These days we’re hooked into everything. Social media has permeated nearly every aspect of our lives, and many of us do not go more than about 60 seconds without “checking in” both literally and figuratively on what our friends and associates are up to around the world via their Facebook and Twitter feeds. Not surprisingly, business has followed where “friendship” and “follows” have led. There are myriad ways to use social media to promote your business, and advertisers are paying big money for coveted space in front of individuals whose “profiles” reflect interest in their products. Real estate investors and real estate professionals are extremely active in the social media arena, but with surprisingly little result in surprisingly many instances. In a business sector with a foundation more firmly in networking than arguably any other, the social media scene has largely passed us by, with most investors, agents and professionals getting fewer results from their social media campaigns than the average house-hunter.

To resolve this issue, we took a close look at the profiles and practices of professionals using social networking to good effect and have noted some common behaviors. In this report, we will examine ways that real estate professionals use Twitter effectively, productively and profitably.

Twitter Tip #1: Look for Like-Minded Individuals

When it comes to real estate investors who use Twitter, those who get the best responses on that medium have audiences that are interested in what they have to say. There are a lot of services out there that will build you a huge Twitter following for a couple hundred or couple thousand dollars. However, that Twitter following may not be tailored to what you have to say and, if so, then they will ignore you completely because they are not interested in real estate. Twitter is a very “fast” medium, meaning that the volume of information is so great that in order to use it effectively, you must have a follower base made up of people who are actively waiting to hear what you have to say. If you flip houses, then you need a base of wholesale buyers. If you rent houses, you might want a base of potential tenants. Whatever your “thing” in the real estate profession, you need a base following for whom that “thing” is interesting enough to pay attention to your tweets.

Of course, this does not mean that Jim the Landscaper should not be one of your Twitter followers. It just means that you should be actively seeking out people who are likely to be interested in what you have to say. A good way to do this is to find a Twitter feed that is similar to your own. For example, if you plan to teach others how to invest in real estate you might look for educational feeds on Twitter. The people who are following that Twitter feed may very well also be interested in following you, so follow them and see how many follow you back to build up your “interested” base.

Twitter Tip #2: You Need Volume

We already talked about how Twitter is a very fast-paced medium. As a result, you need to tweet multiple times throughout the day. Depending on your area of interest, you may tweet about what you are doing – a lot of real estate “gurus” use Twitter to let people know about deals that they are doing or educational opportunities – or you may opt to broadcast news, opinions or tips and training relevant to your area of interest. Whatever your tweets are, they need to come out on a regular basis. We have noticed two effective ways of tweeting:

  1. Lots of tweets in a short period of time
    Some Twitter users broadcast all their tweets in a short period of time either in the morning when people are just logging onto their computers at work or at noon when people are online but often on a lunch break. This is particularly common for news organizations that have just a few headlines each day.

  2. Tweets spread out over the day
    Since the odds of any one person seeing all your tweets is slim, some Twitter users opt to broadcast the same or similar tweets over the course of a day to get greater coverage.

How you tweet will be largely determined by how your following responds to your tweets. Monitor responses (are they accusing you of spam if you send out multiple similar tweets, or are you largely ignored when you only broadcast in the morning?) to determine what method or combination works best for you.

Twitter Tip #3: Identify and Target Desired Actions

One real estate investor we noticed used Twitter to build up interest in his deals. He would tweet that he was showing a great property and give the location of the property, adding that there was a lot of local interest or some other “carrot” with which to entice his Twitter followers into asking about the property or even showing up at the open house. This is a good example of tweeting for a clear purpose (something that is often overlooked in social media!) When you tweet, make sure that you have a goal in your Twitter campaign. You will notice that stores often use Twitter to try to bring people in for a promotion. You can use Twitter this way in real estate. You may opt to use Twitter to generate leads for buyers and sellers of property, or you might hope to reach other investors. Some people just use Twitter to direct people to another site like a sales page where they can buy things or enter additional contact information. Whatever it is you want out of Twitter, always evaluate everything you do on Twitter in light of this goal. If you cannot see how your actions further your goal then it may be that you need to adjust your Twitter strategy.

For some people and organizations, Twitter can play a major role in their marketing and their profitability. For others, the medium does not quite fit. Ultimately, whether you use Twitter to build a following, contact potential leads on deals or just as a small facet of a much larger marketing campaign, your business can benefit from the massive potential exposure provided by this social medium and you may be surprised by the speed and success of your results.