Complete Guide to Social Media Marketing for Mortgage Brokers

In this guide, we are going to take a closer look at:

• Getting Started with Social Media Marketing
• How to Build an Audience
• LinkedIn Best Practices
• Facebook Best Practices
• Sample Social Media Posts for Mortgage Brokers
• Other Social Media Marketing Considerations
  

Getting Started with Social Media Marketing

Social media platforms offer users the perfect places to connect with friends, follow celebrities, get news, and engage with business owners of all kinds — including brokers. In this day and age, being active on social media is a must for your mortgage broker business. Here’s how to get started with social media to grow your real estate business:

Research First

Before you make a business account on any social media platform, search within the site for connections within the real estate industry. Search for terms such as real estate, landlord, flip, loan officers, buy-and-hold, etc. to see which industry players are active on the top social sites (competitors, possible business contacts, partners, prospective clients, etc.) You will find that some social media channels are more suited for mortgage brokers than others.

Create a Social Media Marketing Strategy

Once you have a sense of where you want to engage, the next step is to figure out what your goals are, the type of content you plan to post, and with whom you’d like to engage. When building your marketing strategy, here are the best content types to share on each platform:

• Blog Posts: Blogs are fantastic to share on social media and build authority and presence on a topic.: An example would be writing and sharing a blog post on the mortgage industry using your expertise. For more information and ideas on content marketing for brokers, see our full guide here.
  

  Platforms to share on: Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest

• Surveys: Encourage your audience to engage with your brand and give you instant feedback. SurveyMonkey is a great, free listening tool to collect survey data.
  

  Platforms to share on: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn

  • Reviews: Share stories of happy customers that connect to your personal brand.
    

    Platforms to share on: Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Pinterest

    • Aesthetic Visuals: Social media is very visual. Draw attention with eye-catching graphics.
      

      Platforms to share on: Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter

      • Industry News: Share relevant mortgage industry news from reliable sources.
        

        Platforms to share on: LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram

        • Video: How-to's and educational videos do well on social media networks.
          

          Platforms to share on: YouTube, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram

          • Branded Images:  Share your own images and infographics. Not sure where to get started on these? Check out Easel.ly.
            

            Platforms to share on: Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Twitter

Talk With Your Customers

Posting is not the same as engaging. The most important thing to remember is that social media is a two-way conversation. Long gone are the days of traditional advertising where you can talk to your potential clients. Now you have to be able to talk with them and involve them.

Be Consistent

One of the worst things you can do in social media is to start a profile and not keep it up. Before you enter into a social media space, make sure that you have the time and resources to continue to post, follow, connect, and engage regularly (every day in many cases) so that you can reach your potential clients and become a source of information for them — which brings us to our last tip on getting started.

Don’t Oversell

Social media accounts are not the place to bombard customers with advertising and “all about me content.” Businesses that have the most success using social media marketing do so by becoming the place to go for advice, information, and industry perspective, not being a walking advertisement.

Building an Audience on Social Media Platforms

Social media marketing efforts might feel like a slow push, but with consistency and habitual repetition, you will see the return. Follow these steps from Instagram influencer Tiffany Yang on how to grow your industry reach:

Polish Your LinkedIn or Facebook Page

Check your privacy settings on your profiles to make sure what you’d like to be visible to the public is actually visible to the public. This includes:

• Email address
• Contact phone number
• Title
• Links to your website

Ask yourself what you’d like to see on a mortgage professional’s page within thirty-seconds that would make you want to engage. Then, add it.

Start Sharing Industry-Related News That Sparks Your Interest

Follow these steps for success:

• Find an article worth sharing: As an example, let's use "How to Spot a Good Real Estate Investment In a Tumultuous Market" from Forbes. Since Visio Lending is the nation's premier rental loan lender, this article is highly relevant to our audience. Plus, it comes from a reliable source.
  
• Craft a short blurb as to why you’re sharing this article on your feed:  Here's our example from the Forbes article: "In the midst of frequent rate increases and soaring inflation, Forbes contributor Adam Kaufman believes real estate is a way investors can stabilize their portfolios. 'Higher interest rates are making it more expensive to finance a home purchase, thus keeping would-be homebuyers in the rental market and supporting demand for single-family rental asset classes,' he says. Check out his full commentary." The blurb sets the expectations of what you are about to read, plus offers context to our target audience.
• Share away: Paste the link into the post box, and it will populate a featured image and link for you. Once it does, it is safe to delete the link to make it look cleaner (your viewers will still be able to click). Don’t forget to add your hashtags for additional reach and searchability!

Generate & Share Original Materials

Share personal updates with your audience such as:

• Industry experience
• Relevant loan scenarios
• Personal career updates
• Inspirational quotes and content

Key Tip: The formula for posting can bring in new clients and partners. Present the relatable concern/problem and how your services were a solution.

