--- title: "Social Intent Search Examples for LinkedIn Buyers | traxy" description: "What to search for to find buyers on LinkedIn: the person plus the need, with example search wording for founders, agencies, recruiters and sales teams." canonical: "https://traxy.ai/blog/social-intent-search-examples" last_updated: "2026-11-13" --- # Social Intent Search Examples for LinkedIn Buyers | traxy > What to search for to find buyers on LinkedIn: the person plus the need, with example search wording for founders, agencies, recruiters and sales teams. [Home](https://traxy.ai/) [Blog](https://traxy.ai/blog) [Buyer Intent & Signals](https://traxy.ai/blog/topics/buyer-intent-and-signals) Buyer intent # Social intent search examples: what to search for to find buyers on LinkedIn What to search for to find buyers on LinkedIn: the person plus the need, with example search wording for founders, agencies, recruiters and sales teams. By the traxy teamPublished Nov 13, 202618 min read ![Social intent search examples: what to search for to find buyers on LinkedIn — traxy blog](https://traxy.ai/assets/blog-covers/social-intent-search-examples.jpg) **In this article**[What should I search for to find buyers on LinkedIn with social intent search?](https://traxy.ai/blog/social-intent-search-examples#what-should-i-search-for-to-find-buyers-on-linkedin-with-social-intent-search) [How a good search reads: the person plus the need](https://traxy.ai/blog/social-intent-search-examples#how-a-good-search-reads-the-person-plus-the-need) [How does social intent search work, step by step?](https://traxy.ai/blog/social-intent-search-examples#how-does-social-intent-search-work-step-by-step) [Searches for founders and SaaS teams](https://traxy.ai/blog/social-intent-search-examples#searches-for-founders-and-saas-teams) [Searches for agencies and service firms](https://traxy.ai/blog/social-intent-search-examples#searches-for-agencies-and-service-firms) [Searches for recruiters and sales teams](https://traxy.ai/blog/social-intent-search-examples#searches-for-recruiters-and-sales-teams) [How do I know if a search is too broad or too narrow?](https://traxy.ai/blog/social-intent-search-examples#how-do-i-know-if-a-search-is-too-broad-or-too-narrow) [Running the same searches from Claude or ChatGPT](https://traxy.ai/blog/social-intent-search-examples#running-the-same-searches-from-claude-or-chatgpt) [From search results to a campaign](https://traxy.ai/blog/social-intent-search-examples#from-search-results-to-a-campaign) [What are the limits?](https://traxy.ai/blog/social-intent-search-examples#what-are-the-limits) [FAQ](https://traxy.ai/blog/social-intent-search-examples#faq) [Related reading](https://traxy.ai/blog/social-intent-search-examples#related-reading) [Open product docs](https://docs.traxy.ai/) **TL;DR: To find buyers on LinkedIn with social intent search, search for the person you sell to plus the need they would say in their own words, such as "founders looking for AEO help" or "heads of RevOps unhappy with their CRM", not a job title or a product category on its own. In traxy, that one sentence searches 71M+ scanned LinkedIn likes, posts and comments, in the app or from Claude or ChatGPT through the traxy MCP, and each person comes back with their ICP match and the post or comment behind them. A campaign then researches each lead and runs personalized LinkedIn and email outreach from your own connected accounts on autopilot once you approve the launch, or you approve every message.** We make traxy, so read this as the vendor's guide. traxy runs your entire LinkedIn GTM end to end, from finding high intent leads from social intent to enriching and researching each one, to running relevant, personalized LinkedIn and email outreach to them on autopilot after you approve the campaign. Every search in this guide is example wording to copy and adapt. None of them are results: we don't show what any search returned, because what comes back depends on your ICP and on what people are posting. For what social intent search is and how it compares with other tools, start with [what is social intent search](https://traxy.ai/blog/social-intent-search-linkedin) . ## What should I search for to find buyers on LinkedIn with social intent search? Search for who you sell to plus the need they would say out loud: a role and a company type, then the problem, request or change in the buyer's own words, for example "agency owners hiring their first SDR". The closer the sentence sounds to something a buyer would post or comment, the closer the matches are to people who have that need. Four kinds of need make good searches: - **Asking for a recommendation.** "marketing leaders asking for a podcast agency recommendation". Someone who asks has named the need. See [how to find people asking for a recommendation](https://traxy.ai/blog/find-people-asking-for-recommendations-linkedin) . - **Describing the problem.** "CFOs talking about month-end close". People describe the pain long before they ask for a vendor. - **Switching or unhappy with a tool.** "heads of RevOps unhappy with their CRM". Complaints about the current tool are often the first sign of a switch. See [how to find buyers who are switching tools](https://traxy.ai/blog/find-people-switching-tools-linkedin) . - **A change that creates the need.