How Should Mortgage Brands Activate With Their Loan Officers Online?

Purpose of This Research

Explore the strategies employed by mortgage companies to support their Lending Officers (LOs) through the following avenues:

• ‍Highlight the utilization of display ads by brands to promote specific LOs effectively. 
• Spotlight their support for LOs on social media, enhancing their presence and reach. 
• Showcase how brands drive traffic and generate leads through paid search campaigns. 
• Showcase successful LOs who are excelling on social media and explore they types of content they are sharing.

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Our preliminary research included analyzing the top Mortgage Lenders from the Scotsman Guide (1) to find brands promoting their LOs through digital marketing. 

Our findings identified the following three notable campaigns: 

*Rank based on the Scotsman Guide’s 2022 Top Lenders.

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Two key insights from our research concluded: 

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Key Takeaways

Brands that adopt digital advertising for their LOs are witnessing positive outcomes, yet few competitors have adopted this strategy. Brands are targeting only lenders, missing the chance to engage with realtors.

• Recommendations
  Capitalize on this untapped potential by:
  (i) Allocating funds to boost specific LOs via social, digital, and paid search channels.
  (ii) Running campaigns targeting realtors to leverage key partnerships.

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Between June 2020 and July 2023, Fairway dedicated 58% of its digital advertising budget, amounting to $351K, to promote individual LOs.

• Recommendations
  Allocate a portion of digital ad spend toward supporting your top LOs.
  (i) Utilize display ads to highlight specific LOs and drive traffic to their websites.
  (ii) Target those actively searching for real estate by running ads on real estate websites such as Zillow.

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Fairway rolled out ads that prominently feature two specific LOs, emphasizing their roles as 'Local' and 'Real Life' advisors.

• Recommendations
  Run geo-targeted ads for your loan officers to scale this strategy. Highlight your brand's people-focus to differentiate from online lenders. Use ad creative featuring LOs' names and photos, presenting them as accessible, local mortgage advisors.

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loanDepot spent $243K, or 2% of their digital ad budget, on boosting LO influencer, Minh Nguyen's (@whatsamortgage), Instagram posts.

• Recommendations
  Allocate a portion of digital ad spend toward supporting your top loan officers.
  (i) Use LOs’ top-performing Instagram videos as ads to raise awareness. 
  (ii) Use posts with varying objectives to engage new viewers, mainly through valuable, informative content.
  (iii) Leverage low-production video content that appears native to the platform.

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CrossCountry has boosted its spend on paid search ads, reaching a total of $661K. Among these ads, LO-specific ads accounted for 67% of the total impressions.

• Recommendations
  Use paid search ads with geo-filters for general mortgage queries to direct traffic to local LO pages.
  (i) Use general long-tail keywords, such as "mortgage payment calculator".
  (ii) Add a personal touch to the ad copy.

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People are interacting with Loan Officers like Minh Nguyen, Kyle Seagraves, and Matthew Garland on social media. Together, they have over 1M followers and 31M video views as of July 2023.

• Recommendations
  Run a pilot program with your top LOs to support them like brand ambassadors. A modest investment in content, social media support, and ads can boost niche influence, yielding strong ROI for your brand.

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Leading LOs are regularly sharing content on their Instagram and TikTok profiles. On average, Minh shares 25 videos a month on TikTok, while Matthew posts 63 times a month on Instagram.

• Recommendations
  Support & encourage LOs to maintain a consistent posting cadence on social. Many brands support their ambassadors with a content pool they can quickly leverage by reposting (sometimes with personal edits) on their own accounts.
  Utilize the content insights from this research to inform your LO content.
  (i) Post short videos often on TikTok and Instagram, discussing mortgage news, home buying tips, and advice. 
  (ii) Use key snippets from YouTube interviews to make Instagram reels. 
  (iii) Work together with other creators to share interview content.

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Between June 2020 and July 2023, Fairway dedicated 58% of its advertising budget ($351K) to promote individual LOs.

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Fairway had a surge in LO-specific ad spending from Sep. to Nov. 2020, accounting for 36% of their total ad spend*.

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Fairway allocated 78% of its LO-specific ad budget to Display, with 13% going to OTT and 9% to Twitter.

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Fish where the fish are — target those actively searching for real estate.

