A lot of realtors are fascinated by the offering of Twitter. Micro-blogging has become all the rage due to the ability to generate conversations with people on a national, regional and local level. Here are some stategies for Realtors to follow when they are ‘tweeting…’

Here are tips from the CEO of Cultural Sponge, Heather Brown, a marketing and branding company for the 21st century.  http://www.culturalsponge.com

10 Realtor Twitter Mistakes

February 11th, 2010

‘In my past life, I worked for title companies helping Realtors and Lenders increase business. Naturally, when I began creating strategic twitter campaigns, I examined Realtor’s twitter accounts and found ways that I could help them increase business with Twitter.

I found some common mistakes that Realtors made while tweeting. These mistakes may prohibit Realtors  from obtaining their goal of getting buyers and sellers. Here are the mistakes followed by a simple solution.

Mistake #1. Tweeting about mundane things. Do not tweet what you had for dinner and what time you picked up the kids. It’s good to tweet a little bit about everything, but keep your tweets targeted toward your audience.  If you really want to tweet about everyday life for your friends, get a second twitter account. (I use my personal facebook account for friends and family.)

Mistake #2. Tweeting listings. Tweeting listings isn’t a bad thing, if done properly. I’ve seen Realtors copy and paste MLS details into tweets which is a very ineffective way to advertise the listing! Tweet about one or two selling points, be creative and add a directed link back to the listing. For example: “Pool party anyone? 4 bdrm, HUGE diving pool, 3200 sqft, You need to see this house to believe it! details here www.linkhere.com”

Mistake #3. Not Tweeting on a local level. Your potential buyers or sellers either live around your area or want to relocate. Tweet about local events, facts, tips, festivals and news.

Mistake #4. Not giving business & educational tips. Teach your potential clients about the home buying and selling process. Tweet about tips and industry related news.

Mistake #5. Waiting for followers to come to you. Follow others to be followed. Sign up for a twitter automated system like twillow or hootsuite. Search for people tweeting keywords. Follow those people or comment on their tweets. Quickly they will be following you.  Also, you may want to automatically follow people that follow you, twillow has this capability.

Mistake #6. There is no Website on twitter profile. Make sure to list your website and contact information on your twitter profile page.

Mistake #7. Your Twitter name is not your real name. Being a Realtor, you are marketing your services and yourself. A good way to brand your name is to use it in your twitter profile.

Mistake #8. You have no links on tweets. Help increase the optimization of your website by posting links. Track your links through bit.ly or ow.ly

Mistake #9. Posting a logo as a profile picture. It is equally important to post a real picture of yourself as it is to post your name (see mistake #7.)

Mistake #10. You have no interaction. You should look at you home feed at least a few times a week and interact with others. Comment on tweets, answer questions, interact and have fun!’