Some of you might know that part of our launch strategy involves Twitter. We have partnered with Joel Burslem and his team to Twitter at Inman Connect. I admit that, at first, I didn’t fully understand how Twitter worked and what the benefits were going to be. I became even more confused when suddenly a bunch of people sent me e-mails to let me know they were “following me” on Twitter. “How did that happen?” I asked myself.
When I went on the site, all of my followers had invited me to follow them, so I clicked on the “yes” button. I was following around 40 people. I knew a bunch of them, but not all. They started sending me messages saying things like “thanks for the follow.” Twitter has its own underground language, just like everything else.
Reading about all of the ways to use Twitter, I wisely decided not to download Twhirl, too distracting on my desktop.
Still somewhat mystified by the ROI around Twitter, I decided to use the setting that sends tweets directly to your Blackberry. Then I got on a plane to meet with some prospective clients.
By the time I landed, I had hundreds of Tweets on everything from someone talking about going to the grocery store, to how to fix a program on your computer. And they kept coming. They were coming much faster than I could read or erase them. I didn’t know what to do. It would have to wait until I finished my meeting.
Later that afternoon, at the airport waiting to fly back to New Jersey, I sorted through many of the tweets. Some were amusing, some informative, a few just downright annoying. But one stood out… it was from a broker owner interested in learning more about a Better Homes and Gardens® Real Estate franchise! A business lead? I turned to Wendy, who was traveling with me. She got the same tweet. I said,”This must be an industry first.” She agreed.
My Twitter Blackberry setting is now turned off and I am managing Twitter from its website. Not as exciting, but a better solution for me. In his post on July 11th, Brian Boero asks, “Is there a business application for Twitter?” I say yes.
Here’s how to start…
* Establish guidelines for a Twitter group within your office or company
* Begin following other groups and individuals
* Send out sound bites and ask for feedback
* If launching a new business or product – use Twitter as one form of communication
* Just like any lead generation tool, stick with it… and business leads will follow
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And by the way, we’ll be twittering live from our July 23rd press conference (http://tinyurl.com/65lo82) and throughout the Inman event. Follow us at ‘bhgrealestate’ to know what we’re up to!
