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You have expertise that people need. You have opinions that could shape conversations. But right now, you are invisible on X — and that is costing you opportunities every single day.
If you want to build a personal brand on X Twitter in 2026, you are looking at the single best platform for it. With 557 million monthly active users, engagement rates up 19% year-over-year, and only 5.5% of marketers using X for influencer campaigns, the competition is remarkably thin compared to Instagram or TikTok.
But here is the catch: 92% of all posts on X come from just the top 10% of users. The platform rewards people who show up consistently and engage strategically. Everyone else just scrolls.
This guide is the complete playbook for founders, creators, and solopreneurs who want to build a recognizable personal brand on X in 2026. No generic advice. No "just be authentic" fluff. You will get concrete frameworks, real data, and actionable systems you can implement this week.
What you will learn:
The Reply Strategy: How Engagement Builds Your Brand Faster Than Content
Grow Your Network: Strategic Engagement and Community Building
Measure What Matters: Analytics and KPIs for Personal Branding
Why X Is the Best Platform for Personal Branding in 2026
Most people assume Instagram or TikTok is where personal brands are built. They are wrong — at least for founders, creators, and knowledge workers.
X offers something no other platform does: direct access to decision-makers in real time. VCs, CEOs, journalists, and industry leaders are actively posting and engaging on X every day. You cannot DM a top VC on Instagram and get a response. But you can reply to their tweet and start a conversation that leads to a deal.
The Numbers That Matter
The data backs this up. X has 557 million monthly active users globally in 2026, with the 25-34 age group making up 37.5% of users — exactly the demographic of builders and professionals.
Engagement quality is improving dramatically. While overall impressions dipped 5%, engagement per impression is up 19%. People are sharing 35% more and replying 21% more than in 2024. The audience is smaller but far more active.
Here is the real opportunity: only 5.5% of marketers use X for influencer campaigns, compared to 58.9% on TikTok and 35.2% on Instagram. That means less noise, less competition, and more room for your voice to be heard.
Why X Rewards Personal Brands Over Corporate Ones
The X algorithm in 2026 heavily favors individual accounts over brand accounts. Posts from personal accounts consistently get 3-5x the reach of corporate pages posting similar content.
This happens because X's algorithm prioritizes engagement velocity — how quickly a post gets replies, likes, and retweets in the first hour. Personal brands generate more authentic engagement because people connect with people, not logos.
For founders and solopreneurs, this is the golden era. You do not need a marketing team or a content budget. You need a clear point of view and the discipline to show up.
The Fast Feedback Loop
Unlike YouTube (where a video takes days to produce and weeks to gain traction) or a blog (where SEO takes months), X gives you feedback in minutes. Post a take, see if it resonates, refine, repeat.
This speed of iteration is invaluable for personal branding. You can test messaging, discover what your audience cares about, and refine your positioning faster than on any other platform.
Define Your Brand Foundation Before You Post a Single Tweet
Most people skip this step. They jump straight into posting quotes and hot takes without knowing what they stand for. The result? A scattered feed that confuses people and builds no recognition.
Before you write a single tweet, you need to answer three questions.
Question 1: What Is Your Unique Point of View?
Your personal brand is not your job title. It is the specific angle you bring to your topic. "I'm a startup founder" is not a brand. "I build SaaS products in public and share every mistake" is a brand.
Think about what you believe that most people in your industry do not. What hill will you die on? Your contrarian takes are what make people remember you.
Write down your "brand thesis" — one sentence that captures your unique perspective. Examples:
"Most startup advice is survivorship bias. I share what actually works at the $0-$10K MRR stage."
"Engagement on X is not about being clever. It is about being useful in someone else's conversation."
"You do not need 100K followers to build a profitable audience. 1,000 engaged followers is enough."
Question 2: Who Exactly Are You Trying to Reach?
"Everyone" is not an audience. The more specific your target, the faster you grow. This is because specific content gets shared within specific communities, which creates compounding growth.
Define your ideal follower with these parameters:
Role: Founder, creator, marketer, developer, designer?
Stage: Beginner, intermediate, established?
Pain point: What keeps them up at night?
Aspiration: What do they want to become?
For example: "Early-stage SaaS founders (pre-$10K MRR) who struggle with distribution and want to use X as their primary growth channel."
When your content speaks directly to a specific person, that person feels seen — and they follow, engage, and share.
Question 3: What Are Your Three Content Pillars?