Connect with other mortgage industry professionals 

Having peers share your content will boost your engagement and reach more people. You should connect with real estate agents, loan officers, mortgage lenders, and any other mortgage companies A great way to find industry leaders and professionals is to join groups. Both LinkedIn and Facebook have dedicated groups, or spaces on the network for people with similar interests to connect and discuss topics. Finding relevant groups is easy, too. Simply search both platforms for keywords you are looking for such as “mortgage broker,” and filter to groups.

Engage, Engage, Engage

Share and like other content on social media platforms and engage in comments. Social media is about building and nurturing relationships. This is a foundational way to increase your reach to more potential clients and partners.

Social Media Best Practices for Brokers

The two most common platforms for professional marketing are LinkedIn and Facebook due to their wide use and focus on longer-form information (rather than images or short messages). Let’s take a look at the best practices for using both:

LinkedIn

LinkedIn is a professional platform, so you should always be cognizant of presenting your content in a professional manner. Some other key tips to keep in mind include:

• Make your social media posts more appealing by incorporating a question, or even a current event/topic.
  • Use relevant and popular hashtags like:
    #interestrates
    #financing
    #investments
    #realestate
    #mortgagebrokers
• Your goal is to always be perceived as a reputable and trusted expert in your industry.
• You may want to include your email address or prompt them to message you for more information regarding your social media posts (not necessary for every post because the goal of LinkedIn is to be trusted and reputable; not sales-y).
• Share success stories about your happy investors and borrowers.
• Share your positive reviews, thanking your clients for their kind words.
• Re-share content from industry leaders that is relevant and appealing to your clientele.
• Stay engaged with your feed. The more you stay engaged, the more people (and potential new clients) will engage back.
• Remember to tag people if you are mentioning them. You can do this by using the @ sign. Tagging people typically increases the visibility of your posts.

Facebook

Facebook is a much more personable platform. This is where you can shed a bit of your professionalism (key words: A bit) and add a personal touch. Follow these best practices when posting:

• Don’t use any hashtags.
• Don’t oversell to your friends.
• Share your success stories and reviews, with gratitude — in hopes your friends can refer more to you.
• Use pet photos, share your family, and continue posting all your candid posts — the more people engage with you regularly, the more likely they will see your mortgage-centric posts.
• Make your posts funny, use memes about the crazy mortgage industry, and make light of all the hard work you do.
• Tag your location! If you are at an industry event, always tag your location.
• If you make a post in hopes of getting clients or sharing an industry event, consider making that post public. In other words, check your privacy settings to make sure people outside of your network can engage with your posts. 

Sample Social Media Posts for Mortgage Brokers

Let's put our social media best practices to work. Use our sample posts as a guide.

Sample Facebook Posts

• "Millennials are the largest living adult population and continue to hold off on homeownership. Check out this blog post to learn how to target this large group of renters: https://www.visiolending.com/blog/developing-a-tenant-strategy." This Facebook post showcases industry insight and provides a valuable resource to investor clients.
  
• "It was a pleasure helping Joe Shmoe close his loan after being turned down by several lenders. We were even able to use his appraisal from another mortgage company. We love helping clients save money and time. If you need help finding mortgage companies to close your deals, contact me." This post shares how you helped a client overcome a hurdle and is a branding success.
   

  Sample LinkedIn Posts
  
  

  • "Mortgage loan officers typically represent one company, while mortgage brokers have ample home financing connections. Work with me to find the best lender for you. #MortgageIndustry #LoanOfficers #MortgageBrokers."

Other Social Media Marketing Considerations

Using Personal Social Media Profiles vs. Business Pages

Since we are taking the time to address marketing on social media networks, there is another key consideration: who should post between a person and a business? While LinkedIn is a professional platform, Facebook is a primarily social platform. Facebook Business is designed specifically for business growth. It is a great idea to keep your personal and professional Facebook accounts separate, more so than LinkedIn. Plus, setting up a Facebook business page will give you access to key marketing data that you wouldn't get on your personal page.

Best Digital Marketing Use Cases for Social Media

It is important to note that social media marketing is just one piece of a digital marketing strategy. For marketing goals such as lead nurturing or re-engaging past clients, email marketing is best. If you are looking to generate leads or connect with other mortgage industry professionals, then social media is a powerful tool.

Partner with Visio Lending to Grow Your Broker Business

If you’re a broker looking to expand your business, we can help. Visio Brokers closed over $500 million in rental loans in 2021. Our Broker Program Highlights include:

• The ability to earn up to 2 pts YSP, 5 pts total
• Designated AEs and in-house processing to keep your workload down
• No license requirements (Except in CA and AZ) for multiple state opportunities

Related: Attract the Right Tenants with a Stand-Out Online Ad, Refer Your Network to these 5 Referral Programs and Make Money