What Real Estate Agents Should Know about Twitter
While not for everyone, Twitter is a new communication tool that provides the real estate agent several opportunities to connect with online communities.
Maybe.
A tool embraced by the early adopter, the real estate agent using Twitter can benefit from thought leadership, connection to the influencers, additional message reach, access to mobile communicators, real-time communication. But more importantly, the opportunity to build relationships through conversations.
But here’s the deal: this tool is probably only good for those who may already have a blogging strategy or are high-communication individuals. Before you decide to use Twitter, make sure it fits in your marketing plan.
And consider this: although there is no formal data, it’s likely audience and user base consist of early-adopter social media folks and influencers, with an average age of 30-45.
What is Twitter?
Twitter is really much like blogging, but on a miniature scale. The character limit is 140, which requires that users simplify their message.
Twitter has social network features, so users can add or remove friends, for example.
Think of Twitter as a new instant-messaging tool: users can blast messages to their community of clients or prospects, send private messages, or search.
Twitter, till now, has been for the highly engaged, early-adopter, pro-technology user. It’s highly likely that these users participate in other forms of online publishing and communication, like blogging, Facebook, and mobile activity.
What to Publish?
Having in mind the 140-character limit, users are publishing the following types of content:
What are you doing?: Users will tweet information related to them, from “Liddy baptized at 9am” to “taking Mali out for a walk,” or even questions like “what should I do in Vancouver?”
Responding to others: Members within a connected network (this means you are following them and you are following them, and this is easy as pie to do: search, find and click “follow”) can respond to each other using the reply symbol “@”—such as “@Vancouver is a great city. You need to visit….”
Links: Drop a link to an interesting article about your market or your most recent blog post.
And dig this: when your URLs are 130 characters are shorter, Twitter will automatically convert them to a TinyURL. However, TinyURL pushes people through a Preview Page first so you can “safely” see the full URL before proceeding to the target page.
In my opinion, this is annoying. This is annoying because all your friends aren’t probably going to push you to a pornographic or unsuitable page. Use Urltea instead when putting URLs in Tweeter from a PC.
Here’s What You Need to Know
Savvy Twitter users realize that effective communications isn’t about just pushing content to readers. They also start conversations with other people.
This is not just a broadcast tool, it’s also a conversation tool. That means you can reply to followers using the “@” symbol, and engage in dialogue.
In essence, use this tool as a global chat room: respond to others, build relationships, and listen in. Like blogging, the rule of anti-marketing marketing is required for success: engage your community.
Also, Twitter is “opt-in,” meaning that users choose to “follow” a twitter account. Abuse that good will and followers will unsubscribe.
Getting Started
Check out Rafe Needleman’s (CNET) “Newbie Guide to Twitter” or watch this video. For the rules of engagement read Brian Oberkirch’s “Advanced Twitter: Don’t Tweet Like A n00b.”
So, what’s the best way to learn? Experiment. Try creating a personal account before deploying a brand account. Also, creating a Twitter account might be a good idea if you don’t have a blog. It’s a super easy, simple first step.
But first, evaluate whether it’s right for your audience. My best guess is that 20-40 somethings in urban areas are your most likely candidates. If that doesn’t describe your market, you might be a lonely Twitter user.
Another thing: at the moment, Twitter is not an SEO strategy. That means there is no value to your website or search rankings when using Twitter.
Monday Social Marketing Mashup: Facebook
In the following weeks I’m going to zero in on some of the Web 2.0 technology for real estate agents. Each post will aggregate all of the favorite links out there on each application.
This week, Facebook.
The definitive post on Facebook and real estate: Marketing real estate on Facebook. Isn’t this the bottom line?
The future of real estate marketing through social networking is now. (via.)
Facebook could make or break real estate.Or Joel Burslem thinks.
If you haven’t heard yet: Facebook deliver authentic consumers, rather than faceless “uniques” and can do so in specific niches.
It was an exclusive in April of this year: Facebook may launch local classifieds.
Using Facebook as a Real Estate Collection Source. Another Burslem screed.
The web’s most comprehensive marketing and advertising engine for real estate professionals, Point2, creates Facebook real estate app.
Drew Meyers at Zwillow says you can add zestimates to Facebook.
Just for grins: Creepy discovery on Facebook.
In conclusion: hyper-targeted advertising is the holy grail of online advertising. Social networks like Facebook and social media can deliver that more accurately than a portal or destination site.
