April 2nd, 2018

As a mortgage industry professional, social media represents one of the most valuable channels you have with your customers and prospects. Understanding how to build a strong social media presence in the mortgage industry is an important component to any loan officer or mortgage company’s marketing strategy. Essentially, establishing a strong social media strategy can provide increased business opportunities, valuable relationships, lead-ways to new clients and overall business growth. Here are several tips discussed at MBA NJ’s recent conference for leveraging your social media presence.

Optimize Your Profile

In any business industry, optimizing your profiles to complement your professionalism strengthens your social media presence. This includes various housekeeping techniques. Using short URLs for your profile’s domain makes it easier for clients and customers to identify and search for your profile. Make sure to remove all those extra letters and numbers in your URL as it looks unprofessional. Choosing a professional profile picture provides value and credibility as well. For example, loan officers should avoid using a photo of themselves out at a party. Instead, use a professional “headshot” photo. Choosing an appropriate banner photo is also an effective technique. Be mindful of your selection as it should complement your profile’s personality. Profile and banner photos should correlate with each other in some way considering they are the first two things a client or customer will see when they visit your page. Also, be sure to use descriptive and relevant keywords in the hashtags of the content that you post. This ultimately will draw more attraction to your page/s. Any hashtag you use will appear in searches on the respected social media platform allowing you to reach more users and clients. The same methodology applies for your profile description. Embedding hashtags and “@” tags in your profile description looks professional and appealing.

Tell a Story

Whether it be how it was founded or how it earned its name, every business has a story. Whatever it may be, share it in a way that attracts clients and encourages prospects to act. As human beings, we are psychologically designed to enjoy a good story. It helps us understand concepts easier by placing ourselves into the shoes of the main character. And at the same time, it appeals to our emotions and sense of empathy. You can pitch a product as much as you want, but people won’t care unless you give them a reason to do so. Think about the ways to present the unique aspects of your brand. It is a simple yet effective method of being different and standing out from competitors while also telling a story. Place your product at the center of a story and show them how it can benefit their business. That extra layer of emotion allows you to stand out more and is an ideal way to communicate with your potential clients.

Find Your Voice

Any company’s social media voice depends how its target audience will perceive not only its content, but brand in a whole. The same applies for an industry professional. Establishing a brand personality on social media platforms sets a tone for your target audience and creates a certain character or persona. Think of adjectives. Do you want your content to come off lively, engaging or sarcastic? Furthermore, humanizing your brand through social media adds a human essence and creates credibility for your company. When a client or prospect scrolls through your timeline and sees pictures or posts containing humans or human interactions, it employs a comfortable feel which can be highly attractive. Choosing a tone whether it be sarcastic or conversational adds flavor to your posts. Content that contains a spunky or humorous element adds flavor and entices viewers to read and want more. Realistically, finding the right voice of your company’s social media presence ultimately sets the feeling or vibe of your brand.

Schedule for Productivity

Many companies that publish daily content to social media platforms utilize various third party social media tools. Websites like Hootsuite, HubSpot and TweetDeck allow companies to schedule posts ahead of time in bulk, which eliminates the process of having to post content in real time. In some cases, industry professionals who hold responsibility for managing their company’s social media easily get distracted while scrolling through timelines. Scheduling posts ahead of time cuts back on those distractions and keeps them on task throughout the workday. Utilizing schedulers also helps professionals become more consistent across the social media spectrum. Basically, it helps create consistency for a company’s target audience and sets expectations for when and what they will see posted. In all, scheduling social media posts ahead of time takes less time out your schedule, helps you get in a daily routine of sharing helpful content, and fundamentally increases productivity.

Overall, building a social media presence in the mortgage industry does not have to be time consuming or difficult. It starts with having a plan of action, getting the initial set up work out of the way and then managing your time and resources accordingly. Social media is not strictly a direct sales tool, it’s a relationship and brand building tool—and its free. Explore the possibilities and take advantage of the opportunities.