24 Ways to Use Twitter Lists for Business

I follow well over 1,300 people on Twitter. Getting anything valuable out of my news feed would take hours of scrolling and ain’t nobody got time for that. For awhile I really tried to limit the number of people that I followed, but eventually I just gave up. Then I found the true beauty of Twitter lists.

Twitter lists are lists that you can use to create your own feeds. There are so many uses for these, whether they’re business related, personal, or simply to try to keep the madness of your feed down even just a little.

You create a Twitter list by clicking your avatar in the top left corner and selecting Lists.

This is where you will see any lists that you own/subscribe to or that you are a member of (meaning someone else has added you to a list). Click Create new list in the righthand column.

Name your list and give it a description. Click Save list.

To add another user to their list, go to their profile. Click the gear right next to the follow button.

You will see a list of possible lists to add the user to. Check the box next to the name of your desired list.

Easy as that!

But what can you use these lists for? There are literally so many different options. Today, we’re going to go over 24 of the best ways to use Twitter lists for business.

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1. Monitor your competitors

You can easily put your competitors into a Twitter list to keep an eye on what they’re doing. You’ll want to make this list private, though, so that they don’t catch on to what you’re doing!

There are a couple of reasons for doing this. One, you can keep an eye on the traction that their tweets are getting. Are they getting a lot of interaction? What are they doing well? You can also see the types of content they share to get inspiration for your own account or to see examples of things that you don’t want to do.

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2. Stay on top of trends

Keep a list of websites and blogs that share breaking news in your industry so that you’ll be one step ahead of the next big thing. Include news sources, big bloggers, and other users who share the latest information.

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3. Manage customer relationships

One amazing thing about social media marketing is how up close and personal it lets you get with your customer. There is absolutely no other avenue that makes communicating with your customers firsthand so easy.

Twitter lists are a great way to let your customers know that you’re paying attention to what they have to say. Anytime a customer mentions you on Twitter, of course respond to them, but also add them to a list. People get a notification each time they’re added to a list, so this is the perfect way to thank people for using your product/service and make sure they know you’re watching. (But, like, not in a creepy way.)

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4. Staff directory for your team

Put all of your staff members into one list so that it’s easy to interact with them/keep up with what they’re doing on social. This is especially good for a team in which social savviness is of the utmost importance.

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5. Manage your events

If you’re hosting an event, creating lists is a great way to help manage it. Create a list for speakers at your conference, sponsors of your event, or people who are attending/have attended in the past.

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6. Reward your most active followers

If you’ve noticed that you have followers who are constantly interacting with your tweets (liking, retweeting, and replying), then add them to a separate list specifically for awesome people like themselves. By giving it a name like “Awesome People,” you’re complimenting your most active followers and giving yourself a chance to monitor their conversations and even jump in and chat with them every now and then.

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7. People you met at an event/conference

Are you attending a large event or conference this year? Create an event-specific Twitter list so that you can put everyone that you met into that list and continue relationships even after the event is over.

I went to an event recently and met a big local blogger and the first thing he said to me was, “Are you on Twitter?” then he got out his phone and followed me right then and there and it was the coolest thing ever. Sure, you don’t have to be as upfront as this guy, but it’s totally cool if you want to do that too. Either way, make sure that you keep up with people that you interacted with at your events–they’re probably doing awesome things and will inspire/help you to do awesome things too.

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8. Helpful resources for your customers

There are a few different ways to do this. You could create a top 50 list with your 50 favorite bloggers in your niche that have great content that you want to share with your customers.

I, myself, have a list where I add social media marketing tools to that I think people who read my blog will find handy.

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9. Keep up with industry leaders

By putting influencers in your industry in a list, you’re able to keep up with what all of them are doing all at the same time. You can easily interact with their tweets, read what they’re sharing, and get examples of what you should also be doing on social media.

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10. Accounts you recommend to follow

Similar to number 8, you can create a Twitter list full of helpful users that you recommend all of your followers also check out and follow.

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11. Client list

Keep all of your clients in a list so that you have easy access to their Twitter accounts. This is another Twitter list that you will want to keep private, especially if you’re not the type to disclose the people/businesses that you are working with.

