How to Use X (Twitter) Lists to Unleash Lead Generation, Influencer Marketing, and More
X | Twitter

How to Use X (Twitter) Lists to Unleash Lead Generation, Influencer Marketing, and More

13 November, 2023
8 min read
Elise Dopson

X (Twitter) is likely to already play a huge part in your day-to-day role. The platform can be used for networking, b2b lead generation, and connecting with industry influencers, but are you really using it to your full advantage?

For many marketers, their answer to that question is “no”... Even if they don’t realise it.

(X (Twitter) has several lesser-known features you can use to boost your productivity on the platform and generally make your life that little bit easier.

One of those is Lists - a tool that allows marketers to stay on top of the hundreds of accounts they’re following and use the information being published to their advantage.

Here’s how you can use X (Twitter) Lists effectively - whether it’s for lead generation, influencer marketing or beyond:

twitter-audit-resource-page

The Power-Packed X (Twitter) Audit Handbook for Social Media Managers

Supercharge your X (Twitter) strategy with our comprehensive audit checklist designed to uncover optimisation opportunities, evaluate performance, and boost your return on investment (ROI).


What are X (Twitter) Lists

X (Twitter) Lists are a valuable tool for organising and managing your X (Twitter) experience. By creating lists, you can categorise accounts, streamline your feed, and have more control over the content you see. Whether you want to stay updated on specific interests or simply declutter your timeline, X (Twitter) Lists can help enhance your overall X (Twitter) usage.

Here's a quick list of the benefits of using X (Twitter) Lists:

  • Streamline your X (Twitter) experience by accessing specific groups of accounts.
  • Avoid the overwhelming nature of your main timeline by using lists.
  • Easily discover and follow updates from accounts that share common themes or interests.
  • Create a more focused and tailored experience by curating lists around specific topics.
  • Stay updated on industries, trends, or events by organizing relevant accounts into lists.
  • Maintain a degree of privacy and control by making your lists public or private.
  • Add accounts to lists without notifying the account owners.
  • Public lists can be seen by others, allowing them to follow your curated collection.
  • Private lists are visible only to you, enabling you to create a personal collection.

For example: If you’ve got a X (Twitter) List of readers of your blog, you might spot somebody looking for a product you offer. It’s easier to see, respond to the tweet and promote your services because their initial tweet is less crowded in your reader-specific List than it would be in your standard feed.

Get the gist?

How to create X (Twitter) Lists and add people to them

Are you convinced to start using X (Twitter) Lists?

...Great! Let’s get cracking.

Create your first List by heading over to your profile, then clicking the Lists tab and pressing “Create a New List”:

how to create a twitter list

Next, add a name and description for your list. This should be as accurate as possible - especially if you’re planning on creating a few.

Here is also where you set the privacy settings for your List.

Lists should be private if you don’t want other people viewing them (like a list of clients that’s available for your competitors to poach), or public if you don’t mind:

make a twitter list 2

Now it’s time to move onto the fun part: Adding people to your List!

To do this, visit the account you want to add. Click the three dots next to the follow button; you should see a button to “Add or remove from Lists”:

add people to twitter list

All there’s left to do is select the List you want them on, and your work is done!

10 brilliant strategies to use X (Twitter) Lists

twitter lists cool

So you’re fully in the know about how X (Twitter) Lists are made.

But what should you actually use them for?

Before deciding if your want to start experimenting with new content formats, do a X (Twitter) audit and then check out a few of my favourite X (Twitter) List ideas you can use to fuel your social media marketing strategy:

1. A List of your clients

twitter lists list

First up, let’s chat about using X (Twitter) Lists to keep up-to-date with your clients.

Whether you’re a B2B or B2C business, having a List of people who are paying for your service allows you to do several things, including:

  • Monitoring what they’re saying about your brand without tagging your account directly.

  • Using the content being shared as conversation starters to build genuine relationships.

  • Looking at who’s referring your brand to their friends.

  • Identifying tools your current clients like to use, and feeding it back to your development team to discover whether it’s something you can add to improve your product or service.

Remember what I said about keeping certain Lists private?

That concept applies here.

You don’t want competitors poaching them by making your client List public - or even worse, to break the NDAs you’ve signed with your clients!

2. Location-specific customers

twitter lists location

Fancy taking your client monitoring a step further?

Create a List of location-specific customers. That way, you can identify what local people are talking about - something especially helpful for brands with a brick and mortar store.

That’s because keeping up with local news (and commenting on it) proves you’ve got your finger on the pulse.

If you’re personalising your X (Twitter) content with news specifically for local people, why wouldn’t they engage with it?

Just take @Mashable, for example. They’ve built a X (Twitter) List of startups in NYC:

startups in nyc twitter lists

Not only does that give them a detailed feed of content they could share to engage local prospects, but they’re kept up to speed with what’s happening in the New York startup world.

Do the same for your industry!

3. Keep track of leads

twitter lists scrolling

Just as you might have a List of clients, you could use this X (Twitter) feature to keep track of leads who’re passing their way through your sales funnels.

A List of people who would like to purchase your product can help with organization.

But if you’re also engaging with the content being shared in this feed, you could warm-up your prospect before pitching, and put your brand on their radar.

Find people to add to your List of leads by:

  • Looking in your CRM

  • Looking at your private social media messages (or DMs)

  • Asking sales teams

  • Browsing people using relevant hashtags

  • Searching for people in your industry using X (Twitter)’s search bar

Don’t make the X (Twitter) mistake of making this list public, either.

Accounts who’ve been added to a public List receive a notification. Your sales prospecting is unlikely to be effective if people know they’ve been added to your List of leads!

