How to Generate Leads with Twitter
Social media can be a useful tool for generating leads for your real estate brokerage, and we've been talking a lot about how you can put it to work for you on platforms like Facebook and Instagram. Now, we just have one left in this series to talk about: Twitter. Twitter, the popular microblogging site that started back in 2006, has become famous nowadays for non-sequiturs and controversial statements, but it's so much more than that. Despite being almost as old as Facebook, Twitter continues to be a popular platform for many age groups. Here's what you need to know to generate leads on Twitter!

2 Easy Steps to Greater Exposure on Twitter for Real Estate
Everyone on Twitter wants exposure. The secret? We can all get exposure if we work together. Once you have great content to share with your users, here are two simple steps to growing your exposure on Twitter: Step 1: Find Relevant Users

5 Residential Real Estate Brokerages Tearing Up Twitter
If you haven't made Twitter part of your daily routine, now you have a reason to. It's filled with meaningful information from some of the brightest minds in the real estate industry. If you're looking for insights in the industry, sometimes mixed with a little bit of humor and everyday life, follow these brokerages on Twitter. 1. Corcoran Group Led by Pam Liebman, the Corcoran Group is one of the biggest players in New York City's residential market. In fact, they're the biggest brokerage in Manhattan and Brooklyn, and have also expanded into the Hamptons and Southern Florida. Their Twitter feed is a mix of luxury homes, meaningful information, and middle-class housing options in the Big Apple.

The Top 10 Real Estate Influencers on Twitter
As a real estate professional, it's key to set yourself up with a strong online presence; we can't stress that enough. But the process of building up that presence can be an arduous one, at some points feeling frustrating and lonely. We've all been there and we all know it's important to have friends and role models to look to as you work through the hard parts of creating your online presence. One of the best places to find those role models? Twitter, of course! So we're asking you—what do you use Twitter for? Beyond maintaining an active presence on the platform, you want to be checking out the other thought leaders and influencers out there. And believe us, there's plenty out there. The purpose behind this is two-fold. First, these influencers are sharing important insights, thought leadership, and great ideas for you to implement in your own business strategies. Second, by digging through who they follow and who they mention, you can continue to build up your own sphere of influencers and followers. Don't be afraid to check out other real estate professionals out there and reach out to them. It's all a part of building up that strong brand identity and online presence. 49% of Twitter users follow and interact with brands on the platform. That's nearly half of the Twitter population out there who are actively looking to engage with the brands and thought leaders they follow on Twitter. What better reason do you need to stay active on Twitter? To get you started, we're sharing our top 10 choices for real estate influencers for you to start building up your following. Ready to start building? Follow these 10 real estate influencers. 1. Chris Smith @chris_smth The co-founder of Curaytor, a sales and marketing coaching company and author of two best-selling books, Smith hosts the weekly chat on Twitter #WaterCooler where you can find plenty of others in the real estate industry chatting and exchanging ideas.

These 3 Mistakes Are Killing Your Twitter Page
Are you terrible at Twitter? Because of its ability to help you connect with more influencers than any other social network, Twitter is a platform you should be focusing on. According to Chris Smith, Twitter is a "bigger pond," but not as many people are fishing in it. What this means for you is more untapped potential. While Facebook is great for keeping in touch with old college roommates or family across the country, Twitter is centered around having real-time conversations. To help you strengthen your presence on Twitter, here are some of the top mistakes people make and what you can do to fix them. 1. You're not tweeting enough. One of the most common mistakes people make is that they're not tweeting enough. While you might be used to Facebook or Instagram and don't want to inundate your followers with constant posts, the Twitter sphere is more accepting of large volumes of tweets. Because Twitter streams move in real time, you can tweet 20 times a day without overwhelming your followers. Not only can you tweet often, you can also send out the same content multiple times as long as you space it out. In fact, tweets that go out the second time get 80% more engagement than the first time it goes out.

