Lenders must devote time to social media to get it right

This comes after IRESS reported that just 52% of lenders were currently either active on or considering using Twitter, compared with 90% in 2014.

Henry Woodcook, principal mortgage consultant at IRESS, was surprised by these figures, especially at a time when social media usage was booming.

“While we do not envisage customers applying for mortgages via social media in the near future, tools such as Twitter and Facebook can provide useful additional channels for customer service and information pre- and post-completion, particularly in reaching the under-45 age group.

“With several digital lenders set to launch in the coming months, we believe lenders across the market will need to better understand social media and develop plans on how to use it effectively.”

Heddi Cundle, who works in public relations at Mint Bridging, offered a reason why some lenders may not be jumping on the social media bandwagon.

“In the B2C arena, social media is incredibly important for reinforcement, new product announcements and spouting victories over competitors.

“The bridging industry is a different breed as our bread and butter is quite old-school B2B, using one-on-one communication as a more effective tool.

“So having a social presence is secondary to lenders as their core business streams are offline.”

This view was shared by Sam Howard, COO of Regentsmead, who added: “Elements of the lending industry might be quite traditional in their outlook to digital marketing and social media given that it is seen as a face-to-face relationship business.”

Sam went on to say that at Regentsmead it had a strong social media presence that helped it engage with brokers and introducers.

Scott Marshall, director of Roma Finance, said it had seen some good positive feedback from its social media presence and said it would continue to be an integral part of its communication strategy.

“We've built a growing and engaged online community and have made new business relationships through social media channels.

“In a fast-moving market such as bridging, getting out key messages to our contacts as fast as possible is imperative.”

Carmen Murray, VP of PR and communications at LendInvest, felt that communication was crucial for lenders whether it was social media or face-to-face conversations.

“But you do have to devote time and energy to getting it right.

“We use social media to keep our brokers, borrowers and investors up to date, not only on what we are doing, but also our views on industry events and emerging technology.

“It's a useful tool to spark conversations and discussions."

Heddi concluded by saying that it was crucial that if lenders do create a social media account, then they would have to maintain it.

“Every company needs social presence, that’s a given, but by not maintaining their social accounts, [it] does reflect the company’s lack of interest in using (mostly free) online resources that are available to them.

“Having an account, but not using it, can [make it] appear the business is not proactive and doesn’t care to communicate online.

“Seeing a lender with an account that’s not been updated for weeks or months absolutely reflects on whether a client will use them, as it gives the impression that if the lender doesn’t maintain their social presence, what else are they also behind on?”