Ally Financial Inc. (NYSE: ALLY) went viral on March 31 after its TikTok post of a “finfluencer” tipping restaurant employees $50,000 and paying customer tabs for the night. That post received 42.7 million views and 1.7 million likes, according to the Detroit-based bank’s “allydoitright” TikTok page.
The viral video was part of the bank’s #allytipoff campaign during the NCAA's March Madness 2022 tournament. Ally debuted on the platform in October 2021 and has since partnered with popular influencers to generate trendy, short videos focusing on financial advice and savings tips to engage with its TikTok audience — mostly composed of the Generation Z cohort.
Jennifer Brockington, Ally's executive director of advertising, content and research who is based in Charlotte, plays a key role in orchestrating the bank’s social-media content.
“I think over the pandemic, TikTok has really blown up and specifically FinTok — people talking about an interest in finances,” she said. “As we've seen that growth, it's been a natural complement to what we do at Ally and connecting how we can use that user engagement and the growth of TikTok from consumers and have an authentic and credible voice. That's really our goal with TikTok.”
Brockington said she believes TikTok is more friendly for brands versus other social-media platforms. Ally uses the app to raise awareness for its products and services to help customers with their financial journey.
Though TikTok had a data privacy breach in 2020, the platform has been “solid” for Ally as a social-media partner, Brockington said. Ally was methodical and mindful in its approach for using the app solely to portray ways to help customers. The March Madness tipoff videos were part of the bank’s posting strategy, to align with culturally relevant moments throughout the year.
“Just to say, 'During the pandemic, we know it's been tough. We're glad to see everybody back out there and helping these businesses,'” she said. “We really want to have conversations with people and show up where they need us. It's not really about what we're trying to do, but really integrating into the things that the consumers want to talk about in a fun and engaging way.”
Ally recently formed its latest partnership with TikTok called “Ally Alliance,” which, still in the early stages, was established for following trends in fintech education. The bank claims TikTok is an important voice in its strategy since it knows its audience best. Brockington said Ally created a relationship with TikTok and the app’s media influencers to collaborate on a long-term posting strategy. Ally hired six to eight influencers for daily postings and utilized other popular influencers for specific campaigns such as the March Madness tipoffs.
“I think one of the unique things we're doing is that our influencers we've selected with TikTok are Ally customers,” she said. “So it really comes from an authentic voice and a lot of these influencers have reached out to us and say, ‘We just love Ally and love what you do.’”
Ally has a wide range of customers with whom it can establish business relationships and expand reach. But, Brockington said, the bank’s TikTok strategy focuses more on younger audiences to help them gain financial knowledge.
About 42% of TikTok users are between ages 18 to 24, and 32% are between 25 and 34, according to e-commerce data. That’s nearly 75% of the app’s users.
“There's a huge surge of appetite for financial knowledge,” Brockington said. “And I think we're trying to give that to them in the right areas that are helpful ... I still think we're early on our journey and we're still creating the right relevance and consumer value for people. We're gonna test and learn and continue to try new things and disrupt in different ways. So, more to come from us for sure on TikTok.”