Following #ICSF: Day 3 at Inman Connect SF
Move, Inc. CEO Ryan O'Hara talking about Realtor.com's rivalry with Zillow ("Competition will make us both better") and News Corp.'s plans for the portal on day three of Inman Connect SF. The portal also won "Most Innovative Marketing Strategy" for its bus tours of open houses in New York City during Inman's annual Innovator Awards. Other winners included CRMLS for Most Innovative MLS or Association and Redfin for their "Book It Now" consumer facing appointment setting technology. See a full list of winners here. Today, we're continuing this week's coverage of the conference by compiling the best tweets of tech advice and business wisdom straight from conference attendees themselves. (See Day One and Day Two.) *** Redfin - "Empathy is the currency of trust." - Jason Aleem, Redfin District Manager | How To Be Truly Customer Focused #ICSF Paul Hagey - Block out times to make phone calls and follow up. Protect that time block, @timheyl #ICSF realtor.com® pro - Nothing has changed: follow up IMMEDIATELY if you want any chance to get the lead to the next level (think: SALE!) #ICSF Jay Thompson - Before investing in any portal, start working on your profile. Get that built up first. #icsf Paul Hagey - Focus on low-hanging fruit, responsive leads. Don't waste time - Scott Segall #ICSF

What is Periscope and How Can it Grow Your Business?
The demand for video in real estate has never been higher. According to NAR, eighty-five percent of buyers and sellers want to work with an agent who uses video. While some agents have started using video to connect with their clients, a new technology is gaining popularity, changing the way real estate does video and social marketing. Periscope (owned by Twitter) was released to the public in late March, boasting a way for people to connect in real time. The app, which is available for Apple and Android, allows users to stream live videos from anywhere. When you create a broadcast or "scope," you can show viewers what's happening around you in that moment. Viewers who tune in can follow you, comment in your live stream and "heart" your scope. Hearts are equivalent to favorites on Twitter or likes on Facebook — they measure your popularity. While your scope is live, anyone can tune in to see what's going on. You and your viewers can also share your live scope on Twitter, reaching an even wider audience. After you end your broadcast, your scope will be available for the next 24 hours in the app. However, you can also save your broadcasts and publish them on YouTube. While this technology is still new, those who have become more familiar with the app (such as social media strategist Katie Lance) suggest creating a new scope every 24 hours. In real estate, there are a number of ways you can connect with potential and current clients with this new tool. Here are just a few ideas: 1. Stream Home 'Sneak Peeks' - Probably one of the most popular ways to use Periscope in real estate is creating live home tours or a pre-open house sneak peek. By live broadcasting a home sneak peek, agents will be able to reach a wider audience since your video will be viewable to anyone on Periscope. This could allow you to reach potential buyers who can't travel to the area multiple times or take the time off work. While you'll probably pull in viewers who live on the other side of the world and have no interest in buying your listing, they could ask some good questions that are relevant to viewers who are actively searching for a home in your area. A large number of viewers can also boost your popularity as a "scoper." More viewers means you're likely to receive more "hearts" on your video which boosts your popularity.

4 Worst Twitter Advertising Mistakes
You've read the Quick Guide for Twitter Advertising, which is an excellent start to social media marketing. But knowing what not to do can be just as important as knowing what to do. Avoid these four Twitter marketing mistakes to make sure that your ads reap maximum conversions. 1. Advertising Without a Plan Don't try to guess for success. Investing in ads without a plan could lead to precious dollars down the proverbal drain. If you don't like Twitter's built-in system, take the time to find an app or software that helps you track your conversions in a way that makes sense to you. Then run multiple campaigns at once, or A/B tests, in order to learn which approaches bring the best results. Variables to success may include targeted demographics, posting times, tone of voice and image subjects, among others. If your tracking demonstrates similar conversion rates with more than one campaign, you may not need to choose between them. Think about Geico, which runs ads with Flo and Maxwell the pig simultaneously. Different campaigns may draw in different audiences, and that's terrific! But you won't be able to confirm your success or revise missed opportunities without a plan and tracking tools. 2. Succumbing to Spontaneous Hashtagging Promoted Tweets with hashtags can draw a 122% increase in engagement compared to tweets without hashtags. Hashtags are integral to success! Just make sure that you don't misuse them.

