{"id":23283,"date":"2019-07-17T15:22:29","date_gmt":"2019-07-17T19:22:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/diymarketers.com\/?p=23283"},"modified":"2019-07-17T15:22:29","modified_gmt":"2019-07-17T19:22:29","slug":"create-facebook-list","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/diymarketers.com\/create-facebook-list\/","title":{"rendered":"Create Facebook Friend List to Learn About Your Ideal Customers"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you\u2019re using Facebook for your business, you might be missing out on a very powerful social listening tool.  It\u2019s called the friend list.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Friend Lists Are Alive on Your Desktop<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Facebook Friend List feature was shut down on August 9, 2018, on the Facebook App.  But, you can still create custom friends lists on your desktop which will allow you to post content that only certain people will see and appreciate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After Facebook discontinued this feature on the Facebook App, a lot of people simply forgot about it.  But it is alive and well my friends and it\u2019s an amazing market research tool that you can use to listen to your customers,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Facebook\u2019s Friend List Feeds are Like FREE Focus Groups<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Think of your friend lists as \u201cnetworks of conversations\u201d.  For example, you can create a list of High School Friends or a list of people you work with.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Or, you can create a friend list of customers.  Few people use this feature because most social media managers and business owners have moved to Facebook Groups or Facebook Pages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But creating a Facebook friend list gives you something Facebook Groups and Facebook Pages won\u2019t give you — unfiltered access to what makes your customers\/friends tick.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Think of it this way — Facebook Groups are organized by topic and are often moderated.  So you\u2019re not going to post that \u201cpunny meme\u201d on a Facebook Group — you\u2019re going to post relevant content there or ask a question.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Facebook Pages are also a community around a particular business — so you\u2019re probablyt not going to post your vacation photos to that page.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But a friend list is completely different.  It\u2019s curating the posts from the people who you placed on that list.  So you will see ALL of their posts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s the best way to observe your customers in their natural Facebook habitat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What You Can Learn About Your Customers From Facebook Friend Lists<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

You may not have considered this — but you can use your Facebook friends lists to listen to your customers! Here are just a few things you can learn about your customers from your Facebook friend lists —<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  • Who is most active on Facebook.  You\u2019ll notice that some of your customers are hyper-active on Facebook.  Are you engaging with them?  Are you asking questions?<\/li>
  • What TYPE of content your customers post the most.  Of those customers who are active, what type of content do they post?  Is it political?  Is it funny memes? Is it vacation photos.<\/li>
  • What matters to them as a group.  This is a big one. It will require for you to actually notice patterns inside of the group.<\/li>
  • What upsets them<\/li>
  • What makes them laugh<\/li>
  • What challenges are they trying to overcome<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    How to Create A Custom Facebook Friend List<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    Imagine that you had a product or service you wanted to sell to Women over 40.  You can create a custom list on Facebook, add your friends or clients who fit that profile and then see a custom newsfeed with their posts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Here\u2019s an example of a custom list I created called \u201cWomen Over 40\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    Now I can see a stream that contains specific people and I can see ALL of their status updates in that stream.  From this stream, I can get a sense of who is most active on Facebook, what types of posts they share most often, what makes them laugh, what inspires them, and so on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    This is an IDEAL and low-cost way to get to know your ideal customers!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Let me show you how I did it —<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    1. Head over to Facebook and click on your \u201cHome\u201d tab.  <\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
    \"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    From there, you want to look at the sidebar where you see any pages that you manage and in the \u201cExplore\u201d section — is where you\u2019ll find \u201cFriends List\u201d — just click on \u201csee more\u201d and keep scrolling<\/p>\n\n\n\n\t\t\t

    \n\t\t\t
    \"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\t\t\n\n\n

    2.  Click on the \u201cCreate List\u201d button<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
    \"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    In this screenshot you can see all the different lists I have. Most of these were created by Facebook based on my profile and what I\u2019ve included in my profile such as \u201cPennsylvania State University\u201d  (where I went to school) or \u201cAntioch College\u201d (where I got my MBA) or \u201cWest Pharmaceutical Services\u201d or \u2018Vernay Laboratories\u201d companies I worked for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    But some are lists that I created such as \u201cSMB Friends\u201d.  I use that list when I post content that only my \u201csmall business\u201d friends would be interested in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    3.  Name your list<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
    \"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    After clicking on \u201cCreate List\u201d a window will open up where you can name your list and start adding friends to your list.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    In this example, I added my first friend and then clicked on create.  When you\u2019ve done that you will see the newsfeed for that list.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    But there is NO WAY I know the names of all my \u201cwomen over 40\u201d friends.  I\u2019m over 40 and a lot of my friends are over 40 too — so it\u2019s going to be a LONG list.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    To see all of your friends, go to your profile and then click on the friends tab.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    4. Add friends to your list<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
    \"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    Now you can go through your list of friends, select the \u201cFriends\u201d button, click on \u201cAdd to another list\u201d and then select the name of the list you created.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    5. See a customized stream of your custom friends list<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
    \"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    To see the posts from your customized list, go to your \u201cHome\u201d tab, then click on \u201cSee More\u201d  in the side bar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    Keep scrolling until you see \u201cFriend List\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    Now you see your newly created friend list at the top and when you click on that list…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    You can now see a customized stream of the friends who are included in the list.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Now it\u2019s Your Turn<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    In the time it took you to read this, you can create your custom Facebook friend list.  So, I\u2019d love to know —<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    What do you think you\u2019ll learn about your customers from creating a custom friends list?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    What types of custom friend lists do you have?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    How do you learn about the inner workings of your ideal customers?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Share your thoughts in the comments below.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Maximize Facebook for business with the powerful Friend List tool on desktop, perfect for targeted content.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":23087,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[30,45],"class_list":["post-23283","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-marketing-tools","tag-ai","tag-social-media"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/diymarketers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23283","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/diymarketers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/diymarketers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diymarketers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diymarketers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23283"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/diymarketers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23283\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diymarketers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23087"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/diymarketers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23283"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diymarketers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23283"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diymarketers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23283"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}