I’ll be the first to admit that in the beginning I was a Twitter superskeptic. On the surface it appeared to be a useless platform, a massive generator of unimportant noise and a timehog.  Now, I was no complete stranger to social media: I had been using Facebook (among other sites) for the longest time because the concept of building social relationships with the purpose of generating conversations, clients, referrals and overall brand positioning made sense to me. But, Twitter seemed like YASNS (yet another social networking site) … until Real Estate Barcamp Houston in October.

In that unconference during one of the discussions, Jeff Turner (@respres) spoke about Twitter and how it could be used as a business tool. “Imagine – he said – that you’re in a restaurant and three or four people are having a conversation. Twitter allows you to join that conversation, contribute to it and in the process build a network that will be good for your business in so many ways. But to do so, you’ve got to listen”

Hmmmm…

After the conference, I thought long and hard about what he said. And slowly but surely I started to get it. Most likely, you will never find someone on Twitter that will say “Looking for an agent to sell my home. Call me at …”. But if you join meaningful conversations you can create a network of followers friends that will help your business tremendously in the long run, if you’re willing to invest your time and undivided attention.

In my humble opinion, when it comes to using Twitter for business, the absolute biggest advantage that this platform offers is targeting. In other words, you get to choose the “crowd” with which you hang out, the people that will not only dig your way of doing business but also your personality.

So if you’re ready, let me take you on a sweet shopping trip for Twitter followers:

• Go on Twitterholic, enter your twitter handle (username) to Check your Twitterholic Ranking, and Go

• The site will provide you with some stats and graphs of your activity but that’s not why we’re here. Click on the City Name to see the Top 100 Twitter Users in your City.

• Happy Shopping. You’re targeting your followers to the specific city in which you do business. These are the top 100 movers and shakers on Twitter for that particular area.

A couple of parting words.

1. Be Selective – Read their blog or website and you will be surprised how much you will find out about who they really are. Listen. Check out their tweets and see if this is someone you’d be interested in hearing from (or ‘following’ in TwitSpeak).
2. Absolutely, NO SPAMMING – Before you get ready to hit them with the link of that great listing you just got  — DON’T. They don’t care. They don’t know you so why should they. The one litmus test that will disqualify you from success on Twitter is spamming and self promotion. It simply does not work. Instead, try joining conversation you truly care about and following people you’d have coffee with if you could.
3. Oh and follow @ErionHouston while you’re at it…