The popular app is where Gen Z goes for trends, news and even financial advice. Here’s how some banks are using TikTok and platforms like it for education.
By Marlee Ribnick
Whether you’ve only heard of TikTok or you’re an active user, you know the social media app has made quite an impression on popular culture. TikTok is a frenzy of videos with genres carved out for every topic: If you’re a Taylor Swift loyalist, you’ll find a home on SwifTok. Looking for financial or budgeting advice? There’s FinTok.
But what’s FinTok, and should your bank jump in?
Once you “like” a video or two on the topic of finance, you’ll find yourself down the rabbit hole of FinTok. There, you’ll find budgeting advice, users sharing spending habits (and comments weighing in on the validity of every purchase), advice on the importance of a high-yield savings account, recommendations for credit cards or banks, and baby boomers sharing what they wish they knew about finances in their 30s.
TikTok gives everyone a platform, which means subpar financial advice can creep in. “Sometimes it’s sneaky,” says Martha Bartlett Piland, CFMP, president and CEO of Banktastic, a marketing agency for financial brands.
Piland recalled one TikTok user detailing how they became a self-made millionaire by 24. The user mixed in logical points with some questionable advice that real estate is a guaranteed money-maker. Piland says the average person could easily internalize the bad advice with the good.
Get-rich-quick schemes have survived several mediums over the years, and they have found a home on TikTok. Cathy Pedrayes, an author, TV host and social media expert with over 2.5 million followers on TikTok, has seen scams and financial advice pop up even when she’s not looking for it.
TikTok’s “algorithm is really good at pinning your interests down. If you’re … looking to save some money, or [do some] holiday spending, it’ll know your thoughts before you know your thoughts. … It’s not always that you’re looking for it, but it just finds you.”
‘Carve out a lane’
So should banks be nervous about young people turning to TikTok for financial education and advice?
Not really, according to Kathleen Burns Kingsbury, wealth psychology expert and founder of KBK Wealth Connection. “The younger generation has a new way of doing things. We get scared. Then we realize we’ve been through this before,” she says.
Instead of trying to compete with influencers, banks can use their credibility to counter misinformation, Kingsbury says. “Carve out a lane and be strategic,” she advises.
Just be relatable and share facts, not opinions, suggests Pedrayes. Create TikToks about how to fill out a check, save for college or avoid common banking mistakes. With educational content, banks can sidestep having to keep up with every viral moment.
TOOLKIT — ABA has the resources to help you connect with your customers, no matter the medium. Encourage teens in your community to make videos about money smarts by hosting a free ABA Foundation Lights, Camera, Save! contest every spring. Each fall or year-round, participate in #BanksNeverAskThat, ABA’s anti-phishing campaign. And sign up for ABA’s spring financial education programs at aba.com/FinEd.
But before making a splash on TikTok, make sure your bank has developed a strong, audience-focused business strategy. Piland urges institutions to determine who they are trying to attract and retain as customers. If the target audience is Gen Z, TikTok may be a smart move, if you have the people power to manage it.
Some banks use TikTok to connect with younger customers and show off their branch’s personality, with bank employees participating in lighthearted TikTok trends.
One example: West Plains Bank and Trust Company, an ABA member bank in West Plains, Missouri, curates its TikTok channel by keeping things fun and engaging, showcasing employees and jumping on relevant trends, says Kate Tyree, the bank’s marketing and bank culture specialist. The bank posted its first TikTok in 2020, and it has nearly 1,500 followers.
The bank first captured its audience’s attention because of its creative content, and from there, the team has “sprinkled in educational pieces” about West Plains’ products and services, says Tyree. “Just like any other advertising outlet, there’s risk,” Tyree adds, but she says the bank’s experience with TikTok has been rewarding.
The bank’s most popular TikTok in 2023 garnered over 540,000 views, 22,300 likes and 70 comments. It’s a comical take on what it’s like when the bank president meets the summer intern.
Ann Marie Newberry, SVP and chief marketing and communications officer at West Plains, is thrilled about what TikTok has done for her bank. Beyond reaching a new customer base, it’s “showing off the community banking industry overall,” bringing in positive publicity for community banking.
No matter how a bank uses TikTok, it’s important to retain the bank’s identity. Siya Vansia, chief brand and innovation officer at Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey-based ConnectOne Bank, stresses that banks shouldn’t change who they are to reach new audiences, as TikTok is only a new way to communicate.
Many bankers may still be wary of the app, particularly given concerns over how it harvests and manages data from the user’s device. But if making videos for TikTok is not right for your bank, the app can still be useful in other ways.
The fight against financial misinformation
Bank marketers are constantly stretched to create more with less, so Piland urges them to peruse TikTok to look critically at trends so they can fight misinformation via other social media platforms, in speeches or face-to-face at the branch.
If your bank knows what’s happening on TikTok, you can understand and anticipate customers’ needs. “Part of your job as a banker is to connect with your clients, educate your clients, and when you notice misinformation, ask them where they got it,” Kingsbury says.
When she speaks with loan officers, wealth managers or advisers, she often suggests asking customers where they get most of their financial information — specifically, from which social media handles. Banks can review the content customers consume and find ways to either amplify those voices or counter the misinformation.
For banks, the future is not necessarily about TikTok, but short-form video content that’s engaging, according to Vansia. (Not to mention that TikTok content can be repurposed for YouTube, Instagram, Facebook or your website.)
Case in point: ABA member Mechanics Bank (@mechanicsbank) recently created a video with its take on a TikTok trend — on Instagram Reels.
When you create content and meet customers wherever they are, “it’s not a waste,” Kingsbury says.
