twitter 101 realtors

Twitter is….

… what’s happening NOW

What is Twitter?

Twitter is an information network made up of 140-character messages called Tweets.

It's a new and easy way to discover the latest news, aka “what’s happening” related to subjects you care about.

Twitter grew more than 1287% in its third year alone, eclipsing the growth of Facebook.

How is Twitter useful?

Messages from users you choose to follow will show up on your homepage for you to read.

It’s like being delivered a newspaper whose headlines you’ll always find interesting

Twitter is an excellent way to position yourself as the go-to real estate expert in your area.

How to Start Using Twitter:

Discover Sources: Find and follow others

Check it often: Pay attention to what is happening

Take it with you: Connect to your mobile device

What does Twitter do for Business?

As a Realtor, you can use Twitter to quickly share information, gather market intelligence & insights, & build relationships.

When you combine messages that are quick to write, easy to read, public, opt-in, & accessible anywhere, you have a powerful, real-time way of communicating.

Think of it as an ongoing conversation with potential clients & relevant businesses.

Twitter is Micro-Bloggingso you can share:

It could be today's average Days On Market number, current inventory levels or anything regarding local market conditions

It could be the results of a municipal zoning proposal vote or election results

Interest Rates & legal changes to Mortgages

Become a destination to follow for the latest in community & real estate information

Linking to Your Website/Blog

If you're posting a blog or putting up good real estate website content, you can tweet a headline about a page or post.

Shrink the URL to make it shorter and better fit into your 140 character limit.

You can then tweet a headline that takes the reader to your site or blog.

Interesting tweets gets followers and drives traffic to your website

Twitter Profile aka Your Brand aka Eye Candy

Add a profile picture, something with a friendly smile or something quirky, fun & eye catching

Your username – your name, your team name, or your website name

Your bio- 160 characters, make it interesting by making it personal.

Your background- fun, relevant, interesting

Follow me & I’ll follow you

What is following?

When you Follow someone, you are subscribing to their Tweets as a follower

Their “updates” aka Tweets will appear in your timeline

That person has permission to send you private Tweets, called Direct Messages (DMs)

What are followers?

Followers are people who receive your Tweets

They become your follower and will display in the 'newest follower' section

They receive your tweets in their home page, phone, or any application they use (mobile etc)

If YOU follow someone, you are their Follower

Follow Lists

On your homepage there are two lists: Followers and Following

You can set up email preferences to notify you of new followers

You can only Direct Message someone who is following you

Following FAQCan I restrict who follows me or sees my updates? Yes: you can restrict your profile

Once I start following someone, can I stop? Yes: visit their profile & hit the Unfollow button

Will someone know if I unfollow? Only if they check, Twitter does not notify of unfollows.

Can I prevent individuals from seeing my account? Yes: you can block individual users without locking your account

Who to Follow?Twitter has helpful suggestions on who you might want to follow

Suggestions on your homepage “Accounts you might find interesting”

Suggestions on another users profile page “Others that like this user”

Suggestions on your profile page “Users similar to you”

Import address book & find contacts who are on Twitter

What is a Timeline?A timeline is a Twitter term used to describe a collected stream of Tweets listed in real-time order.

When you log in to Twitter, you'll land on the Timeline view of your homepage. This is your Home Timeline

Your home timeline is a long stream showing all Tweets from those you have chosen to follow on Twitter.

How To Start Tweeting:

BUILD A VOICE: retweet, reply, react

MENTION: include others in your content

GET FANCY: explore advanced features

How to Post a TweetOnce you are logged on, type your Tweet into the "What's happening?" box at the top of your screen on your home page

Make sure your update is fewer than 140 characters. Remaining characters show up as a number below the box.

Click the Tweet button to post the Tweet to your profile.

You will immediately see your Tweet in the timeline on your homepage.

What is a Direct Message or DM?

A Message (previously called a Direct Message) is a private message sent via Twitter to one of your followers.

Click the "Messages" button on the top menu bar of your page to get to your Private Message history.

You can only send private messages to people who follow you.

Twitter only displays up to 50 messages at a time

Hashtags…

What are @ replies & mentions?

A reply is any update posted by clicking the "Reply" button on another Tweet. Original Tweeter shows as @username

A mention is any Twitter update that contains @username anywhere in the body of the Tweet. (Yes, this means that replies are also considered mentions.)

Click any space around the Tweet and your details pane will open to display the Tweet that has been replied to.

What are hashtags? Or #Definition: The # symbol, called a hashtag, is used to mark keywords or topics in a Tweet.

Use the hashtag symbol # before relevant keywords in your Tweet to categorize those Tweets to show easily in Twitter Search.

Clicking on a hashtagged word in any message shows you all other Tweets in that category.

Popular hashtags can become Trending Topics

Using Hashtags #If Tweet with a hashtag on a public account, anyone who does a search for that hashtag may find your Tweet.

Example: #Ottawa is a great hashtag for finding local tweets. #RealEstate, #Mortgage, #cdnpoli (Canadian Politics) are some useful hashtags.

Most trended Canadian topics recently include #MLS, #CREA and of course, #JustinBieber

What is a Retweet or RT?Like the Tweet? Retweet! Sometimes we find Tweets that we want to share.

Hover over the Tweet, then click the Retweet link

The Tweet will then be forwarded to all of your followers.

Click the Retweets tab on your homepage to see Tweets you’ve RT’d, what people you follow RT, & who has RT’d you.

Twitter ListsOrganize other users into lists for easy access

Visit the profile of the first user you would like to add to your list & click the list drop-down menu

At bottom of drop-down menu, click "Create list”, name it & make it private or public

You can add people to your list without following them first ie. to read a user's Tweets but not see their messages in your main timeline daily

What are Favourites?Favorites, represented by a small star icon next to a Tweet, are usually used when users like a Tweet & wish to save it for later

When you “Favourite” a Tweet it shows in 2 places: the left side of the Tweet, & when you hover over the Tweet (you will see a glowing yellow star)

Your favourites are public & you can also read Favourite Tweets of other users

How to delete a TweetOops- want to take back what you just said?

Go to your profile page

Locate Tweet you wish to delete

Hover over Tweet with cursor & click the “Delete” option that appears

Voila! Gone forever... almost. Deleted updates sometimes hang out in Twitter search. They will clear with time.

How to shorten links/URLs

Sometimes you want to Tweet a link to a webpage with a long URL that won’t fit in your Tweet.

There are a variety of websites that can shorten your long links & provide you with a shorter version of any URL you want to share.

Then, you can use the shorter version in your Tweet, and anyone who clicks on it will be redirected to the longer URL. It’s that easy!

Examples: http://bit.ly or http://tinyurl.com or http://is.gd

Tweet from your smartphone

Blackberry and iPhone have Twitter apps that make it easy & fun to tweet on the go.

You can easily snap photos & Tweet them to your followers.

Tweet to encourage open house attendees, share the hockey score, warn local followers of traffic snarls or of a great sale or restaurant you’ve found.

Keep them interestedTo be effective on Twitter, regularly tweeting is key. You can tweet on & off through the day, or schedule a time to tweet.

Communicate with your followers & give a value to your tweets. Tweeters who broadcast without interaction are boring .

Tweeting your listings will NOT get you followers. Educate about the market, about things real estate related

Let your tweets introduce YOU. Twitter is networking so mingle, chat and interact for success.

Royal Lepage is Unique! Let everyone know how…

We work for an amazing company. Our corporate offices are on the cutting edge of Canadian Real Estate news so use them to educate your followers.

Fundraising & giving is something Royal Lepage’rs do best & it sets us apart from all other brokerages. Share this & you are paying it forward!