Content pillars are the 3 core themes you will post about consistently. They should sit at the intersection of your expertise, your audience's interests, and what you enjoy talking about.
Here is how a founder building in public might define their pillars:
Building in public — Revenue updates, product decisions, lessons learned
Growth tactics — Specific strategies for getting users, engagement, distribution
Founder mindset — Mental health, motivation, the reality of building something from zero
Everything you post should fit within one of these three buckets. This creates recognition — when someone sees your tweet in their feed, they immediately know what to expect from you.
The brands that grow fastest on X are the ones that are narrow enough to be memorable but broad enough to post daily. Three pillars gives you that balance.
Optimize Your X Profile for Maximum Conversions
Your profile is your landing page. Every time someone sees your reply, reads your thread, or discovers you in their feed, they click through to your profile. What they see in those 3 seconds determines whether they follow you.
In 2026, profile clicks dropped 31% year-over-year. That means every profile visit is more valuable — you cannot afford to waste them with a weak bio or a generic banner.
Your Profile Picture
Use a high-quality headshot with good lighting and a clean background. Not a logo, not an illustration, not a group photo. People follow people.
The best profile pictures on X share these traits: the subject is looking at the camera, the background has a single solid or blurred color, and the face takes up at least 60% of the frame.
Your Banner Image
Your banner is prime real estate that most people waste. Use it to communicate one of these:
Your value proposition — "I help founders grow on X from 0 to 10K followers"
Social proof — "Featured in TechCrunch, 50K+ followers, $2M ARR"
A call to action — "Download my free X growth playbook — link in bio"
Use Canva or Figma to create a 1500x500 banner that is clean, readable, and aligned with your brand colors.
Your Bio (160 Characters That Matter)
Your bio needs to answer three questions in 160 characters: Who are you? What do you do? Why should someone follow you?
Formula: [Identity] + [What you share] + [Proof or hook]
Examples:
"Founder @CompanyName | Sharing the 0-to-$1M journey in public | 50K+ followers grown from replies alone"
"AI engineer turned creator | Daily threads on building with LLMs | Ex-Google"
"Helping solopreneurs grow on X | Reply strategies that actually work | Try @ReachMore"
Avoid buzzwords like "thought leader," "passionate about," or "serial entrepreneur." They signal nothing.
Your Pinned Tweet
Your pinned tweet is the single most underutilized asset on X. This should be your best-performing piece of content or a strategic entry point:
A viral thread that showcases your expertise
A case study with concrete results
An introduction thread ("Here's who I am and what I'm building")
Change your pinned tweet every 2-4 weeks to keep it fresh and test what converts best.
The Link in Bio
Send traffic somewhere that captures value. Your best options:
A newsletter landing page (own your audience)
Your product page
A free resource or lead magnet
Never leave this blank. Every profile visit without a link is a wasted conversion opportunity.
The Content Strategy Framework: How to Build a Personal Brand on X Twitter With the Right Posts
Having a brand foundation and an optimized profile means nothing if you do not post. Content is the engine when you build a personal brand on X Twitter. But most people either post randomly or burn out trying to create "perfect" tweets.
Here is a practical framework that works for busy founders and creators.
The 4 Content Types That Build Personal Brands
Not all content serves the same purpose. You need a mix of four types:
1. Authority Content (40% of your posts) These establish you as an expert. Threads breaking down a topic, data-driven insights, tactical how-tos, and case studies. This is the content people screenshot and share.
Example: "I analyzed 500 viral tweets in my niche. Here are the 7 patterns that showed up in 90% of them: [thread]"
2. Engagement Content (30% of your posts) These start conversations. Hot takes, questions, polls, "unpopular opinion" posts, and "which do you prefer" comparisons. This content drives replies, which signals to the algorithm that you create valuable discussions.
Example: "Unpopular opinion: You do not need to post daily on X to grow. Posting 3x per week with high-quality replies every day will outperform 3 mediocre tweets daily."
3. Personal Content (20% of your posts) Behind-the-scenes moments, lessons from failures, personal stories, and vulnerable moments. This is what turns followers into fans. People want to connect with a human, not a content machine.
Example: "Last month I almost quit my startup. Revenue dropped 40% after our biggest customer churned. Here is what I learned about resilience: [thread]"
4. Promotional Content (10% of your posts) Product launches, features, testimonials, and offers. Keep this under 10% or you will feel like a billboard instead of a person.
