Credit Karma
To reach our goal of “championing financial progress for all,” Credit Karma, an all-in-one financial platform for free credit scores, credit card offers, net worth, and a checking account, needed to relate to members through emotion.
We built a robust social program touching all facets of marcomms: a consistent brand presence across organic and paid social; influencer partnerships to reach Gen Z and young Millennials,; and snackable, relatable content that leaned into cultural trends.
Marketing leadership always focused on down-funnel metrics first, but through educating the C-suite we were able to drum up interest and investment in top-of-funnel brand social metrics (video view rate, engagement, social conversation sentiment). Leadership started to invest more dollars and x-functional resources in social initiatives.
CREDIT KARMA + IDK
When rapper IDK, a real Credit Karma member, posted a screenshot of his credit scores on Instagram, we commented back, and slid into each other’s DMs. This seeded a relationship that later blossomed into business impact.
In FY23, our research revealed BIPOC women were the most confident about starting their financial journeys, but also the most under-resourced. Credit Karma had an opportunity to reach this cohort and make an impact, and IDK’s following was the perfect match.
Our partnership grew into two phases: 1. Credit Karma and IDK paid off $10k in student loans for 5 of his followers most in need, driving word of mouth among IDK’s followers, and 2. Credit Karma sponsored the first YouTube episode of “Midday with IDK,” where host IDK interviewed artists and influencers about their relationships with money.
The collab gained significant positive commentary, exceeded expected impressions and social mentions, and earned organic press from Forbes, Yahoo! Finance, and target media outlets like Essence, BET, Sheesh Media, and AfroTech.
Responsibilities: End-to-end project lead, influencer and partnership manager, strategic social lead, casting and production support, leadership buy-in
MEMBER STORIES
Member Stories shares the narratives of real Credit Karma members, and how increasing their credit scores has contributed to true progress in their lives.
What started as a three-video test became a top-performing marketing campaign for driving acquisition and earned leadership buy-in as a sustainable acquisition strategy through the next year.
Animation credit: Giant Ant
Responsibilities: Social content strategy, x-functional partnership with creative and performance marketing, casting and production support, leadership buy-in
LOVE + FINANCES
While listening to our communities, we found that top fans called Credit Karma their “boyfriend” and “longest relationship.” We turned this insight into a campaign for Valentine’s Day, building even stronger relationships with our biggest advocates.
Our first year, we tweeted at members and surprised them with Valentine’s chocolates, earning 1.2k organic engagements. This strong reaction signaled we should double down investment, and thus our annual Love + Finances campaign was born.
In 2024, we launched a video campaign on the most titillating love and money conversation topics while guiding with tips on how to talk money in relationships. Our TikTok brand lift study drove a statistically significant increase in positive attitude and consideration for Credit Karma among Gen-Z and Millennials.
Responsibilities: Social strategy, paid media strategy, project management, x-functional feedback, measurement and reporting
SHORT-form video content
Credit Karma was quick to jump in with short-form video content across TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts, and was one of the first financial brands with a prominent following on TikTok.
We finessed social trends with business needs, but our bread and butter was creating content in-house with little to no production budget, and partnering with the right money and lifestyle influencer creators when we did have budget. Despite the regulatory tape that comes with finance (disclaimers, woof), we jumped into timely cultural moments like the Bachelor, Bridgerton, Barbie, or Love Island premiers, and trending moments like Taylor’s album drop. And we got really scrappy when we needed to.
Responsibilities: Social strategy, paid media strategy, project management, x-functional feedback, measurement and reporting
voter roadmap
Knowing elected officials directly influence the policies that affect your money, Credit Karma created Voter Roadmap. We enabled members to register to vote, sign up for mail-in ballots, and find local polling locations directly in-app. On social, we jumped into the conversation with organic content with election info, gifs to share (that trended on Giphy!), paid amplification of positive conversation about Voter Roadmap, in-product and email social sharing prompts, and guiding info to address member questions.
Responsibilities: Social content strategy; x-functional partnership with creative, product, and member success; leadership buy-in