The Realtors guide to Twitter. How to use Twitter for your real estate business.

1. Twitter For Real Estate A Free Sneak Peek of the Powerful E-book : The Real Estate Twit Follow me on Twitter @virtuassist1

2. What is Twitter & Why Do I Need It? Twitter is a free social networking and micro-blogging service that enables its users to send and read messages known as "tweets". Essentially you can post anything you want in under 140 characters! Think about posting links to generate website traffic, post product pics, or videos, etc. Engage with your followers-invite them to comment. Twitter is one of the fastest growing networks on-line today. 1382% Monthly growth rate of Twitter 09’ 3,000,000 The average number of Tweets per day!

3. Create An Account You will first need to create an account On Twitter. We have a video tutorial To show you how step by step. Before signing up you will want to gather your information. To complete your profile you will need to provide your name, a username (which is used to find your profile), a password, a valid e-mail address, a profile picture, a short bio to describe yourself or the page (less than 160 characters), and if desired a custom background image to change the look of the page.

4. Optimize the SEO on your Profile Picking a User Name: For better results in search engines you should include the keyword that you want to rank high with. For example, if you want to be found as a local realtor use a combination of your area or region with realtor or real estate, such as alrealestate (for Alabama real estate). You can even add your title as Realtor to the end of your real name if you have enough room when you enter your account information. Your Profile Picture: Before you upload your picture to your Twitter profile re-name it using the same keywords. This tags the picture and that is also indexed by Search Engines.

5. What a Twitter Profile Looks Like

6. What is a Tweet? After you create an account, you Need to start using it. First you need To understand what a Tweet is. A "tweet" is your status update or post. Twitter uses a maximum of 140 characters per post so be wise with your words. Quick Twit Tip: If you are including links use a URL shortening service to save characters such as tiny.url .

7. Most Common Twitter Commands @username used to identify the Twitter user by being placed in front of the twitter username @virtuassist1 RT username is short for ReTweet. This is used to pass on what someone else has posted RT @virtuassist1 #keyword # is a hashtag-it is used to group Twitter posts together for an event, keyword, etc. You can chat with others about the same topic by using the hashtag # and the keyword when you start your tweet. #real estate

8. How to Use Twitter with Text Messaging from your Mobile Phone FOLLOW username Start following a user UNFOLLOW username Stop following a user ON/OFF username Set Tweet notifications for a user on or off (you'll still be following them even if you set it to off) GET username Shows you the latest tweet from any user RT username Retweet a user's latest tweet FAV username Favorite a user's latest tweet D username your-message Send a direct message to a user

9. How often should you post on Twitter? That is up to you. There is no magic number but make sure you are updating regularly and at least once a day. The average user posts 4 tweets a day. You need to find a good balance of personal & professional posts to create an engaging Twitter page that people will want to follow. Be subtle with marketing--or people will just consider your page Spam! Twit Tip: What you post is more important than how much you post!

10. A Few Things Twitter Offers Instant Contact: you can broadcast from anywhere & it is immediately shared with all your followers. Viral Marketing: if you share something it can go viral when other people share your post by Retweeting it. Public Conversations : it is public so people are more open to you joining their conversations-making it easy to connect. Searchable : you can find information in real time about what interests you and people can find what you post when they search as well.

11. How to Get Followers on Twitter Start with the obvious place: Your existing contacts! Once you create an account on Twitter you can Find your Friends. You can actually import them if you have a webmail email for example gmail/yahoo. If not you can set one up for free and then export your contacts from outlook to the new email account and then use Twitter to find them all for you using the webmail account. This saves you tons of time and helps you build your network with a couple of clicks of your mouse! Don’t forget to submit your Twitter profile to directories so people can find you there too.

