How much would you trust an Influencer with your next mortgage?
Jump on TikTok, YouTube, Instagram or Twitter and you are likely to see someone (usually with a very large online following), sharing their thoughts and opinions on the mortgage, property and even broader financial markets.
Has anyone else noticed this? They’re everywhere!
The current state of play with interest rates, swap rates, affordability and doom & gloom headlines seems to be feeding this rise in financial content creators covering all things finance.
These financial influencers, or ‘finfluencers’ (yes, someone actually thought up a name for them) can provide great value, reach, trust and education amongst their followers. As consumer champions, many of them are trusted over anything else and they can provide enormous value.
They can also quite as easily cause customers to blindly follow their guidance and personal recommendations...
We are in a world where anyone, absolutely anyone can pretty much go online and talk about a subject of their choice.
There are a few things to remember when you see financial advice, guidance or information on social media.
Influencers, especially Financial Influencers (Finfluencers) are absolutely huge in the US, and the UK is now starting to follow suit it seems.
To give you some idea of scale, on Instagram alone, there are more than 37 million influencers. That's a lot of people with something to say.
According to an early Nielsen survey, 92% of customers trust an influencer more than an advertisement or traditional celebrity endorsement.
As the name suggests, an influencer is someone who has “the power to impact the behaviour of others”, and in an ever-changing economic climate such as this, Influencers are everywhere. Many of them have their own fantastic success stories, quick wins and ‘it worked for me’ tales to tell.
Impacting the behaviours of others, their decisions and choices when it comes to mortgages (often the largest financial commitment of your life) is something everyone needs awareness of.
I’m not for a second suggesting finfluencers are misleading people, or fake, or anything of the sort. In fact, there are plenty of finfluencers out there who are fully qualified financial advisers, traders, brokers and accountants sharing their vast knowledge and experience with the world.
More of this please! Engaging, accurate and educational content.
We must also remember - financial tips and tricks, experiences and predictions are very different to financial advice. ?
What you must also bear in mind is, many social media finfluencers may not be regulated or qualified to provide financial advice. They may very well talk about a financial subject, or caveat that no advice is being given, this is for information purposes only… etc etc.
But does that really do enough when so many people, especially the younger generations absorb finfluencer information and trust it to such a degree?
A key thing for many influencers and a way they often create engagement, across any platform is their own success stories. Personal success stories or wins they have experienced, read about or in some cases just chosen to create content from.
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They use their own experiences when creating content as a guide for viewers to follow. It's going to be engaging to draw you in and sometimes make it sound almost better than it actually is.
Nothing wrong with this, personal experiences are often far more relatable than industry facts and statistics. Although...
These videos, posts and content can sometimes suggest that financial activities have a one size fits all approach, are fun and you really can ‘go it alone’ and be ok.
When in reality, your financial decisions will greatly depend on your own personal circumstances.
According to a Young Money research report - almost three-quarters (74%) of young people say they trust finfluencer information.
That’s 74% of young people aged between 18-29 who trust the financial information they are receiving on social media.
Influencer Marketing has never been bigger, it’s huge and is superseding any celebrity endorsements of a similar nature, and shows no signs of stopping.
Although some excellent content is out there, created by some very knowledgeable experts. Please do ensure you, your friends, family and colleagues are seeking quality advice from a regulated and qualified individual when it comes to your next mortgage, be this via traditional routes, or social media.
Advice is key, however, you receive it.
What to look for in your next Finfluencer:
Remember - don’t always believe everything you see on the interweb
Just like all those finfluencers – here’s the caveat. This article is for informational purposes only. It should not be considered Financial or Legal Advice. Not all information will be accurate. Consult a qualified financial professional before making any major financial decisions.