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A Finance Broker’s 101 Guide to Social MediaFACEBOOKLINKEDININSTAGRAMTWITTER
ContentsIntroduction 03
01: Facebook 04Establishing your Facebook profile and business page 5Optimising your Facebook business page for SEO and likes 5Using Facebook Groups to engage with the industry and your target market 7Getting your posts seen by more followers 8Using paid options to increase likes and reach 9Measuring successful posts with Facebook Insights 10Best practice Do’s and Don’ts for brokers 11
02: LinkedIn 12 Customize your Headline, Summary URL, and photo for your personal profile 12Building credibility with endorsements and recommendations 12Create a complete and compelling LinkedIn Company page 13Creating and posting content about business, consistently 14Maximise your Company page’s reach 14Find insight with Analytics 15Best practice Do’s and Don’ts for brokers 16
03: Instagram 17 Optimising your Instagram Business profile 17Follow influential accounts to help build yours 18Understand which types of posts work best for your brand 18Engage and share content 20Best practice Do’s and Don’ts for brokers 21
04: Twitter 22Build a unique Twitter profile 22Listen and learn 23Start creating great content 24Drive more engagement by using photos and videos 24Video 24Photos 25Engage and monitor 25Best practice Do’s and Don’ts for brokers 26
Free helpful social media resources 27MFAA contacts 28
IntroductionThere are many marketing and communications tools a broker can harness to build their brand and business.
Social media, including the platforms Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram and Twitter, are such tools.
Whilst the social media world can appear to be very complex, confusing, and always changing, the basics remain the same over time.
By following this guide, which covers the social media fundamentals, the theory behind them, and some best-practises, you’ll be helping to set yourself, and your business, up for success.
You’ll also be establishing the foundations needed to become an intermediate or advanced social media user, reaping many of the benefits this can bring.
Whilst we’ve tried to produce this guide using simple and easy-to-understand language, if you do find yourself needing additional support, there is a wealth of information available to you through your state’s MFAA Business Development Manager, or on Google.
DISCLAIMER: The examples used throughout this guide have been selected based on quality and merit only, and are not paid-for, nor intended to promote any specific business or brand.
A FINANCE BROKER’S GUIDE TO SOCIAL MEDIA FACEBOOK 4
01Facebook Facebook is now an important information source for customers when they’re researching and evaluating businesses or products. If your business isn’t on Facebook, you’re potentially making it harder for your customers, and potential customers, to find you.
Setting up a Facebook business page is the starting point for all your Facebook marketing efforts. Facebook business pages operate very differently from other types of Facebook pages, including Facebook profiles. They’re built with businesses in mind and have special functionality that can be used to help you promote your posts or measure your followers’ engagement.
To market your business successfully on Facebook, it is recommended you set up a Facebook business page and understand the unique qualities and attributes that these types of pages have to offer.
Did you know there’s a difference between a Facebook profile and a Facebook page? A Facebook profile is an account that is allocated against an individual. A Facebook page, such as a business page or fan page, is created by an existing Facebook member (using their Facebook profile) to promote an interest, or organisation, etc. These pages gather followers through ‘liking’, and in return the followers receive content from that page.
A FINANCE BROKER’S GUIDE TO SOCIAL MEDIA FACEBOOK 5
01: Facebook
Establish your Facebook profile and business pageBefore creating your Facebook business page, you must set up a personal Facebook profile. The individual in that profile then acts as the creator and administrator of the business page. As a result, when you log in to your Facebook profile you also are automatically logged in to the business page.
Most brokers are often nervous about potentially mixing their personal information with their business information. But don’t worry. When you go to post on your business page, you’ll be able to post as the business, instead of as an individual.
To create a Facebook business page, you can follow Facebook’s step-by-step instructions.
Be sure to be logged in to the individual Facebook profile that you want as the administrator or owner of the business page. When creating your page, Facebook will ask you some questions such as a category to describe your business, business name, address and phone number. You will also have the option to upload a profile and cover photo. We recommend you start by using your business logo or your professional headshot for this image.
Include all the information you can so your customers recognise your Facebook business page and can find the information they’re looking for.
It is important to note that only the administrator’s profile and/or the owner of the Facebook business page can manage the page.
If you are thinking of employing a part-time social media manager, or one of your admin staff will be assisting you with your Facebook marketing, you’ll need to set them as administrators too. Like you, administrators will need their own individual Facebook accounts, but will be publishing on your business page under the businesses identity.
To do so, administrators must like your business page. Then selecting them as administrators can be completed by filling out the appropriate data in the ‘Edit Page’ section under ‘Manage Admins’.
