Welcome back to Lending Leadership: The Creative Brief—your go-to podcast for current conversations shaping modern mortgage and lending leadership.

This week, we're thrilled to bring you a particularly timely episode: we reframe social media from a content dump into an opportunity for authentic relationship building. Posting is no longer about volume—it’s about connection. If you’ve ever felt exhausted or burned out by the constant push to “post more,” this conversation is for you.

We’re joined by our very own social media director, Summer Boyd, who brings her expertise to help us decode what actually works on social today. Social platforms are evolving rapidly, and, as we enter the world of 2026 and beyond, trust, presence, and authenticity are more essential than ever.

We discuss the impact of AI, the importance of engaging instead of broadcasting, why quality beats quantity on business pages, and actionable strategies for social listening, building trust, and growing your digital presence—without losing your mind.

What we covered in this episode:

Together with Summer Boyd, we explore:

1. Why social media should be seen as a tool for building relationships, not just for broadcasting content
2. The massive shift toward authenticity and “showing up human” in the age of AI and filters
3. How engagement—not posting frequency—now drives the algorithms and boosts visibility for business pages
4. The practical value of social listening, content responsiveness, and supporting your community online
5. The true meaning of social proof in the digital age, and how trust is built over time (not in a single post)

Summer shares expert and easy-to-implement tips for those overwhelmed by social media, emphasizing the power of small, consistent habits that can grow your network and authority without requiring you to be everywhere, all the time.

Key takeaways:

1. Social media is relationship-first, not content-first.
2. Treat social platforms as networking events—don’t post and ghost. Engagement (commenting, responding, supporting others) is the new differentiator.
3. Authenticity wins over perfection.
4. In an increasingly AI-saturated world, being real, imperfect, and “human” is more valuable than ever. Audiences want to connect with real people, not brands hiding behind polished graphics and scheduled posts.
5. Quality engagement outperforms quantity of posts.
6. Algorithms now favor interaction and community building, not static business posts. Prioritize responding, sharing, and showing up for others—especially on your business page.
7. Social listening provides endless content inspiration.
8. Pay attention to what your partners, clients, and competitors are discussing online. Use their challenges and questions as starting points for your own content—don’t overthink it!
9. Trust (social proof) is built in small moments over time.
10. Consistent engagement, celebrating client victories, and supporting your local community online matter far more than a sporadic review or testimonial. People trust those who show up and interact, not just those who talk about their successes.

Whether you’re new to the social media game or a seasoned poster who’s lost motivation, this episode will help you reset your focus, start small, and show up more intentionally.

As always, if you have questions or want to share your own tips, engage with us online—we’re here to listen and grow with you. Don’t forget to like and subscribe!

Thanks for tuning in to Lending Leadership: The Creative Brief. See you next time!

Rach & Rinn

Right that second. Not every post is. Some things are more, you know, right in the moment. But, you know, just pay attention to all those things. And then that can help inform things and take a lot of that guesswork out of the, out of the creativity.

From engagement and social listening to modern social proof, this conversation reframes social media as relationship building. Ding, ding, ding. Not content production. So if posting feels exhausting or ineffective, this episode explains why and what to do instead. So posting more used to feel like that was the thing we were supposed to do, but enter the scene 2026 and everything has changed. And of course everything's going to continue to change with technology. But today we're talking about what actually builds trust on social media and in real life. But I'm very excited to have our social media director Summer Boyd with me today.

Hi, Summer. How you doing?

Hey, Rach, doing good. How are you?

Good. I'm really excited to dive into this overall theme today about why showing up better means more than showing up louder. Let's jump in.

Sounds great.

All right, so, um, social media is, is no longer just the content platform, and maybe it never was, but maybe we kind of forgot that it's social. Social media, it has to be about relationship and connecting. Um, And you had this great analogy that you shared with me the other day, and I was like, yeah, that's exactly what social media is all about. Can we talk about that a little bit?