So, do you use Facebook? If so, is it all its cracked up to be? Or is it just trumped up hype by tech pundits and fringe agents?
Looking forward to hearing from you!
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Are Social Networks Worth It?
Question: can you be without a social online network and survive in real estate?
Recently I asked you to help me out in a real estate marketing survey…and you came to my aid.
Nothing really surprised me too much, except that everybody seems to still be using newspapers. I mean, using newspapers as much as they use direct mail, as much as they use online media.
Are newspapers even remotely helpful? Profitable? What kind of response do you get?
I mean, to me, it seems people don’t read newspapers anymore. I could be wrong. [Have been often in the past.]
But really that’s not what I wanted to write about in this post. Well, it is indirectly related…
Here’s what really surprised me:
Almost 70% of you do not use any kind of social network [Facebook, LinkedIn or Myspace].
For some reason I was under the impression that most real estate agents had some kind of social network set up. Boy, was I wrong. Now…
I guess my question is: why not?
LinkedIn, for example, offers access to a prospect base of 3,800 people…if you only have 3 contacts. [Each contact of course has to have 16+ contacts themselves. This is the theory.] It’s a phenomenal way to power your career for a mere eleven minutes it takes to set up the account and add your Outlook or gmail database. Or Yahoo, hotmail, etc.
Outside of the professional perks, it’s a great way to find colleagues from old jobs or high school.
So what’s the scoop? Why haven’t you created a LinkedIn account or Facebook?
Is it fear? Just didn’t know about it? Don’t think they are worth it? Social networks haven’t validated their worth?
I’m truly curious.
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Link Happy on Labor Day
I know you will either be on the lake or the links on Labor Day, so this post seemed proper.
See you on Tuesday!
Massive depository of links on real estate blogging at the Future of Real Estate Marketing blog.
Landing good Internet leads. Inman TV.
Networking: Is online friendship like the terrestrial, real-life kind? And Steve Rubel on how the web changes our view of friendship.
By the way: how would you respond when you discover an online friend unexpectedly dies?
Exceptional–no, great!–moments in marketing. (Dig this: calling this marketing is incorrect. It is advertising, which is a function of marketing. Fun and nostalgic nonetheless.)
Short video on the future of search engine marketing. Two long videos on a completely different view of the future of search engine marketing.
The dangers of digg self-submission.
A must for you web DIYer’s: free SEO tools from SEOMoz.
Finally: how to get 6,312 subscribers to your business blog in one day.
Work 25 Leads in 2 Hours with These 9 Tips
25 leads is more than most people produce in 2 weeks.
Even 2 months.
However, there is one situation where you can generate 25 leads in 2 hours. . . with a martini in one hand, a smile plastered across your face and a stack of cards in your other hand.
The stack I’m talking about is full of business cards.
That’s right. . . I’m talking about networking events.
The country club. The Rotary Club. The Chamber of Commerce.
All fabulous places to meet many new people. And have a blast to boot.
Here are nine essential tips you must use to make any networking event a smash.
- Arrive early. Before people are engaged in conversations. It’s easier to start a conversation than it is to break into one.
- Zero in on the wallflowers. You never know what kind of potential is lurking around those shy, quiet types.
- Shake hands firmly.
- Wear something out of the ordinary…a top hat or bright orange scarf. When you follow up with the leads mention, “I was the one wearing the top hat.” That will ring a bell.
- Pick something up. Anything. A tray of drinks or hors d’oeuvres. “Hey, would you like one?” is an excellent way to introduce yourself. And, “Got to keep passing” is an excellent reason to move on to the next person. This trick will help you to keep conversations short.
- Memorize your elevator speech.
- Be happy…regardless of whether or not you had a tough day. People want to work with upbeat, outgoing people.
- Don’t drink too much. Sober and in control, you’ll stand out.
Stay until the end. The later you stay, the more contacts.
How to Open the Vault of Anyone’s Mind
You ever been to a networking event trying to engage a prospect event and when that person takes their eyeglasses off and sets them on the table?
Do you realize what that means?
How about when you are at a listing appointment and the seller leans forward and puts his chin in his hand?
Do you know what that means?
Ever see a master locksmith at work? It looks like magic, doesn’t it? He plays with the lock, listens, hears things you don’t see, feels things you don’t feel. And opens the lock. Effortlessly.
Master communicators are the same way. They see things, hear things, feel things that helps them unlock the combination to anyone’s mind. And if you do that elegantly and attentively, you can do the same.