** "founders hiring their first sales team". A first hire, a new market or a new role often comes with a new budget line and a new problem. Start with the need your best customers had when they bought from you. If you can't name it, look at your last few won deals and write down the phrase each buyer used to describe the problem on the first call. That phrase is usually your first search. ## How a good search reads: the person plus the need A good search has two parts, the person and the need, and an optional verb that says how strongly they show it. Everything else, such as company size or industries to leave out, belongs in your Lead criteria. 1. **The person.** A role or seniority, a company type and, when it matters, a location: "founders", "heads of RevOps at SaaS companies", "agency owners in London". 2. **The need.** The problem in the buyer's words, not your category name. Buyers rarely post that they need a "revenue operations platform"; they post that their CRM data is a mess or that reporting takes all week. 3. **The strength, if you want it.** Words like "asking for", "comparing", "switching from", "complaining about" and "hiring for" tell the search what kind of activity you're after. Here is the difference in practice: Too broad Better Why "founders" "founders looking for AEO help" A role on its own matches anyone with the title "CRM" "heads of RevOps unhappy with their CRM" A topic on its own matches vendors and commentators as well as buyers "people interested in marketing" "ecommerce founders asking about retention emails" Interest is loose; asking about one job is closer to a need "sales leaders who need our platform" "sales leaders asking how to ramp new SDRs faster" Buyers describe the problem, not your product A few rules of thumb: - **One need per search.** If you sell three services, run three searches and keep each one as its own audience. Each audience can then get its own campaign and its own message. - **Use the buyer's words.** The phrases prospects use on calls and in replies are better search wording than your website copy. - **Add a location only when it matters.** "founders in NYC looking for help with LinkedIn outbound" is useful if you only sell in New York. Otherwise leave it out and let your Lead criteria handle locations. - **Let the ICP do the filtering.** Seniority, company size, industry and exclusions live in Lead criteria. Each result shows an ICP match against those criteria, so the search sentence can stay about the person and the need. LinkedIn Boolean strings work the other way round; [LinkedIn Boolean search vs social intent search](https://traxy.ai/blog/linkedin-boolean-search-vs-social-intent-search) compares the two. ## How does social intent search work, step by step? You describe the person and the need, traxy searches 71M+ scanned LinkedIn likes, posts and comments, and each match comes back with the person, their company, their ICP match and the post or comment behind them. Here is the full path inside traxy: 1. **Set who fits.** Lead criteria is your ICP: roles, departments, seniority and locations for people, and size, industry, revenue, funding and keywords for companies, with exclusions where you need them ([lead criteria](https://docs.traxy.ai/discovery/lead-criteria) ). Your Signal Brief under Targeting > Signals lists the problems, topics and situations that make someone relevant. If you start from your website, traxy drafts both and you fix anything that's off. 2. **Type the search.** Describe the person and the need in plain English, in the traxy app or in Claude or ChatGPT through the traxy MCP. There are no Boolean strings or filter trees to build. 3. **traxy searches the database.** Your sentence runs against more than 71 million scanned LinkedIn engagements: likes, posts and comments. That number counts engagements, not people, so one person can appear behind many of them. 4. **Read who and why.** Each match shows the person, their company, their ICP match and the signal, such as a post they wrote or a post they commented on, liked or reposted ([Social Intent Search](https://traxy.ai/social-intent-search) ). 5. **Open the evidence.** A lead's Signals tab shows the source and its date. Read it before you use it: a comment asking for a recommendation is stronger than a like on a post about the same topic. 6. **Keep the good ones.** Only people with a 50%+ ICP match count as leads, and each lead is labeled Warm, Related or Activity by how strong the evidence is. Mark leads Good fit or Bad fit with a reason ([how qualification works](https://docs.traxy.ai/discovery/qualification) ), then save the people you want to contact as a shared view in Leads ([filter and save audiences](https://docs.traxy.ai/leads/saved-views) ). A view saved from a text search is a fixed audience of the people matched at that time. 7. **Reach out.