I’m an avid user of lists and wouldn’t dare go to the supermarket without a shopping list in hand. Without one I may find myself becoming very distracted by all the end-of-aisle goodies and end up buying a lot more that I actually need and none of what I do!
Lists are my friends, they help me stay organised and focused in a world full of many distractions. Like my shopping or ‘to do’ list, I also find segmenting Twitter contacts into separate lists prevents me from becoming distracted or caught up in all the Twitter noise.
What are Twitter Lists?
They are curated lists that can be created by anyone with an account. Lists can be used to filter out the noise and display a stream of posts from accounts you have pre-qualified.
Public lists can be accessed by anyone on Twitter and can be subscribed to. Whereas private lists are for your eyes only. Users will not know if you have added their account to a private list and no one else will be able to subscribe themselves to your private lists. Given the popularity of lists, Twitter allows each user to create up to 1,000 lists with up to 5,000 accounts on each one!
1. Create your own Twitter lists
Twitter lists allow you to segment your contacts into different groups of similar intent or purpose. For businesses, this is an invaluable function when looking to reach out to and engage with your audience or prospective customers.
There may be several reasons you might want to create lists:
1. To identify new selling opportunities
2. To monitor competitors
3. To keep up-to-date with your customers’ news
4. To be inspired by industry experts and thought leaders in your industry
By filtering your Twitter feed by your chosen list you can very quickly refine your focus and engage with these accounts only. I often find I am much more productive when viewing Twitter lists rather than my general feed which is very easy to become lost in!
2. Subscribe to other People's Twitter lists:
Twitter lists can also save a lot of time when trying to source new contacts or accounts for inspiration. All public lists are searchable and there may already be one out there that is perfect for you. Take a look at the profile of a business or person whom you deem to be influential in your area of business, it’s highly likely that they have already compiled or been added to other Twitter lists that may be relevant to you and your business. Take a look at the lists they have been ‘subscribed to’ or are ‘members of’ and subscribe to any that may benefit you.
If the ‘lists’ menu is not visible on a profile, this is because they have not subscribed to or been added to any public lists yet.
3. Taking Twitter lists to the next level
It’s so easy to create and update Twitter lists and it’s worth investing a little time to set these up initially, then become even more productive by utilising a tool like Tweetdeck.
TweetDeck is a free tool, which can be set up in a matter of minutes just by adding your Twitter handle. TweetDeck is highly customisable and allows you to add a different column for each set of information you wish to monitor. For example, you could have separate columns for notifications, new followers, account mentions, direct messages, customer lists, prospect lists, influencer lists etc.
By doing so, you are able to see all your most important feeds all in one view with the option to focus in on one segment in more detail without conducting further searches.
Have a go and see how much more productive your Twitter experience can be! If you would like any more tips on managing your social media more effectively, just get in touch and we will be happy to help.