#ICNY Day 2: Rupert Murdoch, Big Data, and Beyond
The second full day of Inman Connect NY began with Rupert Murdoch's highly anticipated keynote speech. Murdoch offered a glimpse of what realtor.com may become under News Corp's guidance, including how he intends to grow the portal by promoting via News Corp's other media properties like the Wall Street Journal. Day two also saw other real estate luminaries like Trulia's Pete Flint and RE/MAX CEO Dave Liniger take the stage. We continued to follow the action today by keeping up with the conference's attendees via Twitter (see our coverage of day one here). See below for our compilation of the best tweets of the day. ### Rosemary Buerger - Why Realtor.com? It has the most up to date data and attracts transaction ready consumers via Rupert Murdoch #ICNY Ben Kinney - Rupert Murdoch to leverage media assets ie papers, tv, etc to grow realtor.com #ICNY @rupertmurdoch humble well spoken gentleman Chris Nichols - Is REALTOR.com the right name? "I think so, what the hell does Zillow mean? - @rupertmurdoch #ICNY .LUXURY - "Be ambitious, take risks, and don't be afraid of failure." - Rupert Murdoch #ICNY #wisewords Robert Gil - Rupert Murdoch on Move acquisition: "We don't want to replace agents; you are crucial" #ICNY" Ethan Beute - "We want the shortest distance between the American dream & a family's reality to be through @realtordotcom" - Rupert Murdoch #ICNY

Getting Started With Twitter Analytics For Real Estate
Ever wonder just how many people are actually seeing your tweets? Since the inception Twitter of in 2006, people have wondered that very question and really there was no certifiable way to know. Well wonder no more. After announcing a web analytics service way back in 2011, the service is finally became available to the general public last fall. Here's a quick rundown on what this new service has to offer and how you can be putting it to good use to help understand how to promote your real estate business. How To Start Using Twitter Analytics To start tracking your tweets, all you have to do is go to http://analytics.twitter.com and login using your Twitter account. At that point Twitter, will start tracking all future tweets. Unfortunately they don't do retroactive tracking of your previous posts, so you'll have to start tweeting to see any results. It may take a few days before you start getting enough data collected to see any patterns. Though with that said, one handy thing is this data comes in live, so as soon as you post a tweet, you should see some info rolling in. Impressions and Engagements There are two main metrics that Twitter uses to measure each tweet: Impressions and Engagements. Impressions are how many people actually saw your tweet in their stream. Engagements are how many people interacted with your tweet. Interactions aren't limited to retweets and favorites, they encompass anytime someone touched your tweet, whether they clicked a hashtag or link, viewed the whole conversation, clicked your avatar, followed you, replied, or any other way a user action applicable to a tweet. It's a very interesting metric because it really shows whether your tweet had any type of impact. The engagement rate is the number of engagements divided by the total number of impressions.

What the Heck is a #Hashtag and When Should You Use Them?
So what the heck is a hashtag? Well, let's do a little history. In July 2009, Twitter rolled out an update which allowed for users to categorize their tweets with other users on the platform with the use of a "#" and then the categorization, i.e. #realestate. When these were included in a tweet the characters following the "#" would hyperlink to all the tweets containing that specific hashtag. In 2010, Twitter introduced "Trending Topics." These topics would include hashtags which were gaining popularity and would be posted on the Twitter homepage and user pages. Since then Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, Kickstarter, Vine, Tumblr and Google+ have adopted hashtags as an easy way for users to categorize their posts.

