What is Twitter?
Twitter is a social networking medium that allows you to login and keep other people informed about what you are doing. On first glance, it seems that Twitter is just a dumb, stupid website aimed and wasting your time. If you're new to the game, you'll think Twitter is for people who have nothing better to do than to tell others about what they're eating for lunch, or other boring data on trivial matters that don't pertain to you. Once you're past the newbie stage--if you have a little vision and imagination--you'll begin to Twitter as a whole new way to market your real estate practice online.
Twitter only has about 2 Million users at this time, compared to Facebook's 90 million users, however, this will change as people become more aware of social network marketing. I believe this is the beginning of something--what the web is becoming; so it's important to get onboard now if you want to be effective later. Learn the social networking ropes at the ground-floor so you'll be on the higher floors when the elevator goes up.
How does it work?
Twitter is very simple. All you do is sign-up, login and type in the little box: "What are you doing right now?" That's it. Just describe what it is you are doing.
Why is what you are doing important?
What you are doing is important to people in your life. (If it's not, you need to get a life!) You can use Twitter for personal, business, hobbies, news info, and more. Since I'm a real estate web marketer, I'm going to discuss Twitter for marketing your real estate practice.
What should I do to market my real estate practice on Twitter?
The best way to market yourself on Twitter is to (again) provide valuable information that is interesting and informative to your target market. If you sell homes in McKinney, Texas--Twitter about McKinney. Twitter, Twitter, Twitter away. It may seem like you're getting no where, but in truth you are. You're discussing your service area and this will eventually tie into everything else you are doing. Use the same good web marketing acumen that I taught you in my Do's & Don'ts for Facebok Article.
Establish your credibility. Show your personality and style. Offer value. Don't just post ads saying, "Looking for real estate leads in Ten-Buck-Two. That's a total turn-off and you'll find no true followers. Be informative, snazzy, interesting, fun and sassy. Have a little personality please! And whatever you do, don't try to sell us anything.
Following Other People
The premise of Twitter is following people who are involved in the process of telling you what they are doing. Once the ball gets rolling and people start to come onboard, you will be able to get pretty good insight from other top-real estate agents, and other people who share what they are doing to your advantage. You can pick and choose who to follow. The options are endless.
Getting Followers
Another aspect of Twitter is getting people to follow you. Ideally you want your target market to follow you, but they may or may not be online yet. In the meantime, you want to attract followers to your Twitter handle using the following methods:
- Letting people know you're tweeting on Twitter
- Inviting people to follow you in person, via email and providing a link on your website
- Doing a "Follower Push" by following a bunch of other people in hopes they'll reciprocate the follow.
- Have a very popular blog or website already and tell all your users you're on Twitter.
- Let people on Facebook know you're also found on Twitter.
5 Stages of Twitter Acceptance
