Social Media: The Cornerstone to Your Marketing Foundation
By: John Bentley
Social media has become a key component of any business marketing strategy and cannot be ignored as a means to promote and grow a company. Those in the mortgage industry might wonder why anyone would follow a mortgage company. The fact is that borrowers want to understand lending options. Mortgage professionals want to impart information that leads to good life choices for their clients. This makes them a valuable go-to resource that someone would want to follow on Facebook, LinkedIn or Instagram. It is pertinent to utilize social media channels to network, collaborate and share relevant, diverse content quickly. Social media requires a strategy, excellent consistently posted content, and planning in order to achieve successful results and maintain an engaged audience.
Before sharing tips on best practices for a well-executed social media marketing plan, it is good to know why the effort is worth it. Top originators know to market where prospects live. Prospects now live in the social media world. Pew Research Center’s latest study on Social Media Use in 2018 reports that 68 percent of all adult users across a wide range of demographics are on Facebook and 35 percent on Instagram. LinkedIn is mostly used by college graduates and those in high-income households with 50 percent of this demographic viewing. This information should be enough to motivate anyone in the mortgage industry to maintain a social media campaign to keep pipelines full.
It can be a struggle for a mortgage company to determine how to use social media to grow business in a challenging market. It is crucial to understand how to use it, engage your audience, and drive traffic to your Web site.
Steven Winokur, Chief Marketing Officer at Angel Oak Companies, has seen the impact of a strong social media plan.