How to Connect with ICPs Engaging with Relevant LinkedIn Posts

You can find qualified leads on LinkedIn by focusing on people already engaging with topics your product solves. The most effective prospecting strategy targets prospects showing interest in content related to your solution.

Engagement (comments, reactions) is a real-time interest signalEngagement (comments, reactions) is a real-time interest signal that makes outreach more likely to land. In this guide, you’ll learn how to identify, connect with, and convert leads already engaging with content related to your solution. This approach helps you build relationships with interested prospects so you start more conversations and close more deals with less manual work.

Why engagement-based prospecting outperforms traditional outreach

Traditional LinkedIn outreach often means sending connection requests to people who match your ideal client profile but have shown no prior interest. While this approach can work, it typically yields low response rates and struggles to generate high-quality leads.

Targeting users who engage with relevant posts improves prospecting in three practical ways:

1. Higher intent signals: When someone comments on a post about challenges your product solves, they’re demonstrating active interest, a much stronger buying signal than simply matching demographic criteria.
2. More personalized outreach: Referencing the post they engaged with gives your request context, which typically lifts acceptance rates.
3. Warmer conversations: Follow-ups feel more natural when you stick to the topic they engaged with, which often shortens time to a real conversation.

Here’s how to run this end-to-end with PhantomBuster’s pre-built automations.

Step-by-step process to connect with ICPs engaging with relevant posts

1. Find relevant posts by topic

Start by identifying LinkedIn posts relevant to your industry, solution, or specific pain points your product solves.

1. Navigate to LinkedIn’s search bar.
2. Enter keywords related to your industry or solution area (e.g., “lead generation,” “sales automation,” “LinkedIn strategy”).
3. Filter results to show only posts (not people, companies, etc.).
4. Look for posts with high engagement (many comments and likes).
5. Copy the search URL after refining your search to show the most relevant posts.

Use the Content filter to show Posts, then sort by Recency to find active conversations. Save the search URL for reuse.

Pro tip: Save your LinkedIn search URLs for different topics in a spreadsheet. This allows you to quickly rotate between different search criteria as you scale your prospecting efforts.

2. Configure your automation

Manual prospecting quickly becomes overwhelming, especially when targeting engaged users across multiple posts. This is where PhantomBuster’s automations take over the repetitive work:

1. Open PhantomBuster’s Engage with likers and commenters automation.
2. In Source, choose LinkedIn post search URL and paste the saved link.
3. Choose whether to target:

   Choose whether to target likers, commenters, or both.

Start with commenters for intent, then expand to likers to scale once replies are consistent.

This automation finds people engaging with posts that match your criteria and queues them for outreach, so you spend less time on manual checks.

3. Define your ideal customer profile

Not all engagement is equally valuable. The key to high-quality lead generation is filtering for prospects that match your ideal customer profile (ICP).

In PhantomBuster’s settings, add filters (job title, industry, location, headline keywords) or enrich first with the AI LinkedIn Profile Enricher to qualify decision-makers:

• Job title (e.g., “Marketing Director,” “Head of Sales”)
• Industry (e.g., “SaaS,” “Financial Services”)
• Location (if you have geographic targeting)
• Keywords in headlines (e.g., “demand generation,” “pipeline”)

Using these filters ensures you’re only connecting with decision-makers and qualified prospects who are most likely to convert, rather than wasting time on people who don’t fit your target audience.

4. Write your LinkedIn connection requests

Crafting personalized connection requests is crucial for high acceptance rates. Within the PhantomBuster automation, create message templates or use AI-powered message personalization that:

1. Reference the specific post they engaged with.
2. Mention why you’re reaching out.
3. Offer something useful related to their demonstrated interest.
4. End with a question to encourage a response.
5. Keep connection notes concise (aim for under 300 characters). Limits can change, so test on your account and adjust.

Example template: “Hi [Name], saw your comment on [Author]’s post about [topic]. We help teams tackle [challenge]. Open to swapping notes on what’s working for you?”

Personalization is key; generic connection requests like “I’d like to add you to my professional network” rarely yield results with high-value prospects. Test two variations with your ICP and keep the top performer.

5. Launch your LinkedIn outreach

Activate the automation to send your personalized connection requests to the filtered list of prospects:

1. Review your message templates and settings.
2. Start with low volumes and vary timing to stay within LinkedIn’s fair-use norms. Many teams begin around 15–25 connection requests per day and adjust based on acceptance and account health.
3. Schedule the automation to run during business hours.
4. Configure follow-up messages for those who accept your connection.

This approach usually lifts acceptance rates versus cold outreach because your message references an interest they’ve already shown.

