What is it:

Twitter is basically a miniature cellphone-based blog, where you send text messages to your followers answering the question "What are you doing right now?" You also follow others, and you can read their "tweets" (messages they send) from your cellphone or online.

Why do I need it:

If you have a blog, then you already know that blogging helps you reach more people, build relationships with them, and keep your finger on the pulse of your market. Twitter does the same thing, but lets you build even closer relationships with your followers, and if you follow other agents you'll always be instantly up to date on market happenings. And let's face it: real estate agents live on gossip. Think of Twitter as those 15 minutes you spend chatting before your company meeting, but available 24/7 and without the bad coffee.

What does it cost:

Free!

Where do I get it:

To use Twitter For Real Estate, click the link and you can create a free account in about 4 minutes.

Twitter in Real Estate: The Details

Ok, so you've almost certainly heard of Twitter by now. But you're busy; you've got a blog, you're making calls, and you don't really want to spend the time and energy it takes to learn something new. That's a reasonable feeling, which is why before I show you the "How" of Twitter, I'll show you the "Why". With Twitter you can:

• Follow all the top agents in your market, and automatically stay on top of all the market changes/ gossip/ local news and everything else that defines you as a local expert.


• Stay constantly in front of your social sphere, strengthening relationships with every text you send.


• Tap into a whole new group of potential clients who are searching twitter for local real estate information right now.


• Stop staring blankly at people while feeling like a dinosaur every time the word "Twitter" comes up in a conversation.

"Fine", you say. "I guess I'll give it a try". But how do you get started?
The good news is, getting started is probably the easiest thing you'll do today:

1. Go to www.twitter.com and click the green "Get Started-Join!" button in the middle of the page.

2. Pick a name and password (just use your name, or your real estate marketing name, but nothing too "cute").

3. On the next page, feel free to add a few friends if you'd like, but otherwise you can skip this for now.

4. Click on the "Devices" tab, enter your phone number, check the box under your number and click "Save".

5. Twitter will send your phone a 6 digit code; just send a text message to 40404 with the six letter code to activate your phone.

6. That's it! Now you can log in to your account (www.twitter.com) and click "Find People" in the top right. Then start searching for your friends or co-workers (or your mayor... why not?), or click "suggested users" to add some celebrities and famous people you'd like to follow, for fun or education.

Extra Credit:

• Add "40404" to your address book as "twitter" to make it easier to send text messages.
• Bookmark Twitter and remember to sign in when you're at your computer to keep up to date.

Helpful Resources:

Beginner's Quick Start Guide and Tutorial to Using Twitter
A very useful guide from the founder of Zappos shoes on how to use twitter.

Social Media for Real Estate 101: Twitter
Even more twitter advice targeted towards real estate agents from Agent Genius.

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