Twitter » Technology Tools for Real Estate

When someone starts following you on Twitter, Twitter sends you an e-mail so that you have the opportunity to follow them back.

Recently, I received a follow notification from a real estate professional who was obviously new to Twitter. Up to that point she had sent out 7 tweets—all of them describing properties for sale. Also up to that point, she was following about 2,300 people.

She was taking what I would call the shotgun approach to using Twitter: blast as many people as possible with your message. Don’t worry if you don’t know these people and they don’t know you. Don’t worry if your messages are repetitive or even boring. It doesn’t even matter if the people you’re following are in other countries and speak a language other than English (as is true for some of her followers) and therefore not likely to be interested in property for sale in your small Midwestern town. At least you can tell your clients that you are using a Twitter to market homes.

True, but irrelevant.

Twitter is a great tool when used well. It’s wonderful, for example, for staying in touch with people, building relationships, keeping abreast of what’s going on in your community or the world, and sharing timely, valuable information. You can use it to meet people you might not ordinarily have met, enlarge your circle of contacts, and maybe even become known as an expert in your field.

But to use Twitter like a billboard, to constantly post useless messages about your own agenda—sadly, that squanders Twitter’s potential.

Need some ideas to help you put Twitter to work? See our recent post.

Let’s say the name you selected for yourself on Twitter just isn’t right.

Maybe you selected it without thinking. Or maybe you’ve changed your focus and you want a Twitter handle that more accurately reflects the direction your business is going. Or maybe you just didn’t understand how Twitter worked when you first started using it. In any event, it’s easy to change your Twitter name and you can do it without losing any of your followers.

Log on to your Twitter account and click on “Settings” at the top right.
Type the new username you want to use. Twitter will confirm that your choice is available. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click “Save” to keep your new choice. All of your tweets, followers, and settings will go with you to the new name.
To minimize confusion, it’s probably a good idea not to change your image right away. Use your old image with your new name until people catch on to the change.
It’s also probably a good idea to recapture your old name and use it to announce your new name. So, log out of your new Twitter account. Log back in to Twitter as if you were a brand new user and create a new account using the name you just discarded. (Yes, Twitter will let you do that). Use the bio to direct visitors to your new account. Send out a series of tweets under your old name redirecting people to your new name, something like: “I’ve got a new name and a new attitude. Find me at @SaunWashington.”
Be sure to change the links on your website and update your account information on affiliated sites like TweetDeck or Hootsuite

And that’s it. You’re good to go.

Need help getting started with Twitter? Watch this presentation for ideas on how you can begin to use Twitter for marketing.

Market Yourself Using Twitter

View more presentations from Saundra Washington.

Twitter offers an amazing potential to grow your sphere of influence and to engage friends and former clients. But success on Twitter requires us to do things that are counterintuitive.

Whenever we get involved in anything new, we naturally tend to look for what’s in it for us and how we can benefit personally. But to be successful on Twitter, you must turn that kind of thinking around.

Here are four “upside down” ways to think about how to use Twitter to grow your business:

Give to Get. Twitter works best if you give things away. The most successful people on Twitter share ideas and information all the time. People will follow you if they think you have something to offer, so use Twitter to pass along news or tips your followers can use.
Give Credit to Other People. Don’t tweet about yourself. If you really want to get people noticing you, use Twitter to call attention to others. Respond to other people’s tweets. Retweet valuable information that someone else has already tweeted and, of course, give them the credit. Send out tweets that highlight and link to other people’s blog posts. Use #FollowFriday to herald the work of others.
Pay Attention to Others. Spend time focusing on your followers—especially those you don’t know. For example, select one of your followers each day to spotlight. Visit that person’s website or blog. Pay attention for the entire day to their Twitter stream. Write or tweet about something that person is doing.
Cherish Low Numbers. Many people on Twitter are on a mission to get lots of followers. But having a small number of dedicated followers can be an advantage. As Caron-Jane Lyon writes in her blog, when she had only 90-something followers, she was able to interact on a more personal level with each of them. Having a small group allowed her to build alliances and personal friendships with them, something that’s tough to do when your Twitter numbers are large.