Twitter lists are here and are now available to all users. Horray! The last two twitter list posts we shared, I trust gave you an insight into what they are and gave you a  greater understanding of how you can benefit from them. For a quick refresh -  here are those two popular posts again:

How to use twitter lists in your business and Twitter lists for business explained

Ok, so you now understand the concept of twitter lists, so what next?

Twitter launched a new widget yesterday to assist the list process. It’s built in a similar manner to the twitter gadget/widget that you can put on your website/blog - click here for examples – however this widget enables you to promote a specific list on your website or blog. If you look to the right of your screen you can see we have compiled one which streams all Thinktank Media teams tweets. This is a fantastic way to get multiple use out of twitter with one easy widget, and its a great way for you to see what the team is up to, who they are connecting with, what advice they offer and who they are engaging with on this space.

You can also promote other peoples lists on specific pages of your website/blog with this widget. For example, I run an offline twitter networking group @tweetupmellers and I am going to use @geehall1 list for this site – why? Because he has already compiled this list so there is no need for me to reinvent the wheel.

Click here for the link  – so you can get started setting it up.

How can you use this in your own business?

Here are some ideas that spring to mind:

1) Create a list of your team/workforce and display the list widget on your “about us” page.

2) Use the people around you to create lists then share via the widget eg. If you are in the accommodation industry and there are others in your community using twitter, then why not create a list of the whole business community. This is a value add to your guests as they can touch base with other businesses in the area – eg. restaurants, massage, sailing, hairdressers etc – it’s also showing your community you are supporting them. You can simply place this in an area on the website/blog to assist visitors to find them easily.

3) It’s your turn now – any thoughts on how you can use this widget to make the whole twitter list process even more effective????????? Any questions, then hit me up

I got a lot of feedback on my recent post on twitter lists. Not all people have this feature and its understandable that people may be confused. In this post, I’ll answer some of the common questions I was asked.

What is Twitter Lists?

This is still in beta stage, which means that many readers may not be able to see it. I’ve included two images that show the major changes.

The below image shows my regular sidebar as well as the page that displays when I click the text ‘Listed.’

There are two differences in the sidebar. You can see the lists you are following under your favourites. I’m only following two lists currently, but you can see more when you click View all. When you click that, you are taken to a screen that shows the lists you are following and the lists following you. You can also see the person that created that list and the amount of followers that list has.

The next image shows what you see when you click on a specific list.

This takes you to a page featuring the tweets by the people on the list. You are able to see who the list was created by and have the option to follow it. You can also block the list owner and check out other lists they have created.

How are these features useful?

Before I go into details, I’ll discuss how these basic features are useful:

• You can ascertain how ‘popular’ someone is by the amount of times they are featured in the list. You can see how truly useful they are by checking out the quality of the individual lists. This can prevent gaming of the twitter system
• It can easily allow you to see what is trending, just by reading the updates by a group of people.
• You don’t necessarily have to create all of these lists yourself. If someone has already discovered fabulous people, you can just follow their list. You can then follow and interact with interact with interesting people within that list.

How Do I Find Interesting People To List.

I was actually asked this recently by the lovely girls at Caroline Service Apartments. They loved the idea of lists but weren’t part of the beta and was wondering how could they find interesting people to add to lists. I was specifically asked about useful tools.

I’m often complimented about how I network on twitter but I don’t use any of the search and follow applications. I just find a core group of interesting people and follow more people as I discover them within a community. This is a very simple version of what I do:

• I follow people that seem interesting and that I want to get to know better
• I see who they interact with and, if interested, start connecting with them
• I see what names are frequently mentioned in that community. These are the influencers/sneezers
• I start to know most of the people in the community and usually follow anyone who enters.
• The rest is mostly based on referrals. People recommend that others connect with me, or vice versa, because we can help each other.

Now, I’ve been on twitter for over a year and it takes up time to do this. You can reduce the amount of time needed by using some of the applications on the twitter fan wiki

How The Twitter Fan Wiki Can Help With Your Lists

On the page, they feature a number of applications that can improve your twitter experience. It is also worth noting that they’ll soon release the API for this feature so there may be some tools developed to specifically help.

They have organized the information into groups. These are the groups I thought would be relevant to those creating lists:

• GeoSocial/Local: These can help you find local people that you may want to interact with
• Groups/organizations: How to find many people according to certain selected variables
• Search Engines: A better way of finding people according to your business goals.
• Trends: Allows you to know what information is hot, so you can see if any people in your lists are talking about it

There are also travel applications which may help Caroline Service Apartments.

You can use these tools to cut down the amount of time it takes to find the interesting people, but it can be hard work creating the lists. I recommend that you follow the lists that other people have created for certain niches and locations and then create certain lists (private or public) for people that fit outside of those categories.

What do I do once they are on a list?

You don’t have to do anything – its like following. However it is a waste of time researching this feature if you have no intentions of connecting with people within the lists. Taking action on this is worthless unless you genuinely want to connect and support your community.

Twitter lists can give you a reason to make the initial connection:

• Explain why you added them to a list and offer to help. Ask if they’d recommend anyone to add to your list
• Thank someone for creating a really useful list. You can network additionally by mentioning specific people you found from that list
• Thank people for adding to a particular good list. If you do this via DM, people will know that you are thanking them because you genuinely appreciate it rather than seeking attention.

Over to you

I understand that lists are a bit confusing. Let me know what questions you still have about them and I’ll answer them either on twitter or in future posts. You can also contact Sam and she’ll help you utilize twitter lists as part of your social media strategy.

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?