Social Media Monday—How to Use Twitter Lists Effectively

By Edie Melson +Edie Melson 

Twitter lists are truly valuable

Many people have heard the mention of Twitter lists, but don’t know how to use them effectively. They also may not realize how truly valuable they can be. Today I’m going to give you some information about how to utilize them, then show you step-by-step how to set the up.

Why have separate Twitter lists?

• I have separate lists because I have different interests. I follow lists of writers, lists of editors, lists of publishers, lists of social media enthusiasts. And that’s just with my career.

• I’m also interested in things to do with the military, because of my book, Fighting Fear: Winning theWar at Home When Your Soldier Leaves for Battle. I follow people who help families of deployed military, things for veterans, things to do with veterans with disabilities.

• I also have hobbies. I follow a list about crafting, and several about knitting, even one about jewelry. 

This means, I follow all these varied people and profiles on Twitter. Can you imagine what my twitter stream looks like when I try to make sense out of it without lists?!? Trust me, it’s not pretty.

And this is just one reason to have varied Twitter lists. Let’s go into all them, in one place.

Twitter Lists

1. Lists that represent your varied interests. I don’t have to explain that since I went into it in the previous paragraphs.

2. Lists of people who mention you on Twitter. A mention is when someone promotes you in a Tweet. Here’s one that came through yesterday from @JaneLark 

@EdieMelson Cheers for following Edie :)

I have to say this is one of the nicest I’ve ever received. Thank you, Jane!

The reason to keep a list of people who mention you on Twitter is so that you can repay the favor. You can do that with just a plain shout-out. Or you can utilize the #FF designation – Follow Friday. Many times on a Friday you’ll see people say something like:

#FF: @EdieMelson @RebaJHoffman @BethVogt @RachaelHauck @LisaJordan @Melissa_Tagg @MichellLim24 @SusanMayWarren - Great folks to follow!

3. Lists of your customers. If you sell anything, from services, to books, to a product, build a list of customers. For a romance writer the list would include bloggers who review romance books, places and people who promote romance books, magazines that are geared to either romance readers  or romance novelists, etc. You get the idea.

How to Set Up a Twitter List

In Twitter:

Go to your profile and click on LISTS. (see arrow in screenshot below)

Then click on NEW LIST. (see arrow in screenshot below)

After clicking CREATE LIST, you’ll see a pop-up window (in the screenshot below). Here you can name your list and describe it. You can also set it as public or private. Most of my lists are public and that’s good because other people can follow them. Some, like my list of those who mention me are private, because truthfully, only I need that information.

When you click SAVE LIST, you’ll go to another page where you can add people to your list. (see screenshot below)

In Hootsuite:

You create lists through the ADD STREAM window (see screenshot below).

After you click ADD STREAM you'll see a pop-up window with lots of options. You want to choose LISTS from the options across the top of the window.

Then choose your PROFILE. Since this is a Twitter list, choose your Twitter profile.

Now click CREATE NEW LIST and type the name of the list in the box provided.

Now type in the description of the new list.

Finally, decide whether it's to be a PUBLIC or PRIVATE list and 

click ADD STREAM. All of this is highlighted in the screenshot below.

Hang in there with me, we're almost through! As soon as you click ADD STREAM Hootsuite will take you to your new stream. Don't panic, it's supposed to be completely empty, now we're going to add people into it. Click on the ARROW at the top of the stream and choose PREFERENCES. The pop-up window in the screenshot below will appear. Follow the directions to choose the people you want to add to the list. (see screenshot below)

Subscribe to Lists

You don't have to always develop your own lists, you can subscribe to lists that others have developed. One of my favorite Twitter lists is curated by Alton Gansky. He has a list of publishers that I subscribe to. It's a public list, so you can subscribe too. Just visit his Twitter page, @AltonGansky FOLLOW him, then click on LISTS and click on PUBLISHERS. This will take you to his Twitter List page and here you can click on SUBSCRIBE.

I've covered a lot of info today, so if you have questions about twitter lists or a suggestion of a valuable list to develop or follow, please leave a comment in the section below.

Don't forget to join the conversation!

Blessings,

Edie

Edie Melson is the author of numerous books, as well as a freelance writer and editor. Her blog, The Write Conversation, reaches thousands each month. She’s the co-director of the Blue Ridge Mountains ChristianWriters Conference and the Social Media Mentor at My Book Therapy. She’s also the Military Family Blogger at Guideposts. Com, Social Media Director for SouthernWriters Magazine and the Senior Editor for NovelRocket.com. Connect with her on Twitter and Facebook. Don't miss her new book from Worthy Inspired, WHILE MY SOLDIER SERVES.