Interview With Jeanine

We sat down with Geneva Financial Branch Manager Jeanine Robbins to discuss the importance of using social media to advertise your business, the challenges and rewards of producing content, and what you should know before starting on a platform.

Jeanine’s Path To Becoming A Social Media Guru:

Recognizing the potential of leveraging video content to establish a stronger online presence, Jeanine began making videos consistently in 2022. This has allowed her to personalize her brand as “The Loan Angel” and increase her business in the mortgage industry.

This has helped keep her motivated through the sometimes turbulent market. The sense of recognition and impact she sees from her videos drives her to produce more consistently and reach a larger audience. This audience primarily lies on Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook, and the plan is to begin making more content specifically for YouTube. As more videos are being shot, Jeanine has grown increasingly more comfortable in front of a camera.

However, this didn’t happen overnight. Initially, Jeanine faced challenges filming and spoke of the anxiety it brought her, joking that the best way to relax before a shoot was a strong drink. She became more comfortable as she filmed her “American Dream” series, and worked more with her film crew, and established a rapport with them. 

As for many creators, it takes time to feel comfortable filming, but Jeanine began to feel at ease as she developed her content creation process.

This process starts with watching market trends, recent events, and common inquiries from her followers, helping her conceptualize her videos. From there she scripts the video, meticulously outlining the introduction, questions, talking points, and conclusion, often collaborating with a team member to optimize the script. 

However, Jeanine advises to not stick to the script and stresses the importance of authenticity. Being genuine and showing your personality is a great way to establish a brand identity and create a loyal audience. Jeanine keeps this authenticity by not focusing too much on the statistics, rather she often views the quality as the grounds for a successful video.

Creating A Brand

As mentioned, Jeanine emphasizes authenticity and connecting with the audience to establish a better brand identity. Jeanine often films about lifestyle aspects in her videos, showcasing restaurants and tourist spots in her hometown of Scottsdale, Arizona, many of these places Jeanine goes to herself. This personalization creates a sense of identity and forms a connection with the audience, seeing Jeanine as more than someone on their screen, but as a person. 

She also uses popular features such as “stitching” on TikTok Tok where she answers a commenter's questions directly in a video. Exploring new features and using popular ones is also great for getting a boost from the algorithm, allowing Jeanine to gain more views that way. On top of her interactions with followers, Jeanine has established her brand in a more traditional sense. By utilizing the same fonts, colors, and logos, she established a consistent presence and made her style recognizable like many other businesses do.

What Challenges Has Jeanine Faced?

As is the case for many content creators, balancing the time to create content and continue to work her full-time job can be challenging. Jeanine says that it is important to focus on self-care to avoid burnout and a loss of motivation. To help make time for this, Jeanine sets specific times when she knows she won’t be as busy during the week. Oftentimes, creating multiple videos at once to avoid filming in back-to-back weeks. Detailed coordination with her social media team is essential to maintain productivity and maintain the expectations her audience has set for her.

Financial difficulties and changing companies made it harder to stay motivated. As the days dragged on, Jeanine stated that she often did not have the motivation to film but pushed through. Her former company was not as supportive of her filming efforts and was resistant to utilizing social media as a marketing tool. This persisted until she returned to her home in Geneva Financial. Jeanine says that Geneva played a pivotal role in her content gaining more of a following and was supportive of her content creation efforts. 

Tips For A Loan Officer

Since starting her social media channels and producing video content, Jeanine has observed a significant uptick in business. Her videos resonate with an audience, increasing engagement and inquiries from realtors and potential clients.

Jeanine says that you don’t need high-quality equipment to do so either, a setup with your phone's camera and adequate lighting is all you need. Once you begin to film more and become more comfortable, then you can worry about investing in better equipment. It is important to understand that this will gradually progress and you likely won’t see success overnight. 

While initially relying on a teleprompter for her videos, Jeanine suggests not sticking to the script. This can come across as unnatural and awkward. Over time, you will become more comfortable with the equipment through trial and error.

As a loan officer, Jeanine focuses mostly on educating her audience with her videos. With younger generations coming to the age of homebuying, there is a new wave of potential clients who need to be informed about the industry. A good call to action to create Fear of Missing Out (FOMO) can convince viewers to strike on a home loan sooner rather than later. 

While she aims to educate the younger, Gen Z audience, her primary audience and clientele is in the 30-50 year old range. This includes a lot of first-time homebuyers, reasoning that education is essential for this group, driving much of her content strategy. 

Jeanine believes that loan officers should prioritize social media and the increasing digital landscape. Speak from their experience in the industry, leverage social media to stay competitive, and connect with potential clients directly. She also suggests keeping a keen eye on specific products and educating yourself on their benefits will show you to a targeted audience. Focus on first-time homebuyers, educate them on the industry, and teach them about the homebuying process as a whole.

Plans For The Future

Going forward, Jeanine plans on producing more content for YouTube. This includes longer-form videos and turning her videos into YouTube Shorts, one of the platform's newer features. Jeanine has the intention of incorporating more live content into the mix as it offers her a way to interact with her audience immediately and more directly. 

Jeanine plans to start new marketing campaigns including additional shows that aim toward a wider audience and to solidify her brand’s position in the market.

Check out Jeanine’s videos yourself by following her Instagram @theloanangel!