For Sale: Reputations. Estate Agents lose the plot on Twitter
Each day more businesses are joining the Twitter bandwagon and merrily mistreat this social media channel. They are blinkered and see it as an advertising platform rather than a networking opportunity. Would they go to a networking event and immediately start selling? Remember Habitat UK?
Far from seeking to add to the delightful chatter and discourse on Twitter they seek to SELL SELL SELL! With each and every tweet destined to benefit their businesses alone.
Two local estate agents with offices in West Berkshire who honestly should know better join the guilty ranks and with each spammy tweet they further erode the tarnished reputation of their profession, and the image of their own brand a little bit more.
I discovered the blundering Twitter accounts of Carter Jonas and Chancellors when I was looking for another wicked sort on Twitter - the 'pump and dump' merchant. They follow popular people on Twitter to see if they get followed back. Many people automate this service, particularly when they have thousands of followers, and it is an easy way for the lazy Twitterer to bulk up their numbers and preys on the customary act of reciprocal tw-etiquette that means we try to follow each other.
They try to have many more followers than people they follow to masquerade as popular, like the celebrities or news channels on Twitter and hope people will follow thinking they must be special. So using a tool like Refollow we scrutinise those who we seem to be following, but who are not following us. And get rid of the parasites.
However, today two new accounts I was following caught my eye, @CarterJonas and @ChancellorsEA, both estate agents who cover this area of West Berkshire and much more. Now, Twitter has its foibles, but I know I never followed them manually, which suggests I auto-followed, but how come they are not following me? Curious.
We digress! Each of the Twitter streams of these two estate agents are nothing more than selling properties and offering properties to let, with the odd bit of news (about them) and job offers (with them) thrown in. Who do they think will follow this? Perhaps someone looking for a house? Quite possibly, but by being so selfish about their approach they miss out on the hundreds of followers who might not need a house, or a job, or be interested in their news... but who might know someone who is! If they were enticed to follow, these estate agents networks could really deliver results on Twitter.
Have a look:
Professionals can do it. Take a look at Charles Lucas & Marshall, a law firm in Newbury who has the Twitter identity of @CLMLawBits. In the last few days they have twittered about Newbury Carnival, Andy Murray at Wimbledon, Retweeted many local people’s own Tweets and occasionally throw in a bit of law. Newbury video production company MWS Media, who Tweet as @MWSMedia2009 get it too and follow the same approach – and of course Morgan PR does.
They understand the need for a social mix – we recommend 80/20 – the majority of your Tweets should not be about you, but about other stuff – add to the debate. Estate Agents could Twitter about town events where they are based, industry news, funny stories about estate agents – and only every now and then offer something selling! If you want to promote 10 properties, you’ll need 40 other Tweets to keep people interested and not feeling exploited.
Hey, I know times are tough for estate agents, but that is no excuse to be sloppy with your brand management – if anything it makes careful use of social media paramount. Of course, they could always ask someone like Morgan PR to help with social media before they need help with crisis management.