Yeah. Posting without engaging is like going to a network event and then just standing in the corner on your phone. And I mean, we've got to admit it, we probably have all done that at some point, you know, when you're just not in the mood. But, you know, that defeats the purpose if you're there to network and gain business and you're not interacting with those potential clients and realtor partners. Then, um, what's the point of being there? And that's the same thing, same thing for social media. It is about being social. You want to engage with that audience, not just put something out there and then no comments, no responding, no liking other people's posts.

I, I think that is such a great analogy. And when you said that, I had never really thought about it in that context. But yeah, you would never do that. I mean, sure, we kind of get stuck sometimes and we, you know, don't want to interact, but but you wouldn't put yourself out there. You wouldn't go that far and then just sit in the corner and talk to yourself. So I think having that analogy just in the back of people's minds, that's, that's really important. So, so let's talk about, you know, how do we do that? Because we can all get in our own way and we get busy and there's a lot of different factors that, that go into why we're not doing the things we know we need to do. Um, So, so let's talk about, you know, the big picture.

What do you think has changed most about social media in the last year or two, or maybe even just this last year?

Yeah, so many things. But social media is fast, right? It's always changing. But I think one of the biggest shifts is with the rise of AI is is the focus on being authentic and real. Because AI has this capability and it's getting better and better at looking real, showing up more authentically and human is so important. And that's where engagement is a huge part of that. It's especially important for businesses and loan officers. Over 75% of people check a business's online presence. And it's not just about if they're posting, they're looking to see if you're interacting.

So if you're just like a blank page, you know, they're not going to be as impressed. And 90% of people will most— more likely buy from a person that they are— that they follow on social media too. So those are really, you know, impressive statistics. I started doing a little research before our meet on the latest, and I was like, wow, like, that's a big one. 90% of people are more likely to fall— to buy from someone that they follow. So that's another reason you want to engage and why engagement is such an important part of it.

Yeah, that is huge. I mean, we're making the effort to, to post and try to get people to subscribe or like what we're doing, but then, then that's a captive audience. We need to keep, keep up that engagement and keep that relationship going. I want to, I want to jump back to one thing that you said because it was just like a, a bell, a signal, a word that I've been hearing a lot lately about how showing up human is very important. When in history did we— would we ever think that that is an important thing to say? Show up human. But it's true. Like, it is very hard to tell what is real, what is not, what is AI, what is dubbed, what is, uh, what is a filter. So showing up human, like, can we dig into that a little bit more? Because I don't think we can drive that home enough for people.

Yeah, just, you know, there's a lot of talk lately about how we may be going more towards live content again because of the rise of AI. And until, you know, we're not there yet, but I think this intermediate period is just going to be more about being like really letting your hair down in your content, not being so perfect and polished. It's not about being polished, it's just about being authentic. Part of that authenticity is not just posting and ghosting, as I like to say, but actually interacting when someone responds to your post. Then beyond that, commenting and sharing other people's posts, because that also— lending is a relational thing. We want to translate that on your social media. You want to support your REALTOR® partners online, and a great way to do that is sharing their content. And commenting on it.

Yeah, that's a great idea. And, um, it's just wild to me that, yes, showing up your human authentic self, I guess that takes a lot of pressure off of people, you know, because how many times do we feel like, you know, even before this podcast we're getting on, we're like, okay, how's my hair? How's my makeup? How's my background? How's all the things? Which, yes, it's very important. And the episode, um, a few episodes ago, I was talking about how showing up online, meeting up with meeting somebody for the first time and doing a meeting online is very important. You're— that's kind of your digital handshake, how you show up that first time, that first impression is important. But social media is a little bit of a different story where it's like, just be yourself. And I think that takes a lot of pressure off of people. But let's continue down this rabbit trail a little bit. Why does posting consistently not work the way people expect anymore?

I think especially for businesses, you know, we're talking about businesses, not just your personal. So social media isn't a billboard anymore. That's a really great, great way to look at it. That is no longer a billboard. And that's the way a lot of people treat it. They treat it just like a billboard. They're going to post something and they're done. They think that's all they need to do.

The reason why it's not working anymore is the algorithm doesn't push out business content, and that's where that engagement comes in. It's turned into a conversation and a community. So you want to treat your social media business profiles, not just your personal ones, as a community and try and start working on building that community.

