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SA/NT Finance Broker of the Year, Monica Wandel of SA Finance Hub, explains why she outsources her social media strategy.
Speaking to The Adviser’s Elite Broker, Ms Wandel said she has created a presence across various social media platforms, including her own website, Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn.
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While she recruited someone to assist her with building her website, Ms Wandel was managing activity on social media on her own until recently.
However, in the last six to 12 months, she decided to outsource these tasks to an external expert and had the platforms integrated to her website, thereby “having everything talking to each other”.
“The catalyst [for outsourcing] is you just get to a point where you’ve got to focus on your core business and you’ve got to bring in those specialists to focus on what they do so well so that you can focus on what you do well,” she told The Adviser.
Ms Wandel said she had been formulating her social media strategy for a while, but she focused on building a foundation before reaching the stage where she could outsource these tasks.
She joined various groups when she entered the broking industry, including a national female entrepreneur group. Around two and a half years ago, she began having conversations with her network about how she would like to structure her social media strategy and automate it.
“We talked about how the ideal thing would be to meet with the social media person on a monthly basis and you do your scheduling for the month and write all these posts and do all these fabulous things,” she said.
“In reality, I think everybody talks about getting your business to a six-figure business and when you can do things. But you do have to do those hard yards yourself to be able to get there.”
Ms Wandel focused on laying a strong foundation, including building a website that would be ready for integrations and social media plug-ins as and when they arose.
“You [generally] can’t just outsource overnight,” she advised.
“Crawl before you run.”
Tips for SME finance brokers
As someone who offers services across both the residential and commercial spaces, Ms Wandel suggested that brokers who wanted to provide SME finance services must learn to read financials.
However, it is also important for brokers to visit the workplaces of their SME customers, with Ms Wandel stressing that this is the optimal way for a broker to understand the customer and their small business.
“Most small businesses are really proud of their business and learn so much by going on to their turf and asking them questions about their business,” she said.
Asking the difficult questions and empathising with the SME clients could put brokers in a better position to service their clients, she added.
Furthermore, visiting the workplace of the client could also provide brokers with a perspective that may not be evident when just glancing at the business’ financials.
“When you see something on the financials and you ask them what this is for, why have they got it done this way, and if they explain it to you after you’ve been there, it’s going to make so much more sense than just reading something from a financial,” Ms Wandel said.
To hear the full interview with Monica Wandel, listen to the Elite Broker podcast and keep an eye out for the July edition of The Adviser magazine to find out more about social media marketing and tips and tricks for amplifying your brand.
[Related: How this award-winning broker is helping SMEs when they need it most]
