Finfluencer Campaign Playbook

Executive Summary

This playbook provides credit unions with a structured guide to standing up a social media influencer campaign, leveraging social media influencers with a finance focus—“finfluencers”—to attract new, younger members and strengthen long-term growth. 

Developed by FiLab, with social media marketing professionals and a cohort of 13 credit unions, this playbook begins by introducing Influencer Marketing in the context of credit union growth and breaking down Social Media Marketing Fundamentals, including the influencer marketplace and typical social media goals.

The playbook moves on to outline a four-phased approach to standing up a credit union’s finfluencer campaign from scratch. The following high-level example of a social media influencer campaign timeline shows how this playbook is organized, from setting up to executing a finfluencer campaign and evaluation.

Credit Union Implications

For credit union executives weighing whether to employ an influencer marketing strategy, this playbook provides a structured roadmap to confidently enter this new channel:

• Meeting the next generation where they already are: With 69% of Gen Z citing parents as a strong influence on financial decisions, finfluencer campaigns create a dual pathway to reach younger members directly on Instagram while simultaneously engaging their parents on Facebook, building multi-generational awareness and trust.
• Turning the credit union difference into compelling content: Influencers excel at transforming what makes credit unions unique—community focus, member ownership, personalized service—into authentic storytelling that cuts through institutional messaging and resonates with audiences seeking alternatives to big banks and unregulated fintechs.
• Scaling engagement with realistic budgets: From nano-influencers (hundreds of dollars) to micro-influencers (thousands), credit unions can launch meaningful campaigns without enterprise-level spending, using the playbook's detailed budget frameworks to match investment levels with organizational capacity and goals.
• Building internal capabilities for digital-first competition: Implementing the four-phase framework (Preparing, Getting Started, Content Creation, Measuring Impact) develops critical organizational muscles, such as stakeholder alignment, compliance integration, content collaboration, and performance measurement, that extend far beyond a single campaign.
• De-risking execution with proven templates and tools: The playbook includes downloadable resources (agenda guides, project plans, campaign briefs, contract checklists, research cheat sheets) that eliminate the guesswork and provide credit unions with field-tested frameworks developed through cohort collaboration with 13 credit unions.

The full report walks credit unions through every decision point, from choosing between engagement, reach, or conversion goals to evaluating long-term partnership potential, ensuring first-time finfluencer campaigns are set up for measurable success.