Well, and I guess that's where someone like you comes in, who, you know, this is, this is something that you focus on for, for a lot of our channels. And we were finding that it was really hard for just You know, if this isn't our main position, it was hard for us to focus on all of the HMA, Loma, our individual pages. So, you know, I'm always a big fan of if not you, then who? So having somebody that that's the job, that's— it's not just posting, isn't just the job, it's the interacting and the relational side of it. So to designate somebody to do that. How do you feel about that? Do you, do you think that it's— it has to be the loan officer or the realtor or the main person doing that, or is it just as long as it's somebody interacting?

Yeah, it could be, especially with business pages. It can definitely be somebody on your team. It doesn't have to be you, you know, working together, making sure you have a strategy, you know, and a voice and tone that you want to go about, you know, when responding, when commenting, when sharing. Yeah, if you have that capacity to hire someone on to focus on it, definitely, like, that's a big way to go. You know, you look at large corporations, they have whole social media teams. They have teams that are just on community. That's a job, you know, in social media is community. And so, so yeah, like, having someone to focus on that to take the load off would be great.

If not, there are things you can do if you're not able to. You can still engage without it taking away from your your, you know, business, your day-to-day. Just a small amount of time can make a huge difference.

I know that's something I think in a lot of different areas we're talking to our loan officers about, and really anyone in sales, the time blocking and just making sure it becomes part of your routine of what you do. Um, there really is power in that, and taking 5 or 10 minutes a day just to go through and, and not get stuck in the rabbit— going down the rabbit hole of looking at what everyone's doing, staying in your lane of, okay, here's our people, here, here's my top 10, 15, 20 people that I'm following and really want to engage with. I try to do that. It's hard though, but it's the consistency in making it an actual effort. So the, you know, moving on to our kind of our next topic here about just engagement. Engagement is the work, right? Engagement is the thing that drives the algorithms and drives everything. Talk to me about the algorithms because we say that word algorithm often. And sometimes people don't really understand what that is or how that works.

Yeah, so it's just when you hear that word, it's basically just all of the settings of the specific platform in the background that, you know, decide, you know, what content to push. Instagram, for instance, you know, the head of Instagram not too long ago put out— he puts out videos all the time talking about changes to their algorithm, changes to their settings, and he will let you know— if you follow his content, what the algorithm looks at. And one of the big things is average watch time and shares. You know, those are two of the big things. So that kind of information and paying attention to that can help. And shares is one of those engagement factors. You know, when someone shares your content, that particular stuff is talking about, you know, the more videos, video content. So that is important too.

But as far as engagement, the way it helps with, with, within the algorithm is it just lets the, the system know you're a human. You know, like we keep talking about being a human. Okay, you know, if your business pages don't get pushed out as much as they used to, they, they just don't. Like, the, the percentage I think is maybe like 1 or it's like 1%, you know, it's very small for Facebook. It's higher for other platforms, but it's really small. And the way to, you know, increase that is through engagement. The more active you are, the more your reach is going to be because it starts getting shown to other people. Then they're going to like that post that, you know, that you— or see that you commented on someone else's post from a business page.

They're going to see that, and then it's going to start serving your content to them again. Like, if that's how it works, it's all community like we talked about. It's interaction. And that's why engagement is such a big part of that.

Yeah, that, that makes a lot of sense, um, and makes sense why there is a blind spot sometimes with the business pages. Um, so it's not that they're going away. Some people think that they're completely going away, but, um, we just need to work a little bit harder, I guess, to, to increase the engagement on the business side. Do ads help if you do a business— if an ad for your business.

Page, does that help with Overall, it does. And that's why, you know, they're not sent out as much. It's been years ago, but they made a big switch on business pages where they don't get shared. The content doesn't, as far as the algorithm specifically, because they want businesses, you know, to buy ads. You know, it's money-making business. Meta is, and all of them are. So they of course want business pages to buy ads. But that doesn't mean you have to.

