Twitter has helped my Kansas City Real Estate Business in 3 Areas

When I first joined Twitter in 2007 I had no idea how it would change my real estate career. Matter of fact, you can say it has changed my life. Honestly I think I signed up for Twitter and did nothing with it until I read a blog post from a successful real estate agent who had wrote about their successes from Twitter. The real estate agent suggested listening to a webinar presentation by Nicole and Reggie Nicolay and walked away saying ‘I GET IT!’ Literally, I felt like one of those cartoon characters with a light bulb over my head!



If you’re not a fan of Twitter, I understand. It’s not for everyone and that’s okay. Until I found the benefits, I wasn't a fan either.



I can only account for my experiences. Twitter has served as a an incredibly powerful tool in three specific areas:



1. Networking. Through Twitter I’ve had the pleasure of building trusted relationships with a wide variety of individuals, most of whom I never would have been met otherwise. Just this past week I have connected with 5 Kansas Citians who are preparing their homes to sell. I have also connected with some great Kansas City business people. These connections constantly ‘retweet’ my tweets to their followers and are outspoken about how much they enjoy my news and the information I provide. It’s that word-of-mouth advertising that is priceless! Twitter also works on connecting with followers daily.

• Kansas City Business Ideas:  You can tweet local information. As real estate agent, I tweet out great local content, real estate stats, subdivision stats, community info, calendar of events, little known facts about your area, real estate news and market reports for your community? You are probably sending that type of stuff out anyways via postcards or email – right? Why not take that same info and turn it into 20 or 30 different tweets?

2. Business. You'll find that people who follow you on Twitter may not be on your database. People on Twitter are people who have clicked a button and said “YES I want to hear from your!” These followers are some of our most loyal fans. Connect with colleagues and start referring business.

• Kansas City Ideas: Do a search on Twitter: Type in:  Your City + City” (fill in the blank to whatever city you serve – i.e. Olathe, Overland Park, Belton, Liberty and so on) – see who is looking for your profession in your area. Follow those people! Also, don’t be shy about inviting people to follow you on Twitter. Download your database into a .CSV file and then upload it to Twitter. You can then choose who you’d like to send a Twitter invite to. The more people you follow, the more will follow you! If you're just building a database, try using Twellow. It is like a yellow pages. Try looking connecting with people in your line of work whether you're a carpenter, roofer or insurance salesperson. 

3. Exposure: Twitter has allowed me to raise the Dowell Taggart Team's profile and brand in a significant way. My ideas and news are distributed to a much broader audience than traditional marketing and the only cost is time. As a Kansas City business person, the exposure you could receive by being on Twitter is enormous! Another advantage of Twitter is it is picked up on the "Rea' Time" search models that many of the search engines like Google are starting to use . To do a Real Time Search, do a search on Google. Search Kansas City. Then click on updates on the left side - you may need to click more then updates. The results are from Google's real time search.

• Kansas City Idea: Make sure you ask people to follow you on Twitter. Add a link to your email signature, any print materials, your listing flyers, postcards, the home page of your website – anywhere where someone may want to contact you!
• Another Idea: Use descriptive nouns (keywords) in your tweets. This will help people find your tweets easier and then follow you faster.

My catalyst for writing this short post is yesterday I heard a Kansas City business person who talk about how ineffective Twitter is and how it is a waste of their time. When reviewed their Twitter account last night, I noticed that they had 30 followers and had sent out 18 tweets. Most of their tweets were about selling. There was no relationship building in their tweets. No good information was being sent. Remember, when tweeting, don't do the  "what is in it for me plan". Do the "whats in it for them plan." 



If I can be of any help, please feel free to contact me. In the near future I will be holding more social media workshops including workshops on Twitter. If interested, join the Facebook Group, "Kansas City Networking." I will post events on the calendar.

Lets start by connecting on Twitter. My username is @DowellTaggart

Let us know what you think or add to our blog by writing a comment.

Blog post written by the Dowell Taggart Team of RE/MAX Best Associates

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