Getting Started with Social Media While Being Compliant
With the rise and influence of social media and digital marketing over the last decade, it’s hard to ignore the fact that this can be a powerful tool that is likely worth adding to your marketing strategy.
For those of you who are dragging your feet, here are some stats to consider why you should hop aboard now before being left behind by your competition.
3.8 billion, which is half the world’s population are using some form of social media now.
Over one-third of US consumers have said to have purchased products by way of social media.
I encourage any and all players in today’s market, particularly those in sales, to take advantage of this indispensable resource. It connects you with clients, partners, and other individuals in your network, for free, all while allowing you to offer real-time customer service solutions. Not to mention, it gives you insight into what your competitors are up to.
The key is to figure out where your audience is, understand how that platform works, and then use it on a regular basis. The biggest challenge with social media is having the time to invest in it.
For those of you who are inundated with other tasks, there are several social media management platforms, such as Hootsuite, Sprout Social, Buffer, etc. that can help you automate some of your content. You will be able to schedule posts in advanced to save time and maintain a constant flow of content. That said, I wouldn’t recommend utilizing purely automatic strategies. Afterall, Social Media is about being social, whether you handle it yourself or hire someone to handle it for you, you need to allocate time to manage your pages, answer questions, watch for spam, posts, or comments from social media trolls, find new connections, and last but not least, respond to all reviews.
Responding to your reviews is a part of what is known as Reputation Management—which is an article in and of itself. But without going into too much detail, I will emphasize the importance of never leaving any review unanswered no matter where they show up online, especially negative ones. You want to know what is being said about your brand and you also want people to know that your customers’ feedback matters to you.
Now, back to regulating the content output: I suggest using the 80/20 rule for posting. What that means is, devote 80% of your content to spread helpful information and meaningful messages about your service, product, or industry, as well as attention-grabbers that get your audience and customers to engage with you even if it’s not always about the industry you’re in. In fact, content that is outside your industry oftentimes provokes more interaction than content posted about your brand or product.
It is also important to be active in your community by supporting other people and engaging in their content by commenting on it and sharing it to your page. You may not realize it, but this simple action can go a long way. You can start building your brand by offering helpful tips and engaging with others in a way that shows you are an expert at what you do without expecting anything in return. Share something that is happening in your local community, mortgage or real estate updates, or motivational and inspiring quotes and videos. It is important to spend time doing this first before you hit them with your elevator speech (20% rule). Remember, no one likes to be sold to: you need to first build trust. All of this gives people a reason to follow, comment, or reshare your content. It also benefits the social media platform itself because your circulation of content helps users stay engaged on the platform, and in return, they will boost your viewability, allowing it to reach a wider audience.
Keep in mind, all social media platforms are different and serve different audiences. Therefore, it’s not necessary to be on every single platform; in fact, not every business works well across all social media platforms as the success of your content will depend on your where your community is based.
For those of you who may not be aware, Instagram is owned by Facebook, so linking your business pages together gives you a bonus—if you decide to run Ads on Facebook, those Ads will show up on Instagram for free and go beyond your Instagram follower base. Interestingly, what I noticed is that although Facebook is the most popular platform, there is far more engagement on Instagram or even LinkedIn, depending on the industry and content. LinkedIn was built for professionals who rely on networking to thrive. Having said that, you will need to learn to read your audience and alter your content, relative to the platform.
Now that we’ve covered social media basics, I want to pivot into staying compliant while using social media. I had mentioned previously the importance of sharing others’ content; now I want to talk specifically about sharing your Realtor partners’ content, a new listing for example. Liking, commenting, and sharing may gain you some brownie points, but it can also put you in some hot water with a regulator or even a practicing attorney. They sometimes view this as a way for the Real Estate Agent to get free advertising because when a loan officer comments or shares the post, the visibility of that listing has been expanded beyond their own reach. A way to mitigate the risk is to simply share the listing and add your contact information with a call to action to have them reach out to you for financing options.
Another thing to keep in mind when sharing or posting content on any social media platform is to avoid using trigger terms and be careful when stating a house payment amount, otherwise you will need to add APR and terms of repayment. It’s okay to say, for example, “No Down Payment,” but avoid using specific percentages. If you talk about rates you also need to add an APR. For other examples, please visit the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) website:
When developing content and adding your company logo, you will need to also add the company NMLS and the equal housing lender logo or verbiage to that image. Again, if you are adding rates or a specific program you may need to include additional verbiage in order to maintain compliance. Best practice is to send in any marketing material to your compliance team to ensure you’re abiding by the rules and because they need to have a copy of all advertising pieces that go out in case of an audit.
Lastly, you must know how to set up your online platforms. I’ve covered why and how to use social media, but I haven’t discussed how to establish your presence. When you are setting up your profiles, I would first suggest that you find out what the company policies are and what you need to add or avoid in order to be compliant. Being in this industry now for more than 10 years, I’ve connected with quite a few people from different companies and I’m surprised by how many pages I see in which the MLO doesn’t have their own NMLS on the platform they’re using for business. It’s important to be mindful of all these components.
At the end of the day, just remember social media isn’t as hard as you might think! Embrace the trial and error process! Stay eager, but don’t worry about slow progress—no one is truly an expert and no one knows it all, these are ever-changing platforms. The only difference between those who are really good at it, and everyone else, is that they don’t give up, they are constantly learning new things, and they are consistent with managing their platforms.