[FAQ]

Hey,

I’m looking for some advice on finding smaller, more focused communities on X. My main feed is super broad, and I’d love to connect with people who are into my specific hobby (collecting vintage sci-fi paperbacks).

I know they have to be out there on the platform, but I’m not sure how to find them beyond just searching for obvious hashtags. Once I find them, what’s the best way to jump into the conversation without seeming like a weirdo? It feels different than just replying to a big, trending post.

Thanks for any tips!

[Jeff Bullas]

This is a high-level question—moving from a broadcaster to a community member on X is a key strategic shift.

Short Answer: Finding niche communities on X involves strategic use of the platform’s Lists and keyword monitoring, while engagement requires adding value through thoughtful, format-appropriate contributions.

Let’s examine the specific content formats you should use to effectively listen to and then participate in these conversations on X.

Before you engage, you must first observe the native content formats of the X community you’ve found; take note if they primarily share detailed text-based threads, specific styles of video, or frequent image posts, as this is the unspoken language of that group. Second, your initial engagement should almost always be in a reply format, such as adding a thoughtful text comment to a thread or sharing a relevant image in response to a post, as this demonstrates you are listening rather than just broadcasting. Finally, once you have built some rapport, you can contribute original content, but you should do so using the dominant format you identified earlier to show you understand and belong within that community. The fastest way to be rejected is to spam a niche group on X with a generic, self-promotional content format that is foreign to their conversation style.

Cheers,

Jeff

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