Marcel van Oost

In a time where AI is available to everyone, the amount of content thats is published online has grown massively. Years ago you could stand out by sharing any new content (for me the latest news from the FinTech industry hot off the press for example) because nobody was sharing anything other than their own success or a career switch. Fast forward: today, we see loads of content, and many people sharing the same news and updates. My advice is to give your content a personal touch, to make sure people know this news/content was curated by an actual human. I believe in the future every industry niche will have a few human sources curating the right news and updates for people to read and follow. Make sure you are one of them😉

The best way to network is to use several channels/touch points. I use Linkedin by sharing a lot of FinTech content, and engage with other peoples content to build my network and stay on top of mind. I also attend several in person fintech events around the world during the year. At those events I meet with the most important people in the industry in person. We are all human, so these personal meetings are very important to have once in a while. I also makes you stand out from people who only share online content. Especially now a day with AI tools, people like to see there is a real human behind it. So make sure poeple know that. In short: a combination of online and offline networking is key for building a strong persona brand.

A great way to keep learning and build your reputation at the same time: engage with content on Linkedin of other creators/thought leaders in your industry niche. By following their content you can learn about the industry, see what content works well (inspiration for your own future content), and use their platform/content to target your target audience. When you comment on that content people will notice (also because of active notifications send out by Linkedin). Again: do this consistently to make sure people remember you and you can build your personal brand.

I mostly share the latest news updates in Fintech as posts on Linkedin. The day after those same updates (plus more) are shared in my linkedin daily newsletter. This way the posts atrract the attention from the right audience that propably also like to get my newsletter in their inbox every day. It's a smooth funnel. Being first on the news hot of the press us my USP, but there are many ways to stand out. This could also be more educational deep dives etc. Find a strategy that makes you stand out, and make you the go to fintech expert in that segment. And most important: be consistent.

In my experience you should stick to the segments you are an expert. In my case I have most experience in Payments and digital banking. Post about those subjects only, to make sure you get attention from the right audience only. This will make sure they will engage with future content as well because it's exactly what they are looking for. Make sure you find the right hashtags for this subject and keep using them for every update you post. The story short: don't try to find viral updates for more views and followers when it's not exactly in your niche. Otherwerise it wont help you and might even hurt your success on future content.

AI is not new in FinTech. There is a long history of using artificial intelligence and machine learning in fraud, underwriting, and investing, especially as used by risk teams, lenders, and quant hedge funds. In fact, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) used forms of artificial intelligence back in the early 1990’s to evaluate large volumes cash transactions to identify potential money laundering. This FinCEN Artificial Intelligence System or “FAIS” uncovered over a billion dollars of money laundering within the first few years of operating in 1993. I highly recommend reading this article from Lightspeed on this topic: https://medium.com/lightspeed-venture-partners/fintech-x-ai-the-lightspeed-view-b515fae5bfb6