# Lead research on LinkedIn with AI: who is posting about your topic

Your AI finds public LinkedIn posts about a topic, then reads the public profiles and recent posts of the people behind them, so you know who to talk to and what they care about. It uses the Account watch and Creator profile tools and 4 interfaces. One pass takes about 11 requests, 22 credits (≈ $0.044–$0.073) at current prices. Failed calls are free.

- Page: https://socialtoai.com/use-cases/linkedin-lead-research/
- Last updated: 2026-10-21

## What you get

Your AI finds public LinkedIn posts about a topic, then reads the public profiles and recent posts of the people behind them, so you know who to talk to and what they care about.

LinkedIn search mixes posts, people and companies, and each profile is a page of its own. Building a short list with what each person posted lately is an afternoon of clicking.

## What it uses

The ready-made tools do the whole job in one request: SocialToAI runs the searches, reads the posts and comments, and returns one result with its sources. Each is priced before it runs.

- [Account watch](https://socialtoai.com/tools/account-watch.md): What each one posted lately, and which posts beat its usual numbers. From 9 credits a run.
- [Creator profile](https://socialtoai.com/tools/creator-card.md): Their accounts on other platforms, the numbers on each, and how sure the match is. From 14 credits a run.

Your AI can also call the interfaces one at a time. These are the ones this job reads; each costs a fixed number of credits per call.

| Platform | Interface | What it returns | Price key | Credits |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| LinkedIn | [Search](https://socialtoai.com/linkedin-search-api.md) | Find posts by keyword: text, author, likes, comment count and publish time. | `linkedin.search` | 2 |
| LinkedIn | [User Profile](https://socialtoai.com/linkedin-user-profile-api.md) | One account: name and bio. | `linkedin.user_profile` | 2 |
| LinkedIn | [User Posts](https://socialtoai.com/linkedin-user-posts-api.md) | The recent posts of one account. | `linkedin.user_posts` | 2 |
| LinkedIn | [Detail](https://socialtoai.com/linkedin-detail-api.md) | One post by ID or link: text, author, likes, comment count and publish time. | `linkedin.detail` | 2 |

## A worked example

> **No recorded run yet** These are the requests one pass of the job takes, priced from the current price list. No output is shown, because none has been recorded; what comes back is described on each interface's page.

| Step | Price key | Credits per call | Requests | Credits |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Find public posts about the topic. | `linkedin.search` | 2 | 1 | 2 |
| Read the public profile of each of five authors. | `linkedin.user_profile` | 2 | 5 | 10 |
| Read what each of them posted lately. | `linkedin.user_posts` | 2 | 5 | 10 |
| **Total** |  |  | 11 | **22** |

22 credits is $0.073 at 300 credits per dollar (purchases from $10) and $0.044 at 500 per dollar (from $200). Failed calls are free, and a search that runs and finds nothing is charged as a call.

## Platform by platform

- [How do I track which of an account's TikTok videos took off with AI?](https://socialtoai.com/docs/guides/monitor-an-account-on-tiktok.md)
- [How do I see which of an account's Instagram posts did best with AI?](https://socialtoai.com/docs/guides/monitor-an-account-on-instagram.md)
- [How do I keep track of what an account posts on X (Twitter) with AI?](https://socialtoai.com/docs/guides/monitor-an-account-on-x.md)

## Give this to your AI

Connect SocialToAI once: in [Claude](https://socialtoai.com/connect/claude.md), [ChatGPT](https://socialtoai.com/connect/chatgpt.md), [Claude Code](https://socialtoai.com/connect/claude-code.md), [Cursor](https://socialtoai.com/connect/cursor.md) and [Codex](https://socialtoai.com/connect/codex.md) you sign in and press Allow, with no key to paste; other clients are on [the connect page](https://socialtoai.com/mcp.md). Then paste this and replace the parts in angle brackets. Never paste a key into a chat.

**Prompt**

```
Use the SocialToAI tools (https://mcp.socialtoai.com/mcp) to research people on LinkedIn who post about <your topic>. Search LinkedIn posts from the last month, pick the five authors who seem closest to <your customer>, then read each one's public profile and recent posts. Give me a table: name, headline, what they posted about and a link, and tell me the credits spent. Use only what is public on LinkedIn.
```

- [Account watch](https://socialtoai.com/tools/account-watch.md): What each one posted lately, and which posts beat its usual numbers
- [Creator profile](https://socialtoai.com/tools/creator-card.md): Their accounts on other platforms, the numbers on each, and how sure the match is
- [LinkedIn API](https://socialtoai.com/platforms/linkedin.md): Every call on LinkedIn, with its credits.