Bliss Sawyer's Marketing Blog

Facebook promotions

We have decided as a company to have all help loan officers promote the company Facebook page.  There will be giveaways twice a month as well as loan officer spotlights and promoting our client appreciation events.

The problem with business facebook pages is getting people to the page, getting them to "like" the page and then keeping them engaged so they come back for more.  The ultimate goal, of course, is brand awareness and creating a culture of referrals.

Our first giveaway was a simple:  Tell us your favorite 2011 movie and you have a chance of winning one of two $25 restaurant gift cards.  Our next giveaway will be two $150 spa treatment certificates in time for Valentines Day.  In this case, we actually paid less because one of our LO's knows the spa owner.  Win-win for all.

Consistency is the key.  Being consistent about inviting people to the page, being consistent with the giveaways and being consistent with our brand.

 

Making friends....

Robert (best. loan officer. ever.) recently shared with me his facebook strategy.  When he meets with new clients he asks them if they are on facebook.  If they are he opens up facebook and says "Let's be friends" and sends them a friend request.   He explains that he often does giveaways and shares mortgage information through facebook.

But here is the magic part.... Robert then says "I work by referral and if you are happy with my service I would appreciate it if you would comment on my page."  

Brilliant, simply brilliant.  Evidenced by his many adoring clients.

Facebook giveaway idea

Denise Wargo recently shared with me her fabulous idea to get people to "like" her new facebook fan page. Here's what she is doing:

As a way to get some likes I am using one of your ideas about offering a contest for installation of holiday lights.  When someone likes my page they are entered.   You can check out my page at https://www.facebook.com/txreco#!/TexasMortgagePro.  I found a Groupon that heavily discounted their service.  They will come and hang the lights and remove them after Christmas.  

A deal from Groupon made it affordable. I am going to go out and take photos with the winners in front of their new home all decorated and post them on my Facebook page.

I am putting this in my idea "tickler" file for next year and will start promoting it around the first of November.  You could also do this with just about anything.  It's a fun way to get people to your Facebook page and start having conversations with them.  Thanks, Denise for sharing!!

 

 

 

 

Thanks Patricia!

Patricia Perez recently sent me a video testimonial for my Social Media Mortgage Secrets six week course.  What a wonderful surprise!

If you are ready to jump into (or simply improve what you are already doing) social media then this class is designed to help you take your business out into the social media world.

 

 

Wednesday Tip - Coordination

Today's tip is all about making sure you are coordinating your social networking with your in person networking.  Your success with one will go up if you find a way to add in the other.

After you attend a networking event, or really any time you have contact with someone; take a moment when you are back in the office to reach out through your social networking platforms.  Faceboook, Linkedin, ActiveRain etc.  Make sure you are connected and send them a short message that it was nice to chat and connect at the recent event.

For the referral partners that you primarily only connect with on social media, pick up the phone  and invite them to lunch or even stop by their office with a snack.  Take the time for some in-person conversation and you will deepen those relationships

Recommendations

Just wanted to pass along one of the greatest resources in LinkedIn.  Giving and getting recommendations is very easy with their system.  Simply go to your profile tab and click on Recommendations and then you have the option to give and request.  

Set a goal each week to give out at least two recommendations to Realtors or other business connections.  Then when you receive recommendations back you can use them on your website and in other marketing.

Here's an example of a recommendation I recently received:



 

Business and your status updates

Keep your profiles fresh

The Thank You Economy

On my way home from a social media conference last month, I picked up a social media book at the airport.  Of course.

I was excited to see another book by entrepreneur Gary Vaynerchuk as I quite enjoyed his first book, Crush It!  The Thank You Economy is his newest title and did not disappoint.

The Thank You Economy is all about utilizing social media to communicate on a very real level with your clients and those that can help your business grow.   Personal, one-on-one interactions through social are the wave of the business-world future.  I've been saying this for some time now, social media is here to stay and you absolutely have to be utilizing it to stay in the game.

A few thing that I picked up from The Thank You Economy...

• Social Media - don't just make contacts, make connections
• There is financial gain for any size company that is willing to open the lines of communication with its customers and market to them in a personal, caring way that makes them feel valued.
• Succeeding in the Thank You Economy is not about simply being nice and selling in an inoffensive way.  Anyone can do that.  It's about taking every opportunity to show that you care about your customers.

For those of you that are hesitant to use social media...

• Unfortunately, if you wait until social media is able to prove itself to you before deciding to engage with your customers one-on-one, you'll have missed your greatest window of opportunity to move ahead of your competitors.
• Right now, I'd say that social media is a bit like a kidney - you can survive with only one, but your chances of making it to old age are a lot better with two.  Eventually, though, I think social media will be as important to a business as a strong heart.

If you work for a company that is (in your opinion) too restrictive with their social media policy, get this book, read it and then pass it along to your management team along with your thoughts on the best way to implement social media.

I'm sharing my assistant with you....