The Posting Schedule That Actually Works
Data from 2026 shows that the best time to post on X Twitter is Tuesday through Thursday between 10 AM and 5 PM in your target audience's timezone.
But frequency matters more than timing. Here is a sustainable schedule for someone building a personal brand while running a business:
Daily minimum (15-20 minutes):
1 original tweet or thread
10-15 strategic replies to accounts in your niche
Weekly targets:
2 threads (authority content)
3 standalone tweets (mix of engagement and personal)
2 quote tweets adding your perspective
50+ replies on posts from accounts larger than yours
The replies are not optional. For accounts under 5,000 followers, replies are the primary growth driver. More on this in the next section.
Content Formats Ranked by Performance in 2026
Based on current engagement data, here is how different formats perform:
Short-form video — 37% of users say they are most likely to interact with video. X is pushing this format hard.
Text posts — 0.48% average engagement rate. Still the bread and butter of personal branding on X.
Threads — Higher total engagement per thread than standalone tweets. Ideal for authority building.
Images with text — Tweets with images get 150% more retweets. Great for data visualizations and frameworks.
Link posts — 0.13% engagement rate. The algorithm penalizes external links. Share links in replies instead.
Notice that link posts perform worst. If you are sharing a blog post or product page, put the link in the first reply rather than in the main tweet. The algorithm will thank you.
The Hook Formula
Your first line determines whether anyone reads the rest. The hook needs to create curiosity, promise value, or provoke a reaction.
Proven hook templates:
The contrarian: "Everyone says [common advice]. They are wrong. Here is why:"
The number: "I spent [time] studying [topic]. Here are [number] things I learned:"
The story: "Last week, [something unexpected happened]. It changed how I think about [topic]."
The question: "[Provocative question that your audience debates]?"
The result: "I went from [before state] to [after state] in [timeframe]. Here is exactly how:"
Write 5 hooks for every piece of content. Pick the best one. The hook is 80% of your results.
The Reply Strategy: Build a Personal Brand on X Twitter Through Strategic Engagement
Here is the most counterintuitive truth when you build a personal brand on X Twitter: your replies will grow your account faster than your original posts.
Think about it. When you are starting out with fewer than 1,000 followers, your original tweets reach a tiny audience. But when you reply to someone with 50,000 followers, your reply is seen by a fraction of their audience — which is still orders of magnitude larger than yours.
This is the "borrowed audience" strategy, and it is the fastest path to building visibility on X.
Why Replies Are the Growth Engine
The X algorithm in 2026 treats replies as high-signal engagement. When you leave a thoughtful reply on a popular post:
Your reply appears below the original post, visible to thousands
If the original poster likes or replies to your comment, the algorithm boosts your visibility further
People who enjoy your reply click through to your profile
The algorithm learns you participate in high-quality conversations and starts surfacing your own posts more
Data shows that replies are up 21% year-over-year on X. The platform is actively rewarding conversational users.
The Perfect Reply Formula
Not all replies are created equal. "Great post!" and emoji reactions do nothing for your brand. Here is the formula for replies that actually drive profile visits and followers, based on the strategies we outlined in our guide to how to reply on X to gain followers:
1. Add a unique insight the original post missed If someone posts "5 tips for landing pages," reply with tip number 6 that you have tested. You are adding value, not just agreeing.
2. Share a relevant personal experience "This happened to me last month. I tried [approach] and here is what I found..." Personal data points are irresistible.
3. Ask a smart follow-up question "Love this framework. Have you found it works differently for B2B vs B2C?" Smart questions position you as someone who thinks deeply.
4. Provide a contrarian (but respectful) perspective "Interesting take. I have seen the opposite in my experience — [explain]. Would love to hear your thoughts." Disagreement done well creates memorable impressions.
5. Use data or examples to back up the original point "This is spot on. [Study/stat] found that [supporting evidence]." You become the person who adds substance to conversations.
How to Find the Right Posts to Reply To
Not every reply opportunity is equal. Target these:
Large accounts in your niche (10K+ followers) who post about your content pillars
Posts that are 0-30 minutes old — early replies get the most visibility
Posts with high engagement potential — questions, hot takes, and announcements
People you genuinely want to connect with — authenticity compounds over time
Spend 15-20 minutes each morning and evening scanning your feed for high-value reply opportunities. Tools like ReachMore can help you identify the best opportunities and craft thoughtful replies faster using AI — turning what used to be a 2-minute task into a 15-second one without sacrificing quality.