The administrators you designate won’t need your login to access the business page, and once they log in as administrators, they’ll have access to page-editing features. Be careful, however, to add only people you trust as administrators.
Optimising your Facebook business page for SEO and likesIdeally you want your Facebook business page to be easily found by your customers and potential customers on both Google and Facebook.
Then, once they’ve found your page, it should be appealing enough for people to want to engage with it through such things as a visit, a ‘like’ or a ‘follow’.
The following best-practice tips can help you optimise your page for these purposes.
Consider starting a new personal Facebook profile using your work email address if you want to keep your work profile separate to your personal Facebook profile.
A FINANCE BROKER’S GUIDE TO SOCIAL MEDIA FACEBOOK 6
01: Facebook
Choose a descriptive, memorable but relevant username
Sometimes called a vanity URL, your Facebook business page username is simply the web address for your page – e.g., www.facebook.com/<yourbusinessname>. By default, your page will be given a random URL comprised of random characters, but you have the opportunity to create your own Facebook URL through the use of your username.
It is recommended that your username accurately convey your full broker business name, or your full name (depending on the brand your customers will recognise you by). By having a username and corresponding URL, one that customers will instinctively search you with, you will make it easier for Google and Facebook to find your business page. In order to claim a username, you will need to have at least 25 likes, so consider inviting your existing customers, family and friends to like your page first.
Optimise your page images
Your cover and profile photos are what visitors see first when arriving at your page.
Your images should be of professional quality and should accurately reflect the look and feel of your brand. Consider using your headshot and/or your business logo to ensure consistency with your website, other social media channels and existing marketing material. Ensure your photos meet the optimal size requirements so they don’t appear skewed or cropped inappropriately. For instance, your cover photo should be 851 pixels wide by
315 pixels high, and your profile photo should be 160 by 160 pixels. If you need help resizing your photos to meet Facebook’s specifications, you can use Canva which is a free image editing tool with pre-set dimensions for Facebook photos.
Include your website URL in your description to encourage click throughs to your website.
A FINANCE BROKER’S GUIDE TO SOCIAL MEDIA FACEBOOK 7
01: Facebook
Use descriptive keywords in your ‘About’ section
Your ‘About’ section is the primary text-based real-estate on your page, and this information is drawn upon by Google and Facebook when customers perform searches.
It’s important to get this section right because of its influence on search results. To do so, put yourself in your customer’s shoes and think the way they do. What do your customers want and need, and what language do they use. They will use this information to construct their searches.
Be sure to accurately describe your business and services using the keywords customers might use. Some example keywords that customers might use include: ‘mortgage’, ‘loan’, ‘home loan’ or ‘homeloan’.
Whilst as an industry we commonly use words and phrases to talk about ourselves, this isn’t necessarily the same language your customers use.
Using Facebook Groups to engage with the industry and your target marketWhile business pages are the basic tool every broker should be using to market their business, Facebook Groups can be an extremely effective add-on strategy for your particular target market.
When used correctly, Groups can be an incredible source of traffic, and can lead to your business being perceived as an authority on a subject.
Offering useful advice and tips can help you become a valued member of the Group; and as people grow to trust you, they’ll want to find out more about you (and your business).
Perhaps the most beneficial use of Facebook Groups, however, is to create and participate in your own groups. Groups give you the opportunity to build and engage with your audience in a much more personal and relatable way and allow you to become a part of your target market’s day-to-day conversations.
With this helpful guide, you can also create a group that welcomes conversations about anything related to your niche or target audience. For instance, if you specialise in refinancing loans, you could start a group where people could ask questions about, or discuss tips on, home renovations or DIY building projects, topics often associated with refinancing.
Be sure to read any Facebook Group rules and answer any required questions when joining other Groups – this will help inform you if the groups are strict with how you promote your business on their group.
A FINANCE BROKER’S GUIDE TO SOCIAL MEDIA FACEBOOK 8
01: Facebook
Get your posts seen by more followers Did you know that your Facebook posts aren’t seen by all your followers and customers? A lot of content gets published on Facebook from a lot of sources and Facebook looks to curate this and deliver the most relevant and interesting content to its users, on a user-by-user basis. Sometimes Facebook judges your posts to be less relevant or interesting to an individual and will not show them, and this is why some customers see your posts. This process occurs for every post. As your posts change, Facebook re-evaluates them.
