As a business, Twitter is probably one of your most important tools to monitor blogs, trends, news, or influencers in your niche.
Unfortunately, as great as the platform may be, following hundreds or thousands of accounts comes with a price: a rapidly changing timeline.
Does it mean that you should follow fewer accounts? Not at all! Instead, take advantage of Lists.
If you are interested in creative ways to leverage one of Twitter’s most powerful features, read on. You will find six in this article.
Contents
- Acknowledging your audience
- Observing competition
- Recommending useful resources and accounts
- Keeping an eye on past, current, and potential clients
- Staying in touch with the media
- Recommending local services
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Acknowledging your audience
You may have the greatest service or product in the world, if no one supports it, your business will not last long in social media.
One way to draw people’s attention is to thank them for their support. With that, nobody enjoys seeing their timeline overtaken by a long series of repetitive Tweets. They have no value and will lead to massive unfollowing.
Creating a Thank You List will allow you to acknowledge your supporters without running the risk of alienating others.
By the same token, if you sell a product to other businesses, for example, why not allow your users, clients, and fans to connect via a Community List? It’s a great way to cement your relationship with them.
Remember, though, that lists are not substitutes for real conversations. So, go beyond them. For example, reach out to five or six members of your audience every week. Personalizing connections will always go a long way.
Observing competition
You are not the only business in your field to have a Twitter account. In fact, there are probably thousands of them. Use that to your advantage!
With a competitor list, you can monitor what these companies and individuals are doing. What content do they share and how do their followers engage with it?
Even though your audience may be slightly different from theirs, the list will give you great insights into the way those brands work and help their clients. It may even inspire you to try different things with yours!
Remember that lists can be private. So, observation can be done without anyone knowing about it.
Recommending useful resources and accounts
If you read my blog regularly, you know what I think of brands that use Twitter to blast out constant self-promotional messages. They are a definite no-no.
You are on Twitter to serve the needs of your audience and save them time by sharing useful and relevant information. That is how you build trust and increase awareness of your own brand.
Resource lists are a fantastic way to help your customers. Here is a short list of ideas:
- news / trends in your niche
- best Twitter chat / conference handles
- productivity tools
- favorite influencers and thought-leaders.
(Source: https://twitter.com/jacobhenenberg/lists/social-media-socialisers)
Keeping an eye on past, current, and potential clients
Monitoring what your customers are doing is very important. That kind of lists will allow you to advise and serve them better. You can also use that information to start relevant conversations with them.
Plus, it’s nice for them to know that you are paying attention.
Recommendation: Keep those lists private.
Staying in touch with the media
One of the best ways to increase awareness of your company is to have relevant and reputable blogs and newspapers write about it.
Many bloggers, journalists, and reporters are on Twitter. Add them to a Media List to see what piques their interest and the kind of stories they write. The list can be private.
(Source: https://twitter.com/atul/lists/tech-bloggers-reporters)
Not sure how to pitch to the media? Here are the highlights of a white paper that should help you. Fractl, a marketing agency, asked 20 questions to 500 writers and editors from top digital publications to understand what they expect from content creators and PR specialists.
- Prior interactions matter – Publishers want you to establish a personal connection with them on social networks or their blogs (64 percent).
- Stop sending press releases – Now, only 5 percent of publishers want them.
- Send pitches via email but avoid mass messages.
- Be concise – The ideal pitch is 200 words and has a short, but descriptive title.
- Focus on novelty – Publishers want to read exclusive research (40 percent) and breaking news (27 percent).
- Visuals win the day – Infographics, mixed-media pieces, and high-resolution photos in particular (35 percent).
- Collaboration is favored (70 percent) – Publishers love options and feeling a sense of ownership over the content they write.
- Proofreading is a must – More than 8 in 10 publishers will delete your pitch based on your grammar and spelling. The quality of your content is irrelevant.
Recommending local services
Interested in supporting local businesses while helping people in your area to find great services? Create local lists. They can target specific categories or highlight what you feel is the best your city or region has to offer.
(Source: https://twitter.com/FSLocalToronto/lists/t-o-local-shopping)
Now, it’s your turn to speak. How do you use Twitter Lists in your business?