Twitter for Real Estate: To Tweet or Not to Tweet and Other Good Questions
Guest contributor Grant Boelter of REALTOR®Mag says: Few small real estate offices have a staff position with "social media expert" in the job description. Finding the time to tweet and do it well can be a challenge, especially if you're not sure where to start. But with a little strategic planning, you can easily get your Twitter feed off the ground, or resurrect it if it's been lying dormant. Ignore Twitter and its 255 million regular users, and you're missing the chance to engage with customers for free on a personal level, while driving traffic back to your website. Here are the answers to a few common questions many brokers have before getting started: How do we find an audience? If you've never used Twitter, it's important to understand that your tweets are seen only by those who've chosen to follow your brokerage online. (Following is a simple matter of clicking on the Follow button from your Twitter account.) Connect to your built-in audiences by linking to your Twitter account from your website, e-newsletter, and other social media accounts. Follow other organizations in your community and engage with them by "favoriting" and retweeting items that are relevant to your audience. They're likely to return the favor down the road. If you're starting from scratch, here are some more ideas for building your audience. How can we make time for Twitter? Develop a social media calendar that highlights interesting facts about the neighborhoods you work in, specific areas of expertise, or seasonally appropriate updates. Posting on Twitter should also be part of your marketing publication schedule, so whenever you're putting out any type of communication – new listings, open houses, news on local real estate trends – also share it on Twitter. But be sure to not overwhelm your followers with only listing and open house information. Your goal is to stay timely, consistent, and relevant to your followers in order to build brand loyalty over time.

Twitter: The Modern Way to Invest in Future Clients
I'm a tech guy. I have some knowledge of the real estate industry as a whole, but I wouldn't know the first thing about about how to select an agent. Do I go with the big name I've heard from advertisements? Do I ask a friend if they have a reference? Maybe I go online and do a Google search? I think a mixed combination of the three with one more element. The Ace up the sleeve in this modern day: Twitter. About two years ago, I began following a woman by the name of Stephanie LoVerde, Twitter handle @stephloverde. I didn't follow her because she was a real estate agent. I was just looking for people around the city who could give me perspective and maybe open my eyes to some things I haven't yet experienced in Chicago. I noticed some check-ins via Foursquare at a few places I had not visited as well as some positive tweets about the city. If you're not familiar with the platform, Foursquare is a social media app for sharing places you visit. As the website states, "Foursquare makes apps that help people keep up and meet up with friends, and discover great places. Swarm is for people who want the fastest and easiest way to connect with their friends. The Foursquare app is for explorers who want to know about the best spots, and to share what they've found with others." Connecting to Human Emotion via the Internet It wasn't until about two months of following LoVerde that I pieced together she was a real estate agent. I added her to my favorites list and began to connect with her. From following her, I gather that she is upbeat, successful and personable. Her Twitter bio reads: "Tech Savvy REALTOR® with @bairdwarner. 2013 Chicago Rookie of the Year. Workaholic. Chicago Lover. Optimist. Social Media Enthusiast. Runner. Natural Redhead."

What You Missed at #RealTech2014
RealTech 2014 kicked off in Las Vegas today. Attendees of Reesio's one-day conference heard from thought-leaders like Better Homes and Gardens CEO Sherry Chris, Zillow's newly-minted VP of Industry Development Curt Beardsley, Joel Burslem of 1000watt, and more. The big topics of the day ranged from dual agency to consumer search and data--lots of data. Because this up-and-coming annual event is still flying under of most real estate pros, we took to Twitter to follow it. Below is a compilation of the best 140-word snippets of wisdom from #RealTech2014. If you couldn't make the conference, you still have a chance experience Reesio live! Register today for their upcoming webinar with RE Technology to learn how brokers are taking control of their data and integrating applications to solve problems for agents and consumers. Wendy Lee - "Followers are not like knick knacks, once you collect them you need to interact with them" @JoshFlagg1 #RealTech2014 Chris&Karen Highland - Quote of the day, "Information wants to be free, information wants to be expensive." Stuart Brand #RealTech2014 Pendo Rent - It's not about who owns the data, it's about who delivers the data to the consumer best. @JanOBrien #RealTech2014 pic.twitter.com/InFQEUA1Lx Curt Whitesell - The #MLS can't provide the data the way consumers need it #blc @MIBORBoard #RealTech2014