To give yourself the best chance of making it on to your followers’ feeds, use the following tactics:
• Use videos. These can be both live or pre-recorded. Educational videos are usually king on Facebook, so consider filming a ‘top finance tip of the day’ or ‘question asked by a customer’ style video. According to research, videos now lead in terms of ‘organic’ reach (organic meaning not paid for). Between October 2014 and February 2015, videos received organic reach of 8.71%, compared to a reach of 5.77% for words-only status updates.
• Regularly consult your business page’s Insights to see what types of content are resonating with your followers. Your Insights page contains a great variety of research and data on what type of content is getting engagement with your followers. See which post formats are getting the most traffic (photos, videos, links, text-only posts), as well as which topics your followers appear to be passionate about. Also note which days and times of the day work best with your followers.
• When posting promotional content, be sure to include a relevant and engaging narrative or backstory, as opposed to a straight sell. In late 2014, Facebook announced that they it would be limiting the reach of posts it found “too promotional”.
• Another way to be engaging on Facebook is with its polling tool. Surveying your followers is a great way of starting a conversation and getting to know their opinions. To create a poll, go to your business page and select ‘Create a poll’ from the icon menu below the ‘Write a comment box’.
A FINANCE BROKER’S GUIDE TO SOCIAL MEDIA FACEBOOK 9
01: Facebook
Using paid options to increase likes and reachWhile it is possible to achieve good reach for your posts using free tactics, you may consider reinforcing your organic tactics with paid options. Facebook currently offers two main paid-for ways to extend the reach of your posts.
• Post boosts: A boosted post is one of your normal posts that you have paid to promote. Boosting a post will increase its visibility, meaning more Facebook users will see it. You can choose to have your post shown to a combination of your page followers, the friends of your followers, or to other people who you select through targeting. Targeting options for your posts include interests, age, gender and location. To boost a post, simply click on ‘Boost’ when creating a new post. You’ll also find this setting on old posts if you want to boost a post that has already been published.
• Facebook ads: If you want to attract new followers to your business page, or generate some other type of action such as a website visit or sign-up, Facebook offers a variety of other advertising options known as Facebook ads. Facebook ads appear in a newsfeed as an ad, as opposed to a boosted post. Once you’ve selected a campaign objective, you can set your own targeting and budgeting options, and choose the creative content (image, video, text, link, etc.) for your ad.
• Use a strong call to action: Always let users know what you would like them to do. While you don’t necessarily need to be as direct as telling them to click on your ad, you should let them know why they should click on your ad. This could be to take advantage of a sale or deal, to read content or to request more information.
• Facebook lead forms: These forms are an underutilised Facebook option and are an extremely useful and easy way to capture enquiries via your Facebook business page. These forms are just like the ones on most broker websites and can capture a customer’s name, email and phone number. Their primary purpose is to let users – potential customers – connect with businesses or sign up for a newsletter list quickly and easily without having to leave Facebook. Here’s a great guide on how to get started with lead forms.
A FINANCE BROKER’S GUIDE TO SOCIAL MEDIA FACEBOOK 10
01: Facebook
Measuring successful posts with Facebook InsightsFacebook Insights is one of the most powerful Facebook analytics tools available.
When you dive into your Facebook Insights, you’ll receive a wealth of data to help you understand more about your Facebook page and audience.
With so many different data points available to measure — such as likes, engagement, reach, and demographics — Insights will help you understand how your content is resonating with your audience, how your page is growing, and will provide you with a good overview of how your Facebook strategy is performing.
Facebook Insights can also give you valuable information about who your customers are, such as who follows you, where they are, how old they are, and more.
Facebook Insights can also give you information on your competition. Using the tool, you can track their posts and engagement in order to get ideas for your own business, or to simply see what you’re up against.
In addition, Insights can also give you an indication of the best time of day to post, the best day of the week to post, and what type of content is most popular in any given timeframe. It can even help you track the number of active users on your page so that you can better understand your page’s performance.
It’s also worth noting that the data in your Insights tool is constantly updated to reflect your pages activity and any patterns in your follower’s behaviour.
Before you study any of your Facebook Insights, it is best to determine what your goals are and then rank them in order of importance.
When you understand your best content and what moves you toward your goal, you will be able to use Facebook Insights’ insights to re-share the articles that are driving traffic or develop similar content that gets more engagement.
Here’s an overview of what insights you can gain:
• Overview: How your page is doing.• Likes: Where your page likes came from.• Reach: What’s your reach, and what factors
affect it.• Page Views: Who viewed which section of
your page.• Actions on Page: What people did on your page.• Posts: How well your posts are performing.• Events: How successful your event pages are.• Videos: How well your videos are performing.• People: Who liked, saw, or engaged with
your page.• Messages: Page response times and
Messenger analytics.
