by Brian Brady
Commercial Real Estate Finance Expert
Structured Debt and Equity
Licensed Real Estate Broker in AL, CA, and FL
I’m talking to Teri Lussier about Twitter, a lot. I didn’t get it until I decided to post relevant mortgage market information on the Twitter feed. Let’s assume you HATE Twitter (or just don’t get it). Let’s assume that you don’t have the time to Tweet.
Q: How can your business benefit by using Twitter?
A: Eyeballs- Be the destination place.
Think of Twitter as the television airwaves, twitter streams as “TV channels”, and your blog or website as the cable company. If you can host multiple channels (Twitter streams) on your website/blog, you win eyeballs. More importantly, you win loyalty as the destination place for real-time, user-generated information.
I’m starting an experiment, for Andy Kaufman to analyze, in his Twitter presentation at our upcoming Unchained conference. I’ll be asking input from Andy and Teri Lussier as I try this idea. The goal is to drive more traffic to my web log and become an information destination for potential customers;
I want to be San Diego’s Twitter Cable Company. Here’s my plan:
1- Create a landing page for my web log (www.TwitDiego.com) with a “channel guide” for Twitter streams,
2- Evangelize the utility of Twitter as an information tool to relatively low-tech users. The Saint James Academy Parents (and faculty), The Lomas Santa Fe Country Club, The Villanova Alumni in San Diego, Pacific Beach nightlife, Gaslamp nightlife, North County restaurant reviews, The San Diego State University, RealEstate.com agents, etc, etc.
3- Offer streams or “channels” to each user group.
4- Market www.TwitDiego.com to everyone I meet. I did this yesterday, at the beach, to a soccer mom. She’s setting up a Twitter account and accepted my offer of a webinar for the soccer moms.
Sit back and watch my mortgagereport profile on Twitter get more followers, my web log get more traffic, and my community grow.
This is a wild hare idea. All CONSTRUCTIVE comments or suggestions are welcome.
Mike Mueller says:
Hey Brian – A constructive comment here.
Count me as one of those that fear the twitter. Andy invited me way back and I have resisted from the start. But that would be me as a Twitt -er.
I don’t fear being a Twitt -ee (a viewer). As a matter of fact I absolutely LOVE the idea behind “Brian Brady’s Twitter Mortgage Report” I think I might have been one of the first RSS subscribers.
As you describe twitter as TV channels I can’t think of a better, more single focused channel to have on my sidebar. Great Job! As a new tweet hits my sidebar – it gets read right away!
But this weekend, there was “alternative programming” coming across my highly focused channel.
Like this:
“MortgageReport: @marismith Hey Mari! How’s the traveling? I saw Michael Peak at Staples last week”
By contrast – I also grab the RSS to Andy’s.
His tweets are all over the place and really fun to read. So much fun that I have moved him to the back burner and read him (right along with Grow a Brain and Athol) only when I have time.
My constructive comment is just this.
On a focused twitter thread, shouldn’t it always remain in focus?
Just my .02
Love Ya!
March 3, 2008 — 7:38 am
Todd says:
Sir, I am one of the first Twitter users ( user 14,789 of the now four million accounts ) and I would like to offer some words of caution on outright abuse of Twitter as a method of communication.
Uniquely Twitter gives all the control, all the power to the individual people using it. There is no way to “force” me to view or read anyone’s Tweets, and that’s the beauty of it, its the inversion of the failed technology know as email ( or “e-fail” ).
I ask that you use Twitter for its original intended purpose – “What are you doing?”. Making a creative use of that premise to work in some self promotion, is fine, but look carefully at people who have a disproportionate ratio of “following” and “Followers”, they are Twitter spammers who contribute nothing to the service. Example:
Following 9,632
Followers:2
Maintaining a near 1 to 1 ratio of followers and people following is a sign of a good Twitter citizen.
March 3, 2008 — 7:57 am
Todd Carpenter says:
I think you’re taking a pretty big chance in trusting your marketing to a third party that has not been all that reliable. Twitter is broken several times a week. Let’s see how well it does at SXSW. The first real estate conference that can break Twitter will have a feather in it’s cap.
In addition, Twitter has no revenue stream. That means they will eventually die, or develop one. At that point, your competition might be able to advertise on all of your channels without any benefit to you.
I’m on Twitter to network with real estate agents. It works great for me as I only have to dedicate a few minutes a day. What you’re suggesting is to promote Twitter. To me that’s like promoting an Active Rain blog.
It’s one thing to leverage an existing subscription base, but if your going to encourage subscriptions, you might look at how you can own the network by yourself.
March 3, 2008 — 9:21 am
Brian Brady says:
Good comments so far. Questions for each of you:
Mike: “MortgageReport” needs to just broadcast reports and nothing personal? I can use TwitDiego for the personal account.
Todd: I don’t want to “force” threads; I want to let people see them so they can ask other interested parties relevant questions. Any ideas that would fit within the best practices of “Twitter Nation” are appreciated.
Todd-Mariah: Only one question, to your concluding statement? HOW???
March 3, 2008 — 10:17 am
Mike Mueller says:
B-
Absolutely. As far as I see it (as an outsider) if I am a Twit-ee, subscribing to a particular channel, I have come to expect a certain something from that TV Channel.
Using the TV analogy, I can tune into Comedy Central, Food Network, or I can tune into CNBC.
