Twitter Lists to Discover Affiliate People

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Twitter Lists is the latest add-on to Twitter, that allows you to organise people you follow in to lists both public and private. An example of a private list could be Family but the most interesting aspect is the public lists.

Now my lists are great for me, as I can now follow better what’s being said by people in different parts of the Affiliate Industry or in completely different areas like SEO and Domains. I have made a number of public lists already:

However the true magic of lists is discovering new people to follow that I either didn’t know where on Twitter or simply never come across them before but one of my contacts has. So far this week I have found 10 interesting SEO people, 3 Domain people, 7 Network people, 3 Agency people, 3 Merchant people and 6 Affiliate people. This is only the start as very few people are using Twitter Lists so far, mostly because they either have not been on the web interface to try it and it’s pretty new.

Kieron (@kierondonoghue) on his blog posted about Twitter Lists being an opportunity for someone to make a ShareyMyPlayLists style site, I can see how sites set-up to take advantage of this could be very useful and I fully agree that Twitter Lists are definitely an opportunity for new sites and a valuable addition to Twitter, especially for business users.

From an Affiliate perspective it’s awesome to find the staff behind the Merchant, as all of a sudden they are giving you tips and advice. Only last night a new person I followed (@j_alcoholfree) because a contact of theirs was listed on a list that I was listed on (man that’s complicated) gave me a great insight into who buys his Alcohol Free products, and straight away I thought “hey you know what, when my wife is redoing her pregnancy site she could probably add a page about his products and link via his Affiliate scheme”.

From a Merchants point of view, why would you not start following Affiliates and reading tweets to find out what Affiliates could be good for promoting your products and engage with them. There are many Affiliates on Twitter now and long as you don’t harass anyone you will soon build up your own Affiliate following and before you know it you are directly connecting with people who could potentially sell your products and as you find people and look at who lists them and what lists they have, you are fast tracking your way on to connecting to the right people.

From the Network and Agency side, it’s pretty much all of the above. Engage with Affiliates, find new Merchants etc. One thing that Networks and Agency people could do that would be most helpful is to make a list of Staff on Twitter, now I know many staff are on Twitter for social reasons also but tell you what, some of the insight you get from a few staff members is awesome, the blog posts they read and tips they picked up from different places, it’s all very handy stuff.

What if you are not on any lists but you feel you are the ‘go to’ guy in your sector or at least have a viewpoint you feel people should listen to? Well simple, don’t worry about what lists you are not on, make your own lists and put the people you follow (or you are interested in) on your own lists. I can guarantee you that the right people will start following you back and some will even list you on their own lists.

And remember it’s not a case of being on loads of lists, it’s being on the right ones so you are found in your sector.

You can follow me on Twitter @ClarkeDuncan