There are many Facebook analytics tools available from other companies, but, as the in-platform tool, Facebook Insights is a powerful tool that shouldn’t be ignored.
The more you check back on your Insights page, the more informed conclusions you can draw from the performance of your posts.
A FINANCE BROKER’S GUIDE TO SOCIAL MEDIA FACEBOOK 11
01: Facebook: Best practice for brokers
do’s• Do use a recognisable and professional
headshot.• Tailor your organic posts (by age, gender,
location etc.) for better engagement.• Do respond to questions, comments and
messages from people. They are potential customers!
• Do look at your pages’ analytics and get insights into how your page is performing and what your followers respond to.
• Do try using paid options to amplify successful organic posts.
• Ask your customers questions and ask for feedback. Ask them regularly and listen to what your users are saying.
• Participate in the conversation via Facebook Groups and reviews on your page. Customers appreciate business owners who take interest.
• Keep customers informed – if your broker business is going to be closed during a holiday break, let your customers know ahead of time.
• Say thank you – thank your customers and show happy pictures of them in front of their home. Make them the centre of your Facebook business page.
• Share photos and written testimonials from your customers. This is a form of word-of-mouth marketing.
dont’s• Don’t leave your ‘About’ section blank.• Don’t spam or overwhelm your customers
with too many posts per day.• Don’t forget to test a variety of types of
posts – try using photos, videos and live-videos to see what works best.
• Don’t just promote your business. It’s ‘social’ media, so be social and make the majority of your posts engaging. Keep sales-based posts to a minimum.
• Don’t bad mouth competitors or customers. You could be held liable for comments you make on social media, and being negative can potentially damage your brand.
• Don’t include false or misleading posts or testimonials. This is an offence.
12A FINANCE BROKER’S GUIDE TO SOCIAL MEDIA LINKEDIN
02LinkedIn Like most other social media platforms, LinkedIn starts with a personal profile, and even though you’re looking to grow your broker business’ presence, you need to have your own personal profile to begin with.The key to LinkedIn success is building a personal LinkedIn profile that is a professional representation of yourself (your personal brand) and your business (your broker business brand). Here are some great tips to achieve this.
Customise your Headline, Summary URL, and photo for your personal profile• Headline: One of the most important elements
of a LinkedIn page is effectively a 120-character sales pitch.
• LinkedIn URL: Similar to Facebook’s URL functionality, you can customise your URL to include your full name. It helps your profile to stand out from other pages with similar names, and contributes to the overall visibility of your profile.
• Profile photo: A professional headshot makes your profile 14 times more discoverable in search pages.
• Summary: If your Headline is the 120-character sales pitch, your Summary is the 30-second elevator pitch. Summarise who you are and what you do by promoting your biggest achievements and key strengths, or telling a story about your career. Write in a casual tone, be interesting, and don’t forget those all-important keywords, words that appeal to your customers.
Building credibility with endorsements and recommendationsWhen you log onto LinkedIn, you will often be prompted to endorse to endorse the skills of your connections. And your connections, at one time or another, will be invited to endorse your skills in return.
Skills are like keywords highlighting your skills and endorsements are great to get and easy to give. You can also request recommendations from connections that, if they agree, will be posted to your LinkedIn page.
This is also a great way to start finding new connections – be it potential referrals or new industry connections. Look out for your aggregator and lender BDMs, and try searching other professional contacts (like real estate agents, conveyancers, or accountants) to help build your contact list. Then, once you connect with them and you’ve got an ongoing rapport, consider giving them endorsements.
13A FINANCE BROKER’S GUIDE TO SOCIAL MEDIA LINKEDIN
02: LinkedIn
Create a complete and compelling LinkedIn Company pageDid you know that Company pages, with complete profiles, receive up to twice as many visitors as those with incomplete profiles?
Google frequently ranks optimised Company pages higher in search results, so it is critical to create a comprehensive page that provides visitors with insights and value.
Having all the important components of a LinkedIn Company page (logo, website URL, industry, and location) from the start will go a long way to making your broker business appear professional.
By having a complete LinkedIn page, you are providing your visitors – potential customers and referrers – with all the information they need to connect with you and your business when they’re ready.
For the best chance of succeeding on LinkedIn, make sure your Company page has the following seven items filled out:
• Logo• Company description• Website URL• Company size• Industry• Company type• Location
14A FINANCE BROKER’S GUIDE TO SOCIAL MEDIA LINKEDIN
02: LinkedIn
Then just like you did for your own profile, write a description about your business or organisation, and fill it with keywords and relevant and interesting information targeted at your customers.
