06 · Reply playbook (the Premium lever)¶
Agent version with a prompt: social-x-reply. Target list template: templates/reply-targets.md.
Why replies first¶
- Premium puts subscribers' replies higher in conversations; the boost grows from Basic to Premium to Premium+ (About X Premium).
- In the ranker, a predicted reply weighs 5, and 15 more between mutual follows (03-how-x-ranks-posts.md).
- Under a big post, a good reply is seen by that post's audience, which is usually far bigger than yours.
Under 1,000 followers: 70% replies, 30% posts¶
Practice · Below ~1,000 followers your own posts reach mostly your followers, so 20–30 views a post is normal. Spend about 70% of your X time replying to bigger accounts and 30% writing your own posts. People find you through your replies, then open your profile.
- Follow 20–30 accounts in your niche (for a dev-tools maker: Claude Code, AI tools for devs, Mac apps, indie hackers, build in public) and turn on post notifications for all of them while you're under 1,000.
- Reply within ~15 minutes of their post. Early replies sit near the top and get read; reply #200 doesn't. Every reply adds something real: a tip, a number, a screenshot. Never "Great post!".
- Work up to 20–30 replies a day, not on day one. Follow the ramp in social-x-daily (week 1: 5 → week 3: 13–15 → week 4+: 20–30). A sudden jump in activity came right before a temporary reach label on the maintainer's account (08-rules-and-risks.md).
- Your own posts (the 30%): 1–2 a day, a native clip or screenshot instead of a link card, link in the first reply, one post a day in a Community you joined (10-best-practices.md).
Move toward 50/50 once your own posts regularly beat ~500 views.
The 20-minute session¶
- Open your target list (notifications on for 5 accounts).
- Pick 5–10 posts under ~2 hours old.
- Reply with one shape: number · counter-example · screenshot · short how-to · honest question.
- Link to your product only when it answers the post, once, with "I built this".
- Reply back to anyone who answers you.
- Log the count in templates/weekly-numbers.md.
"What are you building?" posts: drop your link or not¶
Posts like "Hey founders, what are you building? 👇" invite links, so a link there isn't rude. But they're not free reach either. What's true and what isn't:
- Who reads it: other builders dropping their own links. Good for peers and follows, weak for buyers, unless the post is aimed at your buyers.
- Where you land: Help · Premium replies are placed higher in the conversation (About X Premium). Early + Premium = seen; reply #300 = not.
- Links: X says posts with links aren't penalized anymore (Musk, July 2026: "We haven't for over a year", PPC Land), and there's no link penalty in the open code. The real cost is people: a bare link reads as spam, and a mute weighs −58.8.
- Rules: coordinating to swap follows, likes or replies ("follow train", "drop your link and I'll follow back everyone") is engagement spam under X's Authenticity policy. Answering a real question with your product is not.
Pick the post: all 6 must be yes
| # | Check | Why |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Under ~2 hours old | Posts leave For You after 48 h, and the first replies get read |
| 2 | Under ~100 replies | Past that, nobody scrolls to you |
| 3 | The author answers replies (look at their last 2–3 such posts) | A reply back = their audience sees you |
| 4 | Its audience includes your buyers (devs, Mac users), not only "growth" accounts | Builders follow, buyers install |
| 5 | No follow-back / "like + RT to join" / giveaway mechanics | Engagement-spam risk |
| 6 | You haven't dropped a link today | One link reply a day, max |
Write it so it's worth reading without clicking
<the problem in their words>. Built <product> for it: <what it does in 1 line>. <Free / price as the store says>.
[10 s clip or screenshot]
Then the link in a second reply to yourself, or not at all: people who care open your profile, where the bio link and pinned demo already sell. Answer whoever replies to you, look at what they build and reply there too. That's where the follows come from.
Never¶
- Automated replies, likes, follows or DMs (X automation rules).
- "Great post!", "This 👆", copy-paste replies across posts.
- Fights. Blocks and reports are the heaviest negative signals.