Twitter is a social networking and microblogging service that allows users to publish "tweets" or short blogs of 140 characters in length in order to pass a message on to the world. So what?

The Key Benefits Of Twitter

The 140 character limitation in twitter "tweets" seems to be the aspect of the system that made it go crazy on the internet. It has grown to be a dominant force in social networking and many people (even people you know) are using it to broadcast "what I'm doing" at multiple times per day. But where is the benefit of this in real estate?

Some of the key benefits of Twitter that might be of value in real estate (or any business for that matter) include:

• Immediacy - If you are trying to broadcast important information to the world, you can use Twitter from your cell phone, computer, or any internet device and publish your message. While you can do this with email, the information only goes to the group that you sent it to, whereas with Twitter it goes out to all of your followers.
• Retweeting - If you send a message that somebody else sees and like, they can easily send it to their followers. This is how information can go viral, quickly.
• Public conversations - Since everybody following you can see your tweets, and you theirs, it's like walking around in a gymnasium with everybody talking. If you find a conversation that interests you, you chime in (immediately) and nobody is offended by the interruption. If you want to know more about a current event, you can usually find it being discussed on Twitter.
• Brevity - Because each message is only 140 long, you have to make your point. Fast. So a lot of the "verbal vomit" that floats around on TV and the internet has to be reduced for value, or it will be ignored. I like that!
• Discovery - Many say that Twitter is super efficient at delivering information and that if you monitor Twitter on a regular basis, you will always be "the first to know."
• Searchable - If you want to know what people are saying about something (like a business or maybe even yourself), there are tools that help you work through the millions and millions of tweets. You can even automate different searches and have them deliver information to you on a regular basis, so that you are informed on breaking news on the subjects of your interests.

Twitter and Real Estate

So, with all of the benefits, how do we see them helping or changing the real estate industry? The quick answer is data publication and product promotion.

Market your business

1. Call out and provide specials to your customers. Make sure these are real-time specials or offers. However, try to not be too pushy. Fit the offers and specials into the context of your customer conversation, and don't over promote.
2. Link to your blog. Same concept as personal tweeting above, make sure you stay on topic.
3. Tweet news and information about your company and products. New products, company news, press releases, corporate milestones, testimonials and "meet-the-employee" articles are great examples of things to tweet. Anything you think will get people both familiar and, more importantly, emotionally involved with your brand is worth tweeting about.
4. Ask questions. Twitter, like any social network, is all about conversation. Make sure you have someone who can spend time working with your followers to answer their questions. Engage your followers to provide information about how to make you or your company even better. And, harnessed correctly, Twitter can be an exceptional customer service tool as well.
5. Add Twitter badges to your website. This enables customers and prospects to easily follow in on the fun and stay up-to-date with what you and your company are doing.

Like it or not, all this social networking is here to stay, at least for awhile. So don't be afraid of it. Get on the internet; check out realtor.org for articles; and talk to other people about it. You'll find out how easy it really is.

See you next week!

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