** Build a campaign on that view. The section [from search results to a campaign](https://traxy.ai/blog/social-intent-search-examples#from-search-results-to-a-campaign) covers each step. ## Searches for founders and SaaS teams If you sell to founders or SaaS teams, search for the founder or the function lead plus a specific problem they would raise in public: a growth problem, a first hire or a tool they're outgrowing. A few starting points by what you sell: If you sell Example search wording AEO or SEO services "find me founders looking for AEO help"; "SaaS founders asking why they don't show up in ChatGPT answers" LinkedIn outbound or sales tools "founders in NYC looking for help with LinkedIn outbound"; "seed-stage founders asking how to get their first ten customers" CRM or RevOps services "heads of RevOps unhappy with their CRM"; "RevOps leaders asking which CRM to switch to" Finance software "CFOs talking about month-end close"; "finance leaders at SaaS companies comparing expense tools" Ecommerce marketing "ecommerce founders asking about retention emails" Security and compliance "CTOs at startups asking how to get SOC 2 ready" Developer tools "engineering leaders complaining about slow CI builds" If your product sells to more than one persona, run one search per persona and per pain. A finance tool that sells to both the CFO and the head of operations needs two searches, because the two people describe the problem in different words. Name each saved view after its search so you can tell later which wording brought which leads. ## Searches for agencies and service firms Agencies should search for the client's decision maker plus the moment they look for outside help: asking for a recommendation, comparing agencies, or saying they're doing the work in-house and stuck. Agency type Example search wording LinkedIn content agency "B2B founders saying they don't have time to post on LinkedIn"; "founders asking who can ghostwrite their LinkedIn posts" Podcast agency "marketing leaders comparing podcast agencies" Outbound or lead generation agency "founders saying cold email stopped working"; "heads of sales asking about cold email deliverability" Paid ads agency "ecommerce founders asking for a Meta ads agency recommendation" Web and design studio "SaaS founders asking for feedback on their website redesign" Fractional finance or ops "founders asking whether to hire a fractional CFO" Market entry or expansion "companies expanding into a new market and looking for an agency" The hard part for agencies is keeping other agencies out. People who sell the same service comment on the same posts as your buyers. Add those roles and company types as exclusions in Lead criteria, mark the ones that slip through as Bad fit with the reason, and read the post behind each lead before you contact anyone. Some people post "anyone know a good agency?" only to collect pitches; traxy doesn't claim to detect that, so check the person's role and what else they have posted. An agency can run traxy for its clients and repeat these searches for each one. Worked examples for content, AEO and outbound agencies are in [how agencies find new clients with social intent search](https://traxy.ai/blog/agency-lead-generation-social-intent-search) . ## Searches for recruiters and sales teams Recruiters should search for the hiring manager plus the hire they're struggling with. In-house sales teams should search for each persona in their ICP plus the problem their product solves, one search per segment. ### Recruiters and staffing firms - "agency owners hiring their first SDR" - "founders hiring their first sales leader" - "heads of engineering saying it's hard to hire senior engineers" - "HR leaders asking for a recruiting agency recommendation" - "founders looking for a VP of sales" The person who posts about a hard hire is often the hiring manager, which is who a recruiter wants to reach. For hiring signals from the company side, such as open roles, a campaign can research each lead for the facts you ask for. More in [how recruiters find hiring companies and hiring managers on LinkedIn](https://traxy.ai/blog/recruiters-find-clients-on-linkedin) . ### Sales teams: AEs, SDRs and GTM leaders - "VPs of sales asking how to ramp new SDRs faster" - "SDR managers asking which data provider to use" - "sales leaders saying their reps spend too long on research" - "marketing leaders frustrated that their ads don't reach decision makers" - "RevOps leaders unhappy with their current CRM" Build these from your own wins. Take the trigger behind your last few closed deals, write it as a search for each segment, and give each rep or segment its own view. Campaigns run in priority order so one lead never gets two campaigns at once, and the launch review shows who is skipped because another campaign holds them or they were contacted before. ## How do I know if a search is too broad or too narrow? Read the evidence behind the first results. If most of it is likes on general posts, low ICP matches or vendors talking about their own product, the search is too broad; if very few people come back, it is too narrow. - **Too broad.** Add the need or a stronger verb. "marketing leaders" becomes "marketing leaders comparing podcast agencies". - **Too narrow.** Widen the person, not the need. Try the role's other names ("head of growth" as well as "VP marketing"), or phrase the same need two ways and run both. - **Wrong people.