How Financial Planners Can Become Social Media Savvy

A lot of business owners are still wondering how social media can assist them in developing and furthering their relationships with up and coming clients as well as their existing ones. Through our Social Media trainings we have enabled our clients stop wondering about that and start building their business.

The expense and questionable effectiveness of traditional marketing methods like newsletters and print ads can be frustrating and downright discouraging for many business owners and social media marketing offers a very viable alternative (as well as an effective adjunct to traditional marketing methods).

The complaint we hear most often about traditional marketing is that it involves too much labour and expense. Small businesses typically don't have money to burn and an effective social media campaign doesn’t need to cost an arm and a leg and can even be fairly inexpensive by comparison.

One useful pillar of some of the social media programs we have seen is a twice per month, 1 hour webinar. It examines a specific topical subject relevant to your customers and business. Obviously, you can start once a month and adjust based on demand.

You can drive traffic to the webinar through your LinkedIn profile. Because LinkedIn is a business-only platform you don’t have to worry that you might offend people because you’re using it market to your Linked contacts. Send brief updates about the webinar to specific groups of your contacts to keep them apprised of any upcoming webinar events.

Prior to each webinar, you can record and upload a short video to YouTube that outlines the main purpose of the webinar, and then post the video on your LinkedIn page. You can also beef it up even further with presentations from past webinars.

The biggest advantage of webinars is the convenience for attendees. This allows you to reach people from a larger audience than the one that’s limited to your local market. This is particularly true here in Ontario where clients and prospects living in rural areas might not be able to take advantage of your offering and advice quite so easily.

Webinars can provide valuable information and increase your profile as a valued authority. I have heard one webinar attendee comment that they got good information about how to properly set up their finances, adding that it’s something they don't always get from a bank.

A key part of your social media strategy should be taking regular polls of your audience to identify the kind of information they’re looking for.

This results in a webinar that is very targeted rather than one that is merely general in it’s coverage.

You have a number of options for webinar software but I recommend “Go To Webinar”. It comes with a number of interesting features like being able to ask webinar participants questions during the broadcast or you can take a poll or survey and post the results for all to see right in the webinar.

You will need to setup some form of tracking system to measure the amount of new business the webinars and other social media properties actually produce. This will help you clarify and refine your social media focus so you can eliminate anything that doesn’t produce results and do more of those tasks and approaches that do.

For more help achieving your social media goals, check out one of our workshops here.

How To Make Social Media A Mortgage Brokers New Best Friend

We have a lot of mortgage brokers that attend our Social Media trainings and many of them have been directed to our course from colleagues and other referrals but also because they have heard a lot of feedback from someone who we will call the ‘corporate social media guy’.

Frequently brokers hear that once they get their Facebook page and a Twitter account suddenly it's SHAMWOW KABOOM and it's instant mortgage originations! And not only that…you will have them pouring in for life!

Factoid: This understanding and approach is incorrect and will never work.

Here’s what WILL work to make Social Media your new best friend:

• Create a blog (or website)  that actually educates your customers and clients about mortgages, changes to rules and 
regulations or any new rules they should know about.

• Create a twitter page and a facebook page but strange as it might sound do NOT try and sell them a mortgage (or just blast out interests rates)! This is a turnoff. Try to educate your readers about mortgages and you will get customers from your efforts - a consistent effort is key.

• Create a blog with some real personality that engages your prospects like you’re a real person.

• Make sure you address any concerns they might have, answer questions for them and explain new government regulations in simple "lay speak" using non-technical terms that they can understand.

• Use your social network to build an online community of experts from the financial industry that can advise the average consumer on the ideal loan products, etc.

People are open to using any resiurce that will get them a better deal on a mortgage and that is leading more and more clients and realtors online and specifically to social media tools like Twitter and Facebook.


As a mortgage broker the BEST way for you to convince people to do business with you is for you to BE THAT RESOURCE. There's some sweat equity involved and some skills you will need to develop but you'd be surprised how little it takes to get in the game and really have Social Media become your new best friend.

In any case it sure beats direct marketing some cheesy flier, pounding the pavement and knocking on doors or hanging out at Chamber of Commerce events and setting up tents at local community events.

We've been offering our "Social Media Training For Mortgage Professionals" courses since 2008. these courses have allowed mortgage professionals to get up to speed and “make friends” with Social Media (and some new clients) quickly and easily.

To learn more about Social Media join one of our workshops by clicking here.