Influencers, Investments and Missed Opportunities: What Banks Can Learn from Trump, Musk and the DTC Playbook

In today’s market, trust is the real growth engine. More than 80 percent of marketers call influencer marketing a highly effective strategy, according to Influencer Marketing Hub, and financial institutions are now catching up.

Younger generations are redefining where financial advice comes from.

Only 27 to 42 percent of adults under 30 use professional advisors, based on a Gallup & Northwestern Mutual, 2025 poll. And 64 percent of Gen Z say influencers shape their financial decisions, per Morning Consult, 2025.

That change fuels the rise of #FinTok, a TikTok community with over 4.7 billion views, says TikTok Creative Center, 2025.

Financial educators, accountants, and side-hustle storytellers teach money skills in short, relatable clips. For banks and fintech companies, this is not a passing trend. It marks a lasting shift in how people learn. The next generation listens to voices that feel human, not corporate. To remain relevant, finance brands must leverage influencer marketing campaigns as a key driver of business growth.

Before exploring what works, it helps to examine what happens when influence is built on visibility rather than credibility.

What Not to Do:  Lessons from High-Profile Credibility Risks

Recent headlines offer clear reminders that visibility without integrity can destroy trust overnight. The stories of Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and Elizabeth Holmes show how attention, when mismanaged, can turn into a liability.

When Trump launched Truth Social, celebrity attention delivered short-term visibility but failed to inspire long-term engagement. The platform lacked credible voices who could build a sense of community. The result was awareness without adoption, and proof that fame does not equal influence.

Elon Musk’s Twitter-to-X transformation illustrates another hazard. Abrupt changes and inconsistent communication alienated many respected content leaders and left advertisers uncertain. Even innovation can backfire when the people who give a platform credibility feel unheard.

Elizabeth Holmes and Theranos represent a different kind of credibility collapse. The company promised revolutionary health tech but ignored transparency and regulatory alignment. Finance leaders understand that story well: in any regulated space, hype without disclosure undermines the very trust you need to grow.

Together, these examples reinforce a truth for financial marketers: audience size is not the same as authenticity. Successful influencer campaigns are grounded in clear communication, compliance, and long-term relationship building.

High-Profile Credibility Risks: Three Lessons for Financial Marketers

What to Do Instead:  Build a Strategic Influencer Foundation

Financial marketers who succeed on social media share a mindset. They see influencer marketing campaigns as part of the business strategy, not a side project for the social team.

Start with clear goals. Every initiative should serve a measurable purpose: educating, attracting new customers, or re-engaging existing ones.

A bank that wants to improve financial literacy can collaborate with qualified educators who make complex topics approachable. A fintech platform seeking sign-ups can partner with relatable mid-tier influencers on TikTok or YouTube who demonstrate how the product works in real life.

Consistency is key. One-off partnerships fade quickly, but ongoing collaborations create steady visibility and stronger long-term returns. When a company works with influencers regularly, it builds steady familiarity and confidence with its audience, the same way people feel reassured when they keep an eye on their bank account.

In other words, consistency builds trust. Regular, predictable influencer partnerships make the brand feel reliable, just like seeing your balance regularly reminds you your money is safe.

How Influencer Marketing Campaigns Drive Core Business Goals

Influencer marketing can support every stage of the customer journey. When linked to business outcomes, it becomes a reliable driver of growth instead of a one-time awareness push.

Each influencer activity should connect to a clear metric and your influencer should be clear on their success metric. When results are visible, leadership sees influencer marketing as performance media rather than creative experimentation.

Influencers as the Center of the Marketing System

Influencer initiatives work best when they fit naturally within every other marketing channel. A post from an educator or content leader should reinforce paid ads, email programs, affiliate partnerships, and public relations.

Start with paid media. Repurpose strong influencer content for retargeting to reach people who have already engaged. These influencer content assets often deliver 25 to 30 percent higher ad recall than standard display formats, according to Edelman Trust Barometer, 2025.

