In this day and age, social media is ubiquitous, especially for businesses trying to expand their reach. And while on the surface, platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram appear to have nothing to do with mortgages, they form the gateway to enlarged clienteles.

According to Ryan Dennahower, the keys to successfully using social media as a mortgage broker are personalizing oneself and highlighting rave reviews.

“I primarily use my Facebook business page for reviews,” said the Bespoke Mortgage Group broker. “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 do and provide to my clients.”

Dennahower uses Instagram much more often and proficiently because, by humanizing himself, he stands apart from competition . One of his favourite Instagram features is video posting.

“I found that with that personal touch, people absolutely love it. The thing I love about Instagram is you have Instagram Stories where you take a short video—maybe a 30 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, whether purchasing a home with 5% down or a second home with 5% down. A lot of customers assume 5% is for first-time buyers, but when I post that stuff, people will message me directly. I find that when I started doing videos and posts about new products, I get tons of messages from people asking ‘Hey, how is that possible?’ or ‘How do I go about doing that?’ I’ll get messages for preapprovals, for options, from people saying they went to their bank and would like a second opinion but thought they’d have to pay a broker a fee  but now know they don’t have to.

“I’ve been able to convert quite a few of the leads into live preapprovals and into live deals.”

Dennahower has only been using social media in a professional capacity (notwithstanding reviews, which he’s maintained for a couple of years) since the beginning of the year and he’s seen his business surge.

“Even in the short time frame, like with the videos I’ve been posting on social media—even within the last month and a half—the amount of referrals, questions and leads I’ve gotten through those social media platforms have been surprisingly good,” said Dennahower. “I’m going to continue doing them as I feel they’re extremely valuable.”

Edmonton-based Collin Bruce of the Collin Bruce Mortgage Team at DLC Mortgage Mentors, has made social media a priority for the last year and a half, hiring Chatty Girl Media to handle duties—which includes Feature Friday, a weekly profile on a company agent.

Bruce also partnered with Oilernation, a popular Edmonton Oilers fan site, even running cross-promotion campaigns that include giving away Oiler jerseys. Although a big Oilers fan himself, Bruce says the idea is to personalize the Collin Bruce Mortgage Team brand.

“We gave away the new Oilers jersey in October and we were trending on Twitter,” said Bruce. “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. The Feature Friday has gotten us a lot of comments, likes and traction, and I think it’s very important.”

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