Twitter lists should be an important part of your 2020 marketing strategy.

What is a Twitter List?

A Twitter list is a curated list of Twitter handles within Twitter that allows you to view the tweets of those within that list only. You can create your own lists or subscribe to one created by someone else.

Public vs. Private Lists

Public lists are just that – public! They are searchable and those you include on the list will receive a notice they have been added. Public lists can be followed, and you can share the URL as a resource for others.

Private lists cannot be seen by anyone but you. The accounts included within the list will not receive a notice they have been added to your list and if someone has the list URL they will not still not be able to view it.

Follow vs. Add

You can add Twitter accounts to your list that you follow already, but you do not have to be following an account to add it to your list. This is a great way to keep your follower list down but still be able to keep up with all the accounts that interest you.

For more specifics on how to create, add, edit Twitter lists.

Ways to Utilize Twitter Lists

There are a variety of ways you can utilize Twitter lists and I find they are all helpful to the diverse group of clients we work with.

Monitoring

Twitter lists are a great way to monitor trends in your industry, media, a crisis and more. I always recommend a local media list (or multiple if you have locations or interests in different cities), national media list if you work nationwide, supporters/partners/sponsors and thought
leaders in your industry.

Scanning those lists weekly will help you catch up on what is going on or in the case of a crisis you have one place on Twitter to monitor sentiment.

Content Curation

This is one is my favorite. Creating lists takes time, but if you put in the effort to build great lists it will be a big time saver going forward. Creating lists for the different topics or industries you are interested in or focused on will allow you to scan and find great content to read and share across your social channels. I will share more ideas on different types of helpful lists to have in addition to the media lists mentioned above, below in the examples.

If you have created a list that you think would be helpful to others – share! While you can follow and subscribe to other people’s lists it is always great to create lists that others will follow as well. It helps to show your expertise as an expert and/or industry leader as well.

Examples of Twitter Lists

Medical Client – created lists of all locations, local partners, national health organizations
Sports Client – created lists of local teams both professional and amateur, national sports and coaching organizations, US professional and Olympic sports (during an Olympic year), local hotels and sports facilities

Final Thoughts on Twitter Lists

Twitter lists take time to build, so go slow and don’t try to do it all in a day. In my experience the time commitment is worth it!

Question

How do you plan to use Twitter Lists for your business in 2020?

Social media is a big part of getting the word out about your organization. You’ve spend considerable time and effort creating content and selecting the right images to get your message across. That makes it all the more important to know who your audience is, so you will know if your messages are getting to the right people.

Identify Your Desired Audience (if you haven’t already)

First you should identify your audience or target market. Who do you want to talk to, market to, educate, etc.? Write it down and keep it for reference!

Identify your Current Audience

Social media platforms have made it much easier to figure out who your fans and followers are. Let’s talk about Facebook and Instagram specifically. There are 3^rd party tools that can help you understand your audience better, but using Facebook and Instagram directly is a quick and easy way to identify your audience.

Facebook

If you have a business page, the “Insights” tab should be your best friend.

Go to “Insights” across the top of your home page, then click “People” on the left-hand side of your screen.

From here you can see information on your fans including gender, age, country and city.

Instagram

If you have a business profile, you can find out everything from demographics to viewing habits of your current audience.

Go to your bio page, click the three lines in the upper right-hand corner and select “Insights”.

From here you can see insights on your content, activity and audience. Find out your top locations, age range and gender, plus when your fans are online by day and hour!

Speaking to your Current Audience

If your insights show your followers are your target – congratulations!!

If your insights show that your audience is not quite who you thought they were, you can make adjustments to include them.

Adjust Your Content to Reach your Desired Audience

If your current audience is not exactly who you thought it was that is ok, but you may need to adjust your content to make sure you are speaking to the fans you have in the best way possible.

Example: You are a health care provider targeting women 30-55 and mainly post content for women 40+. After reviewing your audience, you realize the majority of your followers are 25-35. Adjusting content to appeal to the audience you have is a good plan in this case. Most likely they are mothers with younger children – content that includes information on how to treat ear aches, healthy snack recipes and promoting services such as preschool TB tests or back to school physicals would help reach your audience more effectively.

There are some instances where despite who is currently on your channels you want to continue to talk to your intended audience to prevent confusion or a large change in tone or purpose. You don’t want to abandon your current audience completely, but make slow, incremental changes to start bringing in the demographic you desire.

Example: You are a hotel and your existing social media audience is mainly locals. In this instance you would want to continue to talk to visitors (your target) and possibly add in some messages on staycations or local events for your current audience. Switching to talk to the audience you have (locals) would be confusing and off-brand but adding in specific content to include the current audience of locals would be worthwhile as you continue to build your out of town fans and followers.

If you don’t currently have the audience you want, use targeted advertising to help you reach them!

Do you have your target audience clearly defined? What metrics do you use to know that you are effectively reaching them?