Six Twitter Tools to Network Locally

The Twitter Advantage

Twitter has mobilized people in an unprecedented way and many people use social networks like Twitter to connect with people in their market.

Restaurants find local residents to follow in hopes that they will be followed back and conversation can ensue- Realtors should do the same. There is value in national networking but locals are the ones buying and selling real estate in your market so focus the largest bulk of your energy there for the highest ROI on Twitter.

Here’s how:

Geofollow– search by city, zip code or tags, Geofollow has a cool feature that allows you to bulk follow others in your market. I personally wouldn’t go this route not only because the site looks spammy (tons of google ads) but because you should always look at a person’s bio before you follow them (remember: the devil ain’t ugly). This is a cool tool though because it’s a time saver and shows a lot of users I’ve never seen before. At a minimum, you should go ahead and add yourself there so you show up higher when *others* search the site.

LocalTweeps allows you to see local users, events and specials and even gives you reports about number of people in your city or state which is useful so you know where to target (the city vs. the suburb cities around yours).

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StreetMavens might have the worst name on the planet (I personally find the term “maven” to be endlessly tacky and self important) but that said, it’s cool because you can select your city and THEN drill down information based on topic. So let’s say you want to connect with adults instead of your neighbor’s kids, select the “professional” category on the left to find professionals. Follow those you could jive with and start the twittering!

ChirpCity is useful if you want to search your city for specific terms like “coffee” or “mortgage” or otherwise. The only warning I have is that the “business directory” isn’t what you think it is -it’s just a Google-ish search, not a Twitter search or tool.

Happn.in shows you what people in your city are twittering about so you can see in an easy to read way who is twittering about the top subjects so last night, UT baseball was all the rage so you can join in the conversation by @ messaging others talking about the game which is a great way to connect with people in a genuine way.

TwitterLocal– by this point I’m hoping your not reading anymore because I don’t want to share this awesome tool with anyone ever because it’s so cool! TwitterLocal used to be a site you could search but the Twitter API freaked out and they had to adjust which resulted in a wicked Adobe AIR desktop application (program) that shows you in real time who in your city is Twittering. This is good because you only end up learning of active users instead of someone who hasn’t updated in a month AND good because you can keep your finger on the pulse of your city.

So what now?

If you’re new to Twitter (or just bad at it), start here and when you jump in, pretend you’re at a friend’s party and you don’t know anyone- be polite, be genuine and sincere and don’t be salesly or smarmy because people can read your bio where it says your profession and KNOW what you do without your having to be a caveman and beating them over the head with it. Talk sports, food or whatever interests you and make connections the same way you would in person.

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Are you using any of the tools above? There are about a trillion sites for this, which ones would you add to the list?