** If peers, vendors or job seekers keep showing up, fix it in Lead criteria with exclusions rather than in the search sentence, and mark them Bad fit with the reason. Keep a short list of the wordings that worked. They become the searches you rerun each week and the names of your saved views. ## Running the same searches from Claude or ChatGPT Connect the traxy MCP to Claude or ChatGPT and type the same sentence: it searches the same 71M+ scanned LinkedIn likes, posts and comments as the traxy app, and you can take the results into a campaign from the same chat. The traxy MCP also works with Cursor, Codex and Grok. To connect, open Integrations in traxy, pick your client, add the remote MCP endpoint, sign in once, choose the workspaces it can reach and approve. No API key is needed, and a traxy REST API key is not accepted as an MCP credential ([connect an AI client](https://docs.traxy.ai/integrations/ai-clients) ). Example prompts to type in your AI chat (wording only): - "Search traxy for founders looking for AEO help and show the post or comment behind each person." - "Use traxy social intent search to find heads of RevOps unhappy with their CRM, and tell me why each one fits." - "Show the signals and the posts behind my five newest qualified leads before my calls." - "Draft a campaign for my CRM switchers view and test it on sample leads." From the chat you can also list and research your leads, start a discovery run or qualify the audience of one post after you confirm capacity use, update your ICP and tracked profiles, and send leads to a webhook. Campaigns run from the chat too: draft, test on sample leads, launch, manage sequences and senders, and reply in the inbox. Before anything launches or sends, the AI shows what it will do and waits for your yes in chat. See [LinkedIn GTM from your AI chat](https://traxy.ai/linkedin-mcp) and [how to find and research LinkedIn leads from Claude](https://traxy.ai/blog/find-linkedin-leads-in-claude-traxy-mcp) . ## From search results to a campaign Save the people you keep as a shared view (a fixed audience when it comes from a text search) and build a campaign on it: traxy researches each lead for the facts you name, groups leads by signal with a personalized message variant for each group, and sends LinkedIn and email from your own connected sender accounts after you approve. This is the second half of traxy, the outreach. 1. **Save the audience.** Campaigns use shared views, and a view built from filters updates as leads change. A view saved from a text search is a fixed audience of the people matched when you saved it, so new matches don't join it; rerun the search wording to add new people. 2. **Get contact data.** Auto-Enrich looks up contact data for newly qualified leads (it doesn't backfill older ones), or you can request an email or phone lookup for a lead. 3. **Create the campaign.** Go to Outbound > Campaigns > Create campaign, or ask trax. Give it the audience, your offer and the research you need, for example whether the need the person posted about is still open ([create a campaign](https://docs.traxy.ai/campaigns/create) ). If a required fact isn't found, the lead stays in traxy and you can choose to skip it in the campaign. A research-only campaign records findings without sending anything. 4. **Group by signal.** Leads are grouped by the signal behind them, and each group gets its own message variant, personalized with the evidence. LinkedIn and email run in one campaign as a multi-step sequence, and waits can depend on events like connection acceptance. 5. **Test on sample leads.** The test runs the plan on a few leads so you can check the research and the prepared messages. Nothing is sent. 6. **Review the launch.** Before launch you see who joins, who is skipped, the sender, the steps and the delivery mode ([review and launch](https://docs.traxy.ai/campaigns/review-and-launch) ). 7. **Choose how it sends.** Nothing sends until you approve the launch. Then approve every message in a review queue, or let the approved campaign send on its own. 8. **Handle replies.** A reply, an unsubscribe or a hard bounce stops the sequence for that lead. The inbox keeps one conversation per lead across LinkedIn and email, and you can pause a lead's sequence to take over. Once a campaign is approved, it runs on autopilot from your own LinkedIn account and mailbox; if you prefer, you approve every message instead. Because each search becomes its own view (a fixed audience you top up by rerunning the search), you can run many campaigns at once on different signals, such as one for people asking for a recommendation and one for people unhappy with a competitor. The first message works best when it mentions the topic the person raised, not the fact that you saw them like a post. More on this half in [LinkedIn outbound with traxy](https://traxy.ai/linkedin-outbound) . ## What are the limits? - **LinkedIn only for now.** The database covers LinkedIn likes, posts and comments. If your buyers mostly talk somewhere else, plan around that. - **71M+ counts engagements, not people.** It is the number of scanned likes, posts and comments, not a count of buyers or contacts. - **The examples here are wording, not results.** What a search returns depends on your ICP and on what people have posted, so test your own wording. - **Evidence can be weak.** A like on a popular post can come from someone with no need at all. An ICP match is a fit check, not a sign that someone is ready to buy. - **Not every signal is on LinkedIn.