In a recent post, I talked about the importance of a strong online presence, especially when it comes to working with millennials. Regardless of your target client base, an online presence is a valuable tool that all loan officers should harness. If you want to expand your reach and generate more business, investing in your online presence is a must. So, what are some specific things loan officers can do to ensure their online presence is working for them? Let’s take a look:

Define Your Brand

Your brand is the foundation of your online presence. It’s what will help your audience make the connection between the different representations of you online – associating your Facebook business page with your website, for example. It’s also what will capture the most important messages you want your audience to receive. You want to have a recognizable brand with a clear message to lead the way in growing your online presence.

Commit to Consistency

Your online presence is active. It’s not something you can build and forget about. Having a website and accounts on a few social-media platforms is great, but if visitors arrive and it looks like nothing has happened there in months, these things aren’t providing any real value. Maybe you consider including time to work on your online presence in your calendar, or perhaps you develop a content schedule for when you share new content with your audience. The key is putting in regular effort so that it’s clear there’s a real person behind the pages.

Show Who You Are

Your online presence is a chance to be personable. Rather than shiny in-print marketing materials, your online presence is constantly in motion, evolving. It’s the perfect place to let your personality come through. Clients want a loan officer who understands them, someone they can connect with. While still maintaining your professionalism, you can let your audience in a bit more on who you are as a person – whether that’s as simple as using a slightly more casual tone in your writing or perhaps including a picture of you and your family somewhere on your page. It’s up to you how you let your personality come through.

Participate

As much as your online presence is about sharing content with your audience, it’s also about engaging with other people. Liking, commenting on, and sharing others’ posts, for example, are great ways to engage. Asking questions on your own page and taking the time to reply to any responses is also important. If you want your online presence to grow, you have to actively participate and show up on the platforms you’re using.

How do you work on growing your online presence? Which strategies have you found most beneficial? Have any not worked well for you? I’d love to hear your thoughts!