Twitter List Trick

Get an edge up on the competition

Twitter can be an akward or an awesome social media platform, and most people usually have one or the other as an opinion about it. I think it is awesome, but admit that it was akward for me in the beginning. It can be hard to figure out the value proposition that Twitter offers. What are you supposed to do on this 140 character limit platform? It’s not what you do on Facebook, LinkedIn or Pinterest, and that’s a good thing. Twitter is used for news and information from the actual sources of interest a person chooses.

For example, I like to follow Gary Vaynerchuck and Simon Sinek which provide my timeline feed up to date info from these masters. Perhaps you have a favorite author, actor or motivational speaker. Twitter will allow you to follow and interact with their content in ways other platforms do not. For the basis of this post, I am going to show you how to make a list on Twitter so that you can have immediate access to up to date information from your competitors.

Twitter lists are ways of putting user timeline feeds together for viewing in one place. To create a new list, go to your profile page and click on the link Lists. Then choose the option for creating a new list. Name this list Competitor Info and set it to private. What we want to do is find the competitors in your local area or otherwise who are on Twitter and add them to this list.

Once you have a few accounts in the list, go to the list by clicking on your profile and clicking on Lists and then the Competitor Info list. Now you have a timeline of posts from competitors showing what they are doing on the platform and you can strategize around this content. Wondering if any busineses in Montana are using Twitter? Check out our post Do Montanans Use Twitter.

Written by: Jophiel Silvestrone

Jophiel Silvestrone has written 326 posts in the Tech Blog.

Jophiel grew up on a ranch in Paradise Valley, Montana near Chico Hot Springs. Working on the ranch instilled work ethic and self motivation. Filled with this drive, Jophiel started mowing the local school's yards twice a month throughout the summers, at the age of 12. He moved to Billings in 2004, where he has been deeply involved in the local business community ever since. A serial entrepreneur, Jophiel has ran multiple businesses in our local community. The first business, a janitorial and carpet cleaning company, founded in 2005, has employed over 50 locals. Moving on to the media industry, Jophiel and several partners founded Green Directory Montana in the spring of 2007. Green Directory's sustainability ranking software awarded points based on sustainable or "green" actions. These points counted towards a business's total "Green Score," which in turn ranked them against other businesses in their category and throughout the entire site. It also featured a limited edition print version distributed annually. A business acquisition allowed Jophiel to focus on new projects, and a few close business colleagues and Jophiel started Rocky Mountain Mr. & Ms. Magazine, a lifestyle publication for men and women in the Magic City. After a year and a half at the helm of RM3 Magazine, the business was purchased. He now runs a web development company SkyPoint Studios and fathers his son Jaoquin, who plays football, basketball, soccer, and is learning snowboarding from his dad. Recently, has expanded to locations in Havasu, Arizona & Vegas. SkyPoint Studios is a market leader in both Billings & Havasu and Jophiel is working on building that same level of market dominance in Vegas. Specialties: Extensive experience in online and offline business. Especially savvy at WordPress, and operate several sites, one example is the blog: skypointwebdesignbillingsmontana.com/tech-blog. Check out skypointwebdesignbillingsmontana.com for the latest projects from SkyPoint Studios.