This guide walks through a sample use case: you’ve built (or are building) a product and want to find people who are already talking about the problem you solve - so you can reach out with a helpful response instead of cold outreach.
Use case
- Goal: Find 10–20 people who recently expressed frustration or asked for recommendations in your space.
- Tool: Search (Manual & Auto) - use Manual search for this walkthrough.
- Outcome: A list of posts/comments with sentiment and intent so you can prioritize who to contact.
Step 1: Choose keywords that match how people talk
People don’t search like a keyword tool - they write in natural language. Use phrases that describe the problem or intent, not just your product name.
Examples:
- “frustrated with [X]” or “looking for alternatives to [X]” - People unhappy or shopping.
- “how do you [solve Y]” or “best tool for [Y]” - People seeking solutions.
- “recommend [category]” or “suggestions for [use case]” - Direct ask for options.
Avoid only using your product name early on; you want everyone discussing the problem, not just those who already know you.
Step 2: Run your first search
- Open Manual search from the dashboard.
- Enter one of the phrases above (e.g. people looking for Notion alternatives or frustrated with project management tools).
- Select platforms - Start with Reddit and Hacker News; add more if your plan allows.
- Set timeframe to “Last 7 days” or “Last 30 days” so you have enough results.
- Run the search.
Step 3: Use sentiment and intent to prioritize
Results show sentiment (positive, negative, neutral) and buying intent (score).
- Negative sentiment - Frustration or complaints; good opportunity to offer help.
- High intent (e.g. 75–100) - Actively comparing options or asking for recommendations; prioritize these first.
- Positive + high intent - Already using something; can still be useful for positioning or case studies.
Step 4: Reach out in a helpful way
- Don’t lead with a sales pitch. Reference their post and offer something useful (e.g. a tip, a comparison, or a resource).
- If they asked for recommendations, briefly say how your product fits and offer a link or next step.
Optional: Draft reply. On each result card you can open Draft reply for AI suggestions grounded in your brand settings. You paste on the platform yourself.
Step 5: Repeat and refine
- Run similar manual searches whenever you want a fresh snapshot; how often you can do that is limited by your plan’s manual run caps.
- On Growth or Scale, turn on Auto Search for your brand: Needle runs the same search again on its own on your chosen schedule and sites, surfaces new posts (with intent, sentiment, and competitor mentions when you saved competitors), and can send digests - configure everything under Settings.
Next steps
- Search (Manual & Auto) - full reference.
- Plans and limits - quotas and tiers.