It can definitely help. But like I said, engagement is important. And that, like you said, blind spot, and that is a big one, especially for loan officers and people in the mortgage industry or anyone that has a business, you know, like more of an individual business page. A lot of people interact from their personal pages, you know, even in business, they'll have a business page thinking, well, I'll have it here that way if someone goes and interacts or, you know, looks me up online, which consumers and clients will, and realtor partners, they'll look you up online, they'll see that business page before they will your personal page, especially if your personal page is private. You know, so they're going to see that first. And if you're not interacting at all, if you're just posting, you know, very static graphics and not interacting on there, not doing any kind of video occasionally, or, and not responding to the comments, like if they see a post that has a comment that didn't get a response, that's going to make an impact on them. So that's why it's really important to take a few minutes when you're already on social media to switch into your business page and, you know, interact with your, with your realtor partners, your clients. Make sure you respond to the comments.

As you're saying this, I'm thinking to myself, when was the last time I logged into my business page that I need to respond to, um, to respond to people? You're right, because this actually happened to me the other day where I was looking something up. I was looking a dance studio up for my daughter and, um, I went to their page and it, there was something from 3 years ago and I was like, oh, that's okay. Are they still in business? And I think that's probably the question people get. If you're not keeping up with the posts on your business page, it's probably better to not have one at all rather than have something that has information from 2, 3 years ago. Because people will think you're just not in business.

Exactly. Yes. Yeah, that, that's a very good point. You do want to keep it active. That doesn't mean you have to be posting every day. You know, it's more quantity over quality. That's a big factor. You want to keep that in mind, but you do want to make sure you have a strategy in place and you're posting consistently, even if that's once a week.

You know, that would be much better, for instance, for that dance studio if you saw a post once a week versus you haven't seen anything for 3 years.

Yeah, I mean, maybe they did go out of business, I don't know, but I moved right along. Um, I want to talk about social listening. I hear you talk about this term social listening quite often, and, um, I guess the whole idea around it— from, you can correct me if I'm wrong— from what I've been listening to you talk about with social listening is that the best content is already out there. You just have to listen. So I mean, I want to talk about what that looks like and why response-based content works better. Can we dive into this a little bit? Because I think this is something that might be new to people, this whole social listening concept.

Yeah. So social listening is exactly what it sounds like, just listening to what's going on on social media. That's it. And the reason what you said, you know, how the best content is already being written, that means like people are already sharing what they need and want online. You know, realtors will share frustrations. There's a lot of fun, like realtors are like, they're having to be online like crazy. Let's just be real. Like there's a lot of great realtors, great.

They're having to be influencers. And they take their daily frustrations and they do lots of fun video content based on things that are like a day in their life. If you see those, you can take that and, and that can inform your strategy when dealing with realtors. You know, like, oh, this is what they're dealing with. How can I help them in that? How can I answer that question? So that can inform, you know, your relationship with them too, but also your content. So you get your content ideas from realtors. From clients, from other industry partners on what's going on in the industry, what home buyers are dealing with. Look at all that through staying online, just watching, observing, and that can help you inform what kind of content you need.

So you're not just, I have no idea what to post. You'll know what to post if you're watching other people.

I really like that. That approach because it's like they're giving you the problem, then you can give the solution without having to sell and having to push and just— or even just call them up and say, hey, I saw you, I saw you had posted about this, or weave it into conversation. They're, they're giving you the problem right on a silver platter. That's a great way to jump in and kind of save the day again without being salesy. I think we're all looking for ways to try to not be as salesy. So I really like that. I guess for someone who overthinks content, this is a way that they could simplify their content and provide a solution.

Exactly. Yeah. Just reading comments on your post or other loan officers' posts. When you sit there and just can't think of what to say, look and see what what people are commenting. Use search and explore, you know, on the different platforms to see what's, what's trending, what's popular. Save posts and, you know, or just screenshot, screenshot a post to keep for an idea for later on. It's not something you have to act on right that second. Not every post is.

Some things are more, you know, right in the moment. But, you know, just pay attention to all those things. And then that can help inform things and take a lot of that guesswork out of the, out of the creativity.

I think that's going to be a really big takeaway for people because that's one of the things that I think I hear often. I'm sure you hear often also, like, I don't know what to post. Can you help me create a content calendar? Can you give me some video ideas? But, you know, in the words of Glinda the Good Witch, I love my, I love my Dorothy. You've had the power all along. It's right there in front of you. You just need to dig a little deeper, right? And the problems are there and you have the solution. So to be able to connect that, I think that's going to be a really big takeaway for people.

