Why Social-Media Matters for Loan Officers

Most of the loan officers I know utilize social media to some extent in their marketing and branding efforts, though I still run across some holdouts from time to time. Ten years in, I think it’s safe to say it’s not a passing fad. You can generate new business on social media, but it’s going to take time, consistency, and knowing where to focus your efforts. This week I wanted to share some ideas for how to use social media to your advantage:

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Be Active

Setting up a Facebook business page, for example, isn’t going to result in new business; even if you get your extensive network to ‘like’ the page and follow it. Social media differs from websites distinctly in that it’s social — and maintaining an active presence through social media shows your online connections that you’re involved. They get to see the real person in real time sharing, commenting, and liking things. When prospects can see the person behind the business, it helps to create a personal connection and works to begin developing trust. When you’re active on social media, you stay top of mind among your network, increasing the probability that they’ll remember who you are and what you do when it’s time for them to find someone to help them with a mortgage.

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Provide Value

Just being active on your pages isn’t going to cut it, you need to post with intention. If you don’t provide value to your network, you might lose your audience — at the very least, you’ll lose their attention. When you address common questions and concerns of someone looking for a mortgage, however, you’re going to catch the eyes of those same people. If you work for a big company, don’t rely on their marketing materials solely. You want to have a personal presence, and you want what you post to have some originality. If a prospect sees a post of yours that’s being shared verbatim by other LOs in your local market, they’re going to take note and it won’t help you. But when you distill your knowledge and expertise and share those things with your connections, it has a considerably bigger impact. Before you post, ask yourself: Does this look like an advertisement? If it does, don’t post it. Stick to posting things that are educational, informative, and valuable in some way.

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Broaden Your Reach

Every time someone from your network comments on your post (or likes it or shares it), you’re being introduced to their network. If some of those people like what you post, then they’re going to want to connect with you, so they don’t miss the things you share in the future. This allows you to broaden your reach exponentially with every post. Pay attention to the posts people are responding to, then do more of those. In time, you’ll know where to focus your efforts for maximum effect.

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It's not enough to just have profiles set up on social media networks, you need to use them as they were intended — you need to be social.

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If you’d like to talk more about why social-media matters, or if there’s something else I can be of assistance with, don’t hesitate to reach out. I’m always happy to block off some time to connect.