Dan Smokosa on why every mortgage pro needs a personal brand

HousingWire

Digital presence of industry professionals has never mattered more. In this Ten Minute Talk featuring Dan Smokoska, a leading voice in social selling and CEO of WinSocial sits down with Content Studio Managing Editor Allison LaForgia to explain how LinkedIn can drive revenue and not just impressions.  In this conversation, Smokoska dispels a big mouth in the industry: that content creation is the barrier to entry. Instead, Dan highlights engagement as the gateway to building relationships, trust and a network of business contacts.  Whether youre an originator, executive, real estate professional, or technology vender, Smokoska’s message is clear: people want to work with people – not companies. If you’re not investing in your personal brand, you’re leaving business on the table.

Transcript

00:00The opportunity to be able to get in front of the right people at the right time, it's

00:04absolutely something that is going to be completely transformative for your business.

00:12I'm Alison LaForgia, the Managing Editor of HousingWire's Content Studio, and I am talking

00:18to Dan Smakaska.

00:20And he is the LinkedIn guru himself, and we're going to talk to him a little bit today about

00:26the importance of social media.

00:27So Dan, I have seen this conversation had many times.

00:33So I want to start with something that I feel is very important.

00:37Why should people get started today with their social presence?

00:41Well, I mean, so it's always, it's always like what I tell people is, do you want to have

00:49a business that makes money and drives revenue?

00:53Do you want to be known and trusted at scale?

00:56And if you do want those things, then that's why you should get started with social.

00:59So it's not, we think of social media as like this, we just scroll and click and consume.

01:05And I think for a lot of people, especially people who are in either the sales side of

01:11things or the brand building side of things, it's like, this gives you the opportunity that

01:15really nothing else gives you.

01:17And that's like the ability to scale trust and to scale relationships.

01:21And so it's just, it's the most valuable thing that you could do for you and for your business.

01:25So you mentioned brand.

01:27Let's dig in a little bit more there.

01:29What is the importance of having a personal brand outside of what you do at your company?

01:34People want to work with people.

01:37They don't want to work with companies.

01:38And so if you think about the personal side of things, you think about like what your relationship

01:44is with a company versus a person, you find a person you like, you want to do business

01:49with them because there's a connection there in some way.

01:52Right.

01:53And so the, the opportunity is to be able to put yourself out there in a way that resonates

02:00with people.

02:01The cool thing is that a lot of people don't understand is that a lot of executives I say

02:05don't understand is that like when you elevate the brand of the person, the reality is that

02:11the, the brand itself elevates.

02:13Okay.

02:15So let's talk about a misconception.

02:17What is the biggest misconception that you think people have about getting started building

02:21their personal brand and their social media?

02:24I love it.

02:25The biggest misconception is that you think that you have to do content.

02:29Okay.

02:31Most people think you have to create content in order to like be successful on social media.

02:36And to be clear, like I'm a social selling guy, uh, social media, as far as like a,

02:41uh, uh, consuming content.

02:44That's not what we're talking about.

02:45We're talking about how like you can build a, uh, social media like presence that generates

02:49revenue.

02:50And so as far as that goes, like the opportunity to be able to get in front of the right people

02:55at the right time, it's, it's, it's absolutely something that is going to be completely like

03:00transformative for your business.

03:02So, um, I just, I just think that there's a lot of, of misunderstanding of how, um, how it

03:10really truly works.

03:12And the way that it works is that you understand that there's an audience who needs something

03:17and you are there to be able to like fulfill that gap and fulfill that pain point.

03:22And so it's, the opportunity is just endless.

03:26So it seems like there's a really big opportunity and it seems like there's a lot of importance

03:30in building up that personal brand, not just for yourself, but also for the consumer and

03:35gaining some of that trust there.

03:36So what would you say to someone who's hesitant to get started?

03:40They're usually hesitant to get started because of the content piece.

03:43Like we just talked about the engagement side of thing is like the opportunity to just be

03:48yourself and to like connect with somebody, um, on a like one-to-one level.

03:53Right.

03:54So like we're talking about, you create content.

03:58That's really scary to do to put yourself out there.

04:01What's not really scary to do is to go and like somebody's post, to go in and comment on

04:06somebody's post.

04:07It could be as simple as like great posts, right?

04:11Like appreciate what you're doing for the industry.

04:13Appreciate what you're doing for our community, whatever it is.

04:16Um, that piece is so much more powerful than the content.

04:20I tell people all the time, it's like, do you, if you, if you had to like, tell me create

04:26content or engage, like, and when I say engage, I mean like network and be a, like, be a human

04:32to another human and like build that relationship every single time I'm going to tell you to

04:37go out and engage and network.

04:39And so take the pressure off yourself.

04:41You don't have to create like the best content in the world.

04:44You just have to get out there and meet people and build relationships, be authentic, be

04:49yourself, jump in the DMs, don't sell them, don't sell them.

04:55And, uh, and just, just be yourself.

04:56And it absolutely doing that by itself will, will take you from not being known on social

05:04media to being loved and appreciated and respected.

05:09All right, Dan, thank you so much for letting me pick your brain tonight.

05:12Where can our audience go if they're interested in learning more information about getting started

05:17or developing their presence?

05:18So, so what I would say is like, find me on LinkedIn, say, Hey, I saw you on the housing

05:24wire end.

05:26Why don't you come just DM me and just say, I want to learn more about LinkedIn.

05:32And then I'll give you a bunch of resources, a bunch of like insights on how to utilize this

05:37product, um, this platform.

05:38And, uh, and, uh, and literally with nothing, no strings attached, um, give you your resources

05:45to be able to do it.

05:46So what I've learned is that people don't know where to start.

05:51So if they have somebody that can help them, like just give them insights and answer questions,

05:55that is a huge deal.

05:57And so just DM me on LinkedIn, find me on LinkedIn.

06:00And then I'll help you get started.

06:02Dan, thank you so much for joining me today.

06:04Have a great rest of your night.

06:05Absolutely.

06:05Appreciate it.

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