Back in November last year, we added a 'tweet this property' function to PropertyADD to try and encourage more estate agents to get involved with social media in a way that didn't hit their productivity, but also kept one eye on what Twitter is really about.
The idea being to tweet the occasional property that really merited a mention - be that aspirational, unusual or provocative.
You see, Twitter isn't a property search website, it's for conversation and relationship building.
Tweeting every property to your followers is just like emailing every property to each of them - most of what you send will be irrelevant and you'd simply be expecting them to dig through everything to find what they're looking for.
Where's the attentive service in that?
So this week, Vebra's annoucement that they have added functionality to automatically tweet all properties raised a bit of a smile. Ask any social media expert and they'll tell you - Twitter is not a broadcast marketing tool, it's for interaction.
Chesterfield Va real estate for sale
Martin
http://beattheagent.blogspot.com/2009/09/find-independent-estate-agent.html
Martin
It heard a true expert speak last week and his main point was that you should use social media to promote and connect others and the good will will come back to you.
A great book to read on this subject is 'The Whuffie Factor' by Tara Hunt ( http://twitter.com/missrogue )
I'll look up the Whuffie Factor :o)
Martin
I am running a small estate agents in a very small community where everybody seems to know everybody! I am very interested in using facebook and twitter as a marketing tool for my business, but as yet have resisted as I have concerns about introducing potential landlords to potential tenants via twitter or facebook and cutting myself out of the deal! Do you have any tips for me to stop this happening?
Thanks.
Running a service business is all about adding value and via social media like Twitter, it's no different.
There will always be people that try to cut you out of the loop because they operate on the cheap. Anyone can look through your list of followers, but if you don't follow people, you can't properly connect with them.
The trick is to make sure that you're adding enough value (offering advice, being the expert, giving great service, etc.) for everyone else that you attract more business than you lose!
Take the plunge and let us know how you get on (@PropertyADD).
Martin