People are talking about your brand, product category and competitors on Twitter. Are you listening, and are you engaging? This Sprout Social guide will help you discover the social conversations that matter most through 14 sophisticated Twitter search operators. Explore These Themes: -Find localized conversations (around topics, dates, people, places and sentiments) that suggest purchase intent. -Develop better targeting for increased relevancy with current and prospective customers. -Engage in more meaningful, two-way communication to build a lasting brand impression.

1. A GUIDE BY
Top Twitter
Search Operators
TO HELP YOU FIND
MORE CUSTOMERS

2. 01. Topics 2
02. Dates 4
03. People 5
04. Places 7
05. Sentiments 8
06. How to Sort Your Search Results 10
07. When to Use Advanced Search 11
TABLE OF CONTENTS
TOP TWITTER SEARCH OPERATORS TO HELP YOU FIND MORE CUSTOMERS

3. 1
A sophisticated marketing strategy requires active social listening.
To better understand your audience, turn to Twitter search
operators for more advanced discovery of the conversations that
matter most to your business.
As verbal instructions, Twitter search operators provide actionable
insights into the topics, dates, people, places and sentiments
related to your brand and product category. Through customized
monitoring, your organization and community will see a number of
positive results:
· Deeper discovery of localized conversations
· Better targeting for increased relevancy
· More meaningful, two-way communication
This guide from Sprout Social elucidates the functionality of each
Twitter search operator so you can maximize your social media
marketing strategy—turning talk into action.
LISTEN & ENGAGE
near:Chicago within:5mi
TOP TWITTER SEARCH OPERATORS TO HELP YOU FIND MORE CUSTOMERS

4. 2
01
Simple Search
Twitter’s most basic search operator needs little explanation. Simply type the
word you’re looking for into the search bar in the upper right-hand corner of
the platform.
TOP TWITTER SEARCH OPERATORS TO HELP YOU FIND MORE CUSTOMERS
CarsEX AMPLE
“Buy new cars”EX AMPLE
Topics
“ ”Exact Match
If you need to find an exact phrase, you will want to surround the words you are
looking for with quotation marks. Say you are a car dealer who wants to find
customers who might be in the market for a new vehicle. You would want to
search for phrases, called out in quotes, that suggest purchase intent.

5. 3
Hashtags
Hashtags are a great way to draw attention to a new product launch or
industry event, allowing you to find and get in on the conversation. Say you
want to hear what people are talking about around the Chicago Auto Show.
Just search for the official branded hashtag that the event is promoting on its
other marketing channels, and type that into Twitter’s search.
#CAS15EX AMPLE
Ford -MustangEX AMPLE
Ford -Mustang -FiestaEX AMPLE
#
-Exclusions
If you want to exclude something that might distract from your search, simply
put a minus sign in front of it. Say, for example, you want to search for Tweets
about Ford but aren’t interested in seeing anything about the Ford Mustang.
Simply nix it with a “-”.
You can do this for multiple models as well all at once.
TOP TWITTER SEARCH OPERATORS TO HELP YOU FIND MORE CUSTOMERS

6. 4
02
Before an Event
Let’s say your brand (Ford) was part of a big event—such as the Chicago
Auto Show, which began on February 14, 2015—and you wanted to monitor
what people were anticipating the most. Just type “until:” in front of the
specific date you’re interested in (year-month-date).
Ford until:2015-2-14EX AMPLE
Ford since:2015-2-22EX AMPLE
Dates
until:
since:After an Event
If you want to monitor post-event chatter—in this case, the Chicago Auto
Show’s grand finale on February 22, 2015—just type “since:” before the date
(year-month-date).
This handy operator will save you a lot of time in scrolling through Twitter histories.
TOP TWITTER SEARCH OPERATORS TO HELP YOU FIND MORE CUSTOMERS

7. 5
03
People
Directly to a Brand
If you are a car dealer, it’s important to know what’s being said around a
particular manufacturer. For example, you might be wondering how
customers are reacting to news of a recall. In this case, people might Tweet
directly to the car brand. To see what people are Tweeting to Ford, enter
“to:” before the brand name.
to:FordEX AMPLE
@fordEX AMPLE
to:
@Generally Referencing a Brand
To find Tweets that are simply referencing Ford in some way—not necessarily
directed right at the brand—type “@” with the handle. This will produce a
much wider range of brand-related Tweets.
TOP TWITTER SEARCH OPERATORS TO HELP YOU FIND MORE CUSTOMERS

