Twitter recently added a new feature call Twitter lists. It is reportedly only available to selected users but many have really started to embrace the feature.
Initially, it seems like a new way of measuring popularity. It is easy to dismiss how it can help your business. However this simple feature can make your work so much easier, especially if you have multiple people managing your social media accounts.
So – what does it do?
Twitter Lists allows you to categorize the people you are following, or are following you. Individuals may create different lists for friends, family and so forth. However twitter lists allows to allocate individuals to certain buyer personas and allow you to better serve them.
How does this relate to buyer personas?
There are different types of people that will buy from you. Lets look at our fabulous clients, Caroline Serviced Apartments.
They will attract:
- Families looking for a quieter place to stay
- People in town for business who want the extra service
- Couples who want a relaxing weekend.
Notice how we identified the emotions they were seeking. This will help you tailor services to their specific needs. This takes the guess work out of finding people to follow on twitter.
Its a simpler form of CRM
People on twitter don’t like being sold to and it can be easy to feel like you are part of a database. This is where twitter lists excel – you can give back to the community while managing their individual needs.
In the case of Caroline Serviced Apartments, they can create a list called ‘Australian travel bloggers.’ This is not only useful for them to see who may be coming to Melbourne, but it can be useful for others looking for such a list. This may help many others discover your twitter profile and engage with your content. You can expand this to so many other categories.
Yet it takes the concept a step further. Not only are you reaching your potential customers, you are also reaching the people who will spread your message to others. This is where twitter lists can really help you. Its simply a matter of discovering the best method of organizing your followers.
How do I categorize people?
There are multiple ways you can organize the people you are following:
- By geographic region
This is useful if your business targets a specific region. You can see what they are talking about, what they like and find ways to help them.
- By how active they are in social media
You can create a separate list for those who are really active within your niche. We call them the ‘sneezers’, or ‘influencers.’ These are the people who rave when they find something great and can generate a lot of traffic to your business.
As with everything in social media, you shouldn’t target ANYONE specifically for personal gain – you have to find ways to help your followers before asking for help. But simply identifying them can help you get a feel for what motivates them.
People to look for are active tweeters, bloggers or those who use niche social networking sites like Flickr.
- Previous customers
People who have already bought from you will most likely trust you. They still need attention, as they are the ones that will continue to talk about your brand. By having a special list you will instantly know that they have bought from you and mention that in conversation.
- People who are ‘trolls’
This category may seem unnecessary but it may prevent you from engaging with someone who is just out to cause trouble.
- People in certain industries
This can be particularly useful for those who are seeking others in different areas of their industry. It can also help if you are looking for support in another industry. A good example is creating a list of journalists on twitter.
- People in the same industry
This is a useful way of giving back to your community. You can keep a track of the competition while supporting others.
Important tips:
- It is important that you are aware of the privacy settings. People may be offended at being categorized, especially in negative terms
- Foster a sense of community. Emphasis that you are doing this to ensure you are helping your followers to the best of your ability
- Be thankful when you are included on other peoples lists. However, this may not be scalable.
Over to you.
This is a very new concept and one I’m sure we will be hearing a lot about. These are just my immediate thoughts about how it can apply to your business. I’m sure that, over time, we will be able to identify other ways that we can use twitter lists to help the community. What are your thoughts?
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Another insightful and useful post from the indelible Jade Craven.
Thanks for sharing this with the world Jade – much appreciated!
Cheers, Iggy
I had heard about Twitter Lists from someone else who couldn’t really explain them to me. This is perfect. Now, not only do I know what they are, I can actually USE them.
Thanks for the detailed explanation.
Cheers!
Jackie Ewing
A great summary of the practical applications of this new feature – thanks for this, Jade!
Jade – another great post! We are super proud of you at Thinktank Media and are stoked to have you as part of the team! yipeeee….
Jade,
This makes perfect sense – I think?
I use Tweet Deck and have all my followers on lists here – is this the same?
Can you Tweet to just a certain list using Twitter lists?
Ta JT
It is very similar. However, a post by Robert Scoble explains it better – http://post.ly/95tf.
Groups on tweetdeck are private and help you organize. A good list is something that a lot of people will follow and will give you credibility. There are many people saying that this will be the true measure of your reach on twitter.
Follow count and follow friday mentions aren’t a true measure of your impact. With the automated services, people don’t trust those numbers.
With the list – you will be able to see how many people opt and why.
I’m not sure if you can tweet to a certain list but will be researching this. I also have a post on Twitip about this.
Let me know if this helps you
awesome read Jade, very insightful!
Great post Jade! Loving how easy and attainable you make it all sound! I know when I come across posts like these I am much more inclined to try the new apps and features of the online world – so thanks!!
What I don’t get from this: do Twitter Lists enable me to ‘send tweets’ to these different lists seperately, without bothering the other followers? Or is it only a way of organizing and categorizing, but no aditional features?
Honestly – not many of us know. Its still in beta and is being rolled out so not many people know the true extent of its functionality.
In its current form – its just a way of organizing. This can make it easier for CRM and twitter clients may start using it, which will make it easier.
You can check out http://status.twitter.com/ to see if anything is updated regarding lists. I’m sorry I can’t be more help.
- Jade
Nicola and Ben – thanks
I usually ignore a lot of the apps but as soon as I read about this, my brain just clicked about all the ways that business could use this.
There are still a lot of questions about it so I’ve uploaded another post
It should be up soon.
Also thanks to Iggy and Kim for your comments!
I use these lists only for small groups of tweeples with a very special topic. For example I run a list with accounts tweeting about castles.