I've been lucky through the years to have great people around me as I've grown my business and taken on new challenges.  The same is true with my social media.  My assistant has been great to help me get organized and make the most of my contacts so I thought I would share her with you...

Social Media Got You Down? Are you ready to jump on the Social Media Bandwagon and not sure where to start?

Let Imagine It Your Virtual Office Assistant get it all set up for you. For just $75 Imagine It will set up a Facebook Fan Page, Twitter Account, LinkedIn Account, HootSuite Account and import all your contacts into each. The $75 charge will also include a tutorial on how to use HootSuite to make your Social Media Networking even easier!

You can contact Imagine It at Jaidi@imagineitvoa.com. 

Jaidi is also available for other virtual assistant tasks at great rates!!

Feed 'em what they want!

I spent quite a bit of time talking about social media in the Realtor training I did last week.  Most of the Realtors at our meeting (and I think Realtors everywhere)  have a desire to do social media but are not sure what to do and would love additional guidance.

So why not have a "Social Media Tip of the Week" that you email and post on Facebook, twitter, your blog and linkedin.  You could also tattoo it on your arm, but that might be a little drastic.

If you take the time to help your Realtor (and other referral partners) business then you become valuable to them.  They will want to reciprocate and help your business.

The tip of the week could be as simple as "Don't forget to update your social media profiles once a month.  Keep them fresh!" or "Remember to connect with your prospects through Facebook, Linkedin and Twitter so they can get to know you better" or you could go deeper and actually walk them through setting up a fan page on Facebook or other social media task.  

NOTE:  If you are taking the Social Media Mortgage Secrets class then you will have loads and loads of ideas to pass along.

Video excuses from the ladies

Karen Deis shared some great tips recently on making videos with her Mortgage Girlfriends.  As someone that has been fighting to get this strategy going, I appreciate the advice!

Video Marketing: What I’ve noticed…

What I’ve noticed in reading blogs, Facebook posts, even on websites…is that men create and post videos twice as often (my WAG) as women.  Why is that?  Here are the top 3 excuses I’ve heard:

1) Can’t find the time:  Make an appointment with  yourself to record 5 videos—all at the same time!  It should take you about 2 hours to create five, 2-minute videos!

2) I don’t look good:   Because you are recording 5 videos all in one day, you’ll only have to do make-up and hair once!  I suggest that you change your shirt or suit coat so it ”appears” as though you’ve recorded the video at different times. 

3) I don’t know what to say:  You’ll first need to figure out who you are marketing to!

         Realtors:  Give them tips on helping them increase their business!

         Prospects:  FHA down payment example; how to buy homeowners insurance; the ideas are endless - all you have to do is chunk it down into 2-minute segments.  

         Past customers:  Keep them updated on local housing prices; tips on maintaining their home, etc.   

Bliss here -  Those are definitely my top three excuses, but that's all they really are is excuses.  Video is an amazing way to connect with your audience and build a stronger relationship.  So let's all quit with the excuses and get going!

 

Social Media Coaching begins next week!

Only $197 until Saturday @ Midnight
Regular price:  $297 

Social media webinar - replay is available!

If you missed yesterday's Social Media Mortgage Secrets Webinar, the replay is available now.  Alax Navas covered 15 tips to getting more customers and referral partners through social media.  At the end there are also details on our new Social Media Coaching Class that begins next Tuesday.

 

 

Free Webinar!! Social Media Mortgage Secrets

Join me tomorrow at 11:00 CST for a live Webinar to learn 15 Social Media Mortgage Secrets to Get More Customers and Referral Partners.  I'll be interviewing (and adding in my 2 cents) Alex Navas who is an internet marketing expert with a mortgage background.  This call will be packed with information on the following social media platforms:

Blogging
Facebook
YouTube
LinkedIn
Twitter

We'll be sharing success stories, tips and tools for you to get moving on your own social media marketing plan.   CLICK HERE to sign up for Tuesday's webinar. 

15 Social Media Mortgage Secrets You Need To Know
When:  Tuesday, June 7 @ 11:00-12:00 CST
Register Here 

 

 

 

Social media help is on the way!!!

Very excited to be putting together social media information designed specifically for mortgage originators!  Take a look at this video and then click on the link below to get more information.

 

www.SocialMediaMortgageSecrets.com

Are you an addict??

... a Facebook addict, that is.  

It took me a while to jump on the Facebook bandwagon, thinking it was just one more thing that would distract me from getting work done.   Now that I am using it and love it (for both personal and work), guess what??  It is distracting and does keep me from getting work done.  But only when I let it.

So how can you keep your Facebook addiction under control?  Here are a few tips:

• Don't keep it running in the background of your computer or on your phone.
• Set specific times of day when you will review and post things to Facebook and set a time limit.  Don't let it suck you in :)
• Interact, but don't feel obligated to interact with everyone.
• If you are using Facebook for work, try pre-posting through Hootsuite once a twice a week rather than scrambling daily to do this.
• If you primarily use Facebook for personal use, LIMIT YOUR USE WHILE WORKING.  This may be a difficult habit to break, but your productivity will go up and that's a great result.