Yeah, it does make such a big difference because I've been there in content creating, just trying to figure out things to do. And I found that, you know, there's a lot of talk about, well, you know, isn't that kind of copying people? I'm not saying take a post and do exactly the same thing. I'm saying look at what other people are doing, what their frustrations are in the industry, what's going on, then that can help inform what you do. You know, like, okay, this is the question, what's the answer? And that makes a big difference. And it's a great way to share tips, share advice, entertain a little bit too, without, like you said, without being so salesy, because it's not always, you know, oh, come to me, get a loan from me. It's how can I make this better? How can I make your life better? Like, and the way you do that is checking to see what, what's wrong. And that's where social listening comes in.

Yeah, that's, that's great. Extremely valuable information. And I think leads back to the trust factor. You know, the, the trust factor is huge. It's— I feel like it's, it's even tougher to gain that trust, especially when we're using a filter, especially when we're just out for our own our own good, you know, we need to build that trust by listening to what other people need, having the solution, showing up authentic, all of this stuff. But one thing I do want to drive home, that trust isn't something that is built immediately. It is not built with one post. It's built over time with the consistency.

And I think with that social proof, Let's talk about that a little bit. So this really goes into the trust factor and how important trust is to build over time. And it's not something that's going to be one post and done, people trust you. Let's dive into that a little bit and how social proof really goes hand in hand with trust.

Can we talk about just social proof? That may be something. Yeah, that, that may be something that the audience may not have heard much before. So what social proof basically is, it's the answer to one simple question your audience is asking, and even if they don't say it out loud, it's, and can I trust you? That's what social proof is. So in the past, social proof meant telling people you were good at your job. So think reviews, testimonials, closed loan posts, and that's what we're used to doing to showcase our social proof, and that is still important. Those are still very important things to include in your social strategy to show that, you know, potential clients can trust you. But that's not the only thing, you know, now in the rise of AI. So there's, there's much more, and it's, it's about building trust over time.

So people are spending more time, you know, more and more time on social media. So they're looking at more things than just the reviews. They're looking at how you treat others, how you show up and, you know, how present you are. And that's where that engagement kind of plays a part. So if you're only posting, you're not commenting on other posts, like, that makes a huge difference. Think about like larger businesses, for instance, that will just— it's a big thing now with larger businesses to start posting or commenting on other people's posts when they get tagged. Like they will comment or share. And when that happens, that makes a huge impact on the people that see that post that are interacting with that post.

It'll make news, you know, when, you know, businesses do that. And that on a smaller scale can make a huge impact on your, you know, your own business, on your personal business. If you're commenting when a client posts on their own, you know, page about their home, you know, you know, closing loan, you're congratulating them. But maybe later down the road you see a post where they pop up and it says something about their home again, or even just a birthday, saying happy birthday to them on social media. Those kind of things show people that you care, you know, and it's more than just a one-time transaction with you. It shows them that you are in a relationship and that you're there for them when they need you.

Well, that makes sense. I mean, I think people probably pick up on things without realizing it, right? It's all these little subtle moments that, that build up over.

Time.

Um, and, and I would imagine too, you know, a lot of times the corporation, the company is seen as just the name, but all of a sudden when, when the name is commenting and, and, you know, creating this rapport online, it again humanizes the company itself. So are you seeing that out there?

Oh, yes. Yeah. Like you see that everywhere. And that's like I mentioned, community, that's a position now. And that's what their job is. Like they are interacting with that community. There are people that they all they do is monitor when, when, you know, the account gets tagged and then they go out and comment on and it will just it can be a small, you know, just a small individual account where it gets tagged on and other people are commenting too. It can be larger ones, but, but that interaction matters.