12. Follow Others on Twitter First You can gain a great following by using the concept of Reciprocity- most people appreciate the kindness of you following first & will reciprocate by follwing you in return. Use the Find People search to locate specific contacts by name or use search box to type in keywords you are interested in to find peole posting tweets about that topic. Once you click on a profile or tweet you will see the Follow Button located on the top of the profile page of each user. After you click on the follow button they get a message telling them you are following them on Twitter-it links to you and gives them the option To follow you in return. It looks like this:

13. Manage your Time on Twitter You don't have to log in to Twitter several times a day or keep it open all day long to keep your posts updated. Try a service like SocialOomph or Hoot Suite and you can log in once-add several tweets for the day and then schedule them to be posted as you wish. This is a huge time saver!!

14. How to Use Twitter to Increase SEO Twitter can be very powerful for your SEO (search engine optimization) because Google indexes (or tracks) all the "tweets" on Twitter in real time. Tweet Keywords: Make sure that your tweets contains keywords and phrases that you want search engines to pick up. Also, make sure to occasionally use #hashtags. Search engines are already ranking these and this will also help people find you in Twitter search. Twitter Favorites with Keywords: Make sure that some of your favorite tweets contain keywords, key phrases and relevant links. Tinyurl.com your links. By Using a shortener like Tinyurl, search engines will recognize the link and rank them. Directories: This is probably the most important part of your Twitter SEO. Make sure that you are submitting your Twitter profile and RSS feeds to directories.

15. Be creative & Have Fun with Twitter Another way to increase your followers is to post things that are fun and creative. Everyone loves to laugh-so share something funny once and while, or share something inspiration. You can share daily tips or a daily quote Just brainstorm and consider things you like to read.

16. Influencers & How to ReTweet (RT) Follow influencers in your industry. If they have a large following you can gain followers by simply re-tweeting their posts. The (RT) is a prefix to the message used to ReTweet. How you ReTweet: Original post: @virtuassist1 Video on how to create a Facebook Fanpage http://screenr.com/9Ux To ReTweet: Type this RT @virtuassist1 Video on how to create a Facebook Fanpage http://screenr.com/9Ux

19. Searching Twitter Searching Twitter is a great way to find new connections, possible leads and valuable information. Just type keywords into the Search Box on from your homepage on Twitter. The really great part is that the search is in real time meaning you are getting the latest updates about the topic you are searching for. You can even check out what is most talked about in your area by changing your Trending settings to Local Trends. This gives you a great way to connect with local people in your real estate market.

20. Direct Messages on Twitter A direct message is a private message between Twitter users. It is subject to the 140 character limit just like normal Tweets but instead of appearing on the user profile page it is private and viewable only to the sender and/or receiver. To send a direct message start your tweet like this: D username (then type your message)

23. This presentation has included a sneak peek of some of the great content included in the e-book The Real Estate Twit, due to be released on April 1, 2010! Hi, my name is Megan Faust, I am the director of SocialAgent, the social media marketing division at Virtu-Assist. We are devoted to teaching small businesses and real estate agents how to leverage the power of social media to grow their business. Over the years working as a consultant I have developed several techniques to improve marketing strategies to help our clients dominate their markets. As the director of our Social Media division I also engage as a Professional Speaker and as the Instructor for our training seminars and classes. We are implementing an exciting program which covers all aspects of Social Media Marketing targeting the best practices on all major social networks including Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and more! Please contact me if you would like to me speak at your event, or if would like to schedule social media marketing training for yourself or your team. We offer virtual webinars and in-house sessions depending on your needs. To learn more about our program & to get free resources or tips on Social Media visit us @ www.socialmediamarketingnow.com. Phone: 251.216.4080 megan@virtu-assist.com www.socialmediamarketingnow.com Follow Me: @virtuassist1 About the Author Thanks for Viewing Our Presentation!

24. Get It Free Be one our first 100 New Followers To Get Your Copy Free! Step 1: Follow us @ twitter.com/virtuassist1 Step 2: Post This Can’t wait to get my copy of The Real Estate Twit @virtuassist1 #realestate That’s It-The First 100 Get it Free! @virtuassist1 Includes a bonus video Twitter 101: A Tutorial