Realtors are beginning to use Twitter strategies to create exposure for listings, open houses, REO sales, foreclosure news, and industry related developments Yet, one of the biggest mistakes that Realtors continue to make on Twitter is to “spam” the network with hard sell tweets about their products, services, listings, and information exclusively promotional in nature. This type of low signal high noise ratio in messaging leads to audience indifference, low priority, and a less than open level of communication between the Realtor and their intended target audience.
Twitter Hashtag Categories
Hashtags (#tag) allow Twitterers to create categories, groups, or subjects for tweets that their audience or other twitterers can use as well. With this in mind, Realtors could begin to create real time discussions with consumers, peers, and investors for a multitude of topical Real Estate information. Here are examples of subjects already being discussed on Twitter using hashtags:
- #REO
- #Foreclosure
- #Realtors
- #Realestate
- #Listings
Twitter Hashtag Strategies: Hyper Localize
All of the above examples have current discussions but they all lack one thing: hyper local information. Brokers or groups of Realtors should combine efforts to create hashtags that would provide hyper local information for consumers in their area. Here are examples of hyper local hashtags that are not being utilized in the San Francisco Bay Area:
- #SanRamonListings
- #SanFranciscoListings
- #CitynamesRealtor aka #OaklandRealtors; #SanFranciscoRealtors; #SanRafaelRealtors
- #Countynamesrealestate aka #Marinrealestate; #SantaClararealestate; #ContraCostarealestate
- #Neighborhoods aka #PacificHeights; #NorthBeach; #RussianHill
Hashtag Strategies: Brand and Create Your Group
Create online discussion groups with your hashtags. Choose the most important subjects to your consumer audience that will provide the most value. Brand your business cards, website-blog, business communications, flyers, and promotional materials with your Twitter hashtag group discussions. Don’t forget your Twitter address too.
Hashtag Benefits to Realtors
The benefits for Realtors in setting up hashtags for consumer research, localized information, and marketing include:
- Targeted Lead Generation: creating a hyper local hashtag discussion can attract consumers, if promoted properly, interested in a specific location, type of dwelling, or lifestyle
- Research: hashtags on specific real estate functions can produce research content, via links, that helps educate and inform the public and real estate community
- Audience: build an audience for any subject that pertains to your business services or products
- Conversion: there are no statistics available but it would be interesting to measure engagement through hashtags. Specifically, do consumers click through links a Realtor provides in a hashtag discussion more readily than those provided in the general twitter stream? Are consumers more comfortable clicking through to a Realtor website-blog while engaging in a hashtag discussion?
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