information customers can expect to receive if they follow you (market trends, rate information, the chance to provide feedback about such things as customer service and more). Loosen up: Social media is not a straight-laced business meeting … it’s people connecting with people. It’s way more low-key than a formal news release or a product announcement. It’s conversational and casual. Once you have pulled off your tie, though, don’t put on a lampshade— there are boundaries! This isn’t really a party with your best friends even though, once in a while, it might feel that way. If you’re not quite sure what I mean, go to the social media sites of several companies you like, in different fields, and take note of the tone and content of their postings. Emulate companies and people who have been doing it for a while.
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Provide information of value: If you’re going to put something out there, make sure it is relevant, timely, helps your followers solve their problems, provides tips to increase sales, announces an event of interest to them … you get the idea. Figure out what information your followers would find valuable and provide it to them. Offer links to articles of interest. Search YouTube for relevant videos that discuss anything from, “How to Choose the Right Real Estate Agent,” “Choosing the Right Mortgage,” to the latest industry news for consumers, prospects or business partners. Then, provide a link via Twitter or upload the video to your Facebook page. Your goal is to be a trusted and valued source, providing information that your followers will want to pass along to their friends and building the kind of relationship that makes you the person they call when they are ready to get a mortgage. Get your followers engaged: With social media, you want to accomplish more than simply pushing a message at your followers … you want them talking back to you. Remember, there are real people behind those pictures, so make an effort to engage. Here is an example: When you post an announcement of an upcoming event, finish it up with a question, such as, “Are you planning to attend?” This simple question encourages followers to post replies or simply click the “Like” button. Either way, you are now engaging in a two-way conversation. You can even use a Facebook poll to ask a question, find out what is on
your followers’ minds, or ask how you can make your content more useful to them. Hold a Tweet chat with customers to get input on a business-related decision. Invite followers to introduce themselves. Upload pictures of completed events so people who didn’t attend can see what they missed and set aside time for the next one. Run a contest that gives a prize to the person who gets the most people to follow you on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn. Just be careful when running contests not to violate the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA), which prohibits awarding prize packages in exchange for a person’s business. Comment back: When your followers comment on your blog or post, be sure to respond with a thank you and/or an additional comment of your own. This will let them know you are listening and will encourage further discussion. Don’t talk too much: Attention spans are short—some say 10 sec. short—and there’s a lot of competition. Craft your message to say what it needs to say and be done. Help worthy causes: At key times throughout the year, set a fundraising goal and raise money for a worthy cause. Not only will you help organizations and people who need it, but you may also generate some publicity for your company when you reach your goal. You can launch such a program with a combination of Facebook posts, Tweets and e-mails. Don’t be polarizing: It should go without saying, but I’ll say it anyway—don’t publicize support for political parties or candidates, state your religious views or discuss topics about which people have stronglyheld beliefs. It won’t help your business to get into an online skirmish with someone—a skirmish that is then read by all of your followers.
Get social and create some influence According to Arbitron/Edison Research, 51 percent of people over the age of 12 are using Facebook in 2011. That’s 43 percent higher than it was just three years earlier. Clearly, social media is not a fad—it’s a trend, and a rapidly growing one at that. Now think about how that piece of information relates to your business. How many of those people may need a mortgage now or in the not-so-distant future? How many have the potential to be your customer in five years? If you
want to connect with the people who are going to need your services, social media is where you’ll find them. Yes, it can be scary at first. Any new undertaking is. But if you dive in with a strategy to guide you—and let yourself have some fun along the way—you’ll discover the water is just fine.
John Seroka is vice president of Seroka, a full-service branding, advertising, marketing and public relations firm that serves a nationwide client base. He may be reached by phone at (866) 379-0400 or e-mail john@seroka.com. You also can connect with him at linkedin.com/in/johnseroka, twitter.com/johnseroka or on Facebook.
Internet Connections … It’s Not What You Think! Building business relationships through social media By BJ Bounds
If you’ve made it into the 21st Century, tial customers need, while providing peryou’ve probably heard of a thing called sonal, meaningful dialogue. It’s the perFacebook. And if you’ve heard of Facebook, sonal interaction that can make the difthen you’re probably also familiar with ference in building and maintaining Twitter and maybe even a handful of other modern long-term client relationships. If you’ve been in the busisocial media platforms. So ness for any length of many of us devote our time time, you know that buildto outbound marketing such ing and maintain personal as e-mails, flyers, phone relationships are imporcalls, visits, etc., that we negtant for a successful enterlect the most common of prise. modern modes of inbound Historically, these relamarketing—Internet media tionships have been develplatforms. Your colleagues oped over time, through are on Facebook; your comface-to-face networking and petitors are on Facebook; old fashioned leg work. So your fiends are on although modern methods Facebook; and your clients through the Internet can are on Facebook. You “Facebook can help prove to be more effective should be, too. lure potential clients, with less effort, these techI chose Facebook and but your own Web niques, your “old school” Twitter to focus on site can seal the deal.” marketing tools, still have because they are the most their place in the mortgage talked about platforms in business social media and easily the industry. Use your loan origination system most visible. Both of them boast boom- (LOS) for your database and to distribute ing membership numbers and so much your marketing materials, but truly considhas already been written about the suc- er the value of modern digital marketing. cesses of companies using them for cultivating customer relationships and What is a Tweet worth? new business. And if you’re not already When Twitter first made it onto the using social media, perhaps this might mainstream business radar, its usefulness was still in question. After all, in convince you to explore your options: marketing we’re taught to tell a story, According to investopedia.com, and 140 characters—often abbreviated Facebook was the most visited site into text-speak—does not make a story. in 2010, easily toppling Google for So what exactly is Twitter good for— other than perhaps to find out what your the spot. At 18 million searches per month favorite celebrity ate for breakfast this last year, Twitter was beginning to morning? The beauty of Twitter is that it can reduce the lead Google had with 88 serve as your “sound bite.” It’s micromillion searches per month. advertising that you can use to generate But it’s not just about garnering as interest for your target audience. many Twitter followers or Facebook fans Combine a great “headline” with a link as you can. It’s about putting out infor- to your Web site, blog or Facebook page mation that your customers and poten- and you have free, effective, inbound