Watchtower - LinkedIn competitive intelligence for outbound teams
Cold outbound that lands is built on signal, not volume. Watchtower is the part of SocialScalr that surfaces the signal. It quietly tracks the companies and profiles you care about and tells you when something interesting happens, so you can fire your next touch with real context instead of a templated guess.
What Watchtower tracks
- Company watches: new hires, role changes, layoffs, company posts, executive announcements, fundraising news (when posted to LinkedIn).
- Profile watches: new posts published, headline changes, role changes, company changes, profile photo updates, "open to work" badge changes.
- Search watches: save a Sales Navigator URL or filter combination; get notified when new profiles enter that filter.
The four high-value trigger windows
Watchtower's job is to surface the moments when an outbound touch is 3-5x more effective than baseline:
- Post + 24 hours. When a target-account contact publishes a LinkedIn post, the highest-converting outreach window is the next 24 hours. Comment on the post, then send a connection note that references it specifically. Acceptance rate jumps to 55-70% (vs 28-32% baseline).
- New hire at target account. When a new VP/Director/Head-of joins your target company, they're in their first-90-days "I need to make my mark" mode. Outreach lands harder. Acceptance + reply rates double.
- Role change (your existing connections). When someone you know moves to a new company, that's a new sales opportunity. Watchtower flags it so you can congratulate + reopen the conversation.
- Headline change. When someone updates their headline, they're either making a positioning move or actively job hunting - both are signal moments worth a check-in DM.
How it works (in 3 layers)
1. The watch list. You add LinkedIn companies and profiles to your watch list. Up to 50 entries on Pro, up to 500 on Agency. Mark high-priority entries with a star for 2x scan frequency.
2. The scanner. The Chrome extension scans watched entities during your configured working-hours window. Default cadence: every 24 hours per entity, scheduled around your real LinkedIn activity so it blends in. Starred entities scan twice daily.
3. The notifier. When a change is detected, you get an in-app notification in the Watchtower tab + an optional Web Push notification + an optional outbound webhook to Slack/Discord/your stack of choice.
The Watchtower dashboard
Three-column layout:
- Left: Watch list. Companies and profiles being tracked. Status indicator (last scan, next scan).
- Centre: Recent signals. Reverse-chronological feed of detected changes. Each card shows entity name, signal type, timestamp, and the relevant context (e.g. excerpt of the new post).
- Right: Quick actions. For each signal, one-click "Send invite", "Send DM", "Open profile", "Add to campaign", or "Dismiss". Wired to the outbound system - the invite uses your default template with the new signal pre-filled as merge context.
Signal types and what they trigger
| Signal | Suggested action |
|---|---|
| New post by watched profile | Comment + invite within 24h |
| New hire at watched company (in target role) | Welcome connect + first-90-days touch |
| Watched profile changed role | Congrats DM, reopen conversation |
| Watched profile headline change | Check-in DM if existing connection |
| "Open to work" badge appeared | If a former buyer - reach out to re-engage at new company once they land |
| Company post (fundraise / launch / news) | Outbound to relevant contacts that day |
Webhook integration
Watchtower signals are first-class events in SocialScalr's outbound webhook layer. Configure a destination URL in Settings → Webhooks, select the watchtower.alert event type, and every signal fires as an HMAC-signed POST. Common destinations: a Slack channel for the AE team, a dedicated Notion database, a HubSpot workflow that creates a task on the contact.
What Watchtower deliberately doesn't do
- It doesn't scrape past data. Watchtower only tracks forward - it starts watching from the day you add an entity, not retroactively.
- It doesn't infer hires from job postings. It detects actual new-hire announcements posted to LinkedIn, not "we're hiring for X" company posts.
- It doesn't replace research. Watchtower surfaces signals; you still have to decide which ones are worth acting on.
- It doesn't violate LinkedIn TOS. All scans use normal logged-in profile visits, throttled to look human, capped by the same daily envelope as outreach actions.
Who uses it most
- B2B SaaS AEs running ABM: watch 30-50 target accounts + their decision-makers.
- Recruiters: watch active candidates for "open to work" or role changes; watch client companies for new hire signals.
- Founders fundraising: watch target VC partners + their portfolio - one of the strongest moments to reach out is the day after a portfolio company's news.
- Sales engineers: watch competitor company posts to track positioning shifts.
Plan availability
- Free: Not included.
- Starter ($29/mo): Not included.
- Pro ($49/mo): 50 watched entities, in-app + Web Push notifications, webhook integration.
- Agency ($149/mo for 10 seats): 500 watched entities, team-shared watch lists, per-seat assignment of signals.
Related
- Pipeline - signals can auto-create or update Pipeline activity.
- API + webhooks - the integration layer that pushes signals to Slack/HubSpot/Salesforce.
- Watchtower help docs - setup walkthroughs.