Creating and posting content about your business, consistently There’s a variety of information you can post on your Company page, including important industry updates, behind-the-scenes photos, photos from industry conferences and awards nights, links to blog posts, photos of new staff, recent projects in your local community, customer testimonials and reviews, and even video interviews with your referral partners. The sky is the limit.
But whatever you choose to post, three underlying principles should prevail. It should deliver value to your target audience (relevance), it should be ‘on brand’, and it should generally be business related – not personal content. LinkedIn is traditionally known as a social media for professionals, and content should be created accordingly.
For a few top line tips on writing LinkedIn posts – keep the headline concise, include a link, add visual media (image, video, infographic), ask questions to involve your audience and monitor discussions.
Maximise your Company page’s reachEngage your colleagues, referral partners and industry contacts
One of the most underutilised and influential groups of people that can help you market your Company page are your key contacts. These are those in your professional network including your colleagues, your real estate agents, as well as lender and aggregator BDMs.
According to LinkedIn, encouraging your key contacts, especially your employees, to engage with your posts by commenting, liking or sharing, will help spread your content to their networks, while simultaneously increasing the visibility and reach of your Company page. Start by encouraging your staff to like, comment and share your posts.
Statista found that around 42% of LinkedIn users have between 300-999 connections. Multiply that by the number of employees at your company and that’s a large potential reach!
Promote your Company page beyond LinkedIn
Your marketing efforts on LinkedIn shouldn’t be siloed. Consider creating connections between your LinkedIn page and your other marketing channels, such as your website, Facebook page or enewsletter. It may take some time to coordinate but it will be worthwhile in the long-term.
Start by adding social media buttons or a LinkedIn ‘Follow’ button on your website. A great way to cross-promote your LinkedIn company page is to make it easier for your website visitors to click through to your page, or easier for them to share content at any point throughout their reading experience. This can be achieved by a Follow button. It’s also recommended to have a link to your Company page on your website’s ‘Contact us’ page.
15A FINANCE BROKER’S GUIDE TO SOCIAL MEDIA LINKEDIN
02: LinkedIn
Next, consider linking your company page in your newsletters or customer emails (such as in your email signature), on your blogs, letter box flyers and any other customer communications.
Don’t be afraid to ask for the follow either.
Find insight with AnalyticsLinkedIn’s Analytics, like Facebook’s Insights, will provide information on your most engaging posts, and can help you identify trends and understand more about your followers, traffic, and activity.
This information can be used to help you improve your Company page. This is a great starting guide on how to analyse and access data for your Company page. You can then tailor and maximise your LinkedIn marketing strategies accordingly.
A great place to include a link to your LinkedIn Company page is in ‘thank you’ emails to your referral partners, or in post settlement or follow-up emails to clients. At the point of receiving these communications, your customers and partners would have just finished having a positive experience with you and they will have positive feelings about you, your business and brand. Capitalise on these feelings by giving them the opportunity to follow your pages.
16A FINANCE BROKER’S GUIDE TO SOCIAL MEDIA LINKEDIN
02: LinkedIn: Best practice for brokers
do’s• Do publish business-related posts.• Do personalise your connection requests.• Do have a professional headshot.• Do provide a summary about yourself.• Do respond promptly.• Do post content regularly.• Do nurture your relationships.• Do like and share other people’s posts.• Do include links to your LinkedIn page
across your other marketing channels.
dont’s• Don’t send spam messages to your
connections.• Don’t ignore LinkedIn messages.• Don’t make your LinkedIn profile hidden. • Don’t ask strangers for recommendations
/ endorsements.• Don’t delete comments or respond
negatively to comments.• Do not post irresponsible, false or
insensitive content. You can be held liable.• Don’t post personal or non-business
related messages – keep it professional.• Don’t post too many hashtags or tag too
many people.
17A FINANCE BROKER’S GUIDE TO SOCIAL MEDIA INSTAGRAM
03Instagram Instagram is often overlooked, but can be an effective channel in a broker’s communications mix. Instagram’s strength is in its ability to allow you to present your message and brand in a very visual format.
As Instagram is a highly visual-based medium, built around publishing and sharing images, it’s essential to ‘look pretty’ whilst you’re adding value to your customers. This means you need to spend a lot of time and attention on producing or sourcing quality images.
