Real Estate Marketing & Beyond
If you like the micro-blogging platform and want to be active on Twitter, then you might as well become at least one of the most followed real estate agents, right? The power is in the numbers, so what would be the point in having an account with just a small number of followers? We had a list here of top 100 real estate pros on Twitter (it was the first article I wrote for Realty Biz News) and, if you saw it, you noticed that the account topping the list has over 274K followers (as a side note, yes, the top has changed since I wrote it, but the number one remains.) Here are some tips to help you become the most followed realtor on Twitter.
Use a professional photo as your avatar; create a bio that represents you: short, but relevant. You can include personal details (“Wife, mother of a beautiful girl” or “husband, father of two boys” is an example), along with your professional ones (“Director of X”, “real estate agent in Y area”, etc.). Add contact data (phone, e-mail), website/blog and links to other social media profiles, if you have.
Interesting content will always be a key to more followers. Publish links (along with a few words – your opinion or the news’ title – to important articles, studies, info). Retweet relevant content. Add personal content – don’t forget the 80-20 rule (a general one, 20% personal content: links to your blog, your company’s news, etc., and 80% retweets, other links, etc.) Don’t forget to add a personal touch – personal tweets: thoughts, an interesting discovery, a place you visit, something you like (a movie, for instance.)
Nowadays, Twitter allows you to include photos in your tweets. To get more retweets and followers, whenever you can, add a relevant photo – don’t overuse though this feature.
As a side note, if you look at some of the top real estate agents or agencies accounts on Twitter you’ll see that the content is mostly self promo. After having a strong social media presence, many start to only share content only related to their activity and life.
Share your content at peak hours – see this infographic with the best hours to post on various social media networks, or this one for Facebook and Twitter), but also outside those hours. Share more than once – yes, relevant content can be shared in different days at different hours (one time per day, 2-3 days apart) in order to ensure a maximum visibility.
Once you decide to be on Twitter, try to have a constant presence. Enter daily, multiple times and post tweets. You can use various apps or sites to schedule your tweets – I use Hootsuite for instance (it’s free for two accounts).
Interact with others/Start discussions
I don’t have to say you have to follow the people who follow you, right? Then try to find relevant chats, use hashtags in your posts and reply to discussions you see. Reply to anyone asking you something (if not a hater/spammer) and start your own discussions. You can even address questions to important people (using the @ attribute and their username.)
Let people know you have this account and you use it. Include it on your signature (e-mail), even on your business card. Link it on your blog/company’s website, include it in your profiles in other social media networks.
Don’t do it all once you open your account. Follow your friends, follow some people recommended by Twitter. Post content first – so that people can know if they want to follow you or not. Look for other Twitter tips articles online, learn, use those recommendations. Never, never buy followers. Be relevant, provide quality content and people will follow you!
