Basic differences between Facebook and Twitter

Estate Agents, a recent report suggested that ‘older generations’ (35 and older) have heard significantly more bad news for Facebook and other social networks than their younger counterparts. The article concludes that older people are still enjoying Facebook, but are just more careful from being older and wiser – not really a shock.

So at the risk of alienating the ‘older’ generation, I’ve decided to write a positive article on how Estate Agents should treat the two most popular social networks in the UK.

Firstly I would like to outline that Facebook and Twitter are essentially the same thing, but should be treated in different ways.

Like tools, they are within the same category, but are used for different things. For example Twitter can be compared to a hammer - it does one job and does it well. Twitter is ideal for communicating, whether it’s messaging people in your local area or sharing content that your followers will want to read.

Therefore it should be clear that communication with Twitter is the key to success. Estate Agents that only promote properties have a high chance of alienating real people in their local looking to either communicate or share interesting information/links. The general rule used by American Real Estate Agents is to promote 20% of the time while sharing and communicating 80% of the time.

Carrying on with the analogy, Facebook is like a Swiss army knife of the social networking world. People can ‘like’ groups, update their status, create personal events, upload photos, play games, sell personal items, write notes, share links, and message their friends.

With such personal information, UK Facebook users are certainly more private with their profiles meaning that Estate Agents must look towards other avenues to lure private Facebook out of their social cave.

One of the best ways I’ve found Estate Agents can do this is by creating an open individual profile, a business page as well as an area page. The area page is the real clincher and can be ‘sponsored’ by the Estate Agent, but overly so. The Estate Agent must then put sincere effort into the page and show Facebook users that you care about your local area by consistently uploading local news, photos and information.

Two of the most important things to remember with social networking are: enjoy your experience and to not expect success overnight. Try to be realistic and realise that your Estate Agent social networking strategy runs alongside your Estate Agent website, for the long term.

- James Coyne