The other day I was with my good friend Donald Graves who works as a Reverse Mortgage Consultant.  Our conversation turned to social media and Don mentioned that he doesn’t see the benefit in a social media platform like Twitter for himself.  He’s busy and he just doesn’t get what benefit social media could add to reverse mortgage marketing.

That got me to thinking about which social media platforms are the best for reverse mortgage marketing – here’s what I uncovered.  Don…this one for you dawg!

The following findings were from HubSpots 2012 research into the stat of inbound marketing.

Inbound marketing out performs outbound marketing

First inbound marketing (SEO, blogs, social media) as compared to outbound marketing (trade shows, network groups, shaking hands and kissing babies) was found to be more effective both from a cost, lead quality, and closing ration stand points.  But as suggested by the experts from Local Brand Advisor, it turns out that the best inbound marketing platform depends on your business type, B2B or B2C.  Generally speaking  best for B2B LinkedIn, best for B2C Facebook.

Best social media platform depends on industry

Diving deeper into the data results show that effectiveness of blogs, Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin varies by industry.

Best platforms for Don and others marketing reverse mortgages

For banking, insurance, and financial services the research shows Linkedin and Twitter are the best platforms for building a tribe (the people who will give you permission to inform them).  But why? It’s not likely that there are very many 72 year olds on Linkedin or Twitter – but their children, grand children, accountants, attorneys, financial planners, and a host of other people who can send you leads are.

Remember what your potential clients are shopping for

For the most part your potential clients and those who can refer them are not shopping for a reverse mortgage (although they may think they are).  What they are really in the market for is a company and RMC they can trust – and you and I both know that’s not something easy to come by.  So what you need to sell is trust.

My advice

1. Get and stay ahead of the competition by starting a blog and makeing it your primary inbound marketing platform (because research shows a direct correlation between the number of blog post and customer conversions)
   1. A blog is your digital media property.  If Twitter or Linkedin go belly up you’ve still got your Internet property to continue to lead your tribe.
   2. This will give you a platform to build your tribe
   3. Don’t be pushy – social media puts control in the hands of the consumer – they can turn you off just as easy as they can turn you on – and they will
2. Use Linkedin and Twitter to support your blogging efforts

A few closing thoughts

1. You likely won’t get leads or conversions overnight
2. Don’t do it to make sales – do it because you like it – that’s the only way you’ll stick with it – and the only way your tribe will follow you
3. Why listen to me anyway – because I’ve closed more than 100 reverse mortgage loans using inbound marketing strategies

Something to make you go – hmm!

1. The technical information on reverse mortgages can be found on 7,820,000 different websites (the actual number of search results Google generated today for the term ‘reverse mortgage’)
2. Find a way to give your Tribe something they can’t get anywhere else – a Purple Cow