In today's digital age, building a strong online presence is key for any business, and social media marketing has become an essential tool.
For mortgage and commercial brokers, it can be the difference between getting lost in a saturated market and reaching a wide audience of potential clients.
For commercial broker Peter Nikolaou (pictured above left), he learned this lesson the hard way when opened his brokerage Peak Capital five years ago.
“I had zero clients and zero leads,” Nikolaou said. “I knew that phone calls and face to face meetings were important, but this a one-to-one strategy. I had less than 500 connections on LinkedIn, which were primarily the people I had worked with in the 17 prior years within banking and finance.”
He quickly realised that he had to get himself and his new brand out there on LinkedIn.
Before too long, Nikolaou was reaching a mass audience and posting educational and valuable content to his growing potential client base.
“Once I grew my connections and following, my communication was one-to-many and I was able to demonstrate to my followers, my offering, my personality, and my skillset,” Nikolaou said. “By creating videos, I was able to convey my message and value proposition through this medium.”
Fast forward to today, Nikolaou has more than 27,000 LinkedIn connections and Peak Capital gets about 50% of its new leads through LinkedIn alone.
The lesson learned? Nikolaou said “in the good old days, they used to say, it’s not what you know, it’s who you know’’. In today’s world, I believe that the saying should be, ‘it’s not who you know, but who knows you’.”
The Australian mortgage broking landscape is incredibly competitive, with more than 19,000 brokers vying for clients.
Traditionally, reaching potential customers required significant effort and individual outreach but the rise of social media and digital marketing platforms has changed the game.
These tools allow brokers to connect with their target audiences on a massive scale, efficiently and cost effectively, opening exciting new possibilities for lead generation and business growth.
When mortgage broker Niti Bhargava (pictured above right) started her brokerage two months before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, she realised she had little choice but to shift her networking onto a new medium.
However, Bhargava knew it was about building connections and providing real value rather than just chasing leads.
"I leverage social media to become a financial literacy advocate, not just a mortgage broker,” said Bhargava, who runs her Resolve Finance brokerage in Melbourne.
“Sharing educational content and engaging with my audience allows me to empower them with knowledge and build a genuine community around my values. This fosters trust and loyalty, which ultimately translates to a thriving business.”
While both Nikolaou and Bhargava have had success on LinkedIn, they also strengthen their online presence across multiple platforms to attract different audiences.
Nikolaou said brokers needed to choose the best platform for where their future clients would be.
“For example, first home buyers (TikTok), tradies (Instagram), professional investors (Facebook), and professionals (LinkedIn),” Nikolaou said.
Bhargava also uses the above social media platforms with the addition of Threads.
“It is just so important to understand the demographics and interests of your target market,” Bhargava said. “Remember, knowing your audience helps you tailor our content to their preference.”
“If I’m uploading something on Insta for example, I will do quick reels with a mix of fun and educational content.”
Nikolaou agreed.
“By creating and sharing valuable content, engaging with followers, and participating in relevant conversations, brokers can enhance brand visibility and trust and speak directly to their future clients.”
While engaging in social media may seem like a no-brainer to some, some brokers may still harbor misconceptions about its capabilities and demands.
Nikolaou said one common mistake was thinking that social media marketing would solve all your sales and lead generation problems.
“The day you make a connection or post online is not the day your prospect is needing finance, and they wouldn’t come to you as they don’t know you yet and you haven’t built up any trust or rapport,” he said.
“It might be three to 24 months away before they reach out or need finance. You need to be providing them value and when they are ready, they will approach you first instead of anyone else.”
Another misconception is the need for a large budget; as social media success often hinges on targeted content creation and engagement, according to Nikolaou.
Nikolaou said he used specialist social media marketing company Peak Profile, which he also co-founded, to handle his social media.
“If you are a broker and you have a lot of clients that are tradies, you need to be connecting with more tradies and sharing your success stories within this niche,” he said. “This targeting could also be lawyers, doctors, teachers or whoever you want as your future clients.”
“Your message is specific to your target audience and the cut-through will be much better than generic posts. If you don’t have one to two hours per day to do it yourself, you need to invest in social media as it is not a cost to your business, but an investment.”
While distinguishing yourself amid a crowded market is likely going to be difficult, both Bhargava and Nikolaou offered some final wisdom.
“Be creative, be unique, be bold,” urged Bhargava. “People connect with people, not products.”
“Instead of endlessly copying and pasting, infuse your content with your own personality and perspective. Share your story, your insights, your quirks—what makes you, you. Your audience will be drawn to your genuine spark.”
Nikolaou said to remember that every person in your online network was a potential client, or someone who knew a potential client.
“The more people that know you, the more opportunities you will generate,” said Nikolaou.
When Peak Capital’s network needs business and commercial finance, Nikolaou wants them to think of Peak Capital first and the video they watched on the type of finance they are interested in.
“They reach out to me well versed and now Peak Capital needs to execute on their service offering. Throughout this journey, I've learned the importance of consistency and authenticity,” he said.
“But remember, it takes six to 12 months of consistency before you see a steady flow of enquiries come through these channels.”
