Helping Innovate Property (HIP) – Blog, Housing Market News and Articles

Twitter usage is growing at great speed and many property professionals are adding fuel to the growth; using Twitter as an additional business tool for improved communication, marketing and networking. However, to use twitter succesfully in the property field there are some basic tips and ideas that would be worth remembering and implementing.

1. Fill in your twitter bio

   Leave as much details as possible. We gain follow requests from many users though will not return the request if there is no information completed in this section. We will not follow blindly, just to increase our follower numbers. You have followed ‘us’ (@hipconsultant) for a reason, please leave some information some we can learn a little about you. This is common practice and will help you gain followers.

2. Leave your website details (URL)

   If you have a website add your details so the site can easily be accesssed. It is likely that if your ‘followers’ enjoy your tweets they will probably visit your site and maybe will bookmark your site, subscribe to your RSS feed or email updates.

3. Vary you tweets and consider your followers.

   Those in the property field do not constantly and solely want to know that you have a new property to market. Of course, this maybe one of your reasons for using twitter i.e. promoting your new property lets and/or sales and some follwers will be more interested in these ‘tweets’ than others. Show that you have another dimension and share some insights into the property market others may noty be aware of.

   Aim for variety of tweets including:

   • Tweets with links, though not just to your own website but other interesting articles, reasearch and news you have found. We use Tiny URL to shorten links to fit within the 140 characters of twitter.
   • Tweets without website links
   • Tweets using the @ conversational function to interact with your followers. To see replies to your own tweets, click on @Replies from your profile page
   • Retweets (RT function) – if you come accross an interesting message from your twitter property network, retweet it. This will be useful for your followers and will help you gain respect in the eyes of those whos message you have ‘re-tweeted’.
   • Auto tweets – we use TwitterFeed to tweet each blog post we make on our site. There are many twitter apps which are useful but that is cetainly a seperate subject.

4. Dont spam your followers

   There is nothing worse to followers when the same ‘tweet’ is repeated over and over again and whilst you may get more views of your message it is likely to alienate you in the long term and may possibly cause people to remove you from their follow list. However, if you have relevant information you previously tweeted and/or found that has new significance let your followers know about it.

   Creating multiple user accounts seems to be becoming more common place within twitter, but make sure if you do this that it is for a good reason and not to just duplicate the same message in a number of  accounts. If you have specific tweets that maybe of interest to a different type of followers this maybe an option and could work well. For example this could be your rental or sales listings, tips on your specialist subject or posts on your property forum.

   If you would not appreciate it yourself, then chances are your followers will not either. No one likes spam.

5. Promote your twitter account

   Consider publishing access to your twitter account in various formats:

   • Highlight and give opportunity for people to re-tweet your articles and posts. We will soon be adding a ‘re-tweet this’ icon and the end of each article to make it easier for readers to re-tweet subject matter they think their followers may find interesting.
   • Utilise an app to show your recent property related tweets on your site. Many blog owners are implemenmting this and helps with reader intereaction including those who do not use Twitter.
   • Add a small section to your email signature which gives access to your twitter profile.
   • Consider including your twitter profile details on your letterheads, compliment slips, business cards etc. This does not seem to be currently utilised to a large degreee at present. Is it possible it could become the ‘norm’ as with the inclusion of email addresses, phone number and business address?
   • Update – between writing and publishing this article we have added a ‘Re-Tweet this’ icon (it is at the bottom right of every post), give it a try and see how it functions. The wordpress install is very straight forward. You can find more details on the Re-Tweet icon here.

6. Search to find other twitter property professionals.

   The search function within twitter can help you find others you maybe interested in following. Be sure to look out for the twitter logo on sites you read/visit and this will often give an easy link through to follow that person or business.

   There are other social networking sites specifically for property professionals such as the Juicy Red Apple and the majority of users will also have twitter accounts.

   People can often be afraid of having contact with others who could be considered as competition; this maybe the case on a very local basis to an extent, however with Twitter they may end up providing you with useful information or insights you may not have received otherwise.

   Wefollow is a useful directory of Twitters broken down into specific catergories which makes it easier to find people twittering about property related news.

7. Choose quality not quantity

   It is all too easy to mass follow 1000’s of people and tweet so many times a day no-one takes any notice. We follow people who we have a real interest in what they say and often follow their links through to read the full article or post.

   With quality comes the ability to create good genuine connections, provides increased focus and targetted networking which will ultimately benefit you.

   Many twitter users who have massed followed people have learnt from this mistake and created new accounts to re-start their twitter experience, to go forward the way they wished they had done in the first instance. Only follow people you you’re actually interested in following !!

8. Actively participate

   • Listening is vital to the experience and benefit of Twitter, listen to what your followers are saying and show interest in it. If you have chosen your followers wisely it is likely to have significance to you and your business.
   • Proactively participate and get involved with Twitter. Send out interesting news discoveries, ask questions of your followers and answer those questions where possible sent from those that you follow. When you receive @replies respond to these tweets directed to you. Twitter is a great way to reach people and network with them. If you receive a direct message (DM) it is twitter etiquette to respond in the same manner.

9. Use #hashtags to organise subject matter

   #Hashtags (a topic with a hash symbol (”#”) at the start to identify it) on Twitter allow users to organise certain message into groups and are widely used within events and conferences. Mashable.com have a good guide to #Hashtags within Twitter. By using hashtags it helps users search for specific information on this topic.

10. Enjoy Twitter

    Utilising Twitter can and will bring benefits to your business, enjoy the experience and the opportunity it brings. Twitter is not for everyone, many people report a lack of understanding towards the concept though after a shortwhile often decide it is twitterfic. Give it a try and have fun.

We would love to hear of any other twitter tips and advice from those twittering, especially about property. Be sure to leave your @username so we can check out your profile and twitterings.

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