Facebook marketing is far from dead for loan officers, but the landscape has shifted. Facebook boasts over 3 billion monthly active users and remains a popular social media platform for many Americans.

Despite its popularity, organic reach on the social platform has significantly decreased, making it harder for business posts to gain traction without paid promotion. This decline means loan officers must adapt their strategies and use paid ads and boosting posts to ensure that the right people see their content.

Here are some key points loan officers should consider when leveraging the Facebook platform to market and grow their business.

Facebook Ads Remain Powerful

Facebook arguably has one of the best-paid advertising platforms of all the social media networks. Although Facebook’s advanced audience targeting capabilities are limited for the mortgage industry due to the housing category, they still allow loan officers to create and market to broader and custom audiences.

That means you can still run Facebook ads to your followers, custom lists, and broader targeting options within the areas you serve, including some mortgage-specific keywords. Facebook advertising allows you to add custom calls to action to your ads that can link to your website, landing page, or other conversion sources.

This capability can help loan officers connect and engage with potential homebuyers, real estate agents, and referral partners.

Retargeting opportunities

Facebook’s retargeting capabilities allow loan officers to reengage with users who have previously interacted with their ads or website, keeping their services top of mind during the homebuying process. Retargeting is a great way to nurture a real mortgage lead because they’ve already engaged with your content on or off the Facebook platform.

From a lead generation perspective, a warmer lead is more likely to convert than a cold lead who knows nothing about your business.

Compliance and ad restrictions

Facebook’s advertising policies have tightened, particularly regarding housing and credit. Loan officers must ensure compliance with these rules, focusing on educational content and relationship-building to avoid restrictions.

Content Marketing Strategy Adjustments

With the decline in organic reach on the Facebook platform, mortgage and real estate professionals should be integrating new and innovative content strategies to help increase visibility and maintain brand awareness. Below are some trending content ideas:

Polls and surveys

• Purpose: Encourage audience participation and gather insights on what they’re interested in.
• Examples: “What’s the biggest challenge you face in buying a home?” or “Would you like to see more content on refinancing tips?”
• Why it works: Polls are quick, interactive, and often prioritized in users’ feeds because of their engagement factor.

Infographics and quick tips

• Purpose: Share visually appealing, digestible information that educates and entertains.
• Examples: “5 Tips for First-Time Homebuyers” or “Steps to Improve Your Credit Score.”
• Why it works: Infographics are easy to share and provide immediate value without requiring viewers to watch long videos.

Personal stories and milestones

• Purpose: Share personal anecdotes or celebrate professional milestones to build a more personal brand.
• Examples: “Celebrating 10 Years in the Business!” or “The Most Memorable Loan I’ve Ever Closed.”
• Why it works: Personal stories can make you more relatable and make followers feel more connected to you.

Interactive content

• Purpose: Use content that encourages interaction, like contests, challenges, or feedback requests.
• Examples: “Comment your homebuying questions below!” or “Share your biggest mortgage misconception.”
• Why it works: Interactive content drives engagement, signaling to Facebook’s algorithm that your content is valuable.

Weekly or monthly series

• Purpose: Create consistency and encourage followers to return for recurring content.
• Examples: “Mortgage Monday Tips,” “Financial Friday Insights,” or “Weekly Rate Recap.”
• Why it works: A recurring series builds expectations and habit, increasing engagement.

Additionally, it’s important to continue promoting your personal brand. This gives your current and potential customers better insight into the person behind the company.

If you love your dog, share some pictures. If you’re an avid runner, talk about your goals and victories. Or if you love to cook, share your favorite recipes. These things make you appear more human and likable.

Even if someone helps you with your marketing efforts, step in with your own content now and then.

Prioritize Video

As on many other social networking sites, Facebook users love video. Facebook video content, especially livestreaming, stories, and Reels, continues to perform well on the platform. Loan officers can use video to host live Q&A sessions, provide market updates, or explain complex mortgage topics in an engaging way that fosters real-time interaction.

Here are some key types of videos for loan officers.

Educational videos

• Purpose: Establish expertise and build trust by educating viewers on mortgage-related topics.
• Examples: “Understanding Mortgage Rates,” “First-Time Homebuyer Tips,” or “What Is Mortgage Pre-Approval?”
• Why it works: These videos answer common questions, providing value and positioning the loan officer as a knowledgeable resource.

Market updates and trends

• Purpose: Keep your audience informed about current market conditions and trends.
• Examples: “Monthly Market Recap,” “Is Now a Good Time to Buy?” or “Interest Rate Predictions for Q4.”
• Why it works: Timely information positions loan officers as the go-to source for up-to-date market insights.

Live Q&A sessions

• Purpose: Engage directly with your audience, answer questions in real time, and build a sense of community.
• Examples: Host a “Live Mortgage Q&A,” “Ask a Loan Officer Anything,” or sessions focused on specific topics like “Understanding Closing Costs.”
• Why it works: Live videos foster direct interaction, which can increase engagement rates and make the content more discoverable.

Engage with People in a Real Way

Marketing your business on any social network is about more than just your business’s social media presence—it’s about engaging and building authentic connections with people.

If you handed everyone you saw a flyer on mortgage interest rates, you would probably turn off many people. It’s the same way with Facebook—you want to keep the conversations friendly and engaging without being “salesy.” 

Start by using your personal or business profile to engage with other people’s content. From liking and commenting on a post about a past client’s vacation with their family to providing recommendations for service providers when someone asks, engaging consistently and authentically is one of the ways to make people remember your name. 

When people engage with your business content, make sure to comment back and thank them for their feedback. To generate the most engagement on your content, keep the conversation going as long as possible. 

Use Your Personal and Business Pages in Tandem

It’s against Facebook’s rules to use your personal page for selling, but you can use it to share information via posts related to your professional life. If you want to increase exposure on a post, you may consider sharing it from your business page to your personal profile to engage a separate audience. Don’t be afraid to add more personal commentary on the post than you did on the business page.

Posting natively to your personal page will indeed give you an even wider reach than sharing a post from your business page—but then you don’t get the link back to your business page. So it’s smart to do a mixture of both types of posting to boost your social media marketing.

Leveraging Facebook Groups

Private and public Facebook groups are an underrated tool for loan officers to establish authority. By joining local community groups or creating their own, loan officers can give valuable insights, answer questions, and build relationships without the direct competition seen in paid ads.

Focus on Community Engagement

Building a local presence through Facebook is still relevant. Loan officers can highlight community events, share local market news, and showcase testimonials or success stories, reinforcing their role as trusted advisers in the community.

Use a Content Planner and Scheduler

Social media schedulers like Sprout Social, Buffer, Hootsuite, and Social Report can be a lifesaver during a loan officer’s busy workdays. It can be challenging to remember to post regularly, and using a scheduler ensures that you’re posting content on an ongoing basis.

As a bonus, most schedulers tell you when the best times are to post to your target audience, so that’s a feature you’ll want to take advantage of. Optimizing posting times helps to ensure that the ideal customer sees your posts. 

Schedulers can also help you organize your content and reuse content later (say six months from now) so you’re not duplicating your efforts. 

For more information on social media marketing for loan officers, click here to download American Pacific Mortgage’s Ultimate Guide to Social Media Marketing.