also leads to purchase or investment.

Ajinkya shares that their capabilities of educating consumers have been underutilized, and Ayush mentions a lot of brands look at collaboration as a channel of acquisition, but the factors of awareness and credibility have not been tapped well.

Manisha reckons finfluencers can be utilized for creating awareness of a product launch, at the middle funnel for building consideration, and also for creating an integrated series of content.

Anushka shares that finfluencers don't necessarily have to sell, the content can have simple integration of products and educate people. She adds brands can also create their own social media presence and not engage in hard selling or be intrusive. They need to have a clear vision of what they want whether it's app downloads, visibility or any other goal. Only observing a spike after a single campaign and no follow-ups is not as efficient.

Sharan shares that the role of finflueners depends on where the brand is in, in its journey. He adds that collaboration should entail creative freedom and brands should not mess with the script, work with a vision and not with a laundry list of selling products.