** Hiring, funding and job changes come from research on each lead in a campaign, not from a live event feed. - **Sending needs connected accounts.** Outreach goes out from the LinkedIn accounts and mailboxes you connect, with the limits, active hours and ramp-up you set ([sender accounts](https://docs.traxy.ai/outreach/senders) ). traxy doesn't promise replies or meetings. ## FAQ ### What should I search for to find buyers on LinkedIn? The person you sell to plus the need in their words, such as "heads of RevOps unhappy with their CRM". In traxy that sentence searches 71M+ scanned LinkedIn likes, posts and comments, and each person comes with the post or comment behind them. ### How long should a social intent search be? One sentence. A role, a company type if it matters, and the need. Put company size, industries and exclusions in Lead criteria instead. ### Do I need Boolean operators? No. You describe the buyer and the need in plain English. There are no Boolean strings or filter trees to build. ### Are the examples in this guide real search results? No. They are example wording to copy and adapt. We don't show results, because they depend on your ICP and on what people have posted. ### What is in the 71M+ number? More than 71 million scanned LinkedIn engagements: likes, posts and comments. It counts engagements, not people. ### Can I run these searches from Claude or ChatGPT? Yes. Connect the traxy MCP and type the same sentence. You search the same database as in the traxy app, and campaigns can run from the same chat, with a yes from you before anything sends. ### What is the difference between social intent search and searching my existing leads? Social intent search looks across the whole database for new people. Asking trax something like "show me warm leads at software companies" filters the leads you already have and doesn't use capacity. ### How do I keep vendors and other agencies out of my results? Add them as exclusions in Lead criteria, mark the ones that slip through as Bad fit with the reason, and read the post behind each lead before you reach out. ### Should I search once or keep searching? Search answers the question you have today. Tracking (people, single posts and company pages) and discovery runs keep adding people over time, so most teams use both and rerun the wordings that worked. ### Does traxy write the messages? traxy prepares the messages from the research on each lead and the signal behind it. You test on sample leads with nothing sent, review the launch, and approve it, or approve every message. ### What happens after I find people? Save them as a shared view and build a campaign. A view saved from a text search is a fixed audience, so rerun the search to add new people. It researches each lead, groups leads by signal and runs LinkedIn and email outreach from your own connected accounts on autopilot after you approve the launch, or you approve every message ([LinkedIn outbound](https://traxy.ai/linkedin-outbound) ). ## Related reading - [Social Intent Search](https://traxy.ai/social-intent-search) - [What is social intent search?](https://traxy.ai/blog/social-intent-search-linkedin) - [LinkedIn Boolean search vs plain-English social intent search](https://traxy.ai/blog/linkedin-boolean-search-vs-social-intent-search) - [How agencies find new clients with social intent search](https://traxy.ai/blog/agency-lead-generation-social-intent-search) - [How to find people on LinkedIn asking for a recommendation](https://traxy.ai/blog/find-people-asking-for-recommendations-linkedin) - [How to find and research LinkedIn leads from Claude with traxy](https://traxy.ai/blog/find-linkedin-leads-in-claude-traxy-mcp) - [LinkedIn outbound with traxy](https://traxy.ai/linkedin-outbound) [Back to all articles](https://traxy.ai/blog) ## Keep reading [All Buyer Intent & Signals guides](https://traxy.ai/blog/topics/buyer-intent-and-signals) [Buyer intent7 min read ## Buyer Intent Signals (2026): What Buying Signals Are, Examples by Type and How Sales Teams Act on Them Buyer intent signals explained: what buying signals are, examples by type, how reps act on each one and a simple scoring framework to prioritize accounts. Updated Nov 12, 2026Read article](https://traxy.ai/blog/buyer-intent-signals-complete-b2b-guide) [Buyer intent19 min read ## How to keep other consultants, vendors and recruiters out of your LinkedIn leads Why LinkedIn leads fill up with other consultants, vendors and recruiters, and how to filter them out with exclusions, better sources and fit feedback. Updated Nov 13, 2026Read article](https://traxy.ai/blog/keep-peers-vendors-recruiters-out-of-leads) [Buyer intent16 min read ## Funding round signals in outbound: when a raise is a reason to reach out, and how to do it Reach companies after a funding round: verify the round, contact the person who owns the plan, pair it with their LinkedIn activity, write about their work. Updated Nov 12, 2026Read article](https://traxy.ai/blog/funding-round-signals-outbound) The right people are already out there. ## Find your warmest leads. _Send them personalized messages._ From relevant interest to personalized outreach. Put traxy to work. 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