If I’m watching CNBC, I’m there for a purpose. I wouldn’t want to see my CNBC feed broken up by segments on how to fillet a Salmon, or Jon Stewart.
So my point is that if you have a defined twit, as you do with The Mortgage Report, I think it best to keep it on topic. (which I’ll say again is the most brilliant and best use of the application I have seen so far)
Tweet the other stuff on the broader version.
Andy Cracked me up with this tweet last week:
“enjoying another lovely California winter day. Skin, meet the sun. You guys used to be buds, remember?”
But I’ve come to expect it from his broad based twit feed.
March 3, 2008 — 10:32 am
Todd Carpenter says:
I don’t know how well Prologue would scale. Probably not very well. There are white label versions of Ning that might work. Really, I don’t know because I never thought of using Twitter in the way you want to. You could probably find a Rails programmer to build exactly what you want. Here in Denver, there’s a plain old Internet forum that fulfills what you’re attempting on twitter.
Twitter could be the best tool, but I wouldn’t invest in it’s promotion. If you’re bent on using Twitter. USE it. Leverage the people who are already there.
March 3, 2008 — 10:44 am
Brian Brady says:
“Twitter could be the best tool, but I wouldn’t invest in it’s promotion. If you’re bent on using Twitter. USE it. Leverage the people who are already there.”
Todd, I’ve done well by leveraging Active Rain.
I love the idea of Prologue or NING, although NING looks more like the MySpace groups sections. Prologue may be the l/t solution because it’s a wordpress product.
Thanks. Follow the experiment. Remember, I’m promoting TwitDiego.com which will point at Twitter; I think we can change the “pointing” later. The idea is to build a community going to TwitDiego (the landing page)
March 3, 2008 — 11:17 am
Jeff Brown says:
Help an old school dog out, guys.
If Brian is successfully broadcasting his mortgage reports, and a year from now Twitter goes belly up, how is he damaged — outside of losing one of his gazillion marketing pipelines?
Wouldn’t it mean losing one of 20 outlets for him?
Am I missing the whole point here? I’m feeling pretty lost.
March 3, 2008 — 2:18 pm
Teri Lussier says:
>The idea is to build a community
Exactly.
(damn yer fast 😉 )
Stay the course Brian, and have fun. Don’t tell anyone but enthusiasm is contagious. To me the real beauty of Twitter is in it’s levity.
I’m beginning to see the start, the seedlings, of business generated from Twitter- mindless, useless, tweeting. I don’t tweet RE, I don’t use it only to drive traffic to a blog, I’ve built relationships, understanding, community.
By connecting with soccer moms F2F, you will be doing the same with twitter as the background. Grow that community.
I’m watching.
March 3, 2008 — 2:25 pm
Brian Brady says:
Jeff,
You’re right. I think Todd suggests that I don’t want to “evangleize” for someone else’s technology, and he’s correct. The alternative is to build it myself which, as you know (from experience) , will never happen (I don’t have the attention span).
I could roll the dice on Twitter, make 10 good loan contects from it, and the whole thing goes belly-up.
Unless I plan to build technology, I need 20 ideas like this, at all times.
March 3, 2008 — 2:28 pm
Brian Brady says:
“I’m watching”
Don’t watch, race me
March 3, 2008 — 2:29 pm
Jeff Brown says:
Brian — Just 20? Slowing down are we? 🙂
March 3, 2008 — 2:32 pm
Teri Lussier says:
>Don’t watch, race me
A challenge? Damn you Brian Brady!
Okay dude- yer on!
March 3, 2008 — 2:33 pm
Cheryl Johnson says:
No, I don’t fear Twitter, but I am torn. My heart wants to simply have friendly conversations, avoiding the broadcast style of Twittering. But I guess broadcast is the direction that Twitter is headed. And in a way, that’s too bad.
March 4, 2008 — 10:47 am
Rhonda Porter says:
Brian inspired me to Twitter and I use it mostly to report different rate/programs I quoting with a brief (140 spaces) description.
I’m getting very positive feed back from clients who are looking for a real way to track market trends/rates. And I am answering “what are you doing now” with “quoting a refinance at % APR…saving client $$…yadda yadda”
March 4, 2008 — 10:55 am
Teri L says:
>My heart wants to simply have friendly conversations, avoiding the broadcast style of Twittering.
I agree CJ, but the beauty of what Brian is doing is engaging F2F before the broadcast ever happens. And I would imagine he will have to continue some personal contact. It’s another reason to engage the public in a way that is very beneficial to them. He’s giving them a reason to stay in touch. Crossing that digital divide.
You could easily do this for NELA.
March 5, 2008 — 10:13 am
Jeff Brown says:
Cheryl — You’re torn, and I can understand that.
>My heart wants to simply have friendly conversations, avoiding the broadcast style of Twittering.
Why employ Brian’s idea then have your friendly conversations with your new prospects and clients?
March 5, 2008 — 10:31 am
Brian Brady says:
Whoa! I’m not being clear.
Broadcasting is the squeeze but the interaction is the juice. “Reports” beget questions, which lead to interaction.
TwitDiego.com will be a “channel listing”, like the TV Guide. We’ll feature different streams so that “strangers” can ask those particular resources specific questions, to promote interaction.
March 5, 2008 — 11:47 am