1. Not posting enough
So let’s be clear. You don’t need big numbers to do well on social. Really, the goal for an MLO on social should be more like “All my friends, family, and acquaintances know I’m a good mortgage loan officer with a good personality so that when they know someone buying a house, I find out first.”
To do that, you need to be on the platforms your network is using. These days that means Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram.
How often is enough? I think this question comes from the fear of being overexposed or posting too much.
Fear not, that’s actually hard to do.
Simply avoid posting several consecutive updates on those platforms and you’ll be fine. Post to each at least once a day, but not more than twice a day (unless you’re talking about Instagram stories — just go nuts on that).
Now you may be thinking, “how would I post that much? what would I talk about?” I’ll address the what to post questions later in the piece. Stay tuned.
In short, you’ll figure out what to post over time. If you show up everyday trying to learn the platforms, you’ll learn what works for you. Give yourself time to find your voice, learn what works, and engage your network with a consistent message
Here’s your takeaway for this section: Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram — 1–2 posts every day. Instagram Stories — 3–10 posts per day.
2. Posting branded, linked content
Here’s a secret you probably already know: mortgage is boring, and it’s a commodity.
Here’s another: with very few exceptions, banks and mortgage companies are bad at marketing.
So if your goal is to become everyone’s favorite loan officer and you want to get attention and business on social media, stop posting branded and linked content.
There are a few good reasons why.
1) These posts just aren’t that good. They come from the “flyer mentality” of the old days. Flyers only talk about the company. They have the logo, some boring content, and all the fine print at the bottom.
And this is the main reason your bank or mortgage company won’t be good at social. They try to take flyer content and the flyer mentality to social, and no one pays attention.
If flyers ever worked, it was probably because the MLO was there to provide context to the person looking at it.
On social, they just look like ads — ads that don’t look that good.
2) Major platforms don’t like links. Instagram doesn’t allow link posting at all for personal accounts. Facebook and LinkedIn favor content without links.
Why?
They want users to stay on their platforms because they make all their money off ads. So whenever you post that linked content you’re paying for, they keep it from getting in front of people.
Instead, create native content for each platform. Native simply means content that is for that platform. If you make a video, post it directly, don’t post a YouTube link.
If you want to go deep on a business topic, don’t link to your blog post, write it as a LinkedIn post.
If you’re buying content from a 3rd party and linking to it, you’re probably wasting your money. There’s a better way. Keep reading.
3. Talking about mortgage
One mistake that’s really painful for me to see is when good MLOs, who don’t post often enough, post about mortgage minutiae. This has to stop.
Who is that content for? Who is paying attention to conforming loan limit changes or anything with the phrase “bond market?”
Here’s the thing, mortgage buyers don’t actually buy that often, and regurgitating someone’s quote from the Journal only proves you know how to copy and paste.
What will engage people, so you can get attention? That’s what you need to think about.
Luckily, it’s easier to come up with that content than it is to get people to care about the bond market.
Instead, document — don’t create.
- What is your day to day?
- What are you watching, reading?
- What are your kids up to?
- What motivates you?
- What causes do you support?
Talk about these things. Once in a while, remind people you do mortgage. Remind people in a way that shows people you’re good at it and that you care about your customers.
Authenticity and consistency over the long term will win you attention and customers from social media.
4. Inconsistent messaging on single platforms and across platforms
View the social media platforms less as entertainment options and more as marketing opportunities. Most MLOs don’t do that and as a result you see schizophrenic messaging from them.
They’ll post only super serious “I’m a banker” stuff to LinkedIn, a grab bag of political links and family pics on Facebook, and nothing at all on Instagram.
Are you on Instagram? Are you using Instagram stories? Are you using Facebook correctly? Now that these are marketing platforms for you, you need to change your approach.
Companies repeat the same messages over and over and over and over so that people finally learn and companies break through. Geico has used the exact same tagline for twenty years. In fact, they’re now running their old ads.
Don’t worry about compartmentalizing your work life and your “real life.” Instead, go to where the people are. Create native content around the same few messages, and do it frequently. It does not need to be more difficult than that.
You don’t have to post all the time, but aim for consistency of both your message and your posting frequency. Worried about repeating the same message over and over?
Don’t be. Just focus on a few topics that matter to you, and , like Geico, be creative in deploying them.
5. Not interacting w/ people in their network
You don’t even need to post all to be seen and to make connections. Here is where MLOs miss all sorts of opportunities. They post, and then go away.
Instead, make comments, interact, and make it fun for others. You can build up other people and generate good will just by liking, sharing, and commenting.
Don’t forget the social in social media. Make it a habit while you’re surfing the different platforms.
6. Approaching social w/ the “flyer mindset”
I once had a boss ask me, “What’s the ROI of social media?” It’s a responsible, well meaning question, but it totally misses the point.Unless you’re running ads, think of social as a long term branding play.
You’re on social media because you want to keep doing business, and that’s where the attention is. Flyers, lunch and learns, and the old school techniques worked, but that’s not where attention is now.
In the old days, did you calculate the ROI on an office lunch and a stack of flyers? No. You did it because it bought you attention and access.
Well now the attention is free and the access just costs you the time of posting and interacting. How awesome is that!?
Social is not going anywhere, and everyone is on it. Don’t be transactional. Instead, become everyone’s favorite loan officer.
Not sure where to start on social media?
Introducing MLO Social Mastery
The MLO social media course will teach social media novice MLOs how to use social media to grow their loan production by building a brand on the foundation of thoughtful content, authentic engagement, and expert curation.
I want to make the first and best social media course exclusively for loan officers, but I want to pre-sell the course to verify the demand. And we’ll do the first class as a beta, so you’ll have the chance to help make this great.
I’ve put together a simple website where you can pre-order. The regular price will be at least $200, but the beta pre-order price is $99. I can promise this is the cheapest this course will ever be offered.
How it works:
- Click the link
- Click “I want this” and follow the steps.
- Wait for the Beta to fill up and be on the lookout for email updates.
- Once we start, review the course content each week.
- Do the exercises and apply your learning to get the most out of it.
Here’s what you’ll get:
- 4 week course — delivered online (over 10 hours of content)
- Exclusive original content just for MLOs
- High level strategy and deep dives into the relevant platforms
- How to stay out of compliance trouble
- How to shoot high quality photo and video
- A weekly interactive conference call with the class and instructor
The MLO Social Mastery Promise
- Each module of the course relevant and actionable, no fluff.
- The course is tailored for MLOs. We will start at 0 and build from there.
- This will work for complete novices.
- You will learn strategies that are compliance friendly.
- You will learn the relevant platforms and tactics that drive business growth.
Click the link below to pre-order.
If you’re not quite ready, or if you have some questions please send me an email.