Dec 17, 2008

The Twitter Difference

I don't need to spend countless characters explaining the potential power of Twitter from a business perspective. It's quite obvious isn't it? Networking, content, leads, the list can go on and on. In fact, we're working on a potential real estate investment project with another member of Twitter. Until Twitter, we never knew each other (more to come in future posts). Priceless marketing and lead generation for merely the cost of your time and efforts.

As with other social networking platforms such as Facebook or MySpace, more of our personalities actually come to life through our online virtual presence with these sites. With Twitter, these characteristic seem to be exemplified through the bite-sized conversational guidelines in which we are confined.

What's intriguing to me is that I actually feel like I'm getting to know people. Believe me, I know this is merely a glimpse but it's a good glimpse. We have an opportunity to see what people look like, get to read about their changing moods, where they're eating, what they're eating, where they're going, with whom they're interacting with, how they interact, their likes, dislikes, whether they're night owls, early risers, or both .... you name it, crudely speaking, we can actually begin to formulate a reasonable feel for what these people would be like in real life. Couple this with the nuggets of content that these individuals throw out from time to time, whether it be a news event or merely a topic of their interest or perhaps it's an article or video they're sharing on their blog or a TwitPic of where they're at or that of their children or that of a sunset or perhaps themselves, etc. Through my run-ons, I think you get the point.

Adding to the fascination, some people seem to change their picture daily. Some vacillate between avatars and actual pictures. Some people are festive and adorn themselves with holiday attire while others refuse to visibly partake in the holiday dress up. You have trend setters changing early into their costumes while you have procrastinators just now making the change.

Plug all of these detailed pieces of the puzzle together and you begin to get real perspective. Ultimately, video will bridge this online virtual divide by portraying us for who we are. It won't be exact as there will always be actors, but closer. Until then, Twitter's enabling us to get a much improved view and this view, in my opinion, is one of the more captivating attributes that keep us obsessively coming back for more. Now, we're actually putting a face to the name and 24-hour emotions behind our words. Real life unfolding 140 characters at a time. We may have never met but were certainly getting to know each other in a real way.

3 comments:

  1. Can you describe how the average agent might use twitter to get leads?

    Also, would you like to catalog this blog under "real estate investing", or "real estate marketing"

    Thanks

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi Dirk,

    I'll give a short answer and would be more than happy to discuss additional details with you at greater length in a forum or format best suited for you.

    I think a Realtor should connect with other Realtors on Twitter along with connecting to Tweeters in every other imaginable venue. As you make known your personality and give people access to your online presence, people will begin to get a feel for who you are. Your hope is that other Realtors get to know you and refer clients to call you who may be relocating to your local area or know of someone who needs your Realtor services. The "other" members of Twitterville may call you for personal real estate needs or know of someone who may need your services. This is not going to happen overnight but it will certainly never happen if you don't start. I would suggest that you image Twitter as another friend with unbelievably powerful networking abilities. The more you interact with this friend the stronger the powers will be.

    Hopefully this short answer sheds some light on your question. Again, I will make myself available to you to answer in greater detail and to share my experiences with you as I've done a real estate investment deal together with a lead I met solely on Twitter.

    Let's add this blog under real estate investing. It's tough to give you a definitive answer because we use this blog for a little of everything - Real estate investing, online social media, and technology. Essentially, all things real estate.

    Thank you for stopping by.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Great article. Realtors need to use Twitter to connect with their audience. I wanted to let you know about TweetLister.com, a fast-growing tool for posting, managing, scheduling and searching real estate listings on Twitter. We just announced our Version 2 release, featuring enhancements that add tremendous value and marketing power for all its users. The service remains a free, fast, simple, user-friendly way to place your real estate listings on Twitter, and enhancements transform the service into a versatile, full-featured, must-have tool for marketing any property.

    The website is located at http://www.tweetlister.com.

    Version 2 features are: Enhanced Listing Details, including more photos, more property features, personalized links to your website, and more; Broker/Owner Profile Information and Dedicated Listings Pages, including a page with your bio and all your listings; Associate Multiple Twitter Accounts with one TweetLister Account, so you can post properties for different regions, or different types of properties, or individual brokers to their own Twitter accounts; New Search Features, so you can now search by City or Neighborhood, State, Country, Keyword and Minimum and Maximum Price; and the ability to Add Listings in Bulk, a custom service.

    I hope you will take a look at the site and consider mentioning it on your blog!

    ReplyDelete

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