Are Tiktok Ads The Next Big Thing In Mortgage Marketing As A Loan Officer? 

TikTok is the biggest trend in Social Media right now. They quietly rolled out their ad platform in Jan 2019 and made a massive splash in the digital advertising space.

I'm not a TikTok expert, though I would consider myself to be a mortgage lead gen expert! I have personally managed millions of dollars in ad spend in the digital ads space, most of it on Google PPC. 

Is Tiktok Of Any Value For Loan Officers? 

To understand that, let's take a look at this graph that represents the engagement with different social media platforms over time, from 2018 to 2021. 

As you can see, as of 2021, TikTok has surpassed other social media platforms, and not by a little bit when it comes to their average time on the platform, but actually by a large margin. 

On average, almost 26 hours are spent on TikTok every month by their users. This is more than any other social media platform that's ever been out there, ever.

TikTok right now is going through a similar evolution to what Facebook went through when it launched its ad platform. Now, I'm pointing to this because this is the same point in development that TikTok is at right now as an advertising platform.

In this phase, TikTok is making it super easy and simple to run ads on their platform. It's easy to get your ads approved, and with the huge audience they have, it's easy to get in front of anyone on TikTok.

Anyone. 

The idea of getting eyes on your offer easy, fast, and cheaply is drawing the attention of many loan officers. 

If you look a little bit deeper and consider the one quality that separates a good lead from a poor lead, you may want to rethink using this platform.

Intent, Intent, Intent

You've heard that in real estate, the three most important things about buying a house are "location, location, location."

When it comes to buying mortgage leads, I can tell you without a doubt that the most important qualities of a lead are "Intent, intent, intent."

That's where platforms like Facebook and TikTok fall short. These ads are so cheap to run because they use interruption-based marketing, not search-based marketing, like Google.

So you reach a ton of unqualified people on social media, people that are there looking at dancing teenagers and funny cats, sure you may find someone who’s coincidentally looking to buy a house, but it’s a long shot and that’s why ads are so cheap. You have to filter through a bunch of crap leads to find one golden nugget, and by the time you’ve found it, you’ve already spent more time and resources than that ONE lead is worth. 

Compare That To Google PPC Ads

When someone Googles "Best mortgage rates in Orange County", they are looking for info on where to get the best mortgage rates in Orange County, not the latest TikTok dance. The people searching for mortgage-related answers are MUCH more likely to be looking exactly for what you’re selling. 

You see the difference in "Intent"? 

One audience has it, the other one doesn't.

If you want to get in front of unqualified, low-quality prospects then try social media. TikTok, Facebook, etc. same idea, interruption marketing. If you want to waste a bunch of time on unqualified, low-quality prospects, social media mortgage marketing is the way to go. 

To see a tangible ROI, then your best bet for mortgage lead generation is to go where the traffic is- Google.

If you want results in your mortgage lead gen efforts though, then go where the quality prospects are, the ones with the intention of getting a loan: Google Ads.

Google Ads is a science without a doubt. Running effective, high-converting PPC ads takes lots of skill and practice, and we have mastered it here at Empower LO so you don’t have to worry about it.

If you want to make the whole business of quality lead acquisition simpler and more profitable, then I would suggest you check out Empower LO and how we can make Google Ads work for you.

We can tailor a campaign to put you in the driver's seat in 2023!