Social Media Tips

There are many tips and tricks on how to use social media. Below are a few that we found beneficial for our bankers. We hope this helps! 

 LinkedIn Tips

1. Be active in relevant groups. Become part of the community by asking questions and replying to questions from others.
2. Use groups to promote content. But make sure it's actually helpful to the group's members and not just sales spam. This is a delicate balance of providing content and not spamming your groups. Start small by contributing thoughts and ideas to the group. As the conversations grow, introduce yourself and services.
3. Post some of your best blog content in the LinkedIn publishing platform. If people read and enjoy your content they are likely to follow you or connect with you. The LinkedIn blog is also a great place to find influencers in your industry. Just remember that all blogs must be reviewed for compliance by the Marketing Department.
4. Optimize your LinkedIn profile page for search by including three or four of your main target keywords in the main description section. Keywords help you show up in search when people are looking for those working in a certain industry.

 Twitter Tips

1. Tweet Daily: If you're not consistently posting content your followers will lose interest. You don't always have to tweet about business either. Throw in fun facts or updates too.
2. Use hashtags to get your posts noticed. But whatever #you #do don't stuff #your #tweets with them. It's annoying.
3. Great hashtags apply to both the content and you. For example: You tweet about the World Series hashtags may be:
   #WorldSeries
   #Cubs
   #Cleveland
   #Indians
   #Chicago
   #FlyTheW
4. Get a Twitter handle as simple and close to the name of you or your brand as possible. Refrain from names like Tommy9373, because no one will remember it. This extremely important when using Twitter for business purposes. Making yourself easy to find is the best way to connect with potential and past clients.
5. Use a link shortener. It's there to help you say more in this 140-character world. Site such as bit.ly will help you shorten long URLs so you can say more.
6. Retweet other people's updates. It's not all about your own content and opinion.

Facebook

1. A business fan page is for your company Facebook page; a profile page is for your personal page. Remember the difference, or Facebook may shut your page down. It is important to use your business page when posting instead of your personal page. Too many updates about business via your personal page may make people unfollow or unfriend you.
2. Don't hard sell. People aren't generally looking to buy stuff on Facebook. Show them something genuinely interesting. Bottom line - don't always product push. People want to get to know you and our products.
3. Tag connections in posts if it is related to them or you think they are likely to share it with their followers.
4. Post photos and videos to your timeline. Research suggests these are the most shared types of content. We recommend sharing photos from your closings or events that you attend. Also use the Marketing Department to help you stylize your images or create eye catching graphics for your posts!
5. If you're looking to build up a following without spending money to promote your Business Page, start by inviting people you know to like your page.
6. Post directly to Facebook. Facebook's algorithms favor content published this way.
7. Schedule content for evenings and weekends so you don't miss out on traffic.
8. How to Testimonials - You can ask past clients to leave a review on your Facebook page. These reviews will help you stand out in search. To properly request a review, please reach out to the marketing department as we already have a template created.
9. Review/Testimonial no nos - you cannot post a review without permission of the borrower. Nor do we recommend you post it on their behalf - this will cause the review to look inauthentic. Additionally, it will get lost in your feed.

Video Help

How to navigate FB: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocO31AcSLng
Finding friends: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9MO3og11b4Y
How to create a FB page: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2SFbDOj8kM

General Social Media Tips

1. When creating content or imagery use the Marketing Department. The Marketing Department will help make sure everything is correct and within compliance. The last thing you want is for your post to be flagged for removal.
2. No, nos - Know the items you can and cannot post about. Be sure to fully review our Banker Website Guidelines which includes information about social media use.
3. Be human! Don't just post, post, post. No one wants to hear all about you, all the time. Ask questions, reply to those that answer, and talk as you would in everyday life. Be sure when you start to engage with potential realtor partners or customers that you are monitoring the conversation. This will help you keep the conversation flowing, but also help make sure nobody is being abusive to other commenters or sharing personal information.
4. Use the real estate available to you: Put up a great profile pic, have a bio, have a fun or visually appealing cover photo, and add links to your other sites. We offer cover photos in Eagle Eye.
5. Share Corporate Info - We schedule our corporate content a quarter in advance and purposely leave space for the fun stuff we do around the office. Don't be afraid to share this content. It has already been approved and is compliance friendly.
6. Share local news - the mortgage industry is evolving. While we approve content for our bankers enrolled in marketing packages, we don't always know the landscape of the housing industry where you work. When you find a relevant story about your hometown or housing market don't be afraid to share it.
7. Share other people's content. Just keep it relevant, interesting, and within compliance. Sharing content is a great way to make connections and stay in front of partners and prospects alike.
8. Share personal updates about the business, i.e. when you get a new starter or have a charity cake sale or whatever happens in offices these days. It makes you seem more human.
9. Update regularly, not occasionally. Fans grow accustomed to the regularity of posts; they will fall off your loyal fan wagon if you don't keep up.
10. Keep it brief. Save the long copy for your blog page. Social media is to be short and to the point. Posting long winded messages can lose an audience's attention.
11. Post old content occasionally. There's no reason not to shout about good stuff you've done in the past, especially if you have evergreen content. Evergreen content are messages that always pertain to your business. Items like you're able to lend in all 50 states, you're a VA loan specialist, etc.
12. Timing is everything. Test different times of day to find out when your fans are most active. Knowing when your followers are online is a big key to success. Posting at different times helps you better share your information.
13. Follow back! Don't be too cool to follow, because on Twitter and Facebook we're all a little nerdy.