By Shashank Shekhar
Ceo
arcus Lending
Keep Pace with Social
Media Changes
in the online world, focus on the message —
not the tools
refinanced four times, you need to form
a connection that’s meaningful and
authentic. Ultimately, it doesn’t matter
which platform you’re using to connect
with them, be it Facebook, Twitter or
Google+. These sites are simply tools,
and these tools can be wasted if the
message isn’t right.
connect with people and deepen
relationships; there’s no denying its necessity in successful lead
generation.
3. google+: One of the fastest growing social media platforms currently
available, Google+ has 100 million
people already using it. It’s important,
It can be all-too-common to hear people disparage the value of so- cial media. Some may embrace
new websites and networking opportunities, but others may believe that Facebook is a waste of time, that opening a
Google+ account is useless or that consistently blogging requires too much
time and effort for its worth.
While being critical of specific web-
sites or platforms, these critics fail to
realize that the tools of social media
change every few years, however. In the
online world, it wasn’t long ago when
MySpace was the most significant so-
cial media platform in the world. now
online users have Facebook, Twitter,
LinkedIn, YouTube and Tumblr, among
many others. Some people already
feel that even Facebook has become
saturated and are now spending more
time on other platforms.
“Blogging can instantly catapult your
status to that of an expert in the minds of
your prospective clients, as it allows you to
show your expertise in a public forum.”
The people business
With social media, the goal for brokers
and originators shouldn’t be how many
followers they can get on Twitter or how
many fans they can collect on Facebook. Instead, the goal should be how
many people want to connect with them
in a meaningful way.
Whether they are first-time home-
buyers who are completely unfamiliar
with the market or clients that you have
If your clients and prospects find your
message valuable enough, they’ll listen
to you regardless of the medium you’re
using. Even more, if your message is
valuable, your clients will listen to it
across several different tools and plat-
forms. If you compose a compelling blog
entry, for instance, that piece of writing
may crop up on a social media website,
a bookmarking website or via an RSS
feed in clients’ Google Alerts account.
Top tools
Although it’s vital to realize the importance of your social media messages in
and of themselves, it’s still important to
choose your online tools wisely. After
all, at the end of the day, brokers and
originators are still active professionals who need to prospect, take loan
applications, follow up with clients and
remain mindful of the guidelines and
rates that change on a daily basis.
Considering that, here are the top
five social media tools that can help
you increase your production and exposure, sometimes dramatically:
1. Blogs: Marketing software company
HubSpot recently found that 57 percent of companies using blogs say
that their blogs directly acquire customers and leads. Blogging can instantly catapult your status to that
of an expert in the minds of your
prospective clients, as it allows you
to show your expertise in a public
forum. For many people, blogging
can be the most significant factor in
garnering new leads for their mortgage businesses.
2. Facebook: More or less a micro-
blogging site, Facebook is one of
the most populous and engaging
platforms. Facebook allows you to
therefore, for anyone working in the
mortgage industry to join the network
and take advantage of its increasingly
significant marketing potential.
Shashank Shekhar is an active originator
and CEO of Arcus Lending in San jose, Calif.
He is a published author of two business
books. Shekhar has been featured on
several national media sites and is a sought-after industry speaker. Via his consulting
business, he helps mortgage professionals and small-business owners grow their
businesses using online platforms. Reach
Shekhar at Shashank@ArcusLending.com or
visit his blog, LendingExpertBlog.com.