8. 6
from:FordEX AMPLE
:fromComing From a Brand
When you want to know what Ford itself is Tweeting, enter “from:” before the
brand name.
TOP TWITTER SEARCH OPERATORS TO HELP YOU FIND MORE CUSTOMERS

9. 7
04
Places
Local
Twitter spans the globe—you may need to think a bit more local. Let’s say
you want to see an exact phrase that suggests purchase intent near a
specific location. Include quotations marks around that phrase with "near:"
in front of your target market.
“new car” near:Chicago within:5miEX AMPLE
near:
Hyperlocal
If you need to get even more targeted, you can zone into a certain radius. Let’s
say you want to find people Tweeting about buying a new car close to your car
dealership. You can tailor your search accordingly and then target those
people with Promoted Tweets. Just use "near:" before the location and
"within:" before the distance.
near: within:
“buy new car” near:ChicagoEX AMPLE
TOP TWITTER SEARCH OPERATORS TO HELP YOU FIND MORE CUSTOMERS

10. 8
05
Sentiments
Love/Hate
Strong feelings are aplenty on Twitter. The love or hate operator will help
find them, returning Tweets that literally contain the words “love” or “hate”
(or both). This is useful when tracking sentiments around your brand,
products and competitors.
Happy/Sad
You can also add frowning or smiling emoticons after a keyword. This may
produce results from people who generally like or dislike the Mustang, or,
more specifically, from people who are having car troubles. Tracking these
sentiments provides an opportunity to start a dialogue and provide quality
customer service. If someone is gushing over your brand, you might even
consider rewarding them for their loyalty in some way.
Mustang :)EX AMPLE
Mustang loveEX AMPLE
hatelove
:(:)
TOP TWITTER SEARCH OPERATORS TO HELP YOU FIND MORE CUSTOMERS

11. Curious
You can also add a question mark to any term to find people who are curious
about a topic. This is a helpful operator for the customer support and sales
teams. Monitoring for questions can be the difference between someone
coming to your business and going to your competitor’s.
Ford Mustang?EX AMPLE
?
9
TOP TWITTER SEARCH OPERATORS TO HELP YOU FIND MORE CUSTOMERS

12. Using search operators will save you time and help you find the Tweets
that matter most. The only exception will be Top Tweets. You’ll find that
occasionally the Top Tweet displayed doesn’t exactly match your query.
That’s because Twitter uses an algorithm to find Tweets that many
people are interacting with. To view the most relevant results, toggle to
ALL TWEETS by clicking ALL at the top of the search results.
You can also filter results, regardless of which operator used, by the
menus on the left side of the search results feed. Options include:
· People
· Photos
· Videos
· News
· All People
· People You Follow
06
How to Sort
Your Search Results
· Everywhere
· Near You
10
TOP TWITTER SEARCH OPERATORS TO HELP YOU FIND MORE CUSTOMERS

13. Search operators are convenient because they can be typed directly
into Twitter’s search bar, so you can get to work as soon as you visit the
website. Although Advanced Search isn’t immediately available, it’s
perfect for when you want to combine multiple operators. Rather than
having to memorize a long string of instructions, Advanced Search
provides a form for you to enter in all of your specifications.
You can access Advanced Search after you perform an initial search via
the search bar or at twitter.com/search-advanced.
07
When to Use
Advanced Search
11
TOP TWITTER SEARCH OPERATORS TO HELP YOU FIND MORE CUSTOMERS

14. 11
For a clearer picture of what people are saying
around your brand and product category, look
to Sprout’s Smart Inbox. This powerful tool
saves Twitter search operators so you can
monitor keywords in real time through a
centralized stream. From there, you can reply to
your customers, assign tasks to your team and
mark messages as complete. Plus, your efforts
will integrate with Sprout’s Reporting feature so
you can see how well you are doing—both at
listening and engaging.
Work Smarter
12
Sprout Cars
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NEAR THIS PLACE
NAME KEYWORD
Improve Twitter search results
with search operators
EXAMPLE
cars -sport
find matches for “cars” but not
Add Keyword
Within 5 ▼ mi ▼
SAVE KEYWORD
TOP TWITTER SEARCH OPERATORS TO HELP YOU FIND MORE CUSTOMERS

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