And since we are talking about Facebook, don't forget to "Like" my marketing page so you can get your daily marketing fix.

Social media tools Rebecca can't live without

After Rebekah Radice shared her thoughts on the blog a few weeks ago, I took the liberty of bugging her again.  She really seems to have a fantastic grasp on social mediaI so I asked her this question:

What are your top 3 social media tools?  

From Rebekah... (with a few comments thrown in from me:)

Top 3 Social Media Tools I can't Live Without:

1.  Writing has always been a passion of mine, but blogging - that took some time for me to get into.  It's difficult to find "your voice" when blogging about business.  Writing an article about FHA MIP isn't always the sexiest topic, so you really have to work hard to keep YOU in all that you write.  I find who I am as a blogger is constantly evolving as my my need to grow as a writer expands into new and fun directions. Bliss here - I totally agree with this.  It does take awhile to find your voice and your writing will definitely improve with practice.

2.  Hootsuite - Hootsuite is the ultimate social media manager. I'm able to monitor and manage multiple Twitter and Facebook profiles, pre-schedule my tweets and Facebook posts (I pre-schedule all of my fan page posts over the weekend) plus I can measure my success through their detailed analytics.  Awesome time management tool too so it's a win-win!  Bliss here - haven't tried this yet, but am about to jump on board!

3.  Google Alerts - This is where I stay on top of industry activity and news and quite frankly, where I find the majority of my blog topics.  Google alerts allows me to set up an alert for any topic of interest and then receive an immediate alert when Google comes across a relevant article.  I have alerts set up for everything from FHA news to my own name.  Cause if you don't know what the online world is saying about you, you better better find out NOW!  Bliss here - Love this idea... really a great way to help you maintain a reputation as an expert!

And finally, because choosing 3 is so darn difficult, I'm adding my #4:  Google Voice - While it's not necessarily social media, it is a must have in my book.  The service is free and gives you one phone number for all of your phones.  The beauty in this is it's "follow you" features that allow the caller to find you on your cell, your home phone or any number you stipulate.  Or you can let it go to voicemail, listen in before answering or read the transcript (albeit - their voice to text transcription can be pretty funny!)  The bottom line..get more done, with less interruptions!   Bliss here - Rebekah is about the 4th person in a month to recommend this to me.  I'm into Google Business and will soon expand and use Google Voice.

 

Managing Social Media Part 3

See Managing Social Media Part 1 here

See Managing Social Media Part 2 here

Managing Social Media Part 3

Increase Followers

To increase your followers, you may wish to add a Follow me on link to the bottom of your emails or blog posts. 

You can use the following images and create hyperlinks to your pages.

For Facebook

1. To find the hyperlink for your page, login in to your Facebook account.
2. Click on Account in the top right corner and select Use Facebook as Page.
3. When the window appears, select the name of the Facebook page you are trying to use. (you do not need to select switch)
4. When the window loads, click on the Address Bar and go to the Edit menu and click select all (or hit CTRL + A) then go to Edit again and select Copy (or CTRL + C)
5. Paste or Load the image above in your email signature or blog post. 
6. Click on the image and select the hyperlink button. In the Address Bar of the Hyperlink box, paste the Fan Page Address by going to Edit, then Paste (or CTRL + V)

 

 

For Twitter

1. To find your link for Twitter, login in to your Twitter account.
2. Click on Profile at the top of the page.
3. Follow steps 4-6 on the Facebook Instructions

For LinkedIn

1. To find your Link for LinkedIn, login to your LinkedIn Account.
2. Scroll over Profile, and then select View Profile.
3. Follow steps 4-6 on the Facebook Instructions.

Take your social networking to a whole new level and make them all work for you!

Managing Social Media Part 2

See Managing Social Media Part 1 Here

Managing Social Media Part 2

Post to multiple Social Network Sites

Another option for connecting your various social networking sites is to set up your Twitter account to post on both your Facebook page and your LinkedIn page. This will make it so that you only have to post in one social networking site, but all three receive the information.

Facebook

1. Search for the Twitter App on Facebook.
2. Enter in your Twitter account information.
3. You can set up Twitter to post to either your Facebook Profile or your Facebook Page. 

Linked In

1. To do this on LinkedIn, Login in to your LinkedIn account. In the top right corner, scroll over your name. Select Settings. 
2. Under Profile on the left Column, select manage your Twitter Settings.
3. Then enter in all necessary information.
4.   You must choose to Display your Twitter account on your Linked In Profile. You can also opt to Share only Tweets that contain #in in the tweet. 
5. Make your options and select save changes.

If you follow both these steps for Facebook and LinkedIn, your twitter posts will now show up in Facebook and Linked In. This will share more information with more contacts.