Financial giants tiptoe into TikTok

div classBodysc17zpet90 cdBBJodivpBy Chris Taylorp

pNEW YORK Reuters – As TikTok accounts focused on money gain huge followings, stodgy financial firms are wedging themselves into youthoriented social media platforms for a piece of the action.pdivdivdiv classBodysc17zpet90 cdBBJodiv

pIndependent “FinTok” influencers like 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 have audiences that billiondollar asset managers can only dream of.p

pFor staid financial companies that means learning a new language from scratch: speaking in bitesized clips with a highquality visual style to share lessons in a lively and engaging way.p

pThat is quite a challenge with investing concepts that are not ‘fun,’ like retirement, diversification and compound interest.p

pBostonbased money manager Fidelity is among the first financial giants to dip its toes into TikTok. Since setting up its account fidelity in June 2021, it has since amassed over 14,000 followers and almost half a million likes.p

p“You have a very short period of time to engage people on complex topics, and that is a challenge,” said Kelly Lannan, Fidelitys senior vice president for emerging customers.p

p“But TikTok has been great, because we know thats where the next generation of customers is. So many individuals, especially younger audiences, go there for information – even before they go to their own family members.”p

pIndeed, when Wells Fargo & Co asked kids where they learned to handle money, 35 said social media. That could be good or bad: It can spark their interest and curiosity, but the lessons may not be right.p

pWhen investment managers T. Rowe Price queried kids about assets they would invest in, 57 chose cryptocurrency, 38 selected traditional stocks, 22 meme stocks, and 21 NFTs.p

pThat likely reflects the headlines they are seeing, which may present a skewed reality.p

pBLACKROCK ENTERS THE FRAYp

pMoney managers can show young investors rational money behaviors and how to build longterm portfolios.p

pBlackRock, the first public money manager to hit 10 trillion in assets, is working on winning their trust and blackrock has gained around 2,300 followers so far.p

p“TikTok is the opposite end of spectrum from the 20page whitepapers that we are very good at producing,” laughed Rich Latour, BlackRocks global head of content.p

p“But we need to target that next generation of investors, with the production values they are used to seeing, and help them wade through all the financial misinformation out there.”p

pSince FinTok is like its own language, BlackRock and Fidelity have put forward a few personalities who already know the lingo – younger staffers, some of whom have personal TikTok accounts, and are familiar with what content clicks with users.p

pTypical BlackRock fare includes popular issues like “3 Tips For Retirement,” “High Inflation,” “Why Pay Taxes？” and “ETFs Explained.”p

pFidelity uses a lot of food metaphors, since everyone seems to have an appetite for that. One of its most popular posts, with over 12.6 million views: a description of how fractional investing works, using the visual of a pie.p

pSince Fidelity and BlackRock are TikTok newbies, both are working on establishing partnerships with FinTok influencers with massive builtin audiences. Many other financial institutions seem less certain.p

pBut the eyeballs are convincing: Posts with the hashtag investing have already garnered 6.5 billion views, according to a TikTok spokesperson.p

pEven the platform‘s youngest users will eventually become working adults with investment accounts, and the nation’s biggest money managers may have no choice but to enter the FinTok world.p

p“Not only do I think that more companies will start to get on board, I think we all have a responsibility to be there,” Fidelitys Lannan said.p

p

pp Editing by Lauren Young and Richard Chang Follow us ReutersMoney or at http:www.reuters.comfinancepersonalfinance.p

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