Optimising your Instagram Business profile • Username: For discoverability, your username
on Instagram should match the usernames of your other broker social media profiles. A great way to start is by using the same username as your Facebook business page and your LinkedIn Company page. This makes it easier for existing clients, prospects and other channel followers to find you.
• Websites links: The only other information that appears on your Instagram’s public profile is your website URL and a short bio. Unfortunately, you can’t link your website to Instagram posts, so it’s recommended to include your website link here. For savvy brokers, you can regularly change this link to a new page or piece of content you’re promoting. See the following examples as a point of reference.
• Bio: Here you have 150 characters to position your broker business brand. You may also want to include any hashtags you want followers to use. Like other channels, consider the words you use carefully and try and load your bio with keywords relevant to your customer.
• Profile photo: It is recommended your profile photo should be your business logo or your professional headshot. Having it match your other profile photos will help discoverability since people who follow you on LinkedIn or Facebook should instantly recognise your brand based on this photo. Note, your Instagram profile picture will be cropped into a circle on the app, so make sure you choose an image that will look good in that shape.
Though your profile picture will be 110 pixels in diameter on the mobile app, choose a larger image since it will appear larger on the desktop version of Instagram.
18A FINANCE BROKER’S GUIDE TO SOCIAL MEDIA INSTAGRAM
03: Instagram
Follow influential accounts to help build yours When you first set up your Instagram page, you’ll need to choose a few accounts to follow. Here are some types of accounts to think about starting with.
• Aggregators and lenders: These are the key businesses that you already have in your toolkit. You could start by liking and following aggregators and lenders you already work with, and then begin to follow others that are also relevant.
• Your referral partners: Be sure to follow your referral partners, or any other businesses that help your business on a daily basis. These people will be your business’ advocate on and offline. If they are on Instagram, connect with them, like and comment on their photos to build good online rapport.
• Brands you’re inspired by: These are any company or individual profiles that will help you get ideas for your own posts and campaigns. Your association with these brands can also help position and develop your brand.
• Influencers in your target market: These are people and brands that your audience follow. Start by searching a few keywords for accounts related to your brand or product.
Understand which types of posts work best for your brand Every audience on Instagram is different, so trying out different types of posts to see what works can be very beneficial for both audience building and increasing engagement.
Here are a few examples of some types of Instagram posts that have worked well in creating unique content with great engagement:
• Inspiration: Inspirational posts are really great for motivating your audience. Who doesn’t need a good morning pick-me-up? Inspirational posts often come in the form of ‘quotes of the day’, so find some key people who are aligned with your philosophies or goals and use them as a starting point. Consider reposting quotes from people you follow, or sharing a quick video of a tip or trick about finance.
A lot of brokers on Instagram follow contestants of The Block, or other renovation shows.
19A FINANCE BROKER’S GUIDE TO SOCIAL MEDIA INSTAGRAM
03: Instagram
• Visual testimonials: They say a photo is worth a thousand words – in this case, posting photos of your customers in front of their new home, or taking delivery of their new car at the dealer are great visual testimonials for your business. They’re often quick and easy snapshots that can help other followers to gauge the services that your broker business offers. It also doubles up as great content for your Facebook business page, your LinkedIn page or your website. Just make sure you have their consent to post these.
• Company culture: Culture posts are those that align with the heart and core values of your business. It could be images of your team during a bonding event, or pictures of you or your staff at a community program you’ve committed time to. Culture posts are great for building the ‘human’ side of your brand, and instilling it with personal qualities (taking it beyond just a commercial and transactional brand).
• Event photos: Do you attend PD days or industry conferences? Take some shots for your Instagram page, and include hashtags to help ensure that your photos are grouped with other similar content. This way you can maximise the reach of your post as Instagram groups photos under the same hashtag, making it easier for followers – potential referrers and industry contacts – to find you. Photos from professional events can also suggest to your customers that you’re active in the industry, and this can translate into increased confidence in your knowledge and experience.
• Designed images: If you had any marketing material designed in the past, be it flyers, ads, and other such items, you can repurpose these by publishing them on Instagram.
20A FINANCE BROKER’S GUIDE TO SOCIAL MEDIA INSTAGRAM
03: Instagram
Engage and share content A good way to grow your Instagram community is to look to the big influencers and see how you can leverage their experience, content and followers.
For instance, you can share or repost their posts to your audience, contributing your own comments or insights during the therefore adding value.
21A FINANCE BROKER’S GUIDE TO SOCIAL MEDIA INSTAGRAM
03: Instagram: Best practice for brokers
do’s• Do showcase your company culture with
photos of you and your staff.• Do share sneak-peaks and behind-the-
scene photos or stories about your business via Instagram stories.
