Think you’re an industry heavyweight on Twitter? Make your case to WebsiteBox.
The real estate CRM and marketing platform provider welcomes petitions from real estate agents who think they deserve a spot on its list of "The Top 99 Realtors on Twitter."
While WebsiteBox.com debuted the list in early February, agents can bump off current members if they make a persuasive argument, WebsiteBox said. The company will update the list every month.
"The list is not static," said Chad Bhalla, marketing coordinator at WebsiteBox. "If someone stops tweeting and you have a new Realtor gaining ground that deserves to be on the list we will make the replacement."
If you really want to land on WebsiteBox.com’s radar, take a close look at the methodology behind its rankings. At the least, reviewing the process they used to identify influencers should offer some lessons on how to cultivate your Twitter visibility and following.
To begin fishing for leading Twitter influencers among real estate agents, WebsiteBox searched the key phrases "real estate agent," "real estate broker" and "Realtor" on Twitter directories Wefollow and Twellow, Bhalla said. Combing through the search results, the company then selected 200 agents who boasted the largest number of followers in certain regions.
"If they don’t specifically say they are a Realtor in their profile, then they wouldn’t appear," Bhalla said, emphasizing the need for agents to craft social media profiles that contain industry parlance in order to attract attention on social media platforms.
WebsiteBox then whittled down the crop of candidates further by culling from the pack those with the highest "Klout Scores" on Klout.com, a website that gauges users’ influence on an array of social media platforms.
Klout evaluates a user’s influence on Twitter based on retweets, mentions, list memberships, followers and replies. The surefire way to turn the needle on these metrics, social media experts say, is to frequently tweet quality content and engage other Twitter users.
Milton Elbogen (@NYCREMilton), vice-president of The Corcoran Group, said he nabbed a spot on WebsiteBox’s list through "active participation and actually paying attention to [Twitter], several times a day, with timely information and [by] engaging with others."
Posting photos of nice homes, "using wit" and staying "non-political" are other practices that helped Realtor Gwen Banta (@SherlockofHomes) clinch her spot, she said.
"I do not consider [politics] part of my business model," said Gwen, an agent at Sunset Strip Brokerage in West Hollywood, Calif. "I have other sources for political, religious and personal opinions. I focus on being informative."
In compiling its list, Bhalla said WebsiteBox selected for Realtors like Gwen who were "actually sharing information that would be of relevance to the real estate community."
So some finalists whose tweets weren’t focused enough on the industry didn’t make the list.
Input from agents also prompted the company to axe some professionals that they had initially flagged as top influencers. "We found out from Realtors that the individuals that we had [selected] might not be so active in their real estate community," Bhalla said.
If you think you belong in the ranks of the "Top 99 Realtors on Twitter," send an email to @info@websitebox.com. Or consider making contact with the company through another channel (@WebsiteBox).
