Twitter is a great way to let people know about you, your real estate business and the homes you have for sale. Twitter is a free service where you “follow” other message writers and encourage them to follow you back.

Once you establish a group of followers, the next step is to get them to retweet your messages to their followers. By doing so, you get exposure to hundreds or even thousands more Twitter users and gain more and more exposure for yourself and the properties you have for sale.

Here are ten tips real estate agents should follow when using Twitter:

1) Use a hashtag (#) to help others find you or your properties. For example, you could write #waterfront #property or #CT #realtor to narrow down people’s searches.

2) Don’t tweet anything controversial. Keep your Twitter account an extension of your professional marketing plan.

3) Be succinct. You only have 140 characters to work with on Twitter.

4) Offer substance to your followers. For example, you could tweet home buying or home selling tips.

5) Tweet daily and tweet at different times, so that you embrace a larger group of potential clients.

6) It’s okay to do some self-promotion. Tweet the fact you’ve sold your 100th house this year or that you’ve been named one of the top 10 real estate agents in your area.

7) Include shortened links to photos of the current properties you have for sale.

8) Tweet about your open houses, recent sales and new listings.

9) Follow other real estate agents to see what they are tweeting. You may pick up some tips on how to make your tweets more engaging.

10) Fill out your Twitter profile. Include a recent photo, your website, email address and any other contact information you want people to have.

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