• Tag the locations of key industry events and local areas where you are active in your community.
• Follow and engage your followers.• Do use hashtags to categorise your content
or help track traffic against other relevant hashtags.
• Do give your followers a reason to follow you, such as with contests and offers from time-to-time.
dont’s• Avoid ‘post-spamming’ your audience for
the sake of posting.• Don’t post more than three times in one day.• Don’t just post corporate imagery. Show
your followers a human side to your brand (unless you are trying to position your brand as highly corporate – then Instagram may not be appropriate in the first place).
• Don’t mix your personal and business profiles.
• Don’t forget to track your post’s results via your Instagram analytics.
• Avoid using too many hashtags. It is recommended you don’t use more than 10 per post).
• Don’t delete negative comments or reviews.• Don’t post info that could be false
or misleading.
22A FINANCE BROKER’S GUIDE TO SOCIAL MEDIA TWITTER
04Twitter In the social media world, Twitter falls into the category of microblogging. It allows users to deliver short, quick messages.
Unlike the other social media channels referenced so far, Twitter is considered unique because users generally expect content to be newsworthy as opposed to content being elaborate, emotional, inspirational or aspirational.
While Twitter is an important marketing tool, this channel really should only be used if you feel it suits your target audience, and only if you can deliver regular, relevant, and interesting news or update-style content.
Otherwise it’s best to just focus your efforts and energy on perfecting Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram.
Build a unique Twitter profileA carefully crafted Twitter profile can help build trust with your audience – potential leads, improve how your business is recalled on Google, and give your customers a direct and real-time channel to reach out to you with questions or feedback.
It is recommended you make sure your Twitter profile has the following items completed to help get the best results from it:
• A complete bio. • Location of your broker business.• Link to your website. • Your business logo or professional headshot.• A unique Twitter handle that is similar to
your business name or your other social media profile titles.
Be wary of the content you post on Twitter as this channel is often used by mainstream media journalists and social media managers for politicians. You don’t want your posts to be seen by unintended audiences.
23A FINANCE BROKER’S GUIDE TO SOCIAL MEDIA TWITTER
04: Twitter
Listen and learn If your marketing strategies are focused on using Twitter to purely broadcast content, you’re not taking advantage of Twitter’s potential as a platform for social ‘listening’.
If you’re curious to know what the wider financial services industry (including professionals in other industries such as accountants, financial planners and financial advisers) is talking about, and whether or not people – existing customers and advocates, are mentioning your brand, you can research these on Twitter.
Consider looking at other industry profiles and tweets to see what people are interested in, what kind of content they respond well to, and who are the key influencers within the industry.
24A FINANCE BROKER’S GUIDE TO SOCIAL MEDIA TWITTER
04: Twitter
Start creating great content Twitter has recently upgraded its message character count to 280, giving you a better opportunity to create content that is likely to resonate with your audience – potential leads.
Whilst Twitter has given you more characters, it is recommended you still try and keep your tweets as concise as possible.
Write short phrases and use a URL shortener (such as Bitly) to deliver content that is timely and to the point. If you’re stuck looking for content, you don’t necessarily need to tweet, but you can take inspiration from other tweets, or retweet posts provided they are of value to your audience.
Using hashtags in your tweets can help you ensure your content is being seen by as many followers as possible. Hashtags group your posts with other relevant content, and help people find your content more easily.
Drive more engagement by using photos and videos When working with only 280 characters per tweet, it’s important to craft tweets that are easy to read, and likely to resonate with your audience. Using photos and video can also be a great way to grab your audience’s attention. Here are a few ideas to help you effectively use photos and videos to position your business’ brand and engage your audience:
Video According to Wyzowl’s State of Video Marketing 2017 report, 79 percent of consumers would rather watch a video to learn about a product than read text on a page. And 84 percent of consumers have been convinced to make a purchase after watching a brand’s video. Consider tweeting videos that you have already had professionally filmed and edited, or sharing industry videos such as from your aggregator or the MFAA, that are already crafted for consumers. Or even try your hand at filming short videos yourself (no more than 1 minute) such as explainer videos about types of loans or ‘top finance tips’. Consider using your smartphone camera or webcam from your laptop to film these.
Don’t get too caught up on aesthetics as Twitter is not like Instagram. Short videos with minimal editing, of you talking straight to the camera and customer are generally more acceptable on Twitter, and can be perceived as more genuine.
