Doug Wilber of Denim Social: 3 Social Media Trends for Mortgage Marketers to Watch in 2023
Doug Wilber is CEO of Denim Social, St. Louis, a social media management software provider for financial institutions. Since joining the Saas provider in 2018, Wilber has led the company’s rapid growth, including securing two rounds of venture funding, forming meaningful industry partnerships, guiding three strategic acquisitions and overseeing significant increases in both revenue and staff. A financial services veteran, Wilber mentors numerous early-stage fintech companies in St Louis.
As mortgage marketers eagerly look to put ‘22 in the rearview mirror, now’s the time to start plotting a competitive social media strategy for ‘23. So, if you’re wondering, “what’s next?”, you’re not alone.
At Denim Social, we see a few key trends that every mortgage marketer should begin preparing for next year.
Growth of Short-Form Video Content
This should come as no surprise to marketers-in-the-know, but TikTok is going wild. The addictive short-form video network is dominant and every social media network is trying to catch-up. From Instagram Reels to YouTube, all networks are prioritizing algorithm-driven, short-form video.
The TikTok-ification of social media is important for a few reasons. First, it’s evolving what content consumers find interesting. This doesn’t necessarily mean your team needs to learn the latest dance craze, but you should be thinking about how you can both educate and entertain with your content. Even financial content should be “edutainment” in today’s social media environment.
Growth in short-form video is both changing what consumers watch and how they watch it. Even on other more traditional social media networks, attention spans are getting shorter. For example, short-form videos were just 21% of YouTube views in Q2 2021, but jumped to a whopping 57% of views in Q2 2022. Social media users are favoring videos in the 30 second to 1-minute range. Shorter attention spans mean that all mortgage marketers need to think about how they can make their content tighter and more snackable.
Rise of the Influencer
Whether lenders like it or not, people are getting homebuying and other financial advice on social media. And it’s a trend that’s unlikely to change – Generation Z are almost five times more likely to get financial advice from social media platforms than people aged 41 or over.
In today’s social media landscape, influencers with no credibility are racking up likes and views sharing personal finance advice. Experts in mortgage have an opportunity to live up to their institutions’ missions by sharing well-informed knowledge on social media. Lenders need to bring their experts into the conversation.
A social selling program can transform qualified experts into micro influencers within their local communities. Social selling leverages networks to build personal relationships, showcase thought leadership, engage with prospects, interact with existing customers, and ultimately build trust and rapport that will lead to sales.
By empowering officers to share on social media mortgage lenders can increase financial literacy and improve the lives of customers and prospects alike with insights from qualified professionals.
Social Media as Search Engine
Social media has long been viewed as an excellent brand-building tool, but today, mortgage marketers need to consider the value of loan officer social profiles for search discoverability. Increasingly audiences – especially younger ones – are using social media as a search engine. Recent Google research shows that nearly 40% of Gen Z prefers using TikTok and Instagram for search over Google.
While this may be driven by younger users for now, it portends a major shift in online behavior. It means that mortgage marketers must continually build on their social strategies so that their loan officers can be discoverable and relevant in the future.
Social networks continue to show algorithmic preference for individuals vs. brands. This means lenders must begin adopting social selling strategies that put their loan officers front and center on social media. If you’re testing a strategy now, great, but make plans to continue expanding in the future. More of your people on social media will make your brand more discoverable.
Whether these trends have you feeling excited or overwhelmed, there are tools that can help your team seamlessly and compliantly manage social selling. Ready to read more about what’s next in social media? Check out the full report – Social Media Trend Report: A Marketer’s Guide to Social Selling in the Coming Year.
