I’m generally a huge fan of Rightmove as a property portal for finding properties for sale or rent. What they have created is brilliant. However, my admiration stops there, especially when it comes to their innovating attempts at cracking social media.
A few days ago Rightmove published a horrific piece of advice on their blog which practically had me in tears. I’m worried that their careless blogging will further hinder everyone’s already-mundane Tweeting experience. This isn’t about me (for once), this is about the greater good of mankind!
How Did Rightmove Fuck Up?
Rightmove advised Estate Agents to sign up to a website called Twitterfeed (I’m too repulsed to even link to the website). They’re advising their clients to get their RSS URL from their Rightmove Account Manager and submit it to Twitterfeed so their properties will automatically be published on Twitter.
Are they fucking insane?
I have a serious problem with that piece of shitty God awful advice. I previously wrote a blog post about how Most Of The Estate Agents On Twitter Are Idiots.
My point was made clear when I explained how I had noticed a trend on Twitter which involved a substantial amount of Estate Agents abusing the platform by relentlessly Tweeting links to hundreds and hundreds of properties they currently have for sale in their books. Rightmove is apparently encouraging that shit.
Not only is that type of Tweeting spammy, a waste of time, making Twitter even more unbearable, but it’s also annoying beyond belief because some agents (and apparently Rightmove) are stupid enough to believe that they’re actually making a positive impact by Tweeting that shit.
Ignore Rightmove’s Advice/Blog post!
I’m pleading to ALL estate agents, DO NOT submit your RSS feed to Twitterfeed if you want to avoid being an annoying little cu*t! I’ve already justified my reasoning, but here it is again…
- The general public looking to buy a property WON’T follow an Estate Agent on Twitter- that would be INSANE. Most people that follow Estate Agents on Twitter are fellow Estate Agents. So who are the links to the properties actually for?
- If someone wants to buy a property, they’re certainly not going to follow an Estate Agent on Twitter, or even search on Twitter. That’s a fact. The average sane person will use Rightmove directly, or the Estate Agents actual website.
- Sending out links constantly to ‘properties for sale’ is BORING. I stopped following 99% of Estate Agents because my profile was just getting filled with shitty links. I’m hoping/assuming no one else finds those links entertaining or useful.
- The target audience isn’t there, so what’s the point of distributing these links? The links aren’t being clicked on by actual “buyers”. Even if by some stroke of luck a potential buyer does follow an agent on Twitter, what are the chances of actually displaying an ideal property for that user? I’d rather try my luck with a scratch card.
- Buying a house is a VERY broad topic. What I mean is, it’s not a niche E.g. if my business was selling rare Spiderman memorabilia, then it would be worthwhile flooding my Twitter account with links to all the latest memorabilia I got into stock. The majority of my followers would most likely be targetted Spiderman fanatics, consequently the clicks would be of value.
Rightmove is an authority, but they also get it wrong
Since Rightmove is an extremely influential authority in the world of estate agents, I have no doubt in my mind that their advice will, sadly, be taken on board by the hoards of pawns resting by their feet. But I urge you to resist.
To the bloggers over at Rightmove, if you care about the human race, I beg you to remove that blog post. I genuinely don’t want to see more Estate Agents being lead down the wrong path, and I feel your advice is doing exactly that!! You guys made a mistake. It’s not big deal, we all do it. The important thing is to learn from your mistakes and REMOVE THE BLOODY POST! I’m sure you guys can think of better ways to generate traffic without handing your clients a grenade!
Hear hear!