According to NLP techniques like I’ve discussed in the past, body language, eye movement and voice tonality give us cues about people’s thoughts, mental strategies and desires.
Did you know visual people speak in quick bursts, usually high-pitched, nasal or strained. Did you know feelers speak in low, deep and slow speech? Did you know an even, clear speaker is someone who responds to audio clues?
Auditory people tend to respond to you when you speak slowly, more rhythmic and measured. Words mean a lot to them. They respond to things like “That sounds right to me” or ” I can hear what you’re saying” or “Everything clicks.”
Visual people see the world in pictures. And because they are trying to keep up with the pictures in their mind, they speak rapidly. They don’t care how they get it out. They appreciate visual metaphors. Explanations on how things look to a person, patterns and whether something looks bright or dark.
A person who feels, or is kinesthetic, tend to speak even slower than audio people. They respond to voices that are deep. They appreciate hearing metaphors like “grasping for something concrete.” Things are “heavy” and “intense” and they need to “get in touch” with things. They say things like ” I’m reaching for an answer, but I haven’t got a hold of it yet.”
Body language also gives us clues about a person.
When a person breathes high in their chest, their visual. Even breathing in the whole chest, audio. Deep breathing low in the stomach means they are feelers, kinesthetic.
You can also read skin tone and head position.
Visual thinkers tend to have paler faces. A flushed face indicates a feeler. When someone’s head is up, they are thinking visually. If it is cocked or balanced, he’s audio. If the head is down or relaxed, he’s a feeler.
Eye movement is another indicator of how a person thinks.
Someone looking down and to the right is typically a feeler. Audio people tend to look straight to the right with half a smile or to the left with a full smile or down to the left with a frown. Visual’s do it a little bit differently. They may look directly at you and smile, eyes wide. Or up to the left with a smirk.
When speaking to a prospect, observe their voices, their pacing, their tonality, skin color, head position and eye movement. Use the technique of complimenting or grab and pass to break the ice. Then ask general, open-ended questions to get them to talk about themselves.
If you can get them to talk about themselves, you will have no problem figuring out whether they are audio, visual or kinesthetic. And when you figure this out, start to respond in like manner. If you do this, people will start to like you and open up even further and your next step (getting permission to give them something of value) is an easy step away.
So even with minimal communication you can get a clear unmistakable cue about how a person’s mind works and what sort of messages he uses and, most importantly, responds to.
[By the way: when someone takes off their eyeglasses and sets them on the table means they have stopped listening to you. You need to stop and listen to them to find out what you need to do to get them back on track. But if someone leans forward and puts their chin in their palm means they want to hear more.]I know this may be a lot to process, but take it one step at a time and practice. And let me know if these things work for you. Or if you have something else I missed. I’m always very interested in hearing from you.
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11 Ways to Be the Most Irresistable Person at the Party
Networking is fundamental to the real estate business.
Here’s a rapid fire list that will help you feel like the magnetic center of any room…without having to resort to a wardrobe malfunction…
1. Dance in your pajamas. Before the party, burn nervous energy by exercising or dancing.
2. Get into an irresistable state of mind. On your way to the party, visualize your most recent accomplishment–snagging two listings in one weekend, opening a new community center for children. Set your mood so that you are relaxed, energized and radiating confidence.
3. Look cool, but act warm. Dress sophisticated, but treat everyone like your favorite cousin.
4. Instead of an opening line, try a compliment. “Hey, I love that tie. I was wondering where you bought it.”
5. Talk food. Or football. Men appreciate a woman who knows her sports and women admire a man who likes to cook. Point: talk to people’s interest, not yours.
6. Be the only one at the party not drinking. By mid-evening you’ll seem intelligent and poised.
7. Schmooze with integrity. 3 musts: eye contact, responses that show you are listening and a genuine smile.
8. Break personal space rules. Invite warmth and friendliness by standing a little closer. Pulling away suggests you are aloof and would rather be somewhere else.
9. Grab something and pass it. Whether it’s a tray of appetizers or drinks, passing something out will give you a reason to approach someone and also give you a way out: “Oops, got to keep going.”
10. Speak up. Be the first to toast the host for a wonderful party.
11. Put your soul out there. Confess embarrassment. Risk self-exposure. Tell a joke, even if you are really bad at it. When people see the real you, off-the-charts charm follows.
Have a great tip you’d like to share? Please, share it with us in the comment section!