We could call it list building. We could call it following smart people. Some even call it lead generation. Finding smart people to follow on Twitter does take some time on your part. Can you spare 15 minutes a day?
Wait, you aren’t sure why you want to be using Twitter? Consider it another way to learn, stay current, and meet new people.
I have used a two-step process to follow people, which makes it easier to view relevant content. I follow the person and then list them (kind of like giving them a tag or category). To learn more about creating lists, here is a link to Twitter’s official instructions.
Step One: following.
Step Two: Listing.
In some cases I wasn’t sure where to categorize the people I followed. So I didn’t. That’s ok too.
As you think about why you are using Twitter, your lists might become more clear. Here are some list ideas:
- Target Companies
- Thought leaders
- Industry happenings
- Local News
- Job postings
- Personal
Or, depending on how you found them, might give you a list category. To give you an idea of what I’m talking about, these are some of the lists I’ve created based on MY personal goals and objectives:
If any of these lists sounds interesting, you can follow my list (by clicking on the list and selecting follow) and reap the benefit of my list-building without needing to find and follow your own.
10 Ways to Begin Finding People to Follow
- When you read a good blog or website, find their Twitter handle and follow that person or company (almost everyone has a Twitter icon on their site!)
- Assess what industries are of interest to you and your future so you have a focus. Go to Twellow and search by industry.
- Find “Top 10″ lists and follow them (For example, there was just a post listing the Top X in Marketing, so clicked through each site and followed the people and companies)
- Follow followers (At your discretion)
- Use #FF (which stands for Follow Friday) and follow people who have been recommended
- Use Twitter’s “Who to follow”
- When you find someone to follow, see who they are following or what lists they have created and follow those that make sense
- Use LinkedIn’s feature to see who in your LinkedIn network is using Twitter
- # (whatever is of interest). A hashtag is a way of sorting/filtering. For example, search using the #job and you can find all the Tweets that contain the hashtag and the word job.
- Watch or join in on Twitter Chats focused on your industry. (Here is an ongoing list of Twitter Chats and their information: http://bit.ly/ChatSched) 333 were listed this morning. There are transcripts of Twitter chats listed here to, so if you miss the chat, you can see what was talked about (and follow cool people)
There are other tools available to help make list building easier: @formulist is one
If you wanted to find the SMARTEST PEOPLE TO FOLLOW, here are the people I would recommend. They are using Twitter to communicate in different ways, are the best of the best at what they do, and I enjoy and look forward to seeing their tweets!
32 Smart Twitter Users to Follow
I’ll have to confess, creating this list was difficult. I know I haven’t included everyone. I’ve tried to select a cross section of people. Undoubtedly, I have omitted some key folks. I surely AM following them, they just didn’t make the list! Please, no hurt feelings!
There are other super lists of experts to follow. Here are more folks:
101 Top Twitter Job Search and Career Experts from Job-Hunt.org
The Rocket List – Top Career Blogs from CareerRocketeer
I also wrote a post about how to use Tweetdeck to get the most from your Twitter experience. 1 Hour a Day Marketing Strategies for Jobseekers
Consider this a jumping off point. What other questions do you have about using Twitter? What do you want to know? I love this tool and actually, my boys have said I am addicted….oh brother!
