I have often said that Twitter is my favorite tool for generating high-quality leads for my business. These ‘leads’ aren’t nameless, faceless Twitter accounts…these are real people, who need real help and valuable information to grow their businesses.
You may have also heard that Twitter is a fantastic tool for selling your products and services. The problem is that too many business owners jump right into the ‘sales’ part without first doing the ‘relationship’ part. And these relationships are the KEY to generating sales. I have covered some of these relationship-building techniques in my posts How to Get More Leads on Twitter and 9 Easy Ways to Generate Twitter Leads.
This post, however, will dig a little deeper by outlining how you can use Twitter LISTS to build relationships that will ultimately turn into sales. If you are not using Twitter lists, or you are not sure you are using them to the fullest, you will want to read this post!
How to Use Twitter Lists to Build Relationships that Turn Into Sales
Step One: Know How to Set Up Lists.
Your first step will be to understand how to set up Twitter lists. To set up a list, you can either click on your profile icon (the little box at the top right of your screen that has your profile pic in it), or by going to your profile page and clicking on ‘Lists’.
You should see a button that says ‘Create new list’….click it!
You can now name your list, provide a brief description, and choose whether your list will be private or public. For the purposes of this post, you will want to set this to PRIVATE so that only you can see your list.
Step Two: Create Targeted Lists.
Keep in mind that Twitter Lists are NOT used for targeting your tweets, but for making it easier to follow and respond to specific types of people or conversations.
You will want to create a minimum of 3 lists to start: Current Customers, Hot Prospects and Competitors (some other ideas that may not be as helpful for sales but which are still useful may be favorite bloggers, people in your geographic area or people you have met in ‘real life’).
1. Current customers
Monitoring what your existing customers have to say is extremely important for providing excellent customer service, and for nurturing relationships that could potentially lead to word-of-mouth referrals.
Keep an eye on what your customers and clients are saying about you, and be sure to respond to both positive and negative feedback and to answer questions promptly.
2. Prospects
This list could include both people you currently follow, and those you don’t. The important thing is that this list would include people who you consider part of your target market.
Monitor what needs and questions this group has, and jump in with helpful (non-salesy) information and help as needed.
3. Competitors
Create a list of businesses and individuals in your niche that you would consider direct competitors. Monitor what types of content they tweet, and how they interact with their followers. Use what you have learned to find new opportunities to differentiate yourself from the competition!
Step Three: Find New People to Follow Using Other People’s Public Lists.
Now that we have segmented our current followers into targeted lists, it’s time to see what lists other people have already created. Using Twitter’s search feature, we can find existing, targeted (public) lists of new people we can follow.
To find Twitter lists of users you may want to follow, simply type your keywords into Twitter’s search box, and then select ‘Timelines’ from the left sidebar. You should now see public lists related to your chosen keywords.
Click on the list names to find new people to follow!
Final Thoughts
Setting up Twitter Lists is only the first step in building relationships that will ultimately lead to sales.
Your Twitter lists will allow you to monitor conversations happening about your brand, to answer questions from potential customers, and to find new opportunities for building relationships. They also give you a deeper and more targeted view of what your Twitter peeps are saying…and THIS is what will give you the winning edge when it comes to building relationships that will ultimately lead to sales.
And there you have it! How to use Twitter lists to build relationships that turn into sales.
Are you using Twitter Lists for your business? What types of lists have you set up? Share with us below!
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I will give Ally a shoutout on Twitter 🙂
Love hearing this 🙂
Awesome,this post is very necessary for my business. Thanking you for your heart of gold!
Glad it was helpful 🙂