Coaching Calls- May 12 and May 19

http://www.box.net/shared/static/r7u059hivd.wmv May 12th Part one on Personality Profiling May 19th Part 2 on Personality Profiling




http://www.box.net/shared/static/mkklyyc4an.wmv

5 Tips on Building Brand Loyalty Through Twitter

Kevin Gibbons | May 3, 2011


A social platform like Twitter isn't a sales driver; it's a far subtler marketing tool.

The public doesn't like to be harangued with sales messages when they're socializing. They don't want it in the pub and they don't want it online.

But Twitter still has an immense value, even if it's hard to measure. It's superb for building brand loyalty, as long as you approach it in the right spirit.

Last year, a U.S. study by Chadwick Martin Bailey and iModerate found that 79 percent of consumers who follow a brand on Twitter are more likely to recommend that brand compared to before they followed them.

It's hard to put a price on that kind of word-of-mouth publicity and shows the value of having a popular Twitter identity.

So, here are my five top tips for building brand loyalty through Twitter.

Tweet Something Worthwhile

This is a basic tip, but it's sadly often overlooked. What will your corporate Twitter account actually say and will it be anything that people want to read?

You'll never follow a brand that relentlessly churns out marketing messages, even if you like the actual product or service. Who would?

Some brands also retweet every favorable mention of themselves, which is fine in small doses but gets a bit tiring if they are constantly bringing these tweets to your attention (price comparison websites are particularly bad for this).

Every message you post should provide some value for the reader, unless it is such good publicity that you simply have to share it.

On the occasions that you do use Twitter simply to blow your own trumpet, make sure it's for something impressive -- think major donations to good causes or winning industry awards.

Anything less and you just look a bit desperate and a bit corporate, which won't result in brand loyalty.

Valuable tweets might include links to interesting, relevant articles and blog posts; research and statistics you've uncovered; expert commentary on industry events; discounts; offers of freebies; and relevant news.

What's most important: The two most important words here are value and relevance. Deliver both and your Twitter feed will be a success.

To read the rest of the story click here.

I Don't Have Time for That Social Media Stuff!

By Karen Deis
Origination News

The biggest compliant when is ask if a loan originator is doing anything with social media is—“Yeah, I know I need to do it—but can’t seem to find the time!”

What if I could show you the way to not only create and add content to four social media channels and it will only take you 60 to 90 minutes per week to do so? (Check out the Social Media Retreat for Women Loan Originators, May 12 and 13 in Chicago at http://www.mortgagegirlfriendsmastermind.com/.)

In my humble opinion, your target audience should not be consumers, friends and family. Your target audience should be real estate agents and builders.

The top four social media sites (to connect with Realtors and builders) are Active Rain, Facebook Fan Page, Twitter and your personal blog.

Out of the four, Active Rain is the mother lode (of all the social media sites) to not only make connections with loan real estate agents, it’s a way to generate leads. You can also get Google Juice (be on the first page on Google in just one day), and best of all, you can teach your real estate agents how to use it advertise their listings and their expertise.

You only have to spend 30 minutes per week to post twice a week on the site. (www.LoanOfficerTraining.com has a 90-minute DVD with Ruth Vogt on how to use Active Rain to increase your business.)

Coming in second place would be your Facebook Fan page. You are limited in the “word count” when you create a post. I suggest that you spend 30 minutes a week, write five Facebook posts at one time, and post your first one at 10 am on Monday; 2 pm on Tuesday; noon on Wednesday; 4 pm on Thursday; and 8 am on Friday. By writing all at the same time, your content will be consistent from day to day and it will take you only a few seconds to cut and paste what you have pre-written.

Third place would be Twitter. Again, you are limited to 140 characters (including spaces); but you can use the content you have already written for your Facebook posts, re-write it and tweet one per day. This should take you about 15 minutes to condense your content from your Facebook posts. The best part, there are services, such as Hoot Suite that will automatically post your tweets on the day and time you set up at the beginning of each week.

Then comes your personal blog. This is the site where you tell your stories. Stories of how you’ve helped someone get a loan, a lesson that you learned and/or a synopsis of a book that you read that might help others. I suggest that you write about 250 words and post it at the same time and on the same day every week. This should take you about 30 minutes.

You might be saying to yourself, "but where do I find content?" That’s the easy part—if you know where to look. Repost what others have said. Update your agents on the current mortgage rules that affect them. Post links to USA Today articles, CNN news stories or local industry updates and make a personal comment why the real estate agent should read it.

Out of the four mentioned above, the top two to initially concentrate on would be Active Rain and Facebook. Then add Twitter within 30 days. Then create your blog. When you sit down once a week to create content, you’ll be able to see the big picture (how you can tie your content together) and spend a minimal amount of time doing so.