Tips to Build Your Mortgage Industry Credibility & Brand Online
Email ArticleIn the mortgage industry, it's essential to build credibility with your audience to compete…especially if you find yourself in a very competitive area as most of our clients do. This includes being online in a way that is consistent and informative. If you’re not deemed credible, online communities may still gather around your brand, but may not necessarily be your friends.
Community-building online starts with an audience that comes back regularly to a particular site or sites. Keep them coming back with posts that are focused on a handful of specific subjects that you know will be of interest, but that also speak to your core capabilities and your brand. To get started, you can conduct some competitive research on topics aligned with your offering and brand to find some of the hot topics that are getting the most action (likes, comments, etc.). You may consider researching competitor blogs, topics being covered in the news, review competitive Facebook and Twitter accounts...you get the idea. Work on coming up with a list of good topics that you can then align with your own brand and thought process to develop content that’s of interest and can be distributed.
Developing this content has to be part of an overall online strategy. Encouraging and driving online interactions from people that are researching mortgage companies, different financing options/available programs or interactions with other individuals that seek out your services (if you're on the business-to-business side of the industry) allows those not yet connected with your brand to form an opinion about you, what it’s like to receive services from you and what you and your company stand for. It also provides an environment that encourages those who have done business with you to post their experience, which is very important to your growth. To prove this, let me share a statistic with you…according to the 2012 Local Consumer Review Survey, 72% of consumers surveyed said that they trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations. 52% say that positive reviews make them more likely to use a local business.
Here are some basic rules you should follow as a “content creator”:
- Put together what’s called an “editorial calendar." An editorial calendar helps you organize your thoughts for future content. This takes away the pressure of coming up with subject matter “on the fly” which can lead to a lot of pressure. You will also be able to evaluate what’s working and what’s not and then make adjustments along the way as you see fit. Quality content delivered consistently enhances your brand and trust level within the community which will help build your reach online.
- Develop a regular schedule of publishing. A consistent flow of content will build, and keep, the attention of your audience.
- As a host, you need to be prepared to “stoke the fire.” Your brand needs to actually participate and promote conversation around your content to build a community. You may wish to invite people from your company to comment on your posts. Be sure to respond to comments added to your content and add your own comments to content posted to your community. Go out to like-minded web sites, LinkedIn and Facebook groups. Participate in chats and reply or re-tweet on Twitter. Just make sure you’re engaging in actual conversation and not straight promotion. No one minds you mentioning your brand when it’s appropriate but you will be flagged right away if you are spamming a conversation.
- Stay above the fray. The more you interact online, the more likely it is you will run into someone “off-kilter” or having a bad day. Case in point…I belong to several industry groups within which you'll find me commenting and starting conversations all the time. Some key groups I belong to include Mortgage Bankers Association, Mortgage Professionals Network and National Mortgage News. There are many others, but I find these to be really good. These groups provide a great way for you to interact, share ideas and also post links to your blog content and develop relationships by commenting on others posts. However, there are always a couple bad apples who tend to be active in many venues and just enjoy being combative…whatever you say, you’re wrong and they’re smarter. When this happens, engage once assuming they didn’t mean to be rude, keeping the conversation upbeat and positive. If they don't follow your form, ignore them. Don’t react to any comments they post, unless you can do it keeping it positive and upbeat on your end. Engaging “bad apples” at their level does not help your brand at all no matter how “right” you are.
Do you have any other good rules to share? Please comment…would love to know!
Seroka is where CEO’s, CMO’s and anyone responsible for their corporate brand and communications strategies in the mortgage industry can come to receive useful information, advice, insights and inspiration for growing their business.
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