Getting Local With Twitter
When I first started on Twitter, I got comfortable by chatting with other real estate agents, most who I knew already from places like Active Rain. Over time, I realized something magical about Twitter- there are lots of non-real estate agents on the site, many who live right near me. Now, I don’t know about you, but in my real life,I don’t spend much time socializing with other real estate agents. I do have a small core of close agent friends who I hang out, with, but the group is relatively small.
They same is true for me on Twitter. I love interacting with agents, but I also really enjoy non-agents. As a matter of fact I seek them out. It is fun, I learn all kinds of new things, and I get to meet other bay area people that might know someone who could be a potential client one day.
I used to be a Twhirl lover, but over time, managing all of the people I follow became unwieldy. One day, I found a fabulous little program called TweetDeck. There are other programs such as TweetGrid which allow you to do the same thing, TweetDeck just happens to be my program of choice.
The fabulous thing about TweetDeck is the ability to create groups. As you can see in the screen shot, I have a group I call "SF Peeps". This group was created just for me to follow local people. Through this group, I can find out what hot topics are going on in the Bay Area, hear about events and tweetups, and keep my pulse on the local scene.
If I didn’t use groups, I really wouldn’t have a way to monitor what was happening locally. I follow so many people, I can’t keep track or remember where they all live. There are many different groups you could create in twitter. A local group, a group for agents, a group of tech specialists, whatever strikes your fancy.
While Twitter can sometimes be compared to hanging at a cocktail party, if you want to truly maximize its use, it helps to be organized and have a plan.
Applications to check out
TweetDeck- TweetDeck is a Twitter dashboard that you can use to set up groups. Please note: you can adjust the tweetdeck window to fit colors that are aesthetically pleasing to you. The default is a black background, which I find hard to read.
TweetGrid- a twitter dashboard that lets you search nine different dashboards at a time.
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This article published on Wednesday, January 28th, 2009 at 4:05 pm | Contact the editor
Topics: Social Media
About this Columnist (Full Profile)
Ginger Wilcox is a Broker Associate at Alain Pinel in Marin County, California in the San Francisco Bay Area. She is an accomplished speaker, writer and trainer on the real estate industry, online marketing and social media strategy. Ginger is the publisher of the Marin Real Estate Guide -”Blog by the Bay,” a highly regarded Bay Area real estate web site. For more information about Ginger, visit gingerwilcox.com.
Email Ginger Wilcox
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How do you even find people near you? When I click on Find People, I can only search by name or network. How do you look up people in your area or make groups?
If not for groups I would never be able to keep up with local people and local events. I would just see Realtor tweets.
Matt Thomson – There’s a few ways to find locals out there. I use twitterlocal.net and I’ve experimented with twellow.com. Good luck.
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Hmmm … how about a site of just local tweets … cobbled together, put on a dedicated site … sort of a TweetGrid for the non-tweeters?
hmmm, I’m guessing I need to spend a little time with my tweetdeck. I haven’t organized it this way. Thanks for pointing out the benefits, Ginger!
I think twitter is a complete waste of time. lets all get productive now! come on.
To find local twitter peeps, I do a search for my town name using tweetdeck…It has a search function. Then I can choose to follow people who pop up talking about the area. It’s pretty sweet for finding locals.
Ginger – I went looking for local people and now, tweet with locals more than anyone else. I have an appointment this week with a seller who I met on Twitter.
For getting local also try twitter local to find people in your community.
I’d like to know what your Tweetdeck color scheme is
Using twitter to get more local traffic http://budurl.com/GettingLocal