Brokers and lenders operate in a competitive environment in which a well-executed media strategy can make all the difference.
One speaker quipped that he would put his 13-year-old daughter in charge of his company’s social media – and there were nods all around the room as an entire generation of mortgage professionals agreed that their children are far better equipped for the new world than we are.
As a communications consultant, I hear a similar line all too often. While this particular speaker was clearly joking, many company bosses do indeed put junior staff – interns or graduates – in charge of social media. I understand exactly why they do this, but I would strongly advise them not to.
The millennial generation are “digital natives”: they have grown up connected, and know nothing different. Of course they therefore have an instinctive, intuitive grasp of the social media through which they live their everyday lives.
Brands and companies needing to participate in social media should remember, however, that behind the new (and perhaps unfamiliar) technology is a very simple but very important concept: social media are simply any media where people interact and share.
Don’t be fooled by the self-proclaimed gurus that have sprung up to over-complicate things and sell you shortcuts or software “solutions”. By all means we can learn a lot from our kids about how to use the new platforms and apps that keep appearing, but at the root of it all the core objective is to get people engaged with people.
Influence them to interact, to communicate positively with you and about you, to act as advocates for your brand.
The skills required to do this (and the risks of doing it poorly) belong at the senior level. They should already be very familiar to any expert marketing or PR person, and shouldn’t be left to the inexperienced.
Oliver Chesher is managing director of Galibier
