As agents become more tech savvy and open to the world of social media marketing, there are sure to be some oversights, mistakes, and just a few head-scratchers. Luckily, you don’t have to be one of those hiccups! Here’s your guide to fitting in and excelling on Twitter…through a To DON’T list:
IF YOU DON’T EVEN HAVE A TWITTER AT THIS POINT…
Please don’t create one unless you truly are going to dedicate time to it. There may be droves of people telling you you’ve got to be there and you’re a fool if you don’t join, but if you know deep down that you’re not going to use it, just don’t. Having a subpar Twitter profile makes you look like you’re not familiar with social media marketing, you don’t follow through on projects you start, etc. No potential client is going to pass on you because you don’t have a Twitter.
COMPLETE YOUR PROFILE
If you don’t have a Header Photo, Profile Photo, or Profile Description/Bio, you instantly look like you either don’t pay attention to your Twitter or you just don’t care very much. Create/upload a professional looking header photo, upload your headshot or logo as the profile picture, and a description that says what you do and where you do it. I can’t tell you how many profiles I’ve seen that say something like, “Love my life, love helping people move. Two kids and four dogs, blah blah” but reading that, I have no idea where you work! Are you in Alabama or Washington or Kalamazoo? Don’t force potential clients to hire a private eye to find out whether or not you’re working in their area. Private eyes are very hard to find these days.
DON’T POST 15 LISTINGS IN THE SPAN OF 5 MINUTES
This is a good rule for all social media marketing, but especially when you consider Twitter’s chronological feed. Posting a robotic stream of listings (especially without pictures) is a great way to get people to unfollow you. Here’s an easy way to remember how to balance content and sales-driven posts: Think of your social media marketing efforts as a television channel. You’ve got to balance the commercials (what drives your business) with entertainment/education/interesting information to keep people engaged.
DON’T TALK POLITICS
Simple as that. I don’t have to say it again…
HEY! SERIOUSLY, DON’T POST ABOUT POLITICS
My spidey senses started tingling because I could tell a few of you started composing tweets about your local gubernatorial races and what not. Take it from someone who follows hundreds of real estate professionals on Twitter, a zero politics policy is the only way to look professional. Start a personal, private Twitter if you’d like to express opinions that others might not share.
In conclusion, if you haven’t started a Twitter and you don’t think you’ve got the time to maintain one, hire someone to handle it for you or simply don’t create one at all! If you do have one and can be active, first make sure your profile is filled out. Once it’s complete, post at a human rate, not 99 times in 24 hours and then zero posts for the next week. Lastly, be a professional! Tweets may seem fleeting and inconsequential, but talking politics and the like will do you no favors at all.
Got all of this down? You’re ready to be a tweeting machine!