Apr 11
4
Twitter Tips for Real Estate Investors
There was a networking luncheon on the first day of the Investor Forum where we sat with Russell Westcott, Vice President of REIN. Within a few minutes of being at our table he said to me “I have been meaning to contact you for some tips on using Twitter.”
So, Russell, and all my other real estate investors that are just dipping their toes into the social media site that is Twitter, I thought I would give you a few tips.
Before I do that though, I do want to let you know that I don’t feel that I am a Twitter expert – I have just been using it for a long time (over 2 1/2 years).
I actually joined Twitter almost three years ago to the month but I thought it was stupid, deleted my account and forgot about it.
Then, months later I was at an internet marketing conference and they shared some important Twitter insights and observations, and, armed with that information, I gave it another try. I’ve been hooked ever since on this little mini-blogging and networking application.
Statistically, here’s where I am at today with Twitter:
Most of that information is fairly self explanatory … when I took this screen shot I had 6,407 people following me (potentially reading my Tweets). I was following 4,566 people (where I could potentially read their Tweets). I have sent out 4,885 updates (I Tweet a lot).
That is all pretty straight forward. The one number there that might not make sense is the KLOUT score.
Klout is a way of measuring your true reach as a Tweeter. In other words, you could have 100,000 followers but if nobody interacts or reacts to you, it’s meaningless. Klout is a score between 1 and 100 and measures how likely it is that somebody will RT (retweet – which is simply sharing what you Tweeted) or reply to your message or click your link. It also measures how many people are adding you to lists (I’ll explain about lists in a moment) and how deep your reach is. It’s a pretty complex thing. You can learn more at the Klout website.
I don’t actually know if a score of 51 is particularly good. Looking around at my fellow Tweeps, it’s above average, but I am not the highest!
So with all of that in mind … here are my thoughts for effective Tweeting as a real estate investor.
- Show Yourself! It’s much easier to gain followers and attract interaction if you use a picture of yourself. Your company logo isn’t going to work half as well unless you’re really working it. There are a few companies out there that use a company logo that get my attention. One of them is @moderncanada – a restaurant on Vancouver Island. They are doing so many things right, in my opinion. They create fun contests to generate interest and interaction, they give free coffee to whoever is mayor of their place on 4 square, they respond to your tweets quickly and positively. They’ve created a great vibe as a business. When I think brunch in Nanaimo – I think Modern Cafe – and it’s just because of their Tweets. However, it’s generally easier to get that going on if you’re showing your pearly whites to the world in your own profile picture!
- Select your followers carefully. When I signed up the first time, I followed celebrities and people Twitter suggested I follow. It was horrible. I was reading about someone eating cereal and another cleaning up dog puke and I just thought “What a waste of time! The world has actually come up with something more useless than reality tv”. Then I was told to use http://search.twitter.com/ to find people talking about things I was interested in and then follow them. Also, I was told to check out the profile of someone you have a lot in common with and follow the people they follow. I did that, and over time I found myself following a lot of really cool people. Give it a try. Focus on finding people who are talking about stuff that interests you. When you do that and put some effort into interacting with them, when they tell you that they are eating Lucky Charms for breakfast, for some weird reason, you actually care.LISTS: When you start following thousands of people it’s time to create lists. You’ll see this function on your Twitter page and it’s easy to use. I have a list for Vancouver people, Vancouver Island people, my favourites and real estate investors. I mostly focus the time I spend on Twitter on reading the Tweets from the people in those lists. When someone interacts with me on Twitter, I make sure they are on one of my lists so I can pay attention to them. If I follow someone and then never hear from them and know nothing about them, I will probably never even know they are there. It helps me cut out the noise and stick to what interests me and where I get value.
- Treat it like a cocktail party. The absolute biggest mistake I see real estate investor making on Twitter is only Tweeting about their deals or their blog posts. Social media is like a cocktail party. Do you just stand there telling everyone and anyone about how great you are, how big your deals are or what a great post you’ve just written? You certainly wouldn’t stand there handing out deal summaries inviting people to invest in your latest deal … so why in the world would you do that on Twitter?! What you’ll do is meet people who have an interest in what you do, and then you make an appointment to discuss it offline. You mix in some bits about your business – in between chit chat about their business, a bit about your hobbies and interests and things that make you laugh or scream. Over time the business opportunities will fall out of consistent effort interacting. The big thing is that nobody wants to hear from someone who just talks about themselves all day long. Here’s an example of some Tweets I had going on Friday. First …you can see the replies to my Tweets and next you can see the Tweets I sent out. You’ll notice there is a variety of reasons people are writing me and a variety of things I am saying … just like a cocktail party … @kyegrace and I are grooving to some music together, I’m getting a #FF (follow friday – where someone recommends their followers follow you), some kudos on a post I shared and so on. Very much like a cocktail party.
Here were the Tweets I was sending around the same time:
My final tips … tweet unto others as you’d have tweeted unto you. In other words, reply, RT, recommend and refer your fellow Tweeps and they will openly do the same for you. Get out there and meet your followers in person. When you take your online relationships offline, that’s when business gets done, relationships grow and friendships blossom. You don’t usually do business at the cocktail party but it’s where you decide you’d like to explore the potential of doing business together. The same is typical of Twitter. To make it worth your while attend Tweet Ups, get on the phone with your favourite Tweeps and get acquainted IRL (in real life!). And, most of all, have fun with it.
There’s a lot more I could say about it … but I also just wrote a blog post for a soon to be launched blog by Canadian Real Estate Magazine and I didn’t want to repeat all the same stuff here!! When that post comes out I’ll be sure to link to it so you can get the 7 tips I wrote for them!
Now … head on over and send me a Tweet!! I will add you to a list and we can stay connected!
By the way – totally off the subject of Twitter – for all my Canadians investors that are in a relationship – pick up a copy of the April 2011 Canadian Real Estate Magazine that is on stands now. I shared 7 tips to help you get and keep your spouse on board with your real estate investments! I had several couples come up to me at the Investor Forum and let me know this article hit the nail on the head for them!!
