OK, we’ve come a long way.
- You know you must engage (comment), not just “like.”
- You know where to engage: in X Communities.
- You even have 7 formulas for smart comments.
Now, it’s time to “proactively” hunt. This isn’t just “brand building” anymore; this is “Social Selling” – finding people who show buying signals and engaging with them directly.
Here are 5 manual (but effective) ways to find potential customers on X.
1. Scan Community “Pain Point” Keywords
This is a goldmine. Instead of just reading new posts, go into a target X Community and use the search bar inside that Community.
Search for “pain point” keywords:
- “need help”
- “how do I”
- “can’t”
- “alternative to [Competitor Name]”
- “frustrated”
You will find people who are actively asking for help.
2. Monitor Your Competitors’ Comments
Find 3-5 of your top competitors (or complementary products). And… don’t look at their posts. Look at their Replies.
You will find two invaluable groups of people:
- Complainers: People publicly complaining about a feature (that TwitPilot might do well).
- Question Askers: People asking “How do I…?” (showing they are serious users).
These are the “hot leads” you can find.
3. Use Advanced Search for Questions (?)
X Search is an incredibly powerful tool. You can find people asking about the exact problem you solve.
Go to X Search and type:
"[your keyword]" ? -from:[your_handle] -from:[competitor_handle]
Example:
"X engagement" ? -from:N_Tanaka
The ? operator filters for all tweets containing your keyword AND a question mark. You are literally finding people “asking for advice.”
4. Follow Event & Conference Hashtags
What events (online or offline) are your customers attending?
For example, if your customers are “SaaS Founders,” find the hashtags for SaSStock or MicroConf.
Everyone using that hashtag is a pre-qualified target customer. Join their conversations.
5. Find “Seeking Recommendations” Posts
This is a variation of Method 3. Search for phrases like:
- “any recommendations for”
- “looking for a tool”
- “best way to”
Example: looking for a tool "twitter engagement"
These people are at the bottom-of-the-funnel. They are ready to buy/try.
The “Full-Time Job” Pain
See? These 5 methods are extremely effective.
And they all have one thing in common: They are 100% manual and time-consuming.
You will have to:
- Open 5-10 Community tabs.
- Open 3-5 competitor tabs.
- Run 5-10 advanced search queries.
- …and do this EVERY SINGLE DAY.
You become a full-time “hunter.” You spend 80% of your time just finding people to talk to, and 20% of your time actually talking.
This is the biggest pain of social selling. How do you package the work of a “hunter” into 1 hour a day?
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