Using Twitter to Listen to Your Customers
Like many in the real estate blogosphere I’ve been playing around with Twitter a lot recently. (Follow me here jburslem)
I wrote a post on the Inman Blog recently where I described one application of the service; how you could use it to subscribe to news and essentially build a real time teleprinter for your desktop (using a desktop client like Twhirl).
The group blog agentgenius.com is using Twitter to integrate live feeds of all its contributors “tweets” into a rolling stream of consciousness.
But here’s the killer app for Twitter. I think Jeff Turner might have stumbled on to it in his post when he searched Twitter for the word “Realtor”. Twitter is a fantastic tool for business intelligence.
Why? Because you can use it to hear what your customers, clients, users are saying about you.
I use a site called TweetScan to search for keywords through the Twitterstream – this is what I found out in one sitting for searches on a couple of Real Estate 2.0 sites, for example.
Real-time Twitter Search – Zillow
My takeaway: People are still using Zillow – but disappointed by what they’re seeing. Will they keep coming back?
Real-time Twitter Search – Redfin
My takeaway: People are using Redfin to research the market looking for bargains. Seems like their marketing angle (see Redfin’s Business Model Better for Consumers) is bang on.
These are just a couple of examples, but you can see how you could use Twitter to keep a finger on the pulse of your customers’ feelings.
If I were working in the marketing or communications departments for either of these companies, I’d be trolling the Twitter feeds looking for these themes and answering any questions – so where’s DavidG on Twitter? 
The best thing is that Tweetscan makes it easy to subscribe to an RSS search of a particular keyword (I subscribe to Inman, for example) which makes that job even easier.
Part of the challenge in marketing for many years has been trying to figure out what people think of your product or service. That’s why you often had to resort to focus groups, user questionnaires, surveys and all kinds of brute force methods to figure out what people think.
Twitter on the other hand is a real-time, real-world glimpse into the minds of your customers. Granted right now it’s a small, technologically literate slice of the population using Twitter – but if that’s your demographic, you should be paying attention.
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19 Comment(s)
6 Trackback(s)
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Agent Stealth | Mar 26, 2008 | Reply
Twitter is real-time, and with a market whose consumers are looking for access to information readily and easily – provides great value.
Realtors are purveyors of information. Whomever can get access to that information quickly and deliver it to as many willing recipients as possible, will lead this saturated industry.
Max | Mar 26, 2008 | Reply
Pretty good ideas in your post. Thanks. I especially see a lot of value in real-time search – this can shed some light on a lot of things. Those are live opinions, human behavior and human needs… you can find out what they want
Thanks again, enjoyed reading it!
Bill Rice | Mar 26, 2008 | Reply
Twitter is certainly evolving (from it’s users own creativity) into a serious business tool. From networking, to marketing, to knowledge base it is invaluable to me.
One of my current favorite examples is @mortgageporter (Rhonda Porter). She is using it to communicate with clients on available loan programs and certainly shout out to a financially healthy demographic of techies.
David G from Zillow.com | Mar 26, 2008 | Reply
This post is just the swift kick in the a$$ that I needed. Thank you Joel. If for some crazy reason you find me interesting you can now follow me on twitter (my handle is davidgibbons)
That said I’m still convinced that Twitter’s overrated and a quick visit confirms again that it’s far from optimal for what I do. Our current feedback loops tell me significantly more (both quantitatively and qualitatively) about what our customers think than what twitter status updates do. The twitter user group is actually a pretty small world and twitter could not be a worse interface for trying to help someone who has a problem to use our site. If twitter adds comments to tweets and distributed that conversation as well as it does status’ I would reconsider that opinion but for now it’s not going to be an important tool for me. I will search twitter for feedback when I have absolutely nothing else to do but as an SMM tool it’s less attractive than on-site SMM, the blogosphere and vertical communities (like AR) and I don’t get enough time for those.
Twitter is primarily a broadcast tool and the PR folks are undoubtedly gonna’ love it but there quickly comes a point where broadcasts become spam. I hope it doesn’t happen but just looking at the search you posted the signal to noise ratio is horrible and with them inviting automation via their API it’s only going to get a lot worse.
For now, I remain a skeptic. Like Union Square’s earlier investment in del.icio.us I think this is probably to geeky to cross the chasm. I could be wrong but I am certain that you don’t need to go to twitter to learn that homeowners would be happier to see their homes’ value increasing right now.
Matt McGee | Mar 26, 2008 | Reply
DavidG, I’m tempted to join Twitter and follow you simply for the terrific comment here. It’s refreshing to see someone (else) recognizing Twitter for what it is, and what it isn’t.
Joel, when you call it “a small, technologically literate slice of the population”, you’re being way too generous. It’s not even “small” yet … it’s fractions of fractions of fractions of the population.
I’ll eventually sign up for Twitter, because in my industry (search marketing, SEO, social media) it’s becoming the default way to communicate and interact with my peers. But for the vast majority of business people, there are too many other social marketing tools that are worth time and attention.
Jim Cronin | Mar 26, 2008 | Reply
Its creative thinking and well organized reporting like this that keeps you at the top of my feed reader.
Good stuff Joel.