Next, integrate influencer videos or quotes into CRM and email sequences. Messages that feel more conversational and authentic increase engagement.

Affiliate and loyalty programs can use influencers as credible advocates. Tracking links and reward codes make it easy to measure results.

Finally, coordinate influencer timelines with PR and brand announcements. When credible voices echo major milestones, coverage and social conversation reinforce each other. The best influencer programs operate as a central hub that connects every channel, creating a consistent, credible message across paid, owned, and earned media.

A Framework for Finance CMOs

Influencer marketing delivers the most value when it’s measured across awareness, engagement, conversion, and retention.

Influencer content introduces new communities to complex financial topics in simple, personal ways. That relevance builds authenticity and leads to measurable results.

Finance and fintech programs led by influencers achieve roughly a 35 percent higher return on investment than social commerce efforts without them, according to Business Insider, 2025.

Track cost per engaged viewer, conversions from tagged links, and brand-lift studies that measure confidence in the brand after exposure. Consistent reporting turns influencer marketing into a predictable growth engine.

Examples of Financial Institutions Getting It Right

Some finance brands have already moved beyond experiments and built influencer marketing campaigns that drive measurable results. These examples show how authenticity, transparency, and long-term partnership can turn social credibility into business value.

Chime: Building Trust Through Everyday Money Stories

Chime built loyalty by treating influencers as guides rather than spokespeople, partnering with mid-tier creators who already discussed budgeting and saving. Each shared one app feature in story-driven videos that felt like honest recommendations, not ads. Campaigns featuring influencer content across YouTube Shorts and TikTok achieved a 38 percent lower cost per acquisition than pay-per-click efforts (AdWeek, 2024), and engagement stayed higher long after the paid push ended. TikTok’s 45-plus segment is also the platform’s fastest-growing demographic (eMarketer, 2025), helping Chime reach families and older professionals who value financial education. The takeaway for financial institutions is clear: education builds understanding, and when influencers share relatable money stories, people listen and take action.

Chase Bank: Financial Education Through Collaboration

Chase has partnered with personal finance educators like Tori Dunlap (Her First 100K) and Vivian Tu (Your Rich BFF) to promote financial literacy for younger audiences. By supporting creator-led workshops and TikTok Q&As, Chase extends its educational mission into spaces where its next generation of customers actually learns. The result is an approachable presence that feels informative, not promotional.

SoFi: Building Trust Through Transparency

SoFi works with both micro and macro influencers to explain topics like student-loan refinancing and investing basics. Their collaborations are disclosure-driven and framed as education first, brand second. That approach builds authenticity and shows how compliance and creativity can work together.

Ally Bank: Consistent Storytelling Across Platforms

Ally has made long-term partnerships a core part of its content strategy. Instead of one-off sponsorships, the bank integrates influencers into recurring series about saving, side hustles, and responsible spending. Consistency reinforces the brand’s message that good money habits grow over time.

Key takeaway: These institutions prove that finance and fintech companies can use influencer marketing to strengthen education, inclusivity, and customer connection. The difference lies in planning, transparency, and respect for the community they want to serve.

Action Plan for CMOs

1. Audit your current investment.

Review how much of your marketing budget supports influencer marketing campaigns. Shifting even a small portion from display to creator-led programs can improve efficiency.

2. Create a compliance-first structure.

About 70 percent of retail-investing videos contain inaccurate or incomplete information, according to the University College London Media Studies, 2024. Screen each influencer’s content history and disclosure habits before partnering.

3. Define measurable goals.

Connect every collaboration to business outcomes such as sign-ups, downloads, or sentiment improvements. Use tracking links to make success easy to share across teams.

4. Align departments.

Coordinate influencer work with paid, CRM, and PR calendars. Consistency strengthens credibility and makes each channel more effective.

5. Scale proven partners.

Continue with influencers who deliver strong engagement and positive customer feedback. Long-term relationships build confidence that compounds over time.

Financial marketers who invest early in credible voices will lead tomorrow’s conversations about money. In a market driven by authenticity, confidence is the most valuable currency.