The vast majority of real estate professionals, 90%, report that Facebook is their social media platform of choice, according to a 2021 NAR survey. While fifty-two percent of respondents listed Instagram as their preferred application. Only 19% picked Twitter.
This is understandable, as Facebook and Instagram are largely, if not entirely, geared towards sharing photos and videos, which are all-important tools for real estate agents. But Twitter, despite being catered more towards text, should not be overlooked by real estate professionals. If used correctly, Twitter can help boost your engagement, build your brand and improve your business.
Below are four reasons you should be actively using Twitter for your real estate business.
- Sheer numbers. Nearly one in four American adults use Twitter, 46% of whom use it daily. Additionally, 38.5% of users are adults between 25 to 34 years old, making them the largest age cohort on the app by far. Importantly, most first-time homebuyers are also within this age range.
- Analytics. Twitter will provide an in-depth breakdown of how your audience responds to your content. The app provides data on follower gains/losses, impressions, engagement rate and retweets, among other metrics. This way, if you share content about home remodeling and notice that it performs well, you can provide similar content in the future. Similarly, if your posts about mortgage rates are receiving minimal engagement, analytics will make this clear, and you can adjust your content accordingly. Additionally, anyone with a Twitter account can access these analytics with ease. Instagram, by contrast, requires establishing a business account.
- Schedule your content. Having a presence on Twitter does not actually require that much time spent on the app, if you don’t want it to, thanks to their tweet scheduling tool. You can line up three or four tweets for the day about, say, your latest listing or tips on home staging, and then move on to other tasks. To do this you simply compose your tweet, click on the calendar icon and you will be prompted to choose a date and time for the tweet to be published. You can also use Hootsuite, a social media management platform, to schedule your content on Twitter.
- Categorize the people you follow. Beyond boosting engagement and your brand, Twitter can be an extremely informative tool. By following other industry insiders and experts, you will be able to soak up a wealth of knowledge that will help you going forward. With that in mind, Twitter Lists allows you to customize and organize the tweets you see in your timeline. You simply need to click the “lists” icon on the left-hand side of the screen, and you will be able to create your own or follow existing lists.
Bonus! While Twitter has a smaller user base than Facebook and Instagram, one important demographic distinction is that journalists make up an outsize number of users on the platform. In fact, journalists are the largest, most active verified group on Twitter. By connecting with reporters, you can establish yourself as a source and provide them with press releases from your company. Any media exposure that follows will likely be favorable for your business. By networking with journalists, you may also have the opportunity to be the subject of a profile piece, which could dramatically improve your exposure and earnings potential.
