Why More Industries Need Social Marketing with CEO, David Black

CEO of SocialMadeSimple, David Black, sits down with Ryan Chiasson, Business Development Manager & host of the SMS Show, to talk about industries that don’t typically use social media marketing, like real estate or mortgage loan officers, and why they need to build a social presence now more than ever!

David: From a corporate perspective, for loan officers or realtors, I think for them, the challenge is the exact reason why we started SMS in the first place. That it was hard to get control of the brand when you’ve got one hundred loan officers doing their own thing on social networks. How do you have any control? How do you know if it’s okay or if it’s going to get you sued? It’s too much of a challenge. That was the idea behind putting together a platform so that somebody could get a grip and do it for these people. We have a platform where we could get a grip of thousands of loan officers or agents and make sure that the message is proper – any place of the country, any place in the world.

Transition: Why More Industries Need More Social Marketing with David Black 

Ryan: How would you describe the importance of social media marketing for some of these – what I would call – a non-traditional sector when thinking about who uses social marketing. What’s the importance there for these types of industries, like maybe finance, mortgage, or insurance? 

David: I would say I think when those industries talk about it at a corporate level, they are unsure of what they are allowed to do; especially in finance but also in mortgage. When you advertise in a certain way, it triggers a whole bunch of other things that can get in your way, so the regulatory aspect of it is always a challenge. And mortgage – which I can speak to all day and every day – they are very much looking for “How can I get any business? What is this going to do for me?”. 

Leads are a huge part of the mortgage world and leads, as everyone knows, suck. How do you overcome that? I think people, even before we started this business, started using social networks to put themselves in front of the world and did an awesome job. I think they can still do that. No one needs a mortgage loan officer every day and the same with a realtor, but people need to know who you are when the time comes. I think you could get away with an organic approach, with a little budget behind it, so people in your town and your markets know who you are. So I would call it more of a branding play than someone who is going to reach out and say, “Hey, I’m interested in that house but I can’t do anything right now, I’m not looking for a new home”. 

So I think it’s more of a branding thing, more than anything else.