We can be certain about one thing… Twitter has lost its simple social innocence, if it ever had any. Unlike Facebook where your old college friends, co-workers and neighbors are still now joining because they feel “out of the loop,” the same pressures don’t seem to apply on Twitter. That little blue “t” stamped on your pizza box, hair dressers business card and the one scrolling on the bottom of the screen during Sports Center is sending the message that this site is quickly becoming the modern day mailing list.
Does that render it ineffective? Not yet. Of course with any new networking tool, big (and small) businesses are going to get a hold of it and a result, consumers could tune out. However, you can thank the celebrities for this one, normal everyday people are still on Twitter. If you’re going to use this tool as part of your marketing to expand brand awareness and reach your clientele in an informal way, don’t wait.
When celebrities get tired of tweeting, it is likely that the only people left at the party will be a bunch of businesses pitching products to an empty room. So shoot the fish while they are still in the barrel as this is still a very powerful way to market yourself and meet potential clients. 
Has the commercialization made it harder? Not necessarily. The “what’s in it for me” barrier that consumers put up can easily be tackled by businesses like Groupon or Sprinkles Cupcakes that users will gladly follow, knowing that valuable offers are on the table. It can pose a problem to agents that simply feed a link to their blog and nothing more, so it is important to keep your Twitter engaging and give your followers a reason to follow you. This will also set you apart from the army of agents plugging their Open Houses; if you avoid the common mistakes you’ll end up looking better in comparison!
So how can I stay alive on Twitter? Like many customer service guru’s will tell you, make it about them. Take your focus off of what you think they want to read about and read what they want to talk about! This is easy once you’ve built your network of local users within your target demographic by finding and following them (your real estate virtual assistant can help guide you on this). Don’t under estimate the power of the re-tweet. With very little effort, you can capture their attention while giving them recognition Twitter users crave. They will want to keep an eye on you and in keep you in their network, possibly even look for something you’ve tweeted that they can re-tweet.
What should I be posting? The tech-savvy social networking public isn’t looking to grab a link and snuggle up with your blog of rebounding market trends.
You’re more likely to gain and keep new contacts by posting a clip of an SNL sketch to share. It is enough that your Bio says you are a Real Estate expert in your area and if they had any doubts, the headshot for an avatar will certainly convince them. Of course you should post a new listing or let them know you just met with new clients for coffee or boast about the fact that you listed AND sold 123 Main Street in 5 days, but you don’t want to isolate your followers with constant reminders of what you do.
If your dry cleaner was on Twitter and they updated you on every drop-off and box of shirts, how quickly would you un-follow them?
“I Don’t Speak Twitter and I Didn’t Understand a Word of This!”
For more Twitter 101 help, talk to your real estate virtual assistant. If you don’t have a VA yet, what are you waiting for? Check out our team today!
Erica (Parpan) Lawrence
Operations Manager
Comments(5)