Ep #20: Katie Lance: Get Smart with Social Media

Katie Lance breaks down a practical social media system for mortgage professionals: where to focus, how to create and curate content efficiently, and how to use Facebook to build real referral relationships with agents. Best for LOs who know they should be on social media but have no clear plan or are wasting time being everywhere at once.

Takeaways you can run this week

• Audit your social profiles today: check that your email, phone, and website link are visible and working on every platform you're on — these are the most common 'low-hanging fruit' errors Katie finds.
• Create a Facebook list of 10-20 agents you want as referral partners (go to facebook.com/bookmarks/lists), then spend 5-10 minutes 3x per week liking and commenting on their personal posts — after a few weeks, the warm outreach to coffee becomes natural instead of cold.
• Launch a weekly or bi-weekly Facebook Live 'show' for agents: pick a recurring day and time (e.g., 'Tip Tuesday at 10am'), email your agent database the morning before with the link, go live for 10-15 minutes answering common buyer questions or sharing market updates, then send the recording link the next day to anyone who missed it.
• On a contact's birthday, skip the wall post and send a 60-second voice message via Facebook Messenger instead: open Messenger, compose a new message, tap the microphone icon, hit record, speak, release — every LO who does this reports the recipient calls it unexpected and memorable.
• Build a 30-60 day editorial calendar in one 10-minute brainstorm session: write down 20-30 questions clients and agents ask you all the time, assign one per week to a format (Facebook Live, blog post, or short graphic), and block recurring calendar time to batch-create content — Katie's academy members spend 5-8 hours per week total.
• Repurpose every piece of pillar content into 6-10 smaller assets: one Facebook Live becomes quote graphics (use Canva or the Word Swag iPhone app), clips for Instagram, and email snippets — batch all derivative assets in the same sitting to save time.

The playbook

1. 1. Pick 1-2 platforms where you actually enjoy spending time AND where your target clients/agents are (Facebook is the baseline for mortgage; add LinkedIn at minimum for searchability).
2. 2. Do a social media audit: check every profile for working links, current headshots, accurate contact info, and consistent branding.
3. 3. Create a Facebook personal profile list of target agents; spend 5-10 minutes daily engaging with only that list — not your full noisy newsfeed.
4. 4. Build a 30-day content calendar: brainstorm FAQs, map one topic per week, assign a format (live video, blog, graphic).
5. 5. Batch-create content: shoot 4 videos in one sitting, design 6 graphics at once, schedule the week's posts every Friday using Buffer or Hootsuite.
6. 6. Curate 50% of your content using BuzzSumo.com (paid) or Facebook Interest Lists (free) to find local and industry-relevant articles — always add your own one-sentence take before sharing.
7. 7. Bridge online to offline: use Facebook Messenger voice messages for birthdays, send a handwritten card when you see a life event posted, follow up a Facebook Live with a personal email to agents who watched.

Worth quoting

“You can't outsource your relationships. Nobody can build those but you.”

“Social media makes the face-to-face so much better — you've already built that relationship.”

Best for

LOs who are on social media inconsistently or have handed it off to an automation company and are getting zero real engagement or referrals from it.