Crowdsourcing: Tips and Tricks for Facebook, Twitter and Instagram
Recently, we shared how Pinterest is a great way for brokers to crowdsource their content, but this time around we want to explain how the other social networks we use everyday can be just as helpful. Crowdsourcing is something that every broker should be doing as it allows a collective group of people to assist your marketing efforts by making it simple for prospective clients to find photos, seek advice and learn more about a listing or community from other homeowners in the area. Is there any surprise that Facebook is on this list? Now having over one billion members, Facebook has proven to be a valuable resource to brokers looking for feedback or that want to bounce ideas off of other industry professionals. Every person has a different story, which means that you can gain insight from other brokers' past experiences. The real estate industry is very competitive, but it tends to be a friendly group. Crowdsourcing is an opportunity to find out what other brokers think about marketing tactics, home prices or even how to handle those not so fun clients. It's as simple as posting your question and waiting for the feedback to start rolling in. Although Twitter may not come to mind when looking for ways to crowdsource, but you'd be surprised at how effective it can actually be. Spreading the word about a particular neighborhood, school district or anything else to make a community more appealing can easily be done in a 140 characters or less.

Twitter Cards and Your Real Estate Social Strategy
Twitter recently announced that it is making changes to expanded tweets with the introduction of revamped "Twitter Cards." The new changes will enable "mobile deep linking" and will benefit organizations that use Twitter as a part of their marketing strategy. These benefits will come with a friendlier user experience when navigating from a Tweet to an external page or app. Resulting in a more visually stimulating experience, Twitter Cards will use meta data within the digital content being shared in order to determine which kind of card will be displayed when the Tweet is expanded. There are six different types of "Twitter Cards" currently available: Summary Card: Default card, including a title, description, thumbnail, and Twitter account attribution. Photo Card: A Tweet sized photo card. Gallery Card: A Tweet card geared toward highlighting a collection of photos. App Card: A Tweet card for providing a profile of an application. Player Card: A Tweet sized video/audio/media player card. Product Card: A Tweet card to better represent product content. As you can see, not all of the variations of the "Twitter Card" will have a huge impact on the kind of content you share as a real estate business, but a few of them definitely will.

Digital REALTORS® and the Vine App
Guest contributor Delta Media Group says: Part of being a Digital REALTOR® is staying on top of the latest technologies, and knowing if and when to implement them. A new one might be right up your alley. If you're not familiar with the Vine app, now's your chance. Vine allows you to create six-second videos that are easily shared within its interface. It's a newly-launched app owned by Twitter, and a great way to quickly show listings. Facebook typically hasn't been a great format for directly marketing listings because it's more personal. People use Facebook to connect with you and, well, network. It's a great way to communicate with people you've met and to keep your name in front of them. But Facebook has often been misused by agents looking to sell, sell, sell. People on Facebook don't want to be sold, sold, sold to any more than the person you just met at the PTA meeting wants to hear about every listing you have the moment you meet her. She might eventually use you as her agent, but not if you immediately turn her off. That's where Vine is different. A real estate purchase is, at its core, often based in emotion. If a would-be buyer doesn't feel a connection with a house, he likely wouldn't be buying it.

Holiday Deal: Win a Kindle Fire HD from REI Wise
REI Wise wants to build a more connected Commercial Real Estate community this holiday season. To accomplish this, the company is giving away a Kindle Fire HD tablet to one lucky Twitter follower. This contest is intended as a way to help CRE professionals better learn how to use Twitter for business development and grow relationships. To enter the contest, simply tweet and retweet updates containing the hashtag #12DaysofCRE. Each tweet with that hashtag equals one contest entry, so tweet early and tweet often! The 12 Days of CRE starts today Monday, December 10 and continues through Friday, December 21 at 5pm EST. REI Wise will tally the total number of tweets and one entry will be chosen at random and awarded a Kindle Fire HD. Winner will be contacted via Twitter. Click through to the next page to see the official rules.

