How brokers are leveraging social media

In this day and age, social media is ubiquitous, especially for businesses trying to expand their reach. Many brokers are finding that platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram are crucial for staying in touch with existing clients – and reaching new ones.

Ryan Dennahower, co-founder of Bespoke Mortgage Group, has found that highlighting rave reviews is one of the keys to successfully marketing his services on social media.

“I primarily use my Facebook business page for reviews,” he says. “After closing, I’ll follow up directly to ask clients to post a review on my Facebook page, and then I’ll take that review and share it on my Instagram and even my personal Facebook page to draw more attention to the services I provide to my clients.”

Personalization has also been an important factor in standing out from the competition, and for that, Dennahower relies on Instagram videos.

“I’ve found that with that personal touch, people absolutely love it,” he says. “The thing I love about Instagram is you have Instagram Stories, where you take a short video – maybe a 30-second video in your car or at the office – and post it, and you get your material out there really fast, as opposed to perfecting it or editing it. I post things regarding products we have access to, [like] purchasing … a second home with 5% down. I found that when I started doing videos and posts about new products, I got tons of messages from people asking, ‘Hey, how is that possible?’ or ‘How do I go about doing that?’ I’ve been able to convert quite a few of the leads into live pre-approvals and live deals.”

Dennahower has only been using Instagram in a professional capacity since the beginning of the year, but he’s already seen his business surge.

“Even in the short timeframe … the amount of referrals, questions and leads I’ve gotten through those social media platforms has been surprisingly good,” he says.

Collin Bruce of Edmonton-based DLC Mortgage Mentors is another broker who has made social media a priority in the last year, hiring Chatty Girl Media to handle his social media presence. Bruce also partnered with Oilernation, a popular Edmonton Oilers fan site, to run cross-promotion campaigns.

“We gave away the new Oilers jersey in October, and we were trending on Twitter,” Bruce says. “We’ll get a lot of messages in the inbox. I’m running a promotion right now that I just boosted, talking about the interest-rate savings versus the penalty paid on an adjustable-rate mortgage, and I’m sure we’ll get a lot of clients from that.”