People engaging with posts in your space

Why does the post engagers play work?

What someone reacts to says what they are thinking about this week. That is rarely visible anywhere else.

What counts as a useful engager?

All of these:

• A like or comment on a post you track, within the last 7 days.
• Comments count more than likes: they took time to write.
• A role you sell to, at a level that decides or influences.
• A company that fits your market.

What looks like the signal but is not

Vendors and creators

Many engagers sell to the same audience you do. Filter out competitors, agencies and other creators.

Job seekers and students

Popular posts attract people looking for work. Filter on current role and company.

Friends of the poster

Colleagues and friends like everything their contact posts. People who like every post from one person are rarely buyers.

Engagement groups

Some posts are boosted by groups who like each other's content. The same names on every post, early, are the sign.

How to run it, step by step

Six steps in the same five-part frame as every play. Each step says what you are after, why it matters and how to do it with any tools; the Breaknorm boxes show the shortcut.

1. 01Signal

   Pick posts and profiles to track

   Goal. A few sources whose audience has the problem you solve.

   Why. The posts decide who shows up. Track a creator who writes about your problem and you get buyers; track one who writes about everything and you get an audience.

   How.

   • Choose two to five profiles that post about the problem you solve: a competitor's founder, a category creator, an analyst.
   • Add your own company's posts; your own engagers are the warmest.
   • Prefer posts about problems over posts about announcements.

   Track profilestrack_posts

   { "track": { "profiles": ["linkedin.com/in/routivo-founder"], "window_days": 7 } }Copy

   You end withA tracked set of profiles, with engagers collected as they appear.

2. 02Signal

   Collect and sort the engagers

   Goal. Everyone who engaged this week, with comments ranked above likes.

   Why. A comment is a stronger signal than a like, and recent beats old. Sorting first means you write to the best people first.

   How.

   • Collect likes and comments from the last 7 days.
   • Rank comments above likes.
   • Note the topic of the post next to each person.

   You end withA weekly list of engagers, with the post and the topic for each.

3. 03Who

   Keep the people who can buy

   Goal. Only engagers with the right role at a company that fits.

   Why. Most engagers are not buyers. Filtering on role, level and company is what turns an audience into a list.

   How.

   • Match each person to their current role and company.
   • Keep the functions and levels you sell to.
   • Drop vendors, competitors, job seekers and the poster's colleagues.

   Filter by role and companysearch_people

   { "people": { "level": ["director", "vp", "head", "c_level"] }, "company": { "employees": { "min": 20 } } }Copy

   You end withA short list of people worth writing to.

4. 04Find

   Get an email that is verified

   Goal. A working work address for each person.

   Why. Replying in the comments or by DM mixes the public and the personal. A verified work email keeps it professional.

   How.

   • Find the address from the name and the company domain.
   • Verify it at the mail server.
   • Hold people whose address cannot be confirmed.

   Find and verify with Breaknormfind_email · verify_email

   find_email({ "name": "Tom Becker", "domain": "parcelyn.com" })Copy

   You end withA verified email per person.

5. 05Say

   Write about the topic, not the like

   Goal. A message about the problem they were reading about, with something useful on it.

   Why. "I saw you liked a post" feels like being watched. A note about the same problem, with something useful, feels like a coincidence worth answering.

   How.

   • Open on the topic of the post, not on their activity.
   • Add what you know about that problem at a company like theirs.
   • Offer something useful on that topic and ask if you can send it.

   You end withOne message per person, built on the topic.

6. 06Measure

   Compare sources and topics

   Goal. A view of which posts and topics bring people who reply.

   Why. Some sources bring buyers, others bring an audience. Without tracking by source you keep watching the wrong posts.

   How.

   • Tag each person with the profile and the topic they engaged with.
   • Compare replies by source and topic.
   • Drop the sources that bring no replies, and add new ones each month.

   You end withA ranked list of sources and topics.

A worked example, start to finish

One person, through every step. The people and companies are invented; the steps are the real ones.

1. Signal

   You track Routivo's founder, who writes about route planning. This week's post: "Why routing breaks at 50 vans".

2. Signal

   Tom Becker commented on it on October 19.

3. Who

   Tom is Director of Operations at Parcelyn, about 120 people. Role and company both fit.

4. Find

   [email protected] comes back valid from the mail server.

5. Say

   The message is about routing at that fleet size, not about his comment, and offers a checklist.

6. Measure

   Tagged with the source and the topic, so you can see which posts bring replies.

Prompt

Who engaged with Routivo's founder's posts this week? Only directors and up.

Commented on a post

Director · Ops

Tom BeckerDirector of Operations · ParcelynEngaged

Post"Why routing breaks at 50 vans"

DidCommented, Oct 19

Email[email protected] · valid

Engagers63 peoplethis week · example

ReplayILLUSTRATIVE · EXAMPLE DATA

What to write to someone who engaged with a post

A short email that gives before it asks: something useful for the situation they are in, not a meeting request. Why each line is there:

When not to run this play

• You open with "I saw you liked…" or "I saw your comment…".
• The posts you track are not about the problem you solve.
• You write to everyone who engaged; most of them are not buyers.
• You repeat the post's content back to them.
• The engager works at a competitor or at the poster's company.

How to measure whether it works

Track a few numbers per batch and compare them over time. What counts as good depends on your market, so the trend matters more than any benchmark.

Reply rate by source

Which profiles bring people who answer.

Reply rate by topic

Which problems get replies. Use it to choose what to track next.

Comments compared with likes

Commenters should reply more often. If they don't, the topic may be wrong.

Yes rate to the offer

How many say yes to what you offered.

From our data

Figures from Breaknorm's own engagement data, refreshed every 1 to 7 days.

Checklist

1. Two to five sources that post about your problem
2. Engagers from the last 7 days, comments ranked first
3. Role, level and company match your market
4. Vendors, job seekers and the poster's colleagues removed
5. Email verified at the mail server
6. Message opens on the topic, never on the like
7. Offer of something useful on that topic
8. Replies tracked by source and topic

Questions about this play