25A FINANCE BROKER’S GUIDE TO SOCIAL MEDIA TWITTER
04: Twitter
Photos Similar to the other social media channels, sharing images and photos can be a great way to grab the attention of consumers. Some types of images that could catch the eye of your audience and encourage engagement include: photos of you and your staff, group photos with your referral partners, snapshots of your business out in the community, or photos of clients in front of their new homes. Don’t be afraid to celebrate your business wins here – shots of you at key events or links to your business’ nomination for an industry award are a great way to build your broker brand on Twitter, as these fall in to the ‘news’ category. Always ensure you have consent to post images.
Engage and monitor It’s very easy to get carried away with building up your following on Twitter. But if your audience are not engaging with you, then your follower number is just a number.
From the start, Twitter has been designed to help people make announcements or update others, so it is recommended you use that to your advantage.
Measuring your Twitter results allows you to evaluate your success, see what kind of content your community engages with, and shows you opportunities for further refinement.
• Follow your network: Your followers’ tweets can provide a wealth of information about their interests, needs, preferences, etc. Follow and learn from them.
• Tag people (using @<insert name>), retweet, like and follow: Liking, retweeting and returning a follow can go a long way. People generally feel great when you take the time to engage with their content. When mentioning people or companies in your tweets, include the @<insert name> of their brand’s ‘Twitter Handle’ as a great way of identifying them and driving traffic their way. You can also tag people in photos when it’s appropriate to do so, as covered in this article on Twitter best practices.
• Respond quickly: According to one social media research study, 42 percent of consumers expect a 60-minute of less response time on social media. Respond quickly and naturally to customers as you would in person or over the phone to leave them feeling valued.
• Monitor your brand and company keywords: Twitter Analytics gives you an overview of how your tweets are performing, who is engaging with them and when, who the influencers are in your network, and other metrics for individual tweets. You can track your followers’ activity, their interests, demographics, and (if you’re running a Twitter Ads campaign) ad performance.
26A FINANCE BROKER’S GUIDE TO SOCIAL MEDIA TWITTER
04: Twitter: Best practice for brokers
do’s• Do be consistent with your Twitter handle,
matching it to your other social media names.
• Include your location (city and state) in your Twitter bio.
• Repost your top, most-liked and shared posts.
• Retweet content from your followers and people you follow.
• Be sure to use correct grammar in your tweets.
• Experiment with live tweets while you’re at industry events and awards nights.
• Pin important posts about your business and key links at the top of your profile.
• Do share, like and comment on content from people within the industry.
dont’s• Don’t only tweet about yourself and your
thoughts. • Don’t tweet without investigating the
trending topics first.• Don’t leave your Twitter bio empty.• Don’t follow everyone and anyone. It’s better
to follow people who are relevant to your broker brand.
• Avoid using too many hashtags per tweet. Use hashtags intelligently.
• Avoid using up your limited characters with really long links. Consider using the Bitly service to shorten links.
• Don’t overshare about your personal life on Twitter.
Free helpful social media resources BufferA useful automated posting tool for social mediabuffer.com
HootsuiteA useful automated posting tool for social mediahootesuite.com
CanvaEasy-to-use free image and graphics design and editing softwarewww.canva.com
AnimotoLow-cost formatted video editing softwareanimoto.com
PixlrFree near-Photoshop quality editing softwarepixlr.com
PexelsRoyalty-free stock imageswww.pexels.com
UnsplashRoyalty-free stock imagesunsplash.com
Other useful resourcesThe below are online directories that give you the option to list your business details on their website.
This not only helps customers find your details via these directories; but can also help improve your overall online visibility by improving your search engine optimisation (Google favours websites that are referenced by other websites, because it suggests that others trust your website).
www.google.com/places (this one is a priority!)
www.nabo.com.au
www.mortgagebroker.com.au
www.kudosto.com.au
www.hotfrog.com.au
www.truelocal.com.au
www.yellow.com.au
www.moneybuddy.com.au
www.bestbroker.com.au
www.thehomeloanfinder.com.au
www.yelp.com.au
www.hotfrog.com.au
MFAA Contacts Mortgage & Finance Association of Australia
Suite 902, Level 9, 130 Pitt Street, Sydney NSW 2000
www.mfaa.com.au
NSW / ACTZarko JokicP: 0472 868 094E: [email protected]
VIC / TASKylie LoudenP: 0472 879 597E: [email protected]
QLDLeah Hudson
P: 0420 365 173E: [email protected]
SA / NTWendy Robertson
P: 0472 866 878E: [email protected]
WANatalie Price
P: 0472 866 872E: [email protected]
