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How Twitter Can Help You Sell More Real Estate Part 2

By
Services for Real Estate Pros

Happy BirdHow Twitter Can Help You Sell More Real Estate - Part 2 of a 2 Part Series

Yesterday I posted a Blog Post entitled, How Can Twitter Help You Sell More Real Estate Part 1 talking about how Twitter can be used as a tool in real estate to help develop and build relationships.

  • Part 1 Organize the Noise - addressed how to organize the noise on Twitter to make it easier to connect with those people you wish to connect, and how to follow conversations using Tweetdeck.
  • Part 2 Engage and Be Engaging -  which is today's topic discusses the importance of Engaging your followers, and in 

Engage and Be Engaging

Engagement has become increasingly important in marketing with the advent of social media. Jeff Turner recently wrote about how Engagement is the New Marketing Metric in a post he wrote on ActiveRain entitled, YEO - Numbers that Mean Something. According to Jeff's article,

"Engagement through Social Media is aligned with how trust is built, how real relationships form and transactions result. "Working to build relationships (over time)" is not as easy to sell as "attract more customers now!" But those who see its wisdom will profit in the long run.

In 2008, Forrester Research rightly stated that "engagement" was the new marketing metric. "Using engagement, you get a more holistic appreciation of your customers' actions, recognizing that value comes not just from transactions but also from actions people take to influence others. Once engagement takes hold of marketing, marketing messages will become conversations, and dollars will shift from media buying to customer understanding."'

Twitter ZenTwitter Zen

The rule in social media is that You Must Give to Get and this rule also applies to Twitter. If you want to be engaging, you have to provide value, it's that simple.

If you log in to Twitter a few times a week and say, "It's a beautiful day today, buy some real estate".

Not only will people not follow you and not contact you from Twitter, but they will view you as spam. It is possible for the use of Social Media to negatively impact your image with buyers.

Be Genuine 


People can sense when you're not being genuine, so an important aspect of being engaging is to be yourself.
If your goal in using Twitter is to gain new friends and potentially new clients, you may actually meet these people some day. If you are completely different in person than online you will damage the trust you've built.

From my own experience, I've known ActiveRainer Clint Miller of Real Estate Client Referrals @RECR for close to two years from his blog posts and from communicating on Twitter. I recently had the opportunity to meet Clint IRL (In Real Life or Face to Face) at a training we had on Twitter.

Meeting in person wasn't awkward at all because there were no surprises, Clint is the same great person when you meet him as he is on Twitter.

What to Tweet About?

To be engaging on Twitter, you want to Tweet about things that would be of interest to your followers. Tweet about what is exciting in your life right now, tweet about your interests and hobbies, interesting news stories about your industry, photos from places you're visiting or local events - a new restaurant, a great sale at a local business, etc.

You can still Tweet about real estate, because it is part of who you are and part of your life, just don't become an infomercial. Tweet about a great house you just visited or challenges you are seeing in the market.

A couple of good recent posts on this topic are:

It Isn't About 'What You Are Doing?' - Twitter that Is by Rita Burke

How Sex Helps Me with Twitter by Clint Miller

To Engage, you want to reach out to other people on Twitter, respond to their comments, retweet their tweets, and most of all, have a discussion.

 

Comments (6)

Marcus Valdez
Berkshire Hathaway Rocky Mountain Realtors - Fort Collins, CO

Great advice.  i am just learning how to twitter.  Pretty neat.  i am sure i will be checking back on your blog to learn more.

May 05, 2009 05:07 AM
Monica Bourgeau
Portland, OR
Business Coaching

Thanks Marcus, feel free to contact us if you need any help :)

May 05, 2009 05:10 AM
Brian Lee Burke
Kenna Real Estate - Lone Tree, CO
Broker & Advising Expert-Kenna Luxury Real Estate

Thanks for the mention :) - Great to hear you met Clint F2F - so he does exist also in real life :) ~Rita

May 05, 2009 05:14 AM
Pat Champion
John Roberts Realty - Eustis, FL
Call the "CHAMPION" for all your real estate needs

Great advice I'm starting to learn twitter.

May 05, 2009 05:23 AM
Pat Champion
John Roberts Realty - Eustis, FL
Call the "CHAMPION" for all your real estate needs

Great advice I'm starting to learn twitter.

May 05, 2009 05:23 AM
Rene Fabre
ARFCO Media - Renton, WA
Practicing Philosophical Eclectic of the Arts

Monica: Nicely done and you nailed it! Conversations are markets...

Rene'

May 14, 2009 12:55 PM