Alex from CLRSearch.com | Mar 26, 2008 | Reply
Joel, great post on Twitter. I’m a recent convert as my original thoughts were this tool was a bunch of nonsense postings. But after finally joining and following a few select people (like Scoble, Laporte, and others), I’m finding the beauty of this little tool and your post hits the nail on the head of another perfect way of utilizing this technology. The population using it may be small just now, but MySpace and Facebook started small too, don’t forget.
David G, there’s a new tool that came out that might help you in regards to your comment (”If twitter adds comments to tweets and distributed that conversation as well as it does status’ I would reconsider that opinion”). It’s a tool called Quotably (http://quotably.com/). If you have people respond back to your tweets using the @ functions, this is great for following up on them. Check out how Dave Winer’s is set up and I think it’ll give you an idea. I may be way off on what you meant, but thought I would mention it. I do agree with your comment on it being a PR tool. Anyone who follows Jason Calacanis from Mahalo can see that in action
But the beauty of it all is that if you don’t like it, then choose to un-follow. That’s the power of this little tool. Spam me once on twitter, shame on you, spam me twice, shame on me.
BTW, stumbled on your feed just recently, but after having read the last few posts (like this one and the one on redfin), consider me now a regular reader.
Overland Park Real Estate | Mar 26, 2008 | Reply
OK, OK, you got me. I have heard so much about Twitter over the past few months and eventualy signed up for an account. I looked through the site for a while and could not really find a great use for the site to further my business. But now…you have shown me a new angle. I will be checking out TweetScan right after I submit this comment.
Linda Slocum | Mar 27, 2008 | Reply
Great ideas! Love the TweetScan. I use Twitter in combination with my Facebook account.
Joel Burslem | Mar 27, 2008 | Reply
@Matt McGee – I totally agree that it’s a very small slice of the overall population that’s using it, but if your customers are part of that small slice then it certainly behooves you to at least listen to what they’re saying.
Teri L | Mar 27, 2008 | Reply
I use twitter for a lot of things, connecting to local people is my favorite. If you think you are only connecting to a very small, fractional percentage of the population- you are correct. If you think that a very small percentage of the population is not worth the time- you are foolish.
It is because this is a such a small but passionate group of users, that Twitter can put you in the top of fellow Twitterhead’s minds, that makes Twitter one important part of my online presence.
People love that I get Twitter. I don’t spam them, and I don’t shove RE down their throats. I’m there as a person; they get to know me as a person, and I get to know them. It’s an organic way to grow business. I have had a few leads from Twitter.
I’d also like to point out that watching “Realtor” and “real estate” is eye-opening. I recently saw a ranty tweet about how they were approached by a Realtor within hours of tweeting about buying a house. If you are using Twitter for that reason, god help you. This is a smart and savvy group of people who can smell spam from miles away.
Also, we are watching civilians, they are watching us. How do you handle business online? Not on your blog where you are all powerful, but in everyday conversation. How do you conduct yourself? If you thought blogging was transparent, try Twittering about real estate in a conversational way. It’s a great way to get to the core of what makes you, you, as it’s all revealed, 140 characters at a time.
http://www.Twitter.com/TeriLussier
Joel Burslem | Mar 27, 2008 | Reply
Some have pointed out to me you can accomplish the same results by using the TRACK function in Twitter. Just type in “track keyword” and you’ll get updates any time someone Tweets that keyword.
Personally, I like the RSS function of Tweetscan a little better – it’s a more passive way of staying on top of things.
Jason Doyle | Mar 27, 2008 | Reply
Couldnt agree with David G more. Saved me some typing time. Next.
Sparky | Mar 27, 2008 | Reply
Joel – my initial kneejerk to Twitter was less than enthusiastic. Who wants to know that I’m in the restroom? Who cares that I had sushi for lunch? It’s Instant Messaging on Steroids. But after listening to several trusted sources sneeze about it’s application value, I’ve jumped in with both feet. And, as is typical, we have a bunch of complimentary apps like Quotably and Tweetscan that make its value even more pronounced. Thanks for continuing the dialogue….
Ed Kohler | Mar 28, 2008 | Reply
It seems like many real estate businesses are coming from a mindset of broadcasting marketing messages and not necessarily using tools to gather and react to real-time feedback.
Raj Anand | Sep 9, 2008 | Reply
I feel Twitter could be even more useful if used in combination with Location Based Services. Not only real estate but perhaps even for bars, restaurants and clubs. I have tried to predict the future of twitter for marketing in 2010:
http://tinyurl.com/twitter-future
Lloyd Chrein | May 19, 2009 | Reply
I read and enjoy your blog. I wanted to suggest a site to check out, which might be good for a post on online tools for real estate agents and sellers. It’s called TweetLister (http://www.tweetlister.com) and it just launched yesterday. TweetLister allows you to post, schedule and manage real estate listings on Twitter, and collect and download contacts you get through those listings. It’s a free service. We’ve already gotten a good amount of buzz, and I would love to read your take on it.
George | Jul 7, 2009 | Reply
Great perspective! I agree that a good social media strategy is more on listening!
Realtorpress | Feb 24, 2010 | Reply
No one would argue that Twitter has evolved and continues to be a Great Marketing Tool for Real Estate Professionals.
Are you fully utilizing Twitter?
http://www.realtorpress.us/real-estate-professionals-twitter-marketing-services/