Follow us on Twitter @TheNeg


Feature


Anti-social behaviour


There’s more to using social networks than you may think. Use it well and don’t be a Tweet! says Richard Rawlings.


D


o you push your properties on Twitter? Beware! It could be lulling you into a false sense of security that you are at the cutting edge of


modern estate agency marketing. I’m sorry to say that most estate agents are not – in fact, inappropriate use of social networking can do more harm than good. When I ask agents what cost-eff ective


marketing activities they are undertaking in order to promote their business, many of them proudly say that they use Twitter. Not one of them tells me that it has made any diff erence whatsoever to their business, but they feel that they ought to use it anyway. I have my suspicions as to why this might be. I have just looked at the recent Tweet


history of 40 estate agents at random and am more convinced than ever of agents’ inability to understand the basic principles of eff ective marketing, both in terms of quality and quantity.


QUALITY


All but two of the Tweet histories I reviewed simply promoted properties to the agents’ followers. Pushing property in this way is like going into a crowded shopping centre and


www.the-negotiator.co.uk


“I looked at the Tweet history of 40 estate agents and I’m convinced of their inability to understand the basic principles


of eff ective marketing.” Richard Rawlings


walking up to people at random, thrusting a set of property details into their hand, and shouting in their face “do you want to buy this house?” What would be the eff ect of this? Firstly, the chance of them wanting to buy at all is probably about 98 per cent against. And at that price range? And that particular property? Ridiculous! In fact, you will most likely have demonstrated how little you understand that person. Chances are that you will have annoyed and alienated them so much that they will go out of their way to avoid you in the future for fear of being bombarded with such irrelevancies again. Just dumping your stock on Twitter and thinking you’re cool is simply wrong for your business and is just another form of tediously


boring spam. And we all hate spam. However, when used correctly, Twitter can be a highly eff ective way of marketing your agency whilst going some way towards elevating our industry’s reputation. Of course, before undertaking any


marketing activity, you should identify your target market. Is it buyers or sellers? Buyers? If you are hoping to attract buyers then no-one’s going to follow you on Twitter and hope that you might just Tweet the right property for them. They’ll use the portals and/ or possibly register with you either directly or via your website, if you’re lucky. There is simply no case for Tweeting your stock. Sellers? I would expect that you are keenest to attract sellers, because, frankly, as long as


TheNegotiator ● May 2012 ● 23


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44