Do You Aim for Convenience or Results on Social Media?
Do you set everything to automatic fill, order, payment, or posting? Or do you take the time to understand your audience and prepare information accordingly? At the end of every GEEKY 2.0 class, Community Manager Chad Hyams is allowed a few minutes to climb up on his 'soap box' and vent to the class about something that people are doing that he doesn't think they should be doing! It is always very entertaining and usually educational. During our Twitter for Real Estate class, Chad was really worked up about a certain question asked by a student. She asked, "My co-worker said somehow you can link your Facebook to your Twitter, so when you post it automatically tweets. Would you recommend this?" If you are automatically posting between your Twitter, Facebook and Instagram accounts for your business, STOP IT! While convenient, this auto-post between your social media sites will not deliver results.

You are YOUR Brand – Be Brand Strong Online
With the variety of ways to build your brand online, we decided to make it easy for you in today's blog. We want to share with your our favorite five ways to build a stronger brand online. Blogging. Establish yourself as a local expert with blogging. If blogging is included in your marketing efforts and you distribute your content on multiple sites, you will be exposing your brand across the web, therefore maximizing your presence and sharing your expertise. You'll also begin to enhance your search rankings for local real estate search key phrases. Endorsements. Being active on sites like Homes.com where we allow you to be endorsed or gain testimonials from your clients can be a HUGE advantage! These endorsements will allow the online community to see how others have succeded in working with you.

Gold Medal Twitter Flubs
If these Olympic games have taught us nothing else, they've shown us that an individual's Tweet can impact their entire team and even their entire nation. And, in my opinion, they've given real estate brokers a good reason to revisit their social media policy and take a closer look at the impression their agents/employees are making online. Twitter No-No's The Olympic athletes I referenced at the beginning of this article were lambasted for making racist and otherwise-deeply-offensive remarks on Twitter. You'd think it would be common sense to abstain from that kind of activity on a public forum. Alas, you can't underestimate common sense enough, so let's lay out a few Twitter no-no's you should share with your team: Don't make comments about politics, religion, race, sexual orientation, or any other even remotely incendiary subject. In doubt about whether or not something is incendiary? Then just stay away from it! Don't criticize the company or representatives of the company. Complaining about management, co-workers and company policy is simply not okay. Don't reveal business secrets or plans for the future. There are some things your competitors shouldn't know. You should go further than mentioning these Twitter mistakes in a team meeting. I recommend developing a formal social media policy.

Tips on How to Optimize Your Twitter Account for SEO
Guest contributor Obeo says: Okay, you have a Twitter Account, and you feel pretty good about how your using it to engage with consumers. BUT, have you optimized your Twitter account for SEO? It may be easier than you think. SEO and social media have steadily been moving closer together and becoming more dependent upon each other. But community should always come before SEO. Check out these easy ways to optimize your Twitter account for SEO: 1. Use strong keywords and phrases in your Twitter's 160 character bio – on Twitter, your 'bio' is actually the meta description for your Twitter Home Page, making it an incredibly important aspect of SEO. 2. Before uploading your profile pic, name the picture file using keywords. Like "Joe-Jones-Real-Estate." The search engines will index the file name, giving it far more SEO juice than a standard file name.

Improve Your Social Media Presence on Your Smartphone
Have you heard the term "work smarter, not harder"? Well this applies to your social media strategy, too. It is just as convenient to manage your social media accounts on your smartphone, as it is on your computer. By introducing you to several new apps, websites and techniques, you will be left wondering what took you so long to start interacting with clients and industry insiders on the go! We have compiled five tips to build your business's social media presence with your smartphone. 1.) Download the right apps. While basic, this tip will give you the push you need to take your social media strategy mobile. You can download apps for Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Facebook and WordPress to either your iPhone or Android devices. Facebook has a Facebook Pages app, so you can keep your personal Facebook account separate from your business Facebook Page on your smartphone. If you use the WordPress blog platform for your business, you can also download the app so you can create new blog posts from anywhere. 2.) Use a social dashboard. Download a social dashboard app such as HootSuite. This free tool syncs with your Facebook and Twitter accounts to let you respond quickly to Facebook and Twitter activity, jump in relevant conversations and pre-schedule updates you want to distribute throughout the day. HootSuite also lets you set up different streams for topics of interest, such as "real estate" or "home buying," so you can stay on top of relevant industry discussions and news.