And for our loan officers, for people within the industry, you know, think about when someone may recommend you on a, you know, a neighborhood page. And, you know, sometimes those aren't always private and you might actually see that. You might see a notification pop up that says, I recommend so-and-so if they tagged you, you know, thanking them. Like, you know, if you're able to comment in response, thank them on there. And that's going to be seen by all the people that see that post. And so that kind of thing makes a big difference. And it's important to just interact with the community, you know, show up when you're not selling too. So that means commenting on other business posts.

Think about all the other small business owners in your community that are in the same boat as you. You know, we have those great Local Love Days that some of our loan officers are doing, and a lot of our loan officers are doing things like this where they will highlight businesses once a week on social media, tag that business. Those kind of things make an impact when someone's looking at your page, you know, on your social media. They see you're involved in the community. And that's another aspect of social proof that you care more about than just a sale. You care about your community too.

Yeah, that really does make a difference. I know from my own personal experience, we have one of those community pages too, and someone will comment and, and recommend somebody. And the people that don't, maybe they just don't see it, but the people that do respond, there is a different level of, oh, okay, yeah, this is a real person. They're actually seeing this. They, you know, they, they tell them, hey, I'll reach out. Um, thank you so much for the comment and the, the recommendation. Um, I'll reach out to you privately. Like there, there is another level of trust that is built there.

So that's a great example. I love that. Everyone, if you're not on those community pages, you need to be, or create one on your own and start one. If you're, if your town or your community, Your city doesn't have one, start.

One.

All right, so let's wrap up. I mean, you know, the big idea is that loan officers who win are not necessarily louder. We felt, I felt, we felt, I think we all felt for years that you just had to be louder, tons of stuff and events and videos and tons of content. And that's not that— some of that's still true, but that's not necessarily the case. They just need to be more present. Not more polished, not louder, not bigger, just more present. Um, if someone's overwhelmed by social media, which we know can be a thing, I think, in any industry, right? Where do you think they should start?

Yeah, I say that that is one of the biggest things I run into when I'm giving advice and training is they're overwhelmed from the start because they just feel like they have to do everything right away And so my biggest advice is start small. You do not have to do it all at once. You can start small. You can start with one platform. So pick the platform that most of your clients and realtor partners are already on. Start there. Engage before you post, you know, so create your business page, start engaging before you post. You could start with an intro post, of course, but just start looking around following accounts, and then start commenting and responding and showing up in conversations.

You know, just take a few minutes a day to do that. You know, you can, when you already are on social media, say first thing in the morning, most people check social media first thing in the morning and then right around the end of the business day too. And a lot of times on lunch, lunch breaks, right? So take one of those times you're already scrolling, set a little timer so you don't doom scroll. And then go ahead and switch into your business page and like and comment and share some, some posts of your REALTOR partners. Just that right there, doing those 3 things will make a huge difference and impact. So, you know, start small, take just a few steps. Once you've mastered that, then you can look at doing more. Then you could branch out into video if that's something scary and you've not done yet.

But just start small, you know, one step at a time and then build as you go.

That's really great advice. And I think we always talk about these great lofty ideas, but then where do we start? So that was, that was perfect. It's tangible, step by step. I love that. And one last question, I guess. What do you think is the one habit that will matter most going forward into this new frontier that we're in? Is there one specific thing that you can think of?

I would say, you know, engaging. And I know I just said it, but setting a time, you know, setting a time, make it a part of your day. You know, we just had a book club meeting yesterday on Atomic Habits, and it's talking about making good habits. And, and, and that's just a good reminder. And it's a small habit you can make. Like I said, this doesn't have to take up all your time. You can take just a few minutes every day, find a spot, set a timer, go ahead and engage a little bit on social media, and then put it down and go about the rest of your day. It doesn't have to take all day, and that will help you.

You know, if you start doing that every day at that time, you're going to see your community build. You're going to see more followers.

I love that. That's, that's great advice. Well, you heard it here, everyone. Summer, thank you so much for jumping on with me today. I think this is really valuable information and some things that we've heard before, some things we haven't heard before. But regardless, it's, it's about starting, showing up, starting small, just getting it done, showing up consistently. We want to hear your questions to engage with us online and we will comment back. But this has been a great episode.

Thanks for joining, and don't forget to like and subscribe. Lending Leadership, we'll catch you next time.

Bye!