The 10-5-3 Daily Reply System
Here is a simple system for reply-driven growth:
10 replies on posts from accounts with 10K+ followers in your niche
5 replies on posts from accounts at a similar size to yours (building peer relationships)
3 replies on posts from your own followers (building community)
This takes roughly 20-30 minutes per day and consistently drives 5-15 new followers daily for accounts in the 500-5,000 follower range.
Grow Your Network: Community Building to Build a Personal Brand on X Twitter
Replies get you visibility. But to truly build a personal brand on X Twitter that creates real opportunities — partnerships, customers, collaborations, speaking gigs — you need to go deeper than surface-level engagement.
Build Your "Power 50" List
Identify 50 accounts in your niche that you want to build genuine relationships with. These should be:
10 accounts larger than you (aspirational connections)
20 accounts at your level (growth peers)
20 accounts slightly smaller than you (people you can help)
Engage with these 50 accounts consistently. Reply to their posts, share their threads, reference their work in your own content. Over 90 days, many of these will become genuine relationships that create mutual growth.
Join and Create X Communities
X Communities are underutilized in 2026. They function like groups around specific topics — AI, SaaS, indie hacking, content creation — and they give you a built-in audience for your content.
Join 3-5 communities relevant to your niche. Post valuable content in them. Answer questions. Over time, you become a known voice within that community.
If no community exists for your specific niche, create one. Community admins get visibility, trust, and an owned distribution channel.
The DM Strategy That Does Not Feel Sleazy
Direct messages are where relationships deepen, but most people use DMs terribly — sending cold pitches to strangers.
The right approach: Only DM someone after you have engaged with their public content at least 5-7 times over 2+ weeks. By then, they recognize your name. Your DM feels like a natural next step in an existing conversation.
Good DM openers:
"Your thread on [topic] was excellent. I tried [specific tactic] and got [result]. Thank you."
"I noticed we are both building in the [space] — would love to compare notes sometime."
"I have been following your journey for a while. Your point about [specific thing] changed how I approach [topic]."
Keep it short. No asks in the first message. Let the relationship develop naturally.
Collaborate for Cross-Pollination
Once you have built relationships, collaborative content is one of the fastest ways to reach new audiences:
Twitter Spaces — Host or co-host live audio sessions on topics your audiences care about
Thread collaborations — "I asked 10 founders for their best X growth tip. Here is what they said: [tag each person]"
Quote tweet exchanges — Share each other's best content with added commentary
Each collaboration puts you in front of a new audience that has been pre-warmed by someone they already trust.
Leverage AI Tools to Scale Your Personal Brand on X
Building a personal brand on X takes time. Between crafting tweets, writing threads, engaging in replies, and analyzing performance — it can easily consume 2-3 hours per day. For founders running a business, that is not sustainable.
This is where AI tools change the game. The right AI stack does not replace your voice — it amplifies it. You still control the messaging and brand identity. AI handles the repetitive work that slows you down.
Where AI Adds the Most Value for Personal Branding
1. Reply Generation Replies are the growth engine, but writing 20+ thoughtful replies per day is exhausting. AI-powered tools can analyze a post's context and generate relevant, on-brand reply options in seconds.
ReachMore is built specifically for this. As a Chrome extension that works directly inside X, it analyzes tweets you are viewing and generates three contextual reply options instantly. You pick the best one, customize it if needed, and post. What used to take 2 minutes per reply now takes 15 seconds — without sacrificing quality or authenticity.
This is not about flooding X with generic AI responses. It is about removing the blank-page problem so you can engage more consistently. The best replies still need your personal touch, and ReachMore gives you a strong starting point every time.
2. Content Ideation and Drafting AI can help you brainstorm tweet ideas based on your content pillars, rewrite drafts for clarity, and generate thread outlines from a single idea. Think of it as a writing partner, not a replacement.
3. Analytics and Optimization AI-powered analytics tools can identify which topics, formats, and posting times drive the most engagement for your specific audience. Instead of guessing, you make data-driven decisions.
4. Scheduling and Consistency Tools like Typefully, Hypefury, and Buffer let you batch-create content and schedule it across the week. Combined with AI drafting, you can create a week's worth of content in a single 90-minute session.
For a comprehensive comparison of the best tools available, check out our guide to the best X automation tools in 2026.
