Most brokers don’t want to spend half of their day on social media, and that was the reason behind my column on the top five tips to get started quickly on Twitter.
But it’s just as important to many intermediaries to know that social media actually works before you put any time into it. So this time I want to share some of the tangible results I have had, to prove that Twitter can have a positive impact on your business.
Mortgage tweet meet
Twitter really took off in the mortgage sector in 2011, when a smallish group of brokers and other people in the sector, started to follow each other and share information. One evening a few of us were tweeting each other and the idea of a get together was raised.
Brokers Andrew Montlake and Lea Karasavvas took the lead and we held the first ‘Mortgage Tweet Meet’ in London in June 2011. So what exactly is it?
The Mortgage Tweet Meet is a get together of like-minded industry people who actively use Twitter. It’s very informal, great fun and most of the people who attend have found it a brilliant way to make new contacts and find new business opportunities – I know I have.
We’ll be announcing the date of the next event in the coming weeks. Get involved, come along, or maybe start a Tweet Meet in your town or city.
Spot opportunities
I follow people on Twitter for lots of reasons, including so I know what they are up to. If a broker tweets about a new business win, I’ll sometimes send a light-hearted reminder that Blacks Connect is on hand to help with the conveyancing.
This happened a while ago with a contact who tweeted on a Friday afternoon that he had a million pounds’ worth of mortgage business to place in the next few days. I tweeted to remind him of our service, we spoke on Monday and on Tuesday I had a new case. If I hadn’t sent the tweet he probably wouldn’t have remembered to use us, as he wasn’t a regular client.
Keep an eye out for similar opportunities. If someone tweets about getting their mortgage application rejected, for example, get in touch and offer to help them.
Another top tip that has worked for me is tweeting about where I am travelling to in the country for meetings. This often results in other brokers in that area getting in touch to arrange a meeting on the same day, as they know I am in their neck of the woods.
Try to solve problems
Sometimes brokers can be known to complain on Twitter about issues that are holding up their cases or making their life difficult. If I see someone complaining about having problems with their chosen conveyancer I’ll take the opportunity to tell them about the benefits of our service.
After all, if I was at a work event or business meeting with someone and they told me they had a conveyancing problem I wouldn’t fail to suggest they come to Blacks Connect, so why not follow up the potential lead on Twitter too. It has directly led to new business on more than one occasion.
Use it as an ice breaker
The great thing about Twitter is that you can develop a relationship with your contacts, as most people tweet about personal as well as professional stuff. So you get to know their favourite football team, or where they went on their holidays. You can garner this information just by following someone but if you also interact – suggesting a restaurant if you’ve been to the same resort, for example – you build a connection.
This gives you a head start when you meet your Twitter contacts in real life. At the Mortgage Expo a broker came over, who recognised me from my Twitter picture, and immediately asked me about my dog. We’d never met but there was no awkwardness because we already knew a lot about each other. It smoothed the path and we ended up doing business together.
