Brazilian is more interested in investments, and influencers in the area explode

Digital influencers focused on finance have become one of the main information channels in the market with the explosive increase in Brazilian interest in the topic of investments in recent years.

The number of investors who are individuals on the Stock Exchange jumped from approximately 700 thousand CPFs in mid-2018 to 4.4 million in June 2022, in a period when the Selic, the basic interest rate, touched a historic low of 2% per year, although it has already returned to 13.75% per year.

To meet the growing demand for topics related to finance and investments, influencers are dedicated to producing videos, posts and interactions with millions of followers.

A study carried out by Anbima (Brazilian Association of Financial and Capital Markets Entities) to measure the influencers’ performance shows that the six most far-reaching digital channels on social networks —O Primo Rico, Me Poupe!, Wealth in Dias, Nathália Arcuri, Gustavo Cerbasi and Bruno Perini — they have around 37.4 million followers, which have been acquired over the last few years. The O Primo Rico channel, for example, was created in 2015 and Gustavo Cerbasi’s appeared the following year.

Anbima data identified 255 digital influencers focused on the financial theme in the first half of 2022, who reached about 94.1 million followers. The number, however, does not necessarily mean 94.1 million people, since each user can follow the same character on different social networks.

“We can’t deny that they are here to stay and play a very important role in this scenario”, says Amanda Brum, executive manager of communication, marketing and relationship with associates at Anbima. Compared to the first survey carried out by the association, in September 2020, there was a 27% growth in the number of followers.

According to the survey, in all, influencers made almost 190,000 publications in the first half of this year, or about 31,300 posts per month, with an average of 1,300 interactions with each post made.

The study also shows that, in terms of volume of publications, the stock market is the absolute leader, with 48.2% of the total, almost five times greater than the second most popular, which are cryptocurrencies.

CVM monitors the market to avoid irregular practices

Faced with the growth of the digital influencer market, the CVM (Securities Commission) understood that an inspection of the activity was necessary, in order to curb practices that could be considered irregular, such as the recommendation of investments by people who do not have certification.

“There are situations in which it is possible to observe, for example, digital influencers acting in order to carry out investment analyzes and recommendations. This action can even promote dysfunctions in the functioning of the capital market”, points out the CVM in a note sent to Sheet.

According to the autarchy, the intention is not to impede anyone’s exercise of freedom of expression, as long as the perimeters of action of regulated market agents are not invaded.

Influencers said that the CVM’s performance in the digital universe is positive.

“The CVM doesn’t want to talk about recommendations and wants to prevent investors from being deceived with absurd pyramids that we see on the internet. I don’t see the autarchy’s performance as something bad”, says Carol Dias.

Gustavo Cerbasi says that he considers the CVM’s performance “necessary, urgent and fundamental for the quality of financial education in Brazil”.

“The significant increase in digital influencers is positive, when disseminating content about financial education to a larger universe of people, but it also brings risks, with influencers who may not have the necessary preparation to disseminate content to millions of followers”, says the expert. .

Thiago Nigro, 32: Founder of the channel “O Primo Rico”, Thiago Nigro is today the largest digital finance influencer in the country in terms of number of followers, with around 13.1 million on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and YouTube.

He says that, like most Brazilians, he had no financial education at home when he was young, and he became interested in the market when he saw the opportunity to conquer his own financial freedom there.

Nigro took his first steps in the area working in investment advisors’ offices, which gave him the basis for, in 2015, he created the channel “O Primo Rico”.

According to him, while conversations in offices were restricted to a relatively small audience, of investors with high values, on the internet, the audience that can have access to content on financial education is exponentially larger.

“At the time I started posting the first videos, the market was still incipient, the videos had few views, but I always believed in education as a tool to help people”, says the 32-year-old influencer.

In addition to publications on social networks, in which he addresses topics related to investments and personal finance, entrepreneurship and even spirituality, Nigro also produces courses, training and, in 2018, he published the book “Do Mil ao Milhão, sem Cortar o Cafezinho”, which was among the best sellers in the country in recent years.

Currently, the influencer encompasses all businesses, which includes an investment platform within a company called “O Grupo Primo”, with a team of 200 employees.

The revenue achieved by the group last year was R$ 130 million. He does not open the projection for 2022, but says that it has already exceeded the value of 2021.

Gustavo Cerbasi, 48: specialist in financial intelligence and partner of the platform “SuperRico Projetos de Vida”, he is one of the forerunners in the financial education market in the country, author of books such as “Casais Inteligentes Enriquecem Juntos”, which inspired the film “Until luck separates us” .

Gustavo Cerbasi has 3.6 million followers on social media, which he has managed to gather since 2016, and recently launched the platform “SuperRico Projetos de Vida”, whose proposal is to connect financial planners with people seeking advice to better deal with their own money. .

According to Cerbasi, more than dealing with investment alternatives, the main focus of the publications he makes on the networks is to work on behavioral aspects, which help people to overcome obstacles and difficulties in dealing with money.

“It seems to make a lot of sense, for example, that investing a little bit of salary over time will bring great freedom, but many people cannot maintain this discipline”, he says.

He says he doesn’t consider investments by far the most important issue when talking about finances. “I would say that the investment is the icing on the cake, it is already the sophistication within a successful strategy.” However, if the person does not have a defined strategy, there is no investment in the world that will be able to lead them to the results they expect, says Cerbasi.

Charles Mendlowicz, 45: founder of the channel “Economista Sincero”, created in mid-2019, has about 1.5 million followers on social media.

Although it is not among the influencers with the largest audience, it emerges as the first in the ranking prepared by Anbima to classify the main digital finance influencers in the market. The survey does not only consider the absolute values ​​of the total number of followers, but also criteria such as the level of engagement of this base, the frequency of publications and the property that influencers have in approaching topics.

Mendlowicz believes that dealing with people’s everyday issues, such as shopping at the supermarket or stopping at the gas station to fill up the gas tank, makes followers see themselves represented in those same situations in their daily lives.

“The more people understand that our lives are the same as theirs, the greater the engagement”, says the influencer.

Mendlowicz considers he has a different profile than most digital influencers, with his follower base largely made up of people with an age group more similar to his own.

These are people who also did not have access to financial education when they were younger and who have only now become aware of the possibilities that can be accessed through banks and investment platforms, without the need, for example, of a high value to invest. in stocks, real estate funds or even abroad, says the economist graduated from UERJ (University of the State of Rio de Janeiro).

Carol Dias, 34 : founder of the channel “Riqueza em Dias”, worked as a stage assistant on television, in the program “Pânico”, before starting to act as a digital influencer, at the end of 2019.

In a predominantly male universe, she emerges as one of the main female voices of this digital base, with almost 7 million followers, the vast majority of them on Instagram. She says that her followers on the networks are between 20 and 40 years old and about 30% are women.

The ex-panicat says that she came to suffer prejudice from people who belittled her new career, but that, despite the difficulties, she never thought about giving up her endeavor in the digital area. She says her main purpose is to help Brazilians understand the value of money to have a more financially peaceful future with the formation of a social security savings account.

From a middle-class family, the influencer says that, as a teenager, she saw her father go through serious financial troubles, which ended up helping her, from a young age, to be aware of the importance of financial organization to have a good quality of life more at home. front.

“There was and still exists to this day a perception on the part of some people that investments are only for millionaires, but today Brazilians have realized that this is not true”, says the influencer.