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12. Influencers whose attention you want to get

I mentioned earlier that users get a notification when you add them to a Twitter list. A lot of times, users will check out your list and profile when you do this. If there are influencers in your industry that you want to notice you, this is one way of doing that. By continuously interacting with their content and adding them to a list, they are sure to begin recognizing your name.

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13. Your favorite celebs

I love celebrities who post funny content on Twitter, like Nathan Fillion and Anna Kendrick. Their posts nearly never show up in my actual newsfeed, so instead, I add them to a Twitter list so that I can go check out their latest tweets all at once and laugh to myself whenever I want.

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14. Fellow bloggers that you share content from

This is my favorite list by far and the only thing I look at sometimes when I get on Twitter. I use it to help me find awesome content to curate and keep up with my favorite bloggers.

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15. Job search

I was looking for a new job from August through December last year and one of my methods of keeping an eye on job openings was to add all social media/digital marketing companies in Charleston to one Twitter list. This way, they’d see my name when I added them to a list and I’d also be able to keep up with their tweets and check to see if anyone had tweeted about an open position recently that I could apply for.

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16. Location-based users

Do you own a brick-and-mortar store and you want to get local Twitter users into your store? Add them to a list with your location as the name so that they are aware of your presence in the city. Like/retweet anything they post that relates to your city.

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17. Close friends and family

Want a place to keep all of your friends and family that are on Twitter so that their tweets don’t get lost in the jumble of your feed? Put them into their own list so that you can easily check it daily for new tweets and chat with them. Since this list is only of value to you and no one else, it’s another one that you will want to make private.

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18. People you regularly engage with on Twitter

Are there only a few handfuls of people that you really chat with regularly on Twitter? Similarly to your friends/family list, put these users into a list as well so that you can easily read and respond to their tweets.

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19. Twitter chat participants

This is a particularly good strategy if you host a Twitter chat so that you can keep all of your chat’s participants in one place. If you participate in chats, you may also want to add people you’ve interacted with to a list so that you can continue relationships with them after the chat is over or in between each chat if it’s reoccurring. My favorite Twitter chat is #createlounge and the host Kayla Hollatz has a great Twitter list for her chat participants. She’s also a genius because she puts the day/time of her Twitter chat in the description of the list so that people who are browsing her list will know when to come back if they want to join in as well.

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20. New Twitter homepage

I follow over 1,000 people on Twitter. After being on Twitter for so long, that number just tends to accumulate. There are varying reasons for me to follow each one of them, but the truth is, my Twitter feed is messy. And yours probably is too. I don’t tend to get anything of value from simply scrolling through my feed, which is why creating a new Twitter homepage is a great use for Twitter lists.

Add all of the Twitter users that you always want to see tweets from to this new list and scroll through this list instead of your regular feed every time you log in so that you’re seeing way more valuable tweets. This is another example of a list that you may want to make private.

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21. Your personal interests

This will make me sound like a crazy old lady, but I love to crochet. I follow a ton of crocheting blogs/businesses on Instagram (because yarn is so pretty), but people also enjoy putting people who tweet about their hobbies in a Twitter list as well.

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22. Resources/tools that you want to keep on standby

This is also similar to my Tools/Resources list that I mentioned in #8 and also another reason that I keep this list. These are tools that I want to check out and one day use. If I find an awesome software or tool that is going to help me do my job easier, then I’m going to keep tabs on it so that I can go back and explore it.

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23. Top 50 or 100 lists

I love lists like these. Some websites will offer contests/polls for their readers to vote for their favorite influencers and then put all of the top winners into a list for voters to check out. Or some websites will simply put together a list of their 50 favorites. One Woman Shop‘s list is a great example of this.

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24. Niche/industry lists

This is an overarching list of everyone that is relevant to your industry. So for example, I’m a social media manager, so I keep a list of other social media management companies/freelancers, but for this list, I would include everything social media. Schedulers, influencers, tools, management companies, etc.

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So yes, there are so many different ways to use Twitter lists, and you may even be thinking of a few ways you want to use them that I haven’t even covered here. (If you are, let me know because I want to add it to this list ASAP.)

Twitter lists are a powerful tool that way too many Twitter users aren’t utilizing. Take advantage of this awesome organizational tool and start creating some lists!

P.S. How to Host a Twitter Chat – The Ultimate Guide + Free Checklist

P.P.S. How to Gain More Twitter Followers