Find customers for your online store on social media
Last updated: 26 October 2026
Shoppers ask for products in public: "where can I buy…", "what is the best… under…", "does anyone sell…". Those questions, under competitor posts, creator posts and recommendation threads, are your leads.
Consumers are more sensitive to unsolicited messages than business buyers, so public helpfulness comes first and direct messages are the exception.
Where shoppers ask
- Instagram comments on product posts and reels, yours and your competitors'.
- Reddit recommendation threads for your category.
- X replies to brands and creators in your niche.
- Facebook posts and groups where people ask for suggestions.
What to look for
Comments that ask about price, size, shipping, stock or where to buy. Complaints about a competitor's product or delivery. People comparing two products. Skip giveaway entrants and bots.
Reply helpfully, then follow up lightly
- Answer the question in public with the detail they asked for.
- If it is your own post, say when an item is back in stock or where to find it.
- Follow the person, and message only when a direct note would genuinely help them.
Protect your accounts
Instagram and Facebook limit bulk follows and messages. Keep to a small, steady number a day, and never send the same message to everyone.
Searches to try today
- Instagram: your product type plus "where to buy", "link?", "price", and the comments under your three closest competitors' latest posts.
- Reddit: "best… for…" threads in your category and "where can I buy…" posts, sorted by best match over the past year for evergreen threads.
- X: your product category plus "recommend" or "looking for".
- Facebook: groups for hobbyists and buyers of your category, searching the group for "recommend".
Example replies that help
Under "where can I get one in green?": "We have the green in sizes S to L in stock now. Delivery is two to four days here, and if the size is wrong you can swap it for free." Direct, specific, and it solves the question in public.
Under a complaint about a competitor's late delivery: leave the competitor out of it. "Sorry that happened. If you are still looking, ours ships the same day and shows tracking from the first scan." No attack, just the fact that answers their frustration.
What to track
- Which posts and threads produced a visit or an order, noted by where the person said they came from.
- The questions you answer most often. Put those answers on your product pages and in your replies.
- Which products people ask about but cannot find, because that is stock to add or a page to improve.
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
Should an online store message people who comment?
Reply in public first. A direct message is appropriate only when it helps them, such as telling them a product is back in stock.
Which network suits online stores?
Instagram for visual products and Reddit for considered purchases where people ask for recommendations.