Key Takeaways

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Financial Services brands garnered 148K engagements from influencers from September to October 2022. Here’s how:

Channel Identification

• RBC earned the most engagement at 78K, followed by KOHO (29K), Scotiabank (21K), CIBC (13K) and Neo Financial (6K).
• Instagram (76%) and TikTok (23%) were the predominant channels for sponsored posts.
• As Instagram had the most post allocations, it also generated the highest engagements at 111K, +199% higher than the competitive set engagement average. 

Partner Trends

• Nano influencers, 1K-10K followers, represent the majority of sponsored posts at 44%. 
• Mid-tier influencers, 50K-500K followers, generated the most overall engagements at 80.6K.

Sponsored Post Strategies

• RBC builds visibility by hosting events for influencers to attend, as well as sponsoring athletes to tag them in posts.
• KOHO invites influencers to show how their product is used in practice and how it can help with budgeting.
• Scotiabank focuses on addressing athletes and their sponsorships by ensuring they are tagged in important posts.
• CIBC uses influencers to communicate cash back and budgeting benefits in practice.
• Neo Financial has influencers talk about specific features of their product such as using it to travel abroad. 

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The following companies were included in the competitive set for this analysis:

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From September to October 2022, brands in the competitive set generated 141 influencer posts. RBC generated the most (67 sponsored posts), followed by CIBC (26), Neo Financial (20) and Scotiabank (17).

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Of the sponsored posts, RBC generated the highest total engagement (78K) followed by KOHO (29K), Scotiabank (21K), CIBC (13K) and Neo Financial (6K).

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From September to October 2022, Instagram (76%) and TikTok (23%) were the predominant channels for sponsored posts.

Brands experimented with YouTube and Facebook with one post per platform.

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From September to October 2022, Instagram saw 107 sponsored posts followed by TikTok at 32 sponsored posts. 

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As Instagram had the most post allocations, it also generated the highest engagements at 111K, +199% higher than the competitive set engagement average (37K). 

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Nano influencers, with 1K-10K followers, represent the majority of sponsored posts at 44%. However, influencers that work with the competitive set had a median following of 13K (micro influencers).

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While the majority of brands worked with nano influencers, mid-tier influencers generated the most overall engagements at 80.6K.

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From September to October 2022, RBC generated the most sponsored posts on Instagram, at 62 posts.

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On Instagram, Athletes (63%) generated the highest overall engagement for RBC at 49K. 

Artists (19%) and Lifestyle Creators (17%) generated the next highest engagements at 15K and 13K respectively.

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Instagram Tactics

Visibility:

• RBC focuses primarily on visibility by hosting events and inviting influencers to join and enjoy. During TIFF, RBCxMusic hosted a show and influencers visited throughout the event to share their favourite moments and little vlogs from the night. 

Athlete Sponsorship:

• Instead of working with influencers to talk about the benefits of their products and what they offer, RBC takes a sponsorship approach to work with Canadian athletes. They ensure that they are tagged in all relevant posts.

11K Engagements

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10K Engagements

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From September to October 2022, KOHO generated the most sponsored posts on TikTok, at 4 posts.

KOHO sponsored seven posts compared to the competitive set’s average of 20 posts, while generating +39% more engagements than average.

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On TikTok, Lifestyle Content Creators (87%) generated the highest overall engagement for KOHO at 26K. 

Business Creators (12%) generated the second highest amount of engagements at 3.5K.

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TikTok Tactics

Building a Credit History:

• This creator made a video that went viral (2M views) and talks about how KOHO is helping her and her partner build a credit score and save to eventually invest in a home.

Staying in Budget:

• Many creators will make videos that address staying within a budget or getting cash back with KOHO partners. In this video, the creator takes viewers out on a day of shopping and includes screenshots of how KOHO notifies users of their spending and how to stay within budget throughout the day. 

24K Engagements

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1K Engagements

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From September to October 2022, Scotiabank generated the most sponsored posts on Instagram, at 16 posts followed by TikTok (1 post).

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On Instagram, Athletes (62%) generated the highest overall engagement for Scotiabank at 12K. 

Lifestyle Content Creators (36%) generated the second highest amount of engagements for Scotiabank at 7.4K.

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Instagram Tactics

Athlete-Focus:

• Scotiabank’s top-performing sponsored posts are driven by the athletes they sponsor in different disciplines. Golf and Hockey are the primary sports they’ve invested in. Scotiabank created a video about diversity in hockey and had their sponsored players share and tag them as part of a campaign. 

Community Events:

• Another approach Scotiabank has taken has been to create community events like this Women’s Initiative. Scotiabank invited different creators to participate in the event and share their experiences online.

10.6K Engagements

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7.4K Engagements

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From September to October 2022, CIBC generated the most sponsored posts on TikTok, at 17 posts.

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On TikTok, Lifestyle Content Creators generated 100% of the overall engagement for CIBC at 8K. 

Lifestyle Content Creators build videos that address a range of interests from health and wellbeing to everyday tasks such as cooking and work life.

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TikTok Tactics

Partner Approach:

• CIBC created a TikTok campaign with influencers to celebrate the new CIBC Costco Mastercard. They invited influencers to share what they would buy at Costco with their new cards and the cashback that comes with it. 

Everyday Benefits:

• To promote their Smart Account, CIBC worked with influencers to have them share a video about a specific topic (ie. shoes to buy for fall) then tie in the benefits of the Smart account at the end of the video. This allows the content to stay organic while including the promoted product at the very end.

5K Engagements

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391 Engagements

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From September to October 2022, Neo Financial generated the most sponsored posts on Instagram at 17 posts followed by TikTok.

Neo Financial is the only brand in the competitive set to experiment on YouTube with one post.

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On Instagram, Lifestyle Content Creators (68%) generated the highest overall engagement for Neo Financial at 4K. 

Business Content Creators (32%) generated the second highest amount of engagements for Neo Financial at 2K.

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Instagram Tactics

Affiliate Program:

• Neo Financial has an affiliate program online where creators can earn money by getting their own code and sharing content about the brand. This is an easy way to attract attention and get more people sharing the brand.

Why Neo?:

• When working directly with influencers, Neo Financial is great about providing specific talking points for captions and videos that help break down interesting and unique features that customers can benefit from. Creators are often sharing specific reasons why it is a good choice to get a card with Neo.

2K Engagements

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2K Engagements

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*Creators ranked by size of following.