There’s pretty much nobody alive who would say that social media hasn’t impacted the world in a significant sense.
Whether it’s helping lost friends find one another again, spreading misinformation, or proliferating memes, social media has inarguably been used for both good and ill, and this will likely remain the case as long as social media sticks around.
It’s true that social media can significantly impact your life, but does this also extend to your financial health? In short, could social media help you to manage your finances better?
The answer to this question is “yes”, but you need to know where to look and what to do. Here are some of the ways that social media could help to augment your finances and leave you better off!
Influencer work could bring in some extra income
One of the biggest ways in which social media could help your finances involves becoming what’s known as an “influencer”.
If you haven’t heard of this line of work, it essentially involves creating content people want to see, then partnering up with brands or companies in order to help sell their products, pocketing some cash in the process.
Being an influencer isn’t easy, of course. You’ll need to be an in-demand content creator, which means people should want to see the content you’re making whether or not you’re already famous.
You’ll also likely only start making money once you begin building followers. Sites such as ProfileFollower can help you to get started in this regard, so don’t worry if you’re making the best content, you’ve ever made but not seeing those numbers go up.
In short, although this is something of a long-term project, there’s no harm in creating content during your off-hours, and if it takes off, then social media will inarguably have helped your finances!
Some social media accounts are dedicated to helping with your money
Continuing on the theme of influencers, there are many content creators out there who are dedicated to helping you to manage your personal finances.
This could be through tips and tricks designed to help you make the most of what’s in your bank account, for instance, or it could be through carefully-chosen partnerships with brands offering products or services for the purposes of financial assistance.
There are tons of great personal finance Instagram accounts out there, and even if Instagram isn’t your bag, you’ll find lots of “finfluencers” (don’t worry, you don’t have to use this name if you don’t want to) on TikTok, X, and other social media platforms.
It’s important to separate the legitimate financial influencers from those who want to give you bad advice, though, so keep a close eye on replies and discourse surrounding those influencers to see if they really do have your best interests at heart.
Government initiatives are often posted on social media
In today’s fast-moving world, it’s often easy to miss newly-introduced governmental initiatives and financial decisions, especially if you don’t often check your devices.
With that in mind, social media can be a great way to make sure that you keep up to date with whatever’s going on in the world of finance and the government.
For instance, following official governmental social media accounts can clue you in quickly when new tax decisions are made, or when a new type of benefit is introduced for which, you might be eligible.
This beats paying attention to traditional media channels hands down because tweets (or Xs, or whatever they happen to be called by the time you read this) are much faster than writing lengthy articles announcing these decisions.
Make sure that if you want to stay abreast of what’s going on in the world of finance, you follow the official accounts of whichever government is relevant to where you live, because you never know when something major will be announced.
Misinformation is rife
Unfortunately, there are also ways in which social media can be detrimental to your financial health, especially if you don’t cast a discerning eye over the posts and content you see.
Misinformation (which is actually distinct from disinformation in several key ways) is rife on social media, and if you don’t know how to spot it, you could end up falling into a hole and costing yourself dearly.
Whenever you see a message, make sure that you do your own independent research to verify that it’s true. Look to trusted sources for your information and don’t take what you see on social media at face value.
Many messages on social media have a vested interest in making you feel a certain way. For example, a message might say that a new governmental initiative is going to take money away from you, or even that you might be entitled to some kind of back payment or tax rebate.
It’s important that you independently verify this information, because it could cause you to make a rash or unwise financial decision if you simply take it at face value.
Always check every single message you see, especially if it contains information that purports to relate to governmental decisions or your personal finances, against trustworthy sources.
It’s also important to develop an understanding of what counts as a trustworthy source. Government websites, renowned news platforms that strive for authenticity, and well-regarded journalists are trustworthy sources, and there are many more examples too.