Fairway published display ads on the following top websites:

*Ad spend in USD from June 2020 to July 2023.

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Use display advertising to reach a broad audience.

Drive clicks by running campaign ads on diverse websites, including electronic ecomm, news sites, and department stores.

*Ad spend in USD from June 2020 to July 2023.

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Focus on humanizing LOs.

Fairway rolled out ads that prominently feature two specific LOs, emphasizing their roles as 'Local' and 'Real Life' advisors.

• ‍Personal Touch
  Fairway emphasizes its people-focused approach, setting itself apart from online mortgage providers. It achieves this by displaying the first names and pictures of LOs, highlighting them as ‘local’ and ‘real life’ mortgage advisors.
• ‍Action Amplified
  The ad's CTAs mimic Instagram's story CTA button, capitalizing on users' familiarity with the platform. This enhances the ad's ability to grab their attention and drive clicks.

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Drive traffic directly to LOs’ individual websites. 

The ads lead visitors to the loan officer's dedicated website instead of Fairway's site. 

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Use display ads to highlight specific LOs to drive more visitors to their websites.

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loanDepot spent $243K, or 2% of their digital ad budget*, on boosting Minh Nguyen's (@whatsamortgage) Instagram posts.

*Ad spend in USD from May 2020 - July 2023.

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Leverage LO’s Instagram video content as awareness ads.

loanDepot primarily promoted @whatsamortgage's posts on Instagram, particularly through a story post.

*loanDepot’s @whatsamortgage ad spend in USD from May 2020 - July 2023.

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@whatsamortgage’s boosted posts were mainly active from May 2020 to November 2022, accounting for 99% of the total spend.   

During this time period, loanDepot allocated an average of $8K per month to promoting @whatsamortgage posts.

*loanDepot’s @whatsamortgage ad spend in USD from May 2020 - July 2023.

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The ads resulted in a +721% rise in Instagram followers.

From May 2020 to November 2022, @whatsamortgage accrued +93K Instagram followers.

*loanDepot’s @whatsamortgage ad spend in USD from May 2020 - July 2023.

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Utilize a variety of post types with diverse goals…

*Instagram story ad creative currently unavailable. loanDepot’s @whatsamortgage ad spend in USD from May 2020 - July 2023. 

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..while predominantly focusing on engaging top-of-the-funnel viewers by delivering valuable and informative content.

*Instagram story ad creative currently unavailable. loanDepot’s @whatsamortgage ad spend in USD from May 2020 - July 2023. 

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Craft ads that mimic organic content, making them feel less promotional and more personable.

• Use a clickbait tactic, like the "Biggest Mistakes", to capture the viewer's' attention
  

Views: 1M | Spend: $1K |Impressions: 143K | CPM: $7.7

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• Speak directly to your audience. Use retargeting ads to reach engaged viewers.

Views: 385K | Spend: $10K |Impressions: 1M | CPM: $7.7

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• Leverage low-production video content that appears native to the platform.

Views: 182K | Spend: $5.7K |Impressions: 774K | CPM: $7.4

* loanDepot’s @whatsamortgage ad spend in USD from May 2020 - July 2023.

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Support LOs through boosting top-performing video content.

*Ad spend in USD from May 2020 - July 2023.

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CrossCountry Mortgage has substantially raised its investment in paid search ads over the last year, reaching a total of $661K.

*Ad spend from June 2022 to July 2023.

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Focus on mobile for paid search.

CrossCountry has prioritized mobile search ads, allocating 96% of their total ad search spend to mobile.

*Ad spend from June 2022 to July 2023.

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During this time, they have experienced a rise in paid search traffic, with an average CPM of $24.09.

From June 2022 to July 2023, CrossCountry drove a total of 29K paid search visits.

*Mobile & desktop traffic

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While the majority of their paid search ads were general awareness ads…

*Based on ad creatives from June 2022 to July 2023.

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…LO-specific ads generated the greatest amount of search volume, accounting for 67% of the impressions.

*Based on ad creatives from June 2022 to July 2023.

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Top Performing LO-Specific Examples

These paid ads direct users to loan officer landing pages tailored to their specific geographic location.

*Based on ad creatives from June 2022 to July 2023.

