Facebook Leads: 3 Steps for Mortgage Brokers to Attract and Convert

Facebook leads, when you’re starting a mortgage brokerage, are the holy grail – the elusive “if-only-I-had-them-everything-would-fall-into-place” goal. In reality, lead generation is only the first step of a complete social media marketing plan. The follow-through is what fills your mortgage pipeline now and for years to come.

Here are three steps for attracting and converting Facebook leads. But be advised – it’s what comes next that creates a successful lending firm.

Step 1: To create Facebook leads, build your presence on Facebook.

Have you ever heard someone say they wished they could win the lottery then admit they would have to play it first?

If you’re like 71% of the U.S. population, you’re already active on Facebook. But to start taking advantage of the platform for social media marketing and lead generation for your mortgage business, you’ll want to make sure you have an active business account.

When you create your business page, be sure to add a Call to Action button below the bottom right corner of the cover photo (the billboard type image at the top of your page), encouraging your visitors to call, view your website, or complete a contact form. You should change the cover photo and the call to action at least quarterly to keep it fresh. This can be an ongoing, permanent source of Facebook leads.

After your page and your CTA are set, your next social media marketing and lead generation strategy should be to make regular posts that are engaging and shareable. If you include a link to an interactive game or a calculator, be sure that to place a form on the linked page so visitors can easily get back in touch and you can add them to your sales pipeline.

You can schedule these types of posts ahead when you use a strong mortgage CRM. Plus, when a prospect completes a form, the CRM will notify you, load the prospect’s information, and initiate an automated marketing campaign (more on that in Steps 2 and 3).

This particular social media marketing strategy is strong, but it has at least three limitations: you need lots of people to see the posts so you can reach the few who are in the process of financing a home; prospects get frustrated when they must leave Facebook to reach your landing page; and you may lose prospects when they have to complete the form.

Facebook Lead Ads to the rescue!

Before you think these roadblocks will derail your social media marketing strategy, consider supplementing with Facebook Lead Ads. When a Facebook user clicks on a Lead Ad, they will see a quick pop-up explanation of the ad’s promotion, whether it’s a new homebuyer webinar, a credit builder e-book or a new loan program.

When they click on your CTA, they’ll see a form pre-filled with information Facebook already has about them – such as name and email address. After they acknowledge privacy terms and submit, you will have yourself a new Facebook lead!

If you integrate your CRM directly or through a service like Zapier, your CRM can notify you and start a marketing campaign just as it did with the form on your landing page.

You can see how Facebook Lead Ads overcome two objections mentioned earlier – clicking away from the site and onto your landing page and completing a form from scratch. The whole process is easy, especially for mobile users, who make up more than 90% of Facebook’s traffic.

And with Facebook’s targeted audience building capabilities, you’ll overcome the third objection as well by expanding your reach to people who are most likely to be interested in your services.

Step 2: Optimize your lead generation and conversion efforts by integrating Facebook with a mortgage CRM.

When you’re collecting Facebook leads – or any leads – to grow your mortgage pipeline, a mortgage CRM will save you time, increasing both your effectiveness and your efficiency. When you integrate that CRM with Facebook, the whole lead-to-prospect-to-client lifecycle can be automated.

Some general CRM programs integrate directly with Facebook. A more specialized mortgage CRM like Surefire will more likely integrate through a third party, such as Zapier. While direct integration may seem more appealing, a third-party integration is just as easy to set up and works just as well. And when you use a strong mortgage CRM like Surefire, you’re more likely to have access to mortgage-specific marketing and compliance tools you would lose if you went with a generic CRM platform.

Please note: The third-party integration shouldn’t be required to post from your CRM to Facebook, only to receive information back from Facebook Lead Ads.

Step 3: Respond to New Facebook Leads Quickly with Relevant Marketing

Once your social media marketing efforts bring Facebook leads into your CRM, you can begin the process of moving them from your sales pipeline into your mortgage pipeline.

With the right CRM, this may be the easiest part! When the Facebook lead comes in, your CRM notifies you and sends the lead a text message immediately.

The text message content and the next actions will depend on the post or the Facebook Lead Ad that brought in the lead. If you’re advertising a homebuyer seminar, perhaps the text will thank them for their interest and promise a follow up email with more specific information. That email will, of course, be automated as well.

If it’s someone expressing interest in financing, the text message may thank them and promise a call within a certain amount of time, while an appropriate prospect workflow is also triggered.

There’s more to a sustainable mortgage business than lead generation.

Lead generation is a great way to build a mortgage business initially, but as you provide optimal service, your mortgage pipeline will stay full without a constant struggle for new leads. Instead, your business will grow organically through repeat business and referrals.

Surefire CRM can help you through the full cycle of your business – from those times lead generation is your focus to the seasons when your mortgage pipeline is overflowing and your biggest concern is managing your process efficiently. We can help you get from here to there with omnichannel marketing, single property sites, client for life workflows, closing gifts, and more. Schedule a demo today so we can tell you all about it.