So, a lot has happened recently with Twitter. Whether you're a fan of Elon Musk and his purchase of the social media platform (or you're wondering, "who is Elon Musk and why does he matter"), the question of how to use Twitter for your real estate business is a good one to ask right now.
Should you be on Twitter? Is it worth the potential headaches to develop a social media strategy for Twitter and keep your account active for real estate marketing? Whatever your opinions or thoughts might be on the "tweeting" channel, incorporating a Twitter strategy into your social media plan can help engage your audience and generate more leads.
Here's what to know when considering the new spotlight on Twitter for your inbound marketing efforts.
Let's be clear: getting back on Twitter (if you left) or starting a new Twitter account right now (because you're curious about what all the hubbub is about) isn't going to be the single thing that completes your social media marketing strategies.
However, developing a plan to build an audience and engage with them through Twitter can be a crucial component that helps your content marketing strategy generate more traffic to your website and, ultimately, more leads. Not only can it reach a specific audience for your business, but it can also help your content and business show up in more results from search engines.
Real estate agents and brokers use Twitter accounts to build their brands and reach audiences that prefer the unique short-message format of Twitter over other platforms, like Facebook or TikTok. In fact, you might be surprised about how much of your audience is already on Twitter (waiting for you to show up)! In 2022, about 1 in 5 adults say they use Twitter (or about 23% of Americans).
In addition to this percentage of the population simply being "on" Twitter, Twitter ads can reach about 8.8% of all internet users (or almost 9% of 4.95 billion people). So, political leanings aside, your real estate business could probably stand a boost from the visibility you could achieve through consistent real-estate-related posts and target paid ads on a new-to-your-business platform.
We get that Elon Musk is a polarizing figure. At this point, you might be wondering how to delete my Twitter account and move on to something else.
However, whether you agree with how he's handling the takeover or not, the reality is that Twitter is a valuable (and free) marketing tool (aside from paid ads) that can boost your ability to generate leads.
True, there are probably people not on Twitter right now because of Musk's takeover — but that doesn't mean your business shouldn't be there reaching as many people as you can through your content and ad choices.
So, how should you use the Twitter app? While we say Musk doesn't matter to your success on Twitter, what you post does! Here's our recommended approach to utilizing this social platform in a way that keeps controversy at bay while elevating your real estate company to an audience of potential leads.
Using Twitter to enhance brand awareness is a smart move! However, Tweeting everything that pops into your head (or that you find interesting) without a goal and a plan to get there can leave you frustrated with how Twitter supports your marketing efforts.
Start by looking at other real estate Twitter profiles and noting what you like (and don't like) about them in terms of supporting their brands and generating engagement. Then, defining your goals for using the platform can help manage expectations and incorporate Twitter into your bigger goals for social media marketing and inbound strategies.
With goals in mind, determine how often you want to post, the best times of day to post, and the type of content that will best target your audience. However, don't feel like you have to think up new ideas daily or log into your Twitter account throughout the day to keep up with posts.
A publishing tool like Hootesuite makes it easier to plan posts in advance and schedule them for distribution on the ideal days and times for maximum reach. In addition, HubSpot's Bulk Upload feature allows businesses to create and schedule posts weeks or months in advance to save time and reduce the work required to maintain a consistent posting schedule. When using HubSpot for social posting, tracking metrics within campaigns is easier.
Sharing property listings, market insights, industry news, and helpful information for your real estate area can help build your authority on Twitter. When people see and share your most helpful content throughout the platform (or to other platforms), you build a bigger audience of people who think of your real estate company first when it's time to buy, sell, or invest in properties.
Remember: your Twitter content doesn't have to consist of only your original content. Re-tweeting messages and links from reputable sources that pertain to your business services can also help position you as an authority.
We get that stirring the pot can create attention on your Twitter feed, and maybe that kind of "living on the edge" supports your brand.
However, the best way to build an audience on Twitter (and most social platforms) is to stick to what's relevant to your business and be an authoritative solution to potential customers looking for real estate help.
Use Twitter to repurpose content, like blog posts or links to your YouTube channel, where you might host podcast excerpts or property tour videos.
Of the millions of daily Twitter users, not all of them will care about your local real estate business — and that's okay. Frankly, you probably don't want to spend the budget trying to reach a broad audience that could deliver leads that never turn into credible prospects.
With Twitter Ads, you can be very specific about your budget and audience reach to fine-tune ads for your ideal target buyers. With the right offer and an effective landing page attached to your ad campaign, these ads can generate traffic more quickly than other organic strategies. In many cases, leads from paid ads are also better quality leads with higher conversion rates!
Keeping up with consistent Twitter content can become overwhelming and exhausting without a resource to publish and track metrics. It's also challenging to learn which Tweets are the most effective vs. posts that don't generate any engagement or click-throughs to your website.
Again, HubSpot makes it easy to monitor posts and metrics across multiple platforms. When building campaigns, use HubSpot to analyze success or identify posts, CTAs (calls-to-action), or content that isn't working well to increase traffic.
We get that Twitter has been a controversial platform over the past several years — and honestly, it might continue to be that way for quite some time. However, we believe it's time to learn "how to reactive my Twitter" account and use it as a marketing tool for your real estate business!
For help navigating different social platforms or developing a successful real estate inbound marketing plan, reach out to Geekly Media!
Learn more about the best inbound marketing strategies with our free resource, the "Inbound Marketing Starter Kit!"