6. Follow up strategically

After they accept, keep the conversation useful and specific:

1. Send a personalized thank-you message that offers something helpful.
2. Share a relevant resource (article, guide, case study) directly related to the topic they engaged with.
3. Ask thoughtful questions about their business challenges.
4. Wait for their response before mentioning your product or service.

Lead with something useful (guide, checklist) tied to their comment. That earns the reply without a pitch.

Advanced strategies for scaling your engagement-based prospecting

When the basics are working, use these plays to scale. Start with two sources (competitor posts, thought leaders). Add more only after maintaining a 40%+ acceptance rate for two weeks.

Target multiple engagement sources

Expand beyond a single search by targeting engagement across different sources:

• Competitor content: Find prospects engaging with your competitors’ posts.
• Industry thought leaders: Connect with people commenting on respected voices in your space.
• LinkedIn groups: Identify active participants in relevant professional groups.
• Trending hashtags: Target users engaging with content under industry-specific hashtags.
• Company page posts: Identify prospects interacting with target companies.

Create a separate automation for 1–2 sources first (e.g., commenters on competitor posts), then add more as results stabilize.

Score and personalize with AI before you reach out

PhantomBuster’s AI LinkedIn Profile Enricher analyzes profiles of people engaging with relevant posts to identify high-value LinkedIn leads. This helps you:

• Score prospects based on decision-making authority
• Identify buying signals in their profile content
• Generate personalized message suggestions
• Prioritize outreach to prospects most likely to convert

AI enrichment ranks profiles so you contact decision-makers first and skip low-fit contacts.

Implement a social selling process

Create a structured process that moves beyond simple connection requests to generate more leads:

1. Engage first: Comment thoughtfully on the same posts as your prospects before sending connection requests.
2. Connect with context: Send personalized connection requests referencing both the post and your own comment.
3. Build credibility: Share content on your profile that aligns with the topics your prospects engage with.
4. Nurture relationships: Interact with your new connections’ content to build visibility and rapport.
5. Move to direct outreach: Only after establishing a relationship, suggest a more direct conversation.

Run steps 1–4 for 1–2 weeks max. If there’s engagement, propose a short call; if not, pause and revisit fit. This social selling approach creates multiple touch points before your sales pitch, warming up prospects and building your professional brand simultaneously.

Measure and optimize your results

Create a simple dashboard (or sync exports to your CRM) to track key metrics and continuously improve your approach:

• Connection acceptance rate: Percentage of requests accepted
• Response rate: Percentage who respond to follow-up messages
• Meeting conversion rate: Percentage who agree to sales conversations
• Lead quality: Percentage who fit your qualified lead criteria
• Closed deals: Number and value of deals closed from this channel

This data lets you identify what’s working, refine your targeting and messaging, and calculate the true ROI of your LinkedIn prospecting strategy.

FAQ

How many connection requests should I send daily?

LinkedIn doesn’t publish official limits. Keep volumes modest, vary timing, and prioritize personalization to avoid restrictions. Many teams start around 15–25 per day and adjust based on acceptance rates and account health. Quality always beats quantity; fewer, more personalized requests yield better results than mass outreach.

Is it better to target post likers or commenters?

Commenters typically show higher intent since they’ve taken the time to write a response. However, likers can provide a larger audience. The best approach is to start with commenters for higher-quality conversations, then expand to likers as you refine your process.

How can I personalize at scale without spending hours researching?

Use PhantomBuster to collect post engagers, enrich profiles with AI, and auto-personalize messages with dynamic fields (post title, comment snippet) so each note is specific at scale. This balance of automation and personalization ensures efficiency without sacrificing quality.

What if my ICP isn’t active on LinkedIn?

If your target audience isn’t actively posting or commenting, adjust your strategy to focus on content they might be silently viewing to find mutual interest. Look for industry publications, influential figures, or companies they likely follow, and create content that addresses their pain points. Over time, this will attract engagement from even passive users.

How do I avoid coming across as sales-focused?

Focus on building relationships first. Your initial messages should reference their engagement, ask questions about their perspective, and offer value without pushing your product. Save specific solution discussions for after you’ve established rapport through 2–3 exchanges.

Can I use this approach for account-based marketing (ABM)?

Absolutely. For ABM, first identify content that decision-makers at your target accounts are engaging with. Then use PhantomBuster to extract and filter for specific companies on your account list. This focused approach ensures your team connects with multiple stakeholders at priority accounts.

Start connecting with ICPs engaging with relevant posts

Ready to connect with high-intent ICPs already engaging on LinkedIn? Start by setting up PhantomBuster’s Engage with likers and commenters automation. Then follow the playbook to qualify, personalize, and schedule outreach. You can find the steps in this playbook.

Try PhantomBuster free for 14 days and discover how to generate more qualified leads while spending less time on prospecting.