What do we love? Twitter! 

Why do we love it? Lists!

If you’re confused and aren’t sure what I’m talking about—I’m about to change how you use Twitter and maybe re-spark some joy around this platform. 

Twitter lists are easily one of my favourite things about Twitter and the one thing I wish all social media platforms offered. 

A ‘List’ is a curated group of Twitter accounts. You can create your own Lists or follow Lists created by others. Viewing a List timeline will show you a stream of Tweets from only the accounts on that List. 

So for a social consultant who does the social management for various brands, this feature means I can keep tabs on potential clients, current clients, vendors, suppliers ect without falling down the rabbit hole.

Why use twitter lists?

Twitter Lists were created to make it easier for a user to manage their conversations and to reduce their feed to only the followers they really want to see content from. 

In other words, it helps individuals or businesses to follow tweets from the specific people they choose to, blocking out all the news accounts, meme accounts and other distracting content creators.

A user can create up to 1,000 Lists with up to 5,000 users on it. And you can subscribe to as many lists as you wish. As long as they are a public list, you can follow already curated lists of people! 

In a nutshell, it’s a great way to improve your social listening and to keep track of clients, potential clients, influencers, competitors, and so much more!

Here’s 7 ways I recommend you use a Twitter list:

1. For Events and Conference

This is my favourite way to use lists! Whenever I’m attending a large event, I like to see who’s using their hashtag, talking about the event and planning to attend beforehand. By adding all of these people to my Event List, I can keep track of conversations happening online before and after the event. 

As well, I can add people that I meet in person to these lists for a quick look-up later. Much easier than carrying home a dozen business cards! 

A List for an event or conference can help grab everything and everyone that you might miss via a hashtag.

Example of this could be: Social Media Day Halifax lists, BlogJam Atlantic or Social Media Marketing World

2. Build a community with shared interests

Twitter is a great place to build a community of people with similar interests. By using the list feature, you can separate these people by interest group. 

For example: you’re a professional writer but you also LOVE big brother? You can create a private list to add all your favourite twitter users to, so you can have a whole dedicated feed of what they’re talking about when the show comes on. (Or, you have an entire list you can avoid if you haven’t seen that episode yet!)

You can have lists for any number of your interests, helping you manage your time by not having to scroll through your feeds. 

3. Accounts you recommend to follow

Do you have a list of service providers that you always recommend? Or a list of restaurants that you love? 

Twitter Lists also lets you curate your favourite people into public lists that you can share to promote your favourite people and businesses. 

Try making a list called ‘helpful resources’ to share your can’t-live-without favourites to your followers. 

4. Client list, members list or prospects (Private)

When you’re curating a list like this, best to keep it private for your eyes only. No need to help your competitors prospect all your potential or current clients! 

This is a list I use to keep tabs on the people I work with regularly. I like to promote their business, share their tweets and generally keep on top of how things are going for them. 

Using a list for this means that if I only have 15 minutes, I can go right to the most important people I follow on twitter and use my time to interact with their accounts first. 

5. Competitors list (Private)

Another one to keep private! For more obvious reasons. 

This is a great way to be able to stay updated on others in your industry and see what they are currently up to. Who they interact with, what they’re posting about and what works well for them are all important stats to keep tabs on when you get a chance. 

6. Experts in your niche

Those experts in your field that you look up to and that you often share their content? Add them to a list and make it easier for you to find this useful content! 

This can be private or open. If you’re leaving it open, anyone added to the list will see that they’ve been added—so it’s a great way to give someone a nod of appreciation. 

You can continuously add people to this list over time so you always have a wealth of content to share with your audience. 

7. Local Businesses/Politicians/People of Importance within your city/community/province

If you follow me you know that I’m a huge supporter of local businesses and having a local list or multiple lists is the perfect chance to share the local love and let others know what businesses, influencers, politicians, athletes, etc. live in your area. 

It’s a great way to showcase members of a specific organization or to divide businesses via industry for examples Restaurants in Halifax, small businesses in Nova Scotia

How to get started with Lists

So how do you make a twitter list? Luckily the people at twitter have an entire support page to walk you through step-by-step in how to get started. Check it out right here: 

https://help.twitter.com/en/using-twitter/twitter-lists

Now that you are aware of twitter lists and how amazing they are will you be incorporating them into your strategy and into your daily twitter habits? Comment below to let me know, or book a consult if you’re still not quite sure how to take advantage of lists for your business.