We talk social media use for mortgage professionals with one of the leaders in the space
Social media is increasingly becoming one of the most important aspects of marketing for originators. We asked Michael Stallings, vice president of Optimal Blue, how industry professionals can set themselves apart from the competition in their social strategy.
“Social media should absolutely be a part of any originator’s marketing strategy. The question for them is how much: How do I use it? So everybody needs to have that professional presence on social media,” Stallings told Mortgage Professional America. “You should set up your profiles, get your pages but then what you really need to understand is how … to use it. How active you want to be. That’s what’s going to change and separate you from others in the social media space.”
According to Stallings, there are many challenges originators face in the social media space, and many pitfalls they find themselves dealing with.
“Some of the biggest challenges facing originators is there is so much noise in the space. You have a lot of originators out there marketing and doing all kinds of things,” he said. “So it’s hard when you’re trying to do the right thing and comply with all the rules and regs in your advertising because it’s changing and definitely getting more scrutiny from the regulators so it’s hard when you’re trying to compete with other people who may not be following all the rules.”
One common issue originators have is setting up a proper, professional profile.
“Understanding what the rules are in terms of having your … ID, your company (is one major pitfall),” Stallings said. “A lot of times we’ll see originators that work for one company set up their social media company and they move to another company but they forget to update their profile so they’re still promoting their old company. We see a lot of that. So it’s important they stay on top of those things.”
One way to ensure your social media strategy is on point is to use a social media service that helps build a strategy while also automating the posting process.
That, and focusing on providing regular, relevant content that sets you apart as an expert.
“Social media should absolutely be a part of any originator’s marketing strategy. The question for them is how much: How do I use it? So everybody needs to have that professional presence on social media,” Stallings told Mortgage Professional America. “You should set up your profiles, get your pages but then what you really need to understand is how … to use it. How active you want to be. That’s what’s going to change and separate you from others in the social media space.”
According to Stallings, there are many challenges originators face in the social media space, and many pitfalls they find themselves dealing with.
“Some of the biggest challenges facing originators is there is so much noise in the space. You have a lot of originators out there marketing and doing all kinds of things,” he said. “So it’s hard when you’re trying to do the right thing and comply with all the rules and regs in your advertising because it’s changing and definitely getting more scrutiny from the regulators so it’s hard when you’re trying to compete with other people who may not be following all the rules.”
One common issue originators have is setting up a proper, professional profile.
“Understanding what the rules are in terms of having your … ID, your company (is one major pitfall),” Stallings said. “A lot of times we’ll see originators that work for one company set up their social media company and they move to another company but they forget to update their profile so they’re still promoting their old company. We see a lot of that. So it’s important they stay on top of those things.”
One way to ensure your social media strategy is on point is to use a social media service that helps build a strategy while also automating the posting process.
That, and focusing on providing regular, relevant content that sets you apart as an expert.
