Buying intent signals on social media: how to spot a real buyer
Last updated: 26 October 2026
A buying intent signal is something a person does or says that suggests they may soon buy: asking for a recommendation, describing the problem you solve, or comparing options. The words are worth more than the actions, and recent signals are worth more than old ones.
Not every post that sounds like a buyer is one. The point of scoring is to stop you chasing people who only look like leads.
Strong signals
- An explicit request: "can anyone recommend…", "looking for…", "where can I buy…".
- A question about price, availability or how something works.
- A comparison: "X or Y?", "alternative to…", "switched from…".
- A described problem with urgency: "need this fixed before Friday".
Medium signals
- Comments on a post about your topic that add a detail or ask a question.
- Replies on a competitor's announcement or product post.
- Following several accounts in your category over a short time.
- Mentioning a relevant event, hire or launch.
Weak signals
A single like, a follow or a profile view shows only that someone passed by. These are easy to misread. They are worth a note, and worth a message only when combined with something stronger.
Four things that turn a signal into a score
Avocado Leads scores each person from 0 to 100 on exactly these four parts, and shows what drove the score, so you can see why someone is at the top.
- Language: did they say what they need, in words that match what you sell?
- Recency: how long ago? Intent fades quickly.
- Fit: their role, industry, location and size against your customer.
- Reachability: can you contact them on this network, or only watch?
Why topic words matter more than "looking for"
When we ran Reddit searches ourselves, a phrase like "looking for" on its own returned posts about books, video games and flatmates, because those people were looking for something, just not what we sell. Adding the topic words, such as "google maps scraper" or "local business leads", and keeping only posts that contain them, removed most of that noise.
The lesson applies anywhere you search by hand: a request phrase tells you someone is shopping, and a topic word tells you what for. You need both.
Common false positives
- People promoting their own product in a thread.
- Students, job seekers and researchers who use the same words as buyers.
- Competitors and agencies doing market research.
- Old comments on a post that was popular a year ago.
Where Avocado Leads fits
Avocado Leads does the collecting, ranking and pacing part of this work. You paste a post, a profile or a search, and it saves the people who commented, reacted, followed or match, then scores each person from 0 to 100 on buying language, how recently they were active, how well they fit your business and how reachable they are.
It then runs a paced follow or connect campaign from your own signed-in browser, with a message after where the platform allows one. It never asks for your social passwords, and it keeps to hourly, daily, weekly and monthly caps for each network. The limits that come with each platform are on the platforms page, and the safety page explains what it will not do.
See how Avocado Leads works, what works on each platform and how it keeps accounts safe.
Questions people ask
What is a buying signal?
A behaviour or statement that suggests someone may buy soon, such as asking for a recommendation, comparing options or describing a problem your product solves.
Is a like a buying signal?
Only a weak one. A like shows attention. A comment or question in their own words tells you far more.
How recent should a signal be?
The fresher the better. A request from this week deserves a reply; one from last year probably does not.