6 Oversights Online that Compromise your Mortgage Company Brand
Email Article
Since it is tough to keep up with everything, following are 6 big ones I'd like to draw your attention to. Most of them are fairly easy fixes, but all are really quite necessary in today’s world.
6 Oversights that Compromise Your Brand in the Mortgage Industry
1) Not taking ownership of the primary social media profile pages. Now, I'm not suggesting that you need to be involved in, and have a strategy for, every social network out there...not by a long shot. What I am suggesting is that no matter what type of company you are, and whether you believe the venue fits you or not, you need to register your company in the primary venues. Why you ask? Because if you don't, someone else could, with a similarly named company, register ahead of you thereby forcing you to either buy that name from them or start legal proceedings to get it back. If neither are an option, then you may be forced to come up with a compromised name for yourself that's not as intuitive to your audience if you wish to use that venue one day. Taking ownership also protects you from a disgruntled employee or customer that may choose to use a particular venue against you with your own brand name.
2) Not managing your reputation online. This is a big one! Not everything that is said about you is going to be in your blog post comments, Facebook or on Twitter. Anywhere people have access to a box within which they can type information and then click "post" is what you need to pay attention to. Unfortunately, there just aren't enough hours in the day for you to scour the internet, Googling different keyword phrases and names to find out what's being said about your brand. For this reason, there are sites like Trackur and Mention that will keep track of everything being said about you in a wide variety of social media venues. Google Alerts doesn't go beyond 2 pages deep in search results which is why I recommend these other services.
There is another aspect to managing your reputation...and that is being present online in key
social
venues. If you're disconnected, you really open yourself up to allowing others
to take over, or hijack, your brand and manage it against your will. I know this
sounds threatening, so let me explain...If a competitor is thriving with a huge social media following, engaging their audience and building widespread positive awareness of themselves and their enthusiastic, knowledgeable team...they're in effect keeping you, their competitor, at bay. Whether you realize it or not, they are "managing" you. Now, what if someone were to have a poor experience with your company and then post it in a competitor's social venue. If you aren't in the right places online, you have no way to really deal with that effectively.
The cost of ignoring modern communication venues is higher than you might think. The reality is, people expect to be able to engage with your brand online. Don't be disconnected.
3) Removing negative comments. One would think it's common knowledge not to do this, but brands do it more often than you think. They see a negative comment, don't know what to do or how to react and then just delete it. Here are 3 reasons not to do this:
a) Transparency: Consumers demand greater transparency today than ever before. If youscrub criticism from your Facebook timeline, you can be sure they'll figure it out and then point it out to everybody. Brands that embrace all feedback get points for doing so!
b) Backlash: Think of how much more upset someone will be with your brand if they see their comment(s) deleted! They will re-post with more venom, tell as many as they can and cause others to talk about it as well. Try sweeping that under the rug!
c) Customer Service Opportunity: Negative feedback can present a great opportunity to show that you're listening, you're transparent and you're responsive...and that you really care! How you respond is what will shape customers opinions of you.
I won't say you should "never" remove a negative comment, but in the majority of situations, I would not recommend it. If you're not sure how to respond properly, go to your PR team or agency for assistance.
4) Not having a social media policy posted for all to see. There are many benefits to social media, but with them come risks. Companies have very limited control over what is said about them on the internet, beyond the scope of their own corporate websites - and the potential audience for any negative comments is huge. Companies also face risks from the inside, through the possibility of employees misusing their access to social networking sites.
This is where a social media policy comes in.
A social media policy sets out the standards that a company expects from its employees when they're online. It normally gives guidelines of acceptable behavior and explains what employees should and should not do when using these sites in the course of their employment.
The benefits that social networking sites can bring, especially to a mortgage company, in the form of new avenues for business generation, outweigh the possible risks. It is neither practical or desirable for companies to try and ban their use outright in the work environment. However, prudent companies will recognize that risks do exist, and take steps to manage them. One of these steps is the introduction of a social media policy, which will control how social media sites are used, and give companies a level of protection in the event that such use is abused.
Here's an example for Wells Fargo.
5) Not having a website that adapts well to mobile devices. A responsive website...one that renders successfully on mobile devices...is important because people are increasingly reliant on accessing information on-the-go.
According to an extensive recent study conducted by Google and Nielsen, 77% of mobile
searches happen at home or work, despite a PC being nearby. 46% use
mobile exclusively as a primary research tool.If you're website isn't accessible, you're missing out. If you're a business-to-business company in the mortgage industry, you're not off the hook! Business people have heavy travel schedules and frequently find the time to research potential new vendor services just before that cabin door is ready to close and "all electronic devices must be turned off," when they're commuting on trains, taking advantage of Gogo Inflight Internet, while waiting for a late appointment to arrive for lunch, between appointments at one of the many mortgage industry conventions...do I need to go on?
6) Lack of contact information on your home page. Sure, this may seem quite obvious, but on some corporate websites, you really need to be motivated to find their contact information...a phone number and a way to contact by email.
Most companies are just fine in this area. I'm pointing this out because if you don't intrinsically know that your contact information is easily accessible, or have just made the assumption it is, I encourage you to check. Nothing is more frustrating to people who simply want to call you.
I hope you found this information to be useful. If you feel there are any I missed, please let me know!
No comments:
Post a Comment