Do you know I don’t have a personal Twitter?

People are still telling me I should get one, but to be honest, using Twitter for myself doesn’t come that natural to me. I really think that’s why, when I started my freelance Twitter, I was really fumbling around in the dark for quite some time. After talking with some friends though (they were way better at Twitter than I was), I learned about a little tool that would change the way I use the platform.

If you’ve never used lists, you need to, and I’m going to tell you why.

First though, lists are simply a way of organizing all those people you follow (and even ones you don’t) on Twitter. That means you can create nice little groups of prospects, thought leaders, organizations…pretty much anything you can think of, and toss any and everybody into them. The best part? Is that you don’t even have to be following someone to put them in a list.

If you don’t know how to use lists, here’s a good intro from Twitter.

Last week we covered some of the types of accounts that you can connect with to build your freelance business. Here’s the list for a refresher.

I have lists for each of these, but also marketing agencies, prospects I’m stalking (it’s really easy this way), and my favorite, editors and content managers at different businesses and publications (I got them by searching on LinkedIn and found they can be really talkative there).

I literally have days on my calendar that say “Engage with Prospect List” or “Talk to CEOs” or “Share Thought Leaders.” Each block is no more than 30 minutes, but let me tell you, I learn SO much just seeing what people are talking about. Even better though, is the response rate.

People on Twitter want to talk, so any activity you give them, from retweets to responses about a blog they posted, cements you in their mind just a little bit more. It’s my favorite form of networking as a freelancer.

Build your lists, and this week, add just 15 minutes to your calendar to get involved in, and engage with some lists. You’re going to be surprised at what you find.

Megan.