Twitter Hits UK Property Portals

Twitter has hit the UK property market in a big way, with major UK portals getting very serious about the act of twittering.

While it has been gradually growing in popularity for some time, Twitter finally hit the mainstream last month in the UK when it entered the Hitwise top 100 most visited websites for the first time, at number 91.

Social media is now an integral part of online marketing and although it might have taken some a while to realise it, no one wants to be left behind.

Over recent weeks property search engine globrix.com has been twittering and blogging about their newfound twitter-addiction. They’ve also been drawing our attention to all sorts of interesting property related people to follow in the UK.

The Times Money blog compiled a list of the ‘Top 20 British property profiles on Twitter’ and gave two spots to globrix.com for @Globrix and their clever @PropertyPorn identity, which twitters fabulously expensive and luxurious eye candy from globrix.com for the property obsessed.

Twitter profiles from other portals which made the Times list include: @zoopla, @nestoria, @findaproperty and @primelocation.

Off the list there are plenty more, including UK market leader @rightmove with over 200 followers and @enormo_uk with almost 400 followers. Loads of agents are also getting themselves onto Twitter.

More important than who is twittering, is the question of how Twitter can be useful to property portals.

UK based international property website homesgofast.com is a great example of how important Twitter can be for businesses.

CEO Nick Marr says that the website has been using the web 2.0 technology to develop international contacts.

“We absolutely love Twitter! It is really good for us, and for any business that produces engaging articles and content on a regular basis. Twitter allows you to share your content with the world, and if it is good content, your gang of followers will quickly grow.

At first we thought it was just a way of building traffic to the site, as our following grows, we are being approached by businesses wanting to advertise and/or affiliate with us — through Twitter!”

Nick says their “Tweets” have become particularly popular with property marketers in the US and in the Caribbean. “We are in the process of forming a working relationship with the proprietor of propertyadsja.com, who contacted us after seeing our following grow on Twitter,” Nick explains, adding: “we will continue to exploit this new medium, and are particularly keen to follow, and be followed by those involved in the Jamaican property market.”

Editor’s Note: You can also follow propertyportalwatch.com on Twitter: twitter.com/portalwatch.

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