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<\/p>\nAdvertising has become monumentally easier with the invention of social media \u2013 no need to pay for an ad section in a newspaper, put up a billboard, or set up shops across town when posting on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok is free. And keeping customer acquisition costs low is the name of the game this year.<\/p>\n
Data from recent studies via Market Splash show that marketing on social media can be especially lucrative. In fact, 78% of salespeople engaged in social selling outperform their peers who don\u2019t use social media. Companies with sales teams using social selling have 51% higher revenue growth than non-users. Companies that use social selling generate 50% more leads, and 93% of salespeople using social selling report an increase in their sales.<\/p>\n
With everyone\u2019s eyes glued to their phones, why wouldn\u2019t an originator be using social media to advertise their business or services? Many do, but according to an originator survey by Loan Officer Hub, only 31% of originators find marketing on social media to be successful. That answer varies depending on the originator\u2019s level of experience, too.<\/p>\n
Experienced originators have established a reputation with previous clients, so most of their marketing is word-of-mouth. Many originators with 5 years experience or less, however, are still building their reputations, and doing so through social media. That\u2019s why 43% of newer originators find success with social media advertising compared to 26% of experienced originators with 20+ years in the industry.<\/p>\n
Yet, in recent years, more mortgage companies and originators have begun to embrace the rise of social selling, seeing it as a way to connect with younger homebuyers. NFM Lending launched a one-of-a-kind influencer division due to the success of originator Scott Betley (@thatmortgageguy), who has 872K followers on TikTok, and is now vice president of the influencer division.<\/p>\n
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Some lenders or brokers may find they have a star in their midst and encourage their own staff to become an influencer, like what happened to Mandy Philips (@mortgagemandy) when she worked as an originator for Vista Real Estate, based in the Redding-Red Bluff Area. Since then, she has become branch manager for Omega Mortgage Group, expanding her reach nationally. Though Phillips initially didn\u2019t have any experience or much comfortability in front of the camera, she continued posting consistently and eventually gained 123K followers on her main platform, TikTok.<\/p>\n
But for any companies that don\u2019t have that kind of talent on staff, they can partner with a separate company of influencers to make content, like Irvine-based What\u2019s A Mortgage (WAM). That\u2019s what brokerage West Capital Lending did in 2023, partnering with the 15 member team of LO influencers at WAM as an experimental way of generating leads. West Capital Lending CEO Daniel Iskander said he believes it\u2019ll be a boon to growing leads since WAM\u2019s previous partnership with loanDepot led to about $70 million in closed production in just one month.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy plan was to be a mortgage educator, to inform consumers on what a mortgage is. That\u2019s how we came up with a name,\u201d said WAM co-founder Minh Nguyen. \u201cWhen I started making content and putting the consumer first without thinking about getting something back, is when it started working.\u201d<\/p>\n
Still, the industry has only just begun to skim the surface of social selling.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t ever try to sell them on anything. I just offer help and value, and I\u2019ve been able to turn that into business consistently.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
><\/b>\u00a0Mandy Phillips,<\/b>\u00a0Omega Mortgage Group, Branch Manager<\/p>\n
Embrace The Cringe<\/h3>\n
In most cases, people don\u2019t become originators to become social media influencers. The thought of talking excitedly to an audience of potentially thousands of people can feel uncomfortable.<\/p>\n
But, no one is a natural-born star, and as Nguyen says, it\u2019s okay to be bad at it when first getting started. Just keep posting consistently!<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t have a good editor, so our clips weren\u2019t amazing. Transitions were horrible. The lighting was bad, everything was horrible,\u201d Nguyen said. \u201cBut I posted twice a day and I went live twice a week. It was crappy going live because I only had five people watching me, my mom, my dad, my brother, my business partner, and my business partner\u2019s parents.\u201d<\/p>\n