The AI-Assisted Personal Branding Workflow
Here is a practical daily workflow that combines AI efficiency with human authenticity:
Morning (15 minutes):
Open X and scan your feed for reply opportunities
Use ReachMore to generate reply options for 10-15 high-value posts
Customize and post the best replies
Midday (10 minutes):
Check your scheduled post for engagement
Reply to anyone who commented on your post
Find 5 more reply opportunities
Weekly (90 minutes, once per week):
Review your analytics — what performed best?
Brainstorm 10 tweet ideas based on your content pillars
Use AI to draft and refine 7 tweets and 2 threads
Schedule the content across the week
This workflow takes roughly 30 minutes per day plus one 90-minute planning session per week. That is manageable for any founder or creator, and it is enough to drive consistent personal brand growth.
The AI Authenticity Balance
The biggest concern with AI-assisted personal branding is sounding robotic. Here is how to avoid it:
Always edit AI-generated content — Add your personal experiences, specific numbers from your business, and your unique voice
Use AI for structure, not personality — Let AI create outlines and drafts. You add the stories, opinions, and humor.
Never fully automate replies — Use tools like ReachMore for suggestions, but always review before posting. Your reputation is built one reply at a time.
Disclose when appropriate — If someone asks about your process, be honest about using AI tools. Transparency builds trust.
The goal is not to create an AI-generated personal brand. The goal is to use AI to remove friction so the real you shows up more consistently.
Measure What Matters: Analytics and KPIs for Personal Branding
You cannot improve what you do not measure. But most people either ignore analytics entirely or obsess over the wrong metrics.
Here is what actually matters when you build a personal brand on X Twitter, and how to track it.
Vanity Metrics vs. Growth Metrics
Vanity metrics (nice to see, not worth optimizing for):
Total follower count
Total likes on a post
Impressions on a single viral tweet
Growth metrics (what actually drives brand building):
Follower growth rate — Are you adding followers consistently, week over week?
Profile visit-to-follow ratio — Of everyone who visits your profile, what percentage follows? (Target: 10-15%)
Engagement rate — Total engagements divided by impressions. A healthy engagement rate on X in 2026 is above 2% for personal accounts.
Reply-to-follower ratio — How many new followers are you getting per reply you leave? This measures the effectiveness of your reply strategy.
Link clicks — If you are driving traffic to a newsletter, product, or website, this is your ultimate conversion metric.
How to Track Your Personal Brand KPIs
X Analytics (Free) X's built-in analytics dashboard shows impressions, engagements, profile visits, and follower growth. Check it weekly to spot trends.
Key metrics to review weekly:
Top performing tweets (what format and topic won?)
Profile visits trend (going up or down?)
Follower growth trend (accelerating or stalling?)
Best performing days and times
Monthly Deep Dive: Once per month, sit down for 30 minutes and analyze:
Content audit — Which of your 4 content types (authority, engagement, personal, promotional) drove the most growth?
Reply audit — Which types of replies generated the most profile visits?
Network audit — Which relationships from your Power 50 list are developing? Who should you replace?
Conversion audit — How many link clicks, newsletter signups, or product visits did your X presence generate?
Setting Realistic Growth Benchmarks
Personal brand growth on X is not linear. Here is what realistic growth looks like in 2026:
Months 1-3 (Foundation Phase):
Follower growth: 5-15 new followers per day
Focus: Daily replies, establishing content pillars, optimizing profile
Expected followers at end: 500-1,500
Months 3-6 (Momentum Phase):
Follower growth: 15-40 new followers per day
Focus: Threads, collaborations, refining what works
Expected followers at end: 2,000-5,000
Months 6-12 (Scale Phase):
Follower growth: 40-100+ new followers per day
Focus: Thought leadership, media appearances, monetization
Expected followers at end: 5,000-15,000+
These numbers assume consistent daily effort (30+ minutes) and a clear niche. Your results will vary based on your topic, quality of content, and how actively you engage.
For a comprehensive growth strategy beyond personal branding, our guide on how to grow on X Twitter in 2026 covers the full 10,000-follower blueprint.
FAQ: Building a Personal Brand on X
How long does it take to build a personal brand on X Twitter?
With consistent daily effort — posting once per day and engaging with 15-20 replies — most people see noticeable traction within 3-6 months. The first 1,000 followers are the hardest because you lack distribution. After that, growth compounds as your engagement history signals to the algorithm that you produce valuable content. Expect to invest 30 minutes per day minimum. AI tools like ReachMore can cut that engagement time significantly by generating contextual reