Personal finance advice on social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram has exploded in recent years as thousands of financial influencers — so-called "finfluencers" — have popped up across the platforms.
The niche has broad appeal, with some of the biggest finfluencers boasting hundreds of thousands of followers and millions of views. Yet, despite the popularity, it's rare to see certified financial advisors among the finfluencer ranks online.
The platforms offer access to countless viewers and even potential clients, but few advisors are leveraging the opportunity. To learn how financial advisors can carve out a space for themselves in the growing personal finance advice niche, Financial Planning asked some of the biggest finfluencers for their top tips for advisors. Here's what they shared.
Be yourself (yes, seriously)
There's no shortage of creators in the personal finance space on social media. While standing out from the crowd can seem like a daunting task, finfluencers say the easiest way to create a unique online presence is to bring yourself to the forefront of your content.
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@profitplug Sometimes, It’s MORE Expensive Being Cheap 😅 Welcome to episode #1 of 20 Money Lessons I Learned In my 20’s. Currently, im in the top 1% of my age, but it didn’t start out like that. I was broke, had a terrible relationship with money, and had 0 clue what I was doing. Over the past half decade, I have dedicated every day to learning this confusing world of money. I’ve had some successes, but made alot of mistakes along the way. This is just episode 1. Be sure to follow for the next :) Comment down something you’re NOT willing to cheap out on 👇 #lessons #lessonseries #money #personalfinance #savemoney #welath #wealthmindset #millionaire ♬ original sound - Angelo Castillo
"You have to figure out what's your competitive advantage and kind of cut through all the noise," said Angelo Castillo, a personal finance content creator who goes by "Profitplug" on social media. "One of the ways to do that is to just be really authentic. Tell your story, tell your opinions, because in the personal finance [niche], there's so much noise, there's so much information and a lot of the things are already repeated."
Castillo, who has amassed over 1.6 million followers across TikTok, Instagram and YouTube, covers everything from investing and budgeting tips to side hustle businesses. Across his content, Castillo often relates details from his own financial journey to make his videos more relatable.
Create useful content
Financial advisors hopping on social media may be excited by the possibility of client recruitment from the platforms, but finfluencers say it's crucial that advisors actually provide value through their content. An advisor's social media presence can't simply be a funnel to their firm's website.
As Kevin Jiang, the creator behind Kevin's Templates, puts it, advisors should "focus on helping people first" when making social media content.
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Jiang's TikTok and Instagram pages, where he posts videos making bespoke budgeting templates, have accumulated nearly 600,000 followers. On his website, Jiang offers a mix of free and premium budgeting templates that his viewers can access. But his videos are also instructive for viewers who are interested in making their own templates.
Keep it simple
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As some finfluencers put it, that can mean "dumbing down" certain concepts so they're more easily digestible online. But, as others point out, that can also mean explaining topics through personal experiences and plain language.
There's no need to insert a bunch of the Gen-Z buzzwords into your videos, but finfluencers say it's best to avoid language that makes viewers feel like they're being lectured at.
Share your own journey
Most financial advisors aren't quick to pull from their own experiences when it comes to explaining different financial topics, but finfluencers say weaving in one's personal journey is crucial to building an audience.
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Alitzah Stinson, a content creator who posts videos about budgeting and building her stationery business, said that "people relate to the journey more than anything."
@alitzahs Let’s make a $9k mortgage payment!! This is my first big payment towards the principal of my loan and it feels so good 👏🏽👏🏽 #debtpayoff #payoffdebt #debtfree #mortgage ♬ original sound - Alitzah
Stinson, who has nearly 75,000 followers across TikTik and Instagram, takes that advice to heart in making her own content, whether she's talking through a monthly budget breakdown or sharing a detailed walkthrough of how she's aggressively paying down her mortgage.
Post consistently
Social media influencers get flak for not having "real jobs," but there's no denying that gaining a large following online is a lot of work. The most popular finfluencers not only succeed in creating unique content, but they also produce and share their videos consistently from week to week.
Castillo, who makes each video with a two-person team of himself and an editor, posts multiple videos a week on his channels.
While doing all of the right things when making content can help drive success on social media, creators say it still takes time to develop a dedicated audience.
"The algorithm can be random and unfair at times," a finfluencer who goes by Honest Personal Finance said. "Don't feel bad if your great content is performing poorly; just keep posting!"
