How to Leverage Twitter Lists for B2B Digital Marketing

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Twitter lists are curated lists of Twitter profiles, kept in one location in a user’s profile. When viewing a Twitter lists’ unique timeline, users only see the updates associated with profiles in that list.

In past blog posts we have referenced using Twitter lists for both social media and SEO program initiatives. Generally speaking, these lists help organize specific target audiences in order to better focus tactics and digital marketing objectives.

In this post, I plan on identifying five key areas B2B marketers can leverage Twitter lists in their digital marketing programs.

Customer / Prospect Prioritization

Perhaps the most obvious Twitter list, this allows our organization and our clients to identify important discussions, observations, and opportunities to connect with either customer accounts, prospects, or both. Focusing on these lists allows B2B marketers to better demonstrate the effectiveness Twitter activity has with specific sales-oriented profiles.

Twitter List Examples:

  • For a manufacturing distributor, their Twitter list helps keep in touch with the marketing managers associated with their various manufacturing partners, in order to share / distribute content, provide further social media visibility, and nurture guest post opportunities.
  • For a channel partner program, Twitter lists help in maintaining visibility and awareness online, with a goal of generating more visibility to important product updates and strategic communications.
  • For KoMarketing, Twitter lists help keep our team aware of important client and industry updates, content marketing developments (client-specific and competitive), and broader strategic information.

SEO Link Building

SEO-specific link building was one of the primary reasons I started using Twitter (nearly a decade ago!). By building relationships with writers, publishers, and site owners also on Twitter, we’ve since been able to secure scores, if not hundreds, of guest post opportunities for both KoMarketing and client SEO link building initiatives.

Twitter List Examples:

  • Identifying stakeholders in applicable industry-specific publications allows us to develop awareness and build relationships through Twitter, making our link building outreach tactics more likely to be well-received.
  • Creating lists of journalists and writers provides an opportunity to gain links through interviews, mentions, and direct contributions when they are identified and / or requested.
  • Collaboration through Twitter with other marketers in the industry (client or organizational) has often led to guest post opportunities, content marketing contributions, and other digital marketing initiatives that ultimately generated high quality links for SEO purposes.

Influencer Marketing

The next step up from typical SEO link building, Twitter lists aid in influencer marketing because it streamlines focus in identifying opportunities and key points of contact.

Rather than simply pay for, or research commercial avenues for influencer awareness, a Twitter list of influencers provides a way to focus on direct engagement activities, designed to raise attention to your organization or client’s initiatives.

Even if commercial activity ends up being the only route accessible in influencer marketing, the ongoing engagement through Twitter may break down barriers in outreach, since those profiles will already be aware of the brand / organization pitching them.

Employment Engagement

Don’t forget focusing a bit of attention on maintaining or developing relationships with organizational personnel active in Twitter as well. This can be particularly important for larger organizations or companies (like ours) that encourage social media marketing through individual profile management.

Twitter List Examples:

  • Twitter lists help acknowledge employee successes and achievements, both directly work related or in broader professional development.
  • These type of lists can also be used to monitor the organization’s success at scaling social media distribution efforts, and in understanding the type of content that is the most effective / resonates best with the team.
  • At more of an enterprise level, an employee-related Twitter list may even help uncover important issues or concerns that need to be addressed organizationally.

Targeted Advertising

Of course all of these lists can be further leveraged for advertising purposes on Twitter as well. Using Twitter’s tailored audience functions, B2B marketers can better ensure targeted messaging appears in a particular lists’ feeds over time.

Twitter List Examples:

  • For our channel partner example above, targeted advertising to their Twitter list provides a way to augment organic efforts in the distribution of organizational updates and information.
  • For SEO link building purposes, sponsoring content marketing efforts helps to bring the visibility to the audiences that may further share / link as well as generate new opportunities for collaboration in the future.
  • For targeting profiles that have huge Twitter followings, or also follow a significant number back, a small budget for paid advertising to key outreach campaigns may raise awareness over a sea of pitches already being made.

Final Thoughts

There are many other reasons B2B marketers may create Twitter lists. The examples above represent key ways our organization leverages them for digital marketing programs internally and on behalf of client initiatives.

Has your organization had success using these tactics or others like it? I would love to read your perspective via comments below or connect with my on Twitter to continue the conversation.

Republished with author's permission from original post.

Derek Edmond
As a part of the team of Internet marketing professionals at KoMarketing Associates, Derek focuses on developing online marketing strategies - search engine optimization, search engine marketing, and social media - for clients, ranging from small start-ups to Fortune 500 companies. As Managing Partner of KoMarketing Associates, Derek leads strategy, direction, and growth of the organization.

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