SPECIAL SECTION: SOCIAL MEDIA
Take The ‘Me’ Out Of Social Media To Make It Matter And use lots pictures of dogs – it works BY BILL BYRNE | SPECIAL TO NATIONAL MORTGAGE PROFESSIONAL
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o be successful through social media, you need to understand that your competition is everyone on social media—not just real estate agents, other lenders or service providers. You’re competing against everyone who wants to be on the screen of a person that fits a particular psychographic or demographic profile. With that mindset, you can develop a strategy to make your presence something people want to see and share. Social media can be effective advertising, but if that’s how you approach it, you’re doing it wrong. My goal is to give you some actionable ideas–whether you’re running social campaigns for a lender, or creating content for a one-person operation– to improve your presence, profile, and eventually, generate profit. Each won’t be applicable to everyone, but some of them will work for everybody.
For a social media program to be successful, it’s critical that you provide value that your intended audience wants. Think about what works in a social setting offline.
Your social media channels should give back. They should spark conversation, provide knowledge, humor or something else of value. Your strategy should not be onesided. What’s in it for the person consuming it?
FOCUS ON THE SOCIAL The person who only talks about themselves at a party isn’t very popular. People stay away from them, and they certainly won’t tell others to go speak with that person. Boring does not draw attention in social situations. People will eventually excuse themselves and not come back. When you review your social media plans, review them from an outsider’s perspective. If the content wasn’t about your brand, would you care?
BASIC LEVEL STRATEGIES This one pertains to originators. Use the right handles. If I were an originator looking for organic referrals, I’d have profiles set up (these could be separate from your personal profiles) that tie back to what I do. For example, an originator could have @Name_Town_ Mortgage_Pro. With these profiles ready on the
“Social media can be effective advertising, but if that’s how you approach it, you’re doing it wrong.”
Photo credit: Chainarong Praserthai via Getty Images
NATIONAL MORTGAGE PROFESSIONAL MAGAZINE |
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