Why You Need To Use Custom Facebook Friends Lists

One of the traps we all fall into is going on Facebook to work your business and you get sucked into “the scroll”. That’s when you go on Facebook to work and you end up scrolling the feed and not getting anything productive done. Therefore, you need to use custom Facebook friends lists.

NOTE: If you already have hundreds or even thousands of Facebook friends or you’re late to the Facebook Friend List game (don’t worry, I was too).

How to create custom Facebook friends lists

Go to Facebook and locate the “friends list” category in the left side menu on the Facebook home screen. (these instructions are for using a computer)

Click on Friend Lists

Click “+ Create List” at the top of the page.

Create a new list and title this whatever you want! Some titles I use are Priority, Business owners, and my team.

Now you need to assign certain friends to your custom list

Go to your friend’s page and click on the “Friends” drop-down button at the top. If the list doesn’t show up in the drop-down, you can go back to the “friends list” button, and click “add friend”.

Click the list you would like to add this person to.

You probably know when you make a post you can choose to set it to public, friends, or restricted friends. But lists allow you to narrow things down even further. 

Organize your friends so you can post specific updates to specific groups of people. Such as sharing pictures of your kids to family only.

Pick a list and see posts from only the people on that list.

Custom friends lists gives you control over who sees your content and whose content you see.

This allows me to keep my personal stuff private. 

Staying competitive with Facebook lists

I suggest creating a list called “influencers” or business owners. Add your friends who are small business owners or people further ahead in the same niche as yourself.  

When you click on this list, you get a Facebook feed of only the friends on the list. You could create a list of leading experts in your niche so you can stay up-to-date in your market.

You could create a list of people/pages that share a similar audience to you. Reposting relevant content to your own Facebook page helps you pad your content.

Use it to monitor your VIPs and business-builders within your company or team. This will help you be an informed leader and help promote their posts. You could even use it to monitor people associated with competitive companies.

Using custom Facebook friends lists for business

Having lists based on what type of business they own, where they live, and more.

Each day, check this list then make authentic comments on any new posts that pop up. I don’t recommend doing it on every post; you don’t want to come across as a crazy-stalker. Check our post Facebook Posting and Interaction Guide for tips on engaging with your friends. If you’re adding to the conversation and genuinely interested in the other person, you’ll make an impact!

You can add all the female entrepreneurs and friends you’ve met online to a specific friends list.

Create posts that ONLY get shown to this list… 

Your like-minded friends will see your posts without spamming your family and friends with unwanted business info!

Allows you to create targeted content instead of day-to-day posts.

Types of friend list categories

Here are some examples of customized Facebook friend’s list you can use to market your business. These categories will help you create targeted content.

Cities, States, Counties, or Countries –

This one will take a little work. You’ll have to visit your friends’ profiles to see where they currently live. Organizing your friends by location allows you to market local events to those who are nearby. This also allows you to send effective messaging and increase the response. You don’t want to invite someone to an event in San Francisco when they live in Oklahoma. 

VIPs or prospects –

Create a list of people you want to get to know better and who you want to get to know you. This list can include people who are kicking butt in their business and who inspire you to be better. Include entrepreneurs you look up to, people that influence your industry. People that you want as clients, customers, and people you are dying to partner with.

Business Type –

You’ll want lists based on types of businesses and industries. Have a list with people who do the same thing you do, or one of service providers. Grouping your friends by profession will help you create marketing specifically for those people. The more specific your messaging, the more successful the marketing campaign.

Here are some quick tips for creating your Custom Facebook Friends Lists

Narrow down each list! As of right now there isn’t a limit on the number of lists you can have, so narrow down your friends!

Don’t put someone in more than one geographic list. You don’t want to risk sending out the same message or invite more than once. For example, don’t put them in Sacramento and Northern California.

Keep your lists to 100 people or less. If you have over 100 in that group, start a second list. 

If you create a list and later find it unuseful or you want to delete it, How To Delete A Friends List.

Why you need to use custom Facebook friends lists

When you have a significant amount of friends, your news feed can become filled with links, photos, quotes, tips, and of course, SPAM. And lately ads have been cluttering the news feed.

After all your lists are created and your friends have been added, you won’t have to view your main news feed. You’ll use your lists to check on and interact with your friends and the people that really matter to you. If you build good friend lists, this will save you tons of time. Plus. put some of the fun back in social media marketing and social networking.

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You have the power to make Facebook Fun, useful, and productive. And to cut down the Facebook spam. I know it sounds like extra work, but trust me, this will pay off in the future.

Custom Facebook friends lists have a lot of uses — my favorite is for targeted marketing and messages. I also like how I can connect with friends that the algorithm isn’t connecting me with. 

Have you been using Facebook lists for your business?