Stats I Really Want From Twitter and Other Services
Guest contributor Chris Brogan of ChrisBrogan.com says: Numbers are a tricky business. I was just thinking about Twitter and asking myself what would make it more valuable. I'm curious if you agree on these ideas, so I thought I'd put it out: Stats I Want from Twitter and Other Services Top 10 people talking about me. Top 10 people talking about my product (or search term). Top 10 people responding and engaging with me (measured via # of replies in a set amount of time). Top 10 people I talk about. Topics I talk about most often.

Word of Mouth. Via Twitter.
Two separate “events” happend today, one on Facebook, the other on Twitter. They got me to thinking. << Uh oh, there he goes, thinking again… >> First, I saw this posted on a Facebook friends status update: Do you use Twitter? I’ve been informed it’s a must have in real estate but I just can’t seem to get into tweeting. Input is appreciated. Well, since he asked, I provided some input: A “must have”?? Hardly. That said, I like Twitter, use it a lot, and have met some great people through it. Several of which have bought or sold a home with us. But whoever says Twitter is a must have is an idiot. Nothing but doing your job and providing superior service is a “must have”… That’s what I said, and I’m sticking with it. Twitter is a “must have” in real estate? Puhleaze.

Practical Guide on How to Use Twitter for Real Estate Marketing
This article comes to us from the Dynamic Page Solutions blog, courtesy of contributor Anita Koppens. Chris Taylor of Mashable fame announced yesterday that the count for active Twitter users has hit 100 million. That’s about half of the registered users but still an impressive number of people using the microblogging website on a fairly regular basis. I know that there’s an abundance of you out there that roll your eyes when Twitter is mentioned. I’ve been known to roll my eyes a’plenty too, but there are measurable suggestions that Google algorithms analyze the level of a website’s engagement in social media. Positive results = positive ranking factor. I believe for real estate agents, a resistance to adopting Twitter is primarily because it’s a challenge to understand how to apply Twitter to your professional life.

Real Estate Marketing Online: Building Your Online Community
When you take a look at your broker website analytics, take a peek at Referring Websites. You are likely to find that one of the top referrers to your website is facebook.com. Your broker marketing efforts should include a presence in the world of social media. Now take a look at your company Facebook page. If you don’t have one, create one today. It only takes a few minutes. With a little effort, you should be able to get 500 people or more to “like” your page. As a result, this will help you generate about 5% of the overall traffic to your real estate website. If you do more, your percentage of referring traffic will be even bigger. The strategy here is to stay connected to your agents and your customers. Many brands fail at this because they take a corporate approach rather than an individual or entrepreneurial approach. The advantage that individuals and entrepreneurs have is significant. They know people personally and connecting to them on Facebook is a natural extension.  

Is Your Website Obsolete?
Is Your Website Obsolete? Today I ran across an article that asked an intriguing question: should you shut down your website and refocus your energy on social media? "Of course not," was my immediate, adamant response. Thinking it through, I'm still 100% convinced that there's no reason to kill off your website, but there are some interesting points for discussion.

Twitter for Real Estate
In the world of Twitter, I feel like an ancient. I started playing around with in June of 2007 and framed it up for the real estate industry in March of 2008 with a post called Twitterstate: Twitter for real estate. That post has received 76,404 visits - making it one of the WAV Groups more popular posts. When did Twitter launch? Twitter launched in July of 2006. WAV Group is not a social media consulting firm, but we understand it, we use it, and to a great extent, we encourage our customers to use social media to communicate to customers. Social media is a communication platform - ranking in popularity behind telephones and email, but ahead of cell phones, fax machines, television, radio, and of course - newspapers.

