I am very fortunate to have gained over 8000 followers – and I appreciate every single one of them (well maybe not the bots). However, I also follow just over 4000 people on twitter.
As you have rightly guessed, it is impossible to closely follow all 4000 of them. It’s just not possible. Not every follower is created equal, and the skill on twitter is being able to stay close to those people who do matter to you. There are also the weeks where I don't seem to be able to get out of the classroom - but I still need to keep in touch with the really important people in my network. So, who are the people who matter to you? Chances are that they will include – current clients, past clients, prospects, current introducers, potential introducers, journalists specialising in your area and people who you enjoy talking to. That still could be a large amount of people. The trick to keeping close to the right people is to forget about the twitter timeline and focus your energies on lists you create. I recommend that you create these lists for yourself: “People to stay close to”: This is a list of the people who you want to keep close to on twitter and will include current, past and prospective clients and introducers. “tweetmates”: This is a list of people you chat to regularly and can be automatically created for you by Formulists “content providers”: This is a list of people who create content which your followers enjoy reading. This list provides you with content to retweet regularly without you having to look too far. The final lists will either be “local businesses” and/or the sector/industry/profession who you want to meet on twitter. Once you have created these lists then either remember to check them daily on twitter, or use them in a dashboard programme such as tweetdeck, hootsuite etc. If someone has tweeted something interesting then use it as an opportunity to make yourself visible by retweeting it, commenting on it or starting a conversation with them based on what they have tweeted. How do you use twitter to stay in touch with people who really matter to you?
3 Responses
Twitter novice
Hello Heather and thanks for this posting.
I have only recently joined twitter and find that when I log on it is not productive to read all the tweats of those that I follow and had been wondering how to make more effective use of my reading time. Looks like lists will be my way forward…
Thanks again
Hazel.
Lists
Hello Hazel,
Yes, lists are the way forward. Have one for your prospects/introducers/best buddies – which you check daily, and then other lists for other sectors, demographics which are important to you.
Twitter Hot Lists
I completely agree that lists a great tool on Twitter. One other ways I use them is to create ‘Hot 20’ lists of the top influencers in every market I’m interested in. I then make it my business to connect with these people. This may be through Twitter or meeting up with them offline. The key is to add value to what they do by helping them out. Stand out and become noticed by being helpful and you will soon be connected to some really great new people.
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