Any blog on twitter tips has one tip in common: Create Twitter lists. These lists are important for individuals and companies who are looking to use Twitter to gain followers, maximise engagement and earn profit.

We take a look at twitter lists, how to manage them and the best practices that will help you maximise its benefits.

What are Twitter lists?

Curate a group of Twitter users who have a common denominator - People who belong in the same industry, people who are your target customers, users who attending your event. This is your Twitter list. It is a list of people that you want to focus on and a stream of their recent tweets.

Managing your list

Influencer List

Keep tabs of your influencers. Create a list or multiple lists (e.g. Social Media Influencers Lists, SMB Influencers Lists). Influencers update you on the latest in your industry. They tweet about best practices and strategy that you can learn from.

People with shared interests

Curate a list of people with similar interests as you and your business such as small business, startups, surfing, content marketing. This is a way to get insights from like-minded individuals and be pointed to the latest content that they are sharing.

You can also make a list of people in the same area of work as you - writers, designers, techies, entrepreneurs, people you can best learn from and interact with.

Customer resources

We wrote about using Twitter for customer service. In it we highlighted the value of being proactive, or solving problems and answering questions before they arise. One of the ways to be proactive on Twitter is creating a public list of ‘to follow’ accounts that can be a good resource to your customers and are related to the services that you provide. For example, if you provide blogging services, you can include design resources so they see updates on how to maximise their blogs by adding images.

Private client list

Keep updated on what your clients are up to - their activities and what they are tweeting about. Twitter is a good channel for getting to know your clients and staying in touch with them. If you are in the business of creating content for your customers, having a private client list lets you see how content appears on your page. Set this list to private as you are creating the list.

Private Prospect list

Make a Twitter list for people and companies that you want to work with. You get a pretty idea what a business is about - their interests and what is important to them - by what they tweet. Grouping them in a list helps you make sure you are able to engage with them regularly. As soon as these prospects become your customers, you can then move them to your private clients list.

Private competitors list

See what your competitors are up to. Your competitors’ list lets you see their Twitter stream for some inspiration, fresh content and new techniques.

Networking list

Who do you want to engage with? Who are constantly engaging with you? creating a list helps you weed through all the Twitter clutter and stay in touch with users you want to keep regular engagement with. This also keeps you up to date with conversations that you want to join in.

RT list

Create a list of people who constantly retweet you. Get to know their profiles and see if they tweet content that is helpful to your audience. Reciprocate by retweeting them regularly. This enables you to show appreciation for giving you a social media boost and helps you curate content from like-minded individuals.

Affiliations

Promote twitter accounts or organizations you are a part of. They can be your socio-civic organizations, university alumni group or start-up incubator.

Your affiliations can also be the companies and tools that you use. when you regularly engage with them through RT's, favorites and replies their logos appear on your profiles' feed.

Event attendees

If you are hosting a live event, conferences, Twitter chats or webinars, list your attendees into one place. this helps you see hashtags and live tweets before, during and after the event, all in one place.

Local businesses

Make a list of businesses in your local area. Show your support and appreciation and you might just get free pizza.

Best practices

• Add yourself to your lists

When creating a list of thought leaders and content creators, include yourself in it. Add yourself in your most popular lists. This helps you increase your followers and engagement.

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• Private setting

Set some lists private such as your clients and competitors. The rule of thumb for lists is that if the list is helpful to everybody else, set it as a public list. If a list benefits you alone, set it to private.

• Promote your lists

Use your website, blog page and other social media channels to promote your lists. Choose a name that is attractive to your followers. Make sure the name clearly suggests what lists they will be following. You can also add a description to elaborate what the list is about and why they should subscribe.

• Subscribe to lists

There are existing lists that can be beneficial to your business. You are able to subscribe to these lists even if you don't follow those who are in it.

To follow people from lists, click on members or subscribers. Each user has a follow button beside them. We have prepared Twitter lists and you can follow them here:

Social Media (hyperlink to our lists) Content Marketing Web and SEO Tools and Saas Social Media channels Entrepreneurs Influencers Creative and Design
• Use tools

Use tools such as Twitilist, TweetBe.at, Twitlistmanager to add users to a list. These tools allow you to add or remove users in bulk as opposed to going through their profiles one by one.

• Thank you note

Send a DM or a tweet to thank people who have added you to their lists.

Do you use Twitter lists? Comment with your recommended Twitter list below.

About the Author

 

About Angelica Manlunas

Angelica lives off of coffee and pizza. She spends her time online tinkering on social media, watching short films and poetry slams. Her offline time is devoted to trips to the beach or spending lazy days indoors with a book in her hand. Also, she writes at least 1000 words every day. Email Angelica at angelica.manlunas@transeo.com.au and follow Angelica @ang_transeo.