Paid Search Ad Tactics

Ad #1 targets local niches (e.g., doctor & investor loans), while Ad #2 promotes a mortgage calculator with up-to-date rates, emphasizing the personalized mortgage process, directing users to a specific LO's landing page.

• ‍Localization
  ‍The ads seem to be tailored based on the searcher's geographical location or zip code. By incorporating local keywords in the ad headline, like "NY Mortgage Lender" or "Co-op apartments in NYC and suburbs," they increase the ad's relevance to the individual searching.
• ‍Keywords
  In CrossCountry's ads tailored for LOs, they target long-tail, general keywords that aren't directly associated with a specific LO, like "mortgage payment calculator".
• ‍Personalized
  ‍The ad's "let me help" phrasing adds a personal touch, making users feel the service is designed for them.

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Implement geo-targeted ads to attract local visitors to nearby LOs.

These ads direct visitors to a personalized landing page on CrossCountry's website, specifically designed for the respective LO.

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Support LOs through geo-targeted paid search ads.

*Ad spend from June 2022 to July 2023.

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People are interested and engaging with LOs on social media.  

The following LOs have a combined audience of over 1M, and have generated 31M video views in 2023 to date.

*As of July 2023. Followers are the combined total of followers and subscribers on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Twitter & TikTok. 

Total video views are a sum of the creators viewership on include TikTik, YouTube, Facebook and Twitter. Instagram views currently unavailable.

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Minh Nguyen

Utilize short form videos to discuss news related to mortgages, and offer home buying tips and advice. 

• ‍Keep Audience Up-To-Date & Informed
  ‍Minh talks about new US housing market updates like changes in the LLPA pricing and the Blackstone real estate fund and explains their effects homeowners.
• ‍Interview-Style
  ‍In 7 of Minh’s top 10 TikTok videos, he engages in an interview-style discourse, presenting his content as if he were responding to a podcast host or interviewer. Rather than making direct eye contact with the camera, he positions himself to the right and maintains focus in that direction. See examples here & here.
• ‍Informative Text Overlay
  ‍Another popular tactic Minh uses is putting text on simple videos to share mortgage tips with numbers. See examples here & here.

Channel Breakdown

Top TikTok Videos

Views 5.5M | Engagements 563K

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Views 2.0M | Engagements 97K

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Views 1.1M| Engagements 149K

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Kyle Seagraves

Create long-form video content that provides comprehensive information about mortgages, covering fundamental knowledge as well as updates on specific loans. 

• ‍Breakdown Content
  ‍Kyle structures his video content into chapters, allowing viewers to easily navigate to a specific part of the video. 
• ‍Offer Comprehensive Tutorials
  ‍In 3 of Kyle's top 4 videos, he offers a "gameplan," "complete guide," or a "step-by-step" tutorial. Deliver content that serves as a thorough, step-by-step guide, helping viewers understand and secure various loans.
• ‍Visual Guidance
  ‍Kyle's videos have him talking on one side with a slide on the other. He uses a digital pen to highlight key points on the slide, making it easier for viewers to follow what he's saying.

Channel Breakdown

Top YouTube Videos

Views 132K | Engagements 4.3K

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Views 85K | Engagements 3K

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Views 31K | Engagements 1K

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Matthew Garland

Use selected clips featuring key insights from YouTube interviews to create Instagram reels.

• ‍Collaborate
  ‍Two of Matthew's most-watched Instagram videos featured collaborations with other creators, where he discussed business credit tips with them. See here & here.
• ‍Business Content
  ‍Although Matthew mainly focuses on real estate financing, two of his top-performing videos catered to business owners by providing educational content. This strategy enables him to broaden his audience and share insights with new viewers.
• ‍Encourage Engagement 
  ‍Matthew boosts his Instagram engagement by urging viewers to comment "YouTube", then DMs them his YouTube link, effectively driving Instagram followers to his YouTube channel to subscribe. See here.

Channel Breakdown

Top Instagram Videos

Views 2.6M | Engagements 108K

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Views 1.1M | Engagements 45K

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Views 502K | Engagements 21K

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*Digital Advertising Data Source Caveat

*Total ad spend includes Display, Facebook, Instagram, OTT & YouTube.

*Ad spend in USD.

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References:

1. 2022 Top Overall Lenders

2. Mortgage Tips for 2023: How to Get the Best Mortgage Rate