Real Estate Social Media Training: Optimizing Twitter For Your Real Estate Business Part 14

January 11, 2012

Whenever you follow someone on Twitter, Twitter sends that person an email notifying them they have a new follower.  The email looks like this:

From: Twitter
Subject: Your Name (@YourTwitterAccount Name) is now following you on Twitter!

Here is an example of poorly designed Twitter profile from an actual BC real estate professional who followed me (only the Your Name and Twitter Account Name have been changed):

Your Name: John Smith
Twitter Account Name: Johnsmith1

Profile Bio:

Realtor. Enjoys golfing and fishing. Former electrical engineer and farmer.
Surrey, BC

Tweets: 8
Following: 26
Followers: 12

The first thing your potential follower sees about you is the subject line of this email.  The subject line contains your name plus your Twitter account name.  It’s easy to not gain your prospect’s interest or attention if neither of these names says anything about your real estate expertise.  In this person’s case neither of these names says anything about their profession.  Also note that his profile says more about his personal life than his professional life.  Though we know he is a real estate professional in Surrey, BC this is still not very revealing.  Surrey is the second largest city in BC (after Vancouver) with a population of 474,000.  It is very unlikely he is expert in all geographic areas with such a sizable populace.  Plus he has sent only a handful of tweets ever and has very few followers.  Not someone I’d be very interested in following, either as a buyer, seller or potential referral partner.

Here’s a revised bio for the same person I’d find much more compelling:

Your Name: Surrey BC Realtor
Twitter Account Name: @GuildfordNewton

Profile Bio:

John Smith, Surrey BC Realtor since 1995 specializing in the Guildford & Newton communities.  Over 1000 homes sold!  Free home staging when you list your home with me.

Tweets: 1125
Following: 13,255
Followers: 12,934

Filed under: Marketing Tips,Networking Tips,Social Networking

Tags: buyers agent, listings agents, real estate internet marketing tips, real estate twitter marketing, realtor, twitter marketing