How to Use Twitter to Give Your Real Estate Business More Personality
In the past several years the term networking has taken on new meaning, thanks to the internet and the ability to connect with people all over the globe instantaneously. And networking via social media platforms, such as LinkedIn, Facebook, MySpace, etc. has become very popular among business people. One of these social media platforms you may have heard about is Twitter. Twitter is a micro-blogging platform – you get 140 characters in order to blog (tweet) whatever you’d like to tweet about. The program has been in existence since 2006 and has been growing in popularity with no slowdown in sight.
One of the main points of social media is to get your personality, your brand out there to the greater public. “Wait a minute,” you’re thinking. “My personality and my brand are two different things. My personality is me. And my brand…well, that’s my business.” However, in the real estate business, your personality is very much tied to your branding. In fact, many real estate agents have created a larger than life persona that is their brand. Real estate clients don’t need a slick looking logo or a catchy little catchphrase. While those are both nice to have on all of your marketing materials, you know that it boils down to your personality. Real estate clients want to work with someone they like, someone they feel has integrity and someone they feel can get the job done.
Think you may have a hard time tweeting about things, especially when you are limited to 140 characters? Here are some ideas:
- Tweet your real estate blog posts
- Tweet about your featured listings
- Tweet about current happenings in your local real estate market
- Tweet about marketing ideas…just ask what others think and you will get feedback
- Tweet about the latest gadget you bought and love
Here are a few things you should avoid doing while on Twitter:
- Don’t overuse profanity or be vulgar. Remember, you are a business person and you need to present yourself professionally.
- Don’t be a pushy salesperson. Just because you see in your Tweet stream that someone is thinking about buying a home in your area doesn’t mean you should immediately go into attack mode. You can offer help, or even direction (“My site lets you search the MLS. Let me know if you have any questions.”). Helpful is good. Pushy is bad.
- Don’t tweet all about real estate all of the time. Be yourself. And make some of your tweets personal in nature. (Just not too personal). You want people to get to know you as a person, not just a real estate agent.
Make sure you take some time to respond to other peoples’ tweets. Twitter and social networking is about making connections with others, not just a constant grab at attention for your business’ sake. Even if it’s just 5-10 minutes a day, watch your tweet stream to see what the people you are following are tweeting about. If you see something that you can comment on, something that catches your eye, then hit the little arrow for a reply and then type away! Even if these people do not currently follow your tweets, you may find that by presenting yourself and replying to something they have tweeted about will start up a conversation, or at the very least, get them interested enough in you to check out your profile and perhaps your website. Again, it’s all about making a connection and being yourself and seeing where it may lead.
You don’t need to spend a crazy amount of time on Twitter on any given day. You can go on once a day to catch up on tweets. Or you may decide to be more interactive and start tweeting from your Blackberry. There are dozens of applications out there that work with Twitter that you may find useful, from scheduling future tweets for the day to uploading pictures of your listings. You can even check keywords trends to see how certain words are used on Twitter.
As you tweet about life and work, and just be your professional self and make connections, you may find more traffic heading to your website. You may get questions here and there about real estate. You may even get some actual referrals that result in transactions. In the end, you are furthering your branding, getting your personality out there and connecting with people who can help you or people whom you can help. And that’s what networking is all about.
About the Author
Volker Weiss – Maui Realtor(R/S) specialist focusing on Kai Malu. Make your vacation last forever, check out Wailea Real Estate. For immediate help call VW directly at 888.572.6888
