When I hosted the recorded webinar last week on How to Use Twitter Lists & Directories to Promote Your Expertise and Build Your Brand, I encouraged participants to get onto as many Twitter lists as possible because lists are a powerful form of free advertising.
One of my suggestions was to write a blog post telling readers the types of lists where you’d be a perfect fit, and then suggesting that they add you to existing lists on those topics, or create new ones.
But before you do that, it’s helpful to first find out how people on Twitter perceive you. This will give you other ideas to add to the list of topics on which you’re an expert, and some of them might surprise you. The instructions below are included on the handouts from last week’s webinar, and the entire package is available here.
To see whose lists you’re on:
- Log into your Twitter account
- Go to your Home page
- Look in the upper right corner, near your gravatar, for the word “Listed.” It will tell you how many lists you’re on.
- Click on it. You’ll see all the names of the lists and the gravatars of the people who created them. The names of the lists will be in bold.
Scan the list and you should start to see a pattern. The screenshot above shows some of the 668 lists I’m on. Many of the lists are devoted to PR, publicity, marketing communications, book marketing and social media.
Now that you have a good idea how you’re perceived, write a blog post like this one, suggesting that your Twitter followers add you to their lists on certain topics.
Add Me to These Lists
Here are topics for other lists you can consider adding me to, based on many of the other lists on which I appear:
Writing or Writers
Editing or Editors
Journalists or Journalism
Marketing
Authors
Business Women
Small Business
Online Marketing
Digital Marketing
Self-promotion
Shoestring Marketing
Book Publicity
Resources for Authors
Inspiring Quotes
Humor
Entrepreneurs
Advertising/Marketing
PR Pros
Press Releases
Blogging or Bloggers
Dog Jokes (I include a dog joke in each issue of “Craigslist: A Valuable Publicity Tool.”, my free weekly ezine, and often share it on Twitter)
Other Ways to be Included on Twitter Lists
1. Tweet helpful, relevant content frequently and forego the “here’s what I’m doing today” tweets. Help people solve their problems!
2. Add yourself to your own lists if you’re a perfect fit. Remember that other people will be subscribing to your lists. If you’re a small business expert, for example, and somebody is following your list of small business experts, you want to be on it.
3. Include a short blurb in your email signature suggesting that people add you to their lists, with a link to your Twitter page.
4. Ask! Don’t be shy about suggesting that people add you to a particular list they’ve created. They might be grateful that you’ve helped them grow their lists.
Be sure to reciprocate. Welcome requests from other people who ask you to put them on your lists.
What other ways do you use Twitter lists? Is there anything about lists that you don’t understand? Share your own tips here on how to get onto other people’s lists.
Love this post! Great advice . . . I just “followed” everything who is following me and retweeted this post! Thanks, Joan
Nice work, Joan. Hugely helpful!
Maris
Great article. I just tweeted this for my tutorial tweets!
If you don’t ask, you don’t get. As a recovering reporter like you, I love your tip of asking: “How can I be a good source for you.”
You’re right, Henry. If they covered something before, they might do a “follow up” story.
Speaking of follow up stories, if you’re ever covered by the media, be on the look-out for follow up stories you can pitch.
Example: Your local newspaper writes a story about an event your group is hosting to raise money for a worthy cause. Let’s say it’s a new playground for children with disabilities. When work actually begins on the part, pitch the story again, and offer to show the reporter all the ways the park equipment will make it easy for children in wheelchairs to have a great time.