Fidelity, BlackRock Delve Into TikTok for Younger Investors

Big financial firms, not native to youth-oriented social media like TikTok, are nonetheless making their ways in, Reuters wrote Thursday (May 12).

“FinTok” influencers, not working for any company, have big audiences the companies want to tap into.

The influencers include Mark Tilbury (@marktilbury, 7 million followers), Humphrey Yang (@humphreytalks, 3.3 million), Tori Dunlap (@herfirst100k, 2.1 million) and Erika Kullberg (@erikakullberg, 8.4 million), Reuters reported.

Financial companies are looking at a reworking of their business model, including speaking in bite-sized clips with a high-quality visual style, in order to engage TikTok audiences. That will come with the challenges of explaining topics like retirement or compound interest, which aren’t usually covered on TikTok.

Fidelity is one of the companies doing this, now having over 14,000 followers with almost half a million likes. The idea, according to executives, is to try and connect with the next generation.

BlackRock, which Reuters notes is the first public money manager to hit $10 trillion in assets, has around 2,300 followers on the platform so far.

The shifts are coming as the digital world and its various offshoots influence the way the next generation is growing up financially, Reuters reported.

Wells Fargo, for example, asked kids where they were learning about managing money, and 35% said social media.

And investment manager T. Rowe Price asked children about what assets they’d invest in, 57% said cryptocurrency while 38% said traditional stocks.

See also: TikTok, Foursquare Partner to Garner In-Store Visit Data

PYMNTS wrote that TikTok has been involved in other activities, with the company working alongside Foursquare to help sellers and advertisers gather data about in-store visits in America and Canada.

That will happen through the use of Foursquare Attribution, the company’s measurement product. It will let the two companies look at the effects of ad campaigns on driving people into physical stores.

A blog post from the companies said there’s a need for “methods to measure mid-funnel customer conversions.”

“For many of these retail and commerce-minded advertisers, the key business outcome is driving customers to their physical businesses,” the post said. “However, following a customer journey from digital impression to in-store visit can be challenging for even the most savvy advertiser.”