Edina Realty Holds “#RealtorChat” via Twitter

Edina, Minn. – March 3, 2011 – The first time Edina Realty organized a chat via Twitter with Realtors from Edina Realty (and real estate or mortgage professionals from other companies), it went so well that the firm plans to host regular Twitter chats in the future.

The first “Realtor Chat” was held on Feb. 17, attracting around 20 participants (and potentially thousands of #RealtorChat followers) who were interested in discussing real estate trends and topics. The chat also acted as an online networking event for real estate professionals on Twitter to meet one another, attract new followers, identify new information resources, and become familiar with the use of hashtags and Twitter etiquette.

Using the hashtag #RealtorChat, the group of industry professionals “tweeted” their responses to 10 probing questions that @Edina_Realty asked. Here is a summary of a few questions and responses from the first #RealtorChat:

@Edina_Realty: The warm weather is a sure sign of the approaching spring market. Are you noticing differences in your business yet?

Sample response tweets: “I’ve seen more traffic at my opens the past 3 wkends. Neighbors are out on nice days.” “I have seen the numbers of showings spike on my listings in the last few weeks.” “Since early-Jan, purchase activity is waaaay up over refinance. That’s a reversal.”

@Edina_Realty: In what ways do you hope to use social media for business? Are you trying to make or retain connections?

Sample response tweets: “Both! New, promote, news and keep in touch!” “Find clients and referrals.” “It’s a great tool for staying in front of people you know.” “It will depend on platform; communications, marketing, CRM have all converged. So yes, it’ll be a huge part of my biz.” “Definitely not an all-out sales tool though. It’s called SocialMedia, not SalesMedia.”

@Edina_Realty: What successes have you heard, or positive experiences have you had, involving real estate and social media connections?

Sample response tweets: “I am impressed with the amount of impressions of Facebook! Another source and more data for sellers!” “The most successes I’ve seen on other agent’s pages, is posting education links, news stories, videos, etc.” “Social Media is also an incredible productivity tool.”

@Edina_Realty: Many agents think that social media is a time sucker; how do you use it to increase productivity?

Sample response tweets: “Personally: competitive edge, new client rapport, referral base, sold a house off my bizpage, information aggregator.” “Pick one or two to be good on; streamline the rest by using Tweetdeck, etc. and go mobile.” “Keeping your sphere informed and sharing what you are doing. Not trying to sell.”

For more information on Edina Realty, visit www.edinarealty.com, follow them on Twitter @Edina_Realty or find them at Facebook.com/EdinaRealty.

Edina Realty, a subsidiary of HomeServices of America, is one of the nation’s largest real estate companies with approximately 60 real estate offices throughout Minnesota, North Dakota and western Wisconsin and nearly 2,300 REALTORS®. Edina Realty’s family of companies includes Edina Realty, Edina Realty Title, and Edina Realty Mortgage. Edina Realty handled more than 25,000 transactions and $5.3 billion in sales volume in 2010. For more information, visitwww.edinarealty.com.