There’s always something to howl about.

Greg Swann is Just a Twit-Head and Other Common Knowledge

Greg Swann is dead wrong:

I say that trying to sell real estate via Twitter/Facebook is a waste of time — and it is anti-marketing even if it seems to produce some results. Why?

I’ve said it, in public.  And I’m only being mildly gratuitous.  Because it’s fun.

It is productive to be on Twitter all day long.

It’s also productive to be on Facebook all day long.

Especially in comparison to the selling behavior of the average Bullpen Agent(tm).  That’s being on facebook and twitter bitching about their lack of business and appraisal issues.

Now, listen also to what I’m not saying: I’m not saying that it’s the most productive possible use of time. I’m not saying that the ambient, distracted entitled connectivity lifestyle is something to be. I’m not saying that the way the practitioners teach it is sensible.  It’s not prudent to crow-plain about every bit of work that they do as if each ordinary real estate transaction is this death struggle that only you can close because you are $(array_honest,kind,connected,smart).

I’m not saying that I’d follow an example of any of the Twit-Lumin-ati.

I’m saying that in damn near any market, a smart agent should be getting 12-14 deals a year via twitter.

They are there, daily.

And you can snatch them out from under the entitled noses of those folks that are “pillars of the twit-munity,” with ease.   With ease.

How?

1.) Search.Twitter.Com:  This is a godsend.  This is amazing.  “House hunting” in your area “realtor” in your area.  Say hi, send ’em to a squeeze page.

2.) MarketMeSuite.Com (disclosure: they are a paying client of ours). Geotarget local people.  Autofollow and autoengage.  Make contacts and add to your sphere.  They have an auto tool that lets you quickly add and kill it.

3.) TwitterFeed.com when I used TweetSpinner to build up my account (and the ratio of bots/humans is about 4:1) I noticed that my bit.ly links got more clicks.  Others had similar results, and if you happen to be blogging and cataloguing your city brute force style, you do it.

4.) DMs.  These are where Twitter rocks.  Build relationships, make sales.  Don’t hesitate, go balls out.

5.) Upgrade the relationship.  In my online course, we use a meme called S.S.E.T.H.  Seach/Social/Email/Telephone Human.  That is the upgrade path.   You always want to meet the people you want to meet.  So, coffee once is better than 10,000 @ messages.  Coffee with 4 guys and a once-a-month “hiya” @ is fine.

Now, look, the fun thing about twitter is the asynchronous nature. Twitter will wait, and the customer will respond to the smartest answer.  Hint: it ain’t likely to be from an agent wanting to buy–or sell–you a home today.

So, in 10-15 focused minutes, 3 times a week you can have better results than the Twitterati will get while dissipating themselves on ambient connectivity. The people that tweeted about their twitty landlord?  They haven’t heard anything smart yet from all the Twealtors®.  Be different and smarter.

(I google phone numbers and call people, and that works, but you all may be stuck with the do not call registry–since you aren’t usually B-T-B).

Now, is it smart if you’re a realtor in PHX to talk to a Realtor in LAX?  Maybe on occasion.  But really, the point isn’t to hang out.  Ride the wave that is made and be smarter.

I’ll leave y’all with this point:

Is it productive for a fisherman to be at a lake with lots of fish?  Sure.

What about for the fish?  is it productive for the fish to be in the pond?

Who outnumbers whom?  What are there more of and which are you acting like?

The “tweeting” I do is largely self indulgent pablum.  It has very, very little to do with the work I do on twitter.