Understanding finfluencers: Roles and strategic partnerships in retail investor engagement
研究金融网红在社交媒体上分享金融内容的现象，通过德语区金融网红的调查，揭示其动机、商业模式及与金融机构的战略合作，对理解散户投资者参与和金融教育有参考价值。
Financial influencers, or ‘finfluencers’, are emerging players in the financial community who share financial content on social media, particularly about personal finance and investing. Continuously growing their audience through engaging infotainment, finfluencers’ prominence is fuelled by demand for more accessible financial education and low-cost financial advice. This study sheds light on finfluencers’ social, economic and cultural implications, offering academics and practitioners new insights into how finfluencers influence retail investor engagement, including their motivations, business models and collaborations. The online survey responses of a representative sample of German-speaking finfluencers reveal that, despite apparent contradictions in their financial motives, finfluencers see themselves as advocates of financial education. While serving for financial services marketing, finfluencers also can be integrated into strategic partnerships, including retail investor relations and financial literacy initiatives. Despite controversies, we conceptualize finfluencers as agents of change promoting financial literacy, empowerment, and inclusion while also normalising financial conversations in everyday life.