4. Your staff list

twitter lists meeting

Public Lists are visible to anyone who clicks your profile and hits the “Lists” tab.

Why not create a List of people who work at your company, and make them visible to people browsing your profile? They’re obviously interested in your brand; encourage them to engage with your staff on a personal level, too.

Creating Lists of employees also makes it easier for people visiting your profile to identify who works there - pointing them in the direction of someone who could help to bring them on-board.

@Lydiawerks, a Trellist employee, created a List of staff members at the company:

trellist list

And @Evernote took this a step further by creating a public List of the handles they manage:

evernote twitter list

Whichever brand-related List you’re building, making this public is a fantastic way to encourage people to learn more (and interact) with your company.

5. Keep up with influencers in your niche

twitter lists influencer

Influencers are taking over the world. And I don’t say that lightly.

A report by TapInfluence found the average ROI of influencer marketing is $7.65, and 30% of consumers are likely to buy a product if it’s recommended by a non-celebrity influencer.

You’d be mad to miss out.

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You can use X (Twitter) like a pro by creating Lists of influencers in your niche that you’d love to get the attention of. That way, you can regularly engage with the content they’re posting - whether that’s a response to their tweet or sharing their latest blog post.

@ShortStackLab do this with their List of social media influencers:

shortstacklab twitter list of influencers

Wondering why X (Twitter) is such a great place to network with influencers?

Almost every influencer has a X (Twitter) account, and the platform gives them an easy way to build relationships with their audience. That’s what makes them influential, after all.

Plus, if you get on their radar, you could earn a retweet and be exposed to all of their followers!

6. Build a branding community

twitter lists community

Online communities are invaluable for brands - especially when you’re left with a pool of uber-engaged people that can help to promote your content.

Guess what? You can use X (Twitter) Lists to create your own.

To build a List that’s focused around your brand rather than a shared interest, you’ll need to find people who’d get involved. You can do this by finding people who’ve:

  • Commented on your blog posts

  • Contributed a guest post to your website

  • Subscribed to your email list

@MarketingProfs do this with their List of Marketing Profs members:

marketing profs members

7. Content curation for your feed

twitter lists feed

Content curation is tough.

With 1,440 blog posts being published on WordPress every 60 seconds, how can you identify top-notch content that should be reaching your audience via your X (Twitter) account?

That’s where Lists come in handy.

You can create a list of publishers in your niche that consistently share relevant, high-quality content.

Here’s mine:

twitter lists for content curation

Once you’ve got this List, sieve through and read the content being shared.

Think your audience will find it useful? Share it with them!

Curating incredible content doesn’t only keep your X (Twitter) profile looking fresh, but proving that you’re a brand who’s always up to speed with industry news does wonders for your online reputation, too.

sendible-queues-evergreen-content

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You could even use this List as a way to secure guest posts at huge industry sites. Use your List to keep an eye on the content they’re publishing and engage with the editor to get on their radar.

I’ll bet they’re 10x more likely to accept a pitch from you if they recognize you as a fan.

8. Your promotion network

twitter lists fans

Take note of the people retweeting, liking, sharing or responding to your tweets.

If you can do the same back, those people become your fans - who’re more likely to continue supporting you on X (Twitter), helping you build a promotion network on the platform.

For example: If you publish a new blog post, share the link to your X (Twitter) profile. The promotion network you’ve built up will contain a bunch of fans who’re likely to engage and lend a hand with promotion, meaning you can meet your content marketing goals and boost the number of eyeballs on your new piece of content.

Fellow marketer @AskAaronLee does this with his “super-sidekicks” X (Twitter) list:

super sidekicks twitter list

Aaron has built a promotion network of 112 people - all of which are super likely to share new content whenever he posts it, and build a buzz around his site.

You’d be crazy not to build your own!

9. Followers who participate in X (Twitter) chats

twitter lists conversation

Do you run a X (Twitter) chat?

Whether you’re meeting with like-minded users once a week or once a month, you can use X (Twitter)’s List feature to create a list of people who engage regularly.

You can use this List to:

  • Identify future topics

  • Invite engaged participants to co-host

  • Bookmark tweets you want to include in a write-up on your blog

A fantastic example of this comes from @CMIContent. They’ve got a List of people who regularly engage in their #CMWorld X (Twitter) chat:

cmi twitter chat list

Doing this for a X (Twitter) chat you run?

Don’t forget to add the details of your chat - including times, dates and topics -in your List’s description to encourage people who’re browsing to join in!

10. People who’ve attended a conference

twitter lists conference

If you’ve visited a conference, keep in touch with the people you’ve met by adding them to a X (Twitter) List.

Why?

Well, along with keeping a record of who you’ve met (and where), browsing the feed for your conference List could help to nurture leads - or people who express an interest in your product.

Let’s say the Sendible team went to a social media conference. We add everyone we met on the day to a X (Twitter) List, and spot one of the members expressing their need for a social media management tool. We could jump in there and recommend ourselves.

Because we’ve already got a connection from the conference, they could be more inclined to take us up on our offer.

Social Media Examiner do this for their own event. Their List of SMMW19 speakers is public for anyone to view:

twitter lists smmworld speakers twitter list

This also helps the speakers at the conference to get more exposure, and provides visitors with a way to stay updated with the SMM World event.

Talk about a win-win.

Final thoughts on using X (Twitter) Lists

Are you ready to start creating Lists to your heart’s content?

Whether you’re nurturing leads or engaging with influencers, always remember to follow X (Twitter)’s best practices when creating your Lists. You don’t want to get your account deleted in the process.

Don’t forget you can use our X (Twitter) integration to view your List feeds on one central dashboard, too.

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