700 New Twitter Followers in 7 Days
This past week has been a pretty exciting week around here. Last week, I began managing the Inman News’ social media streams. I’m pretty excited to say that within the 1st 7 days we have over 700 new Twitter followers.
I am fired up about the results we have had by simply ‘turning up the dials.’ So how can YOU grow your Twitter traffic?
Here are my top 4 tips plus a cool update from Twitter’s blog:
1. Work smart. Have a plan. Don’t get distracted.
I could just end my blog right now because that’s really the core of what I’m doing to grow our follower list at Inman. I have a simple plan that I follow every day. Where do you want to drive traffic to? What message do you want to convey? One of my favorite Twitter products is HootSuite.com which allows you to plan your tweets – much like drip marketing. Spend 1 hour a day on Twitter and plan out 95% of your tweets. Also, Hootsuite just launched their iPhone app this week. This is quickly becoming my favorite Twitter app.
2. Don’t be passive. Twitter moves fast – you better keep up.
Twitter is not Facebook. Twitter is not email. Don’t make the mistake of thinking you can just tweet once or twice a day and that’s going to cut it. Log onto Twitter and look at your Twitter stream. Scroll to the bottom of the page – when’s the last tweet? An hour ago? Half an hour? For me it’s 2 minutes ago. If you aren’t on your follower’s radar– they will NEVER see your tweets – so be aggressive. Word of caution: don’t just tweet to tweet. Put out good content and good links.
3. To be followed you must be a follower.
Twitter is not a “wait and see” marketing tool. You can’t expect for people to just find you and follow you. One of the fastest ways to generate new followers is to follow like-minded people. Use the search function and search for people who are your target audience. In TweetDeck you can save searches so if you plug in a specific search like “Manhattan Real Estate,” anytime someone tweets about that subject, you will be notified
4. Recognize and connect.
Aren’t you surprised at the number of people who just spew information out there and never interact!? Don’t be one of those! Your daily plan has to include checking to see who mentioned you, retweeting others, and responding to DM’s. This may be the last point to this blog but this is SO important. A great video for breaking this all down in 10 minutes a day is a fantastic video by Laura Roeder.
One last thing – breaking news from Twitter on their blog yesterday.
Twitter is beta testing a new function for companies called “Contributors” – it enables users to engage in more authentic conversations with businesses by allowing those organizations to manage multiple contributors to their account. This could be huge for brokerages – you could have the CEO, Broker/Owner and Marketing Director tweet on the same handle – but you would know who “the voice” would be.
These Twitter tips are so easy to do – but they are also so easy NOT to do. For every 5 real estate agents and brokerages on Twitter, there are 25 that are not. The odds are your favor – take advantage of it! And if you’re not yet following me on Twitter yet, click here or here!
posted by: Katie Lance, Marketing Manager, Inman News
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Matt Fagioli | Dec 18, 2009 | Reply
Hey Katie,
Great stuff here. Sounds like you are really kickin’ some butt!
Looking forward to meeting you in NYC
Overland Park Homes for Sale | Dec 18, 2009 | Reply
I think as a Realtor on Twitter your number one goal is to network with like minded people in your area and make more about them then you. Spend more time responding to their tweets then worrying about saying what is happening in your world. Sure, tweet… I’m not saying that, but look at what other people are talking about and engage those people! Don’t try to use your stream as the source for all things Real Estate because in all likelihood no one cares and no one wants to follow someone talking about new listings or subdivisions. I see a lot of ‘Twitter Real Estate Gurus’ (self proclaimed) who tweet random real estate BS and have 1,000 of other followers who only tweet random RE BS as well. I make my living in real estate and don’t follow these other agents because it clutters my stream with listings and RE advertising junk. For someone like Joel it is different because of the line of work he is in, he should want to attract Real Estate practitioners instead of everyday Joe & Susies… but for a local Agent, you are not going to be able to set up a network with many people outside of real estate tweeting listings and RE info. If you were invited to a party at and all you did was pass out information sheets on your listings and ask people if they wanted to buy or sell a house, do you think you would be invited back? Hell no, well that is what twitter is, someone is inviting you to their party because they find you interesting, don’t screw it up by being a tool. More then likely if all you Tweet is about Real Estate then the only followers you will get are other Realtors who are clueless about actually CREATING business (not just followers) from Twitter… and of course, your mom. If that is your goal then great, maybe all you want to do is try to get referrals from other markets… but for me, the key is building relationships with people of similar interests in my area. I would have never found those people by tweeting about real estate. All my followers know I’m in real estate and now come to me for real estate needs because they know me, like me, and trust me.
al | Dec 18, 2009 | Reply
Very Nice!
I’m a follower!
Can you do some reviews? For instance, I just moved and had real trouble actually taking my stuff from one place to another. Then I found out about http://moverscorp.com/
You should do a review on them. I’m sure many people would find this helpful.
Cheers
Laura Roeder | Jan 2, 2010 | Reply
Thanks for linking to my video, I’m glad you found it helpful
Bob Stahl | Jan 5, 2010 | Reply
Congrats on your Twitter success!
Connecting is so important. It was in the days of old-fashioned coffee-and-doughnuts networking and is still in the days of Twitter, blogging, friending, etc. It’s all about relationships.
Round Rock Realtors - Jacci | Jan 8, 2010 | Reply
Congrats and thanks for the great tips. I am already changing some of the things I’ve been doing with twitter.
Simon Cardash | Jan 16, 2010 | Reply
Thanks for the Twitter tips. I will now adapt how I am operating.
Creative Website Help | Feb 23, 2010 | Reply
To me it all depends on how many people you want to have to go your site and how many of those do you want to make your costumers. I think its really easey to just go on facebook and add freinds but its alot harder to convert them to one purchase and even more so to be brand loyal. However i still belive that alot of people just want to follow and they would follow almost anything. It sounds bad but i think its true esspecaily with the people that are just now getting online and joinging social netowrking medias.