Trouble in Twittersphere...
"Just woke up to the sound of my alarm.... ahh!" "FYI- I am moving on Saturday and need boxes - have any?" "If they say TVs are so bad for you then why do they have one in every hospital room?" "Mac or PC?" "I'm so cool I make the ice cubes shiver!" Do you ever get the feeling that your Twitter feed is a stream of too much virtual consciousness? SuperNews recently created a cartoon to showcase the ridiculous side of Twitter... when used for musings, ramblings, and other dead giveaways to social isolation.

Twitterstate: Twitter for Real Estate Professionals
I started using Twitter again recently because of some blog posts that I read by some pretty influential people. What is Twitter? Twitter is a very easy-to-use, real-time messaging system for groups and friends. Another way to think of it would be text messaging (or instant messaging) from one person to many people at the same time. The length of each message is about 1 sentence (140 characters). Twitter is free and easy to use. When I got started with Twitter in June of 2007, it was a relatively new thing. The company launched in March of 2006. My first reaction was "interesting waste of time." Now Twitter has grown up, but is still in the early adopter phase, and can still be a waste of time. Those using it "bend" toward technology professionals, and it is popular among real estate bloggers. Today, I see the following uses which can make Twitter valuable for real estate professionals.

Looking for a Lead Generation Tool for 50% Off?
RETechnology.com subscribers have an opportunity to purchase ReachFactor at a 50% discount this month! This is a great opportunity to start 2011 off with a new solution offered at a low cost. Haven’t heard of ReachFactor? ReachFactor helps real estate professionals reach more buyers and sellers. It is a lead generation and online marketing tool designed to help real estate professionals reach prospects in search engines and social media who are looking specifically for a real estate agent. ReachFactor's core features include a Web Survey technology that allows agents to automatically survey past clients and collect feedback, and an online syndication engine that helps the agent spread their reviews and listings across search engines, real estate portals, Craig's List, Facebook, and Twitter with just a few clicks. A search engine optimized online profile at ReachFactor.com displays all of the agent's assets and sends new customer inquiries directly to the agent. Agents using ReachFactor require no technical expertise and spend as little as 20 minutes to set up a profile.   Google Eliminates Real Estate How to Create a Facebook Fan Page Missed the Boat: Six Sad Reasons Most Agents Fail

The Office - Twitter Spoof
If the following quotes ring any bells... "I guess the atmosphere that I've tried to create here is that I'm a friend first and a boss second, and probably an entertainer third.""One word, two syllables: Demarcation." ...then you too shared the love of "Office" humor. Between Dwight's neurotic antics, Michael's unique ability to make any situation awkward and Jim's ability to remain the cool prankster and female heartthrob, the TBS show The Office rarely fails to take everyday normal and make it hilarious. HubSpot's Marketing team are also fans of The Office, as they have created a number of parody skits mirroring characters from the popular show. This week's Friday Funny showcases HubSpot's expansion into video entertainment. The topic of this episode is of course Twitter.

What Is In Your Twitter Toolbox?
If you set out to learn something, you might as well learn from the best. One of the pioneers of social media marketing is Chris Brogan, founder of New Marketing Brands. He works with large and mid-sized companies to improve online business communications like marketing and PR. With a vast Twitter following and a number of tools by his side, Brogan consults and speaks about how to better utilize Twitter for business developement. What type of tools does he use to make Twitter easier to use, and more effective? Keep reading to find out.

Ten Tips for Using Twitter to Drive Traffic!
Real estate professionals are tapping into the marketing resources Twitter facilitates! They know it is more than a vehicle to complain about your coffee spilling in route to work. Agents and brokers know the power Social Media has to drive traffic to their company site, or blog. Social Media guru Mark Hayward, who writes for Problogger, has learned how to harness Twitter and use it to drive traffic to his blog, which drives traffic to his business. He states that Twitter is not easy to learn. So he recently shared ten tips for using Twitter to drive traffic to a blogsite. These tips, however, are just as valuable for driving traffic to property virtual tour, your single property website, technology business or brokerage. Using Twitter can take time, but these tips will help you generate traffic by making sure you do things like complete your bio or add branding to your background.  Online networking is a science, but it is worth learning. To read Mark's ten tips for using Twitter, please continue...