Many Twitter accounts miss out on the power of Twitter lists. They are so underrated. For some reason so many people hate them and detest being added to them. Why? I’m not quite sure.
Yes, in some cases a troll might add you to an obvious “troll list”. Twitter gives you the option to remove yourself from lists that you may not particularly wish to be on. This is done by blocking/unblocking the “troll lister”. Me personally, I’d just simply block them :]
Anyway, there are also many advantages of creating and being added to Twitter lists. If you’re a start up company, artist or organisation then read on. If you wish to gain exposure of some sort and you’re not utilising lists on your Twitter account, then you could be missing out bigtime!
Let’s explore five good reasons why Twitter lists are very powerful.
- If you follow many Twitter accounts, your home feed can get ‘messy’. Listing them allows you to find what you want/need much easier. For example, if you’re a musician who also uses Twitter to catch up on news, health & fitness, wildlife etc. as well as other musicians, adding them to lists will allow you to simply go to the list and find what you’re searching for. This is better than simply following these mixture of accounts who will show up on your home feed, all mixed up together.
- When creating a list, you might want people to know that you are listing certain Twitter accounts. You may also wish to keep certain lists private. As a PR & marketing firm, I have a private list labelled ‘Other Marketers and PR Firms’. My competitors don’t know that I’m keeping an eye on them. Are you an electrician who wishes to keep an eye on your competition? Create a private ‘Competitor Electricians’ list if you don’t want other electricians in your area to know that you are spying on them.
- Some people add me to public lists labelled “helpful marketers” or “video advert production” etc. I love this. This will only let others know that my company is out there. If this happens to you then you must be doing something right. You’re getting free advertising because your account becomes easier to find.
- It’s important to follow people only if they add value to you. If following a ‘political’ account can cause damage to your brand/personality in anyway, but you wish/need to know what that account is tweeting about, then adding them to a private list of, say ‘Moron Politicians’ won’t do any harm. I don’t want people to know that I have a list of moron politicians, or who I’d list as one because it could either harm my brand or offend certain people.
- Listing allows you to target and find new and useful contacts. From “doctors in Bristol” to “restaurants in Glasgow”, listing them will make my job so much easier to engage with them or follow what they are tweeting.
So there you have it.
5 reasons to create Twitter lists. Why not give it a try it if you haven’t already done so? You’ll love it I swear. It’s pretty simple to do too.
On the drop down menu, click “lists” then “create new list”. Name the list “Helpful Marketing Tips”. Make it public (or private if you wish) and add @BGlobalPRLtd on there as well as other helpful marketers (Jeff Bullas, Shane Barker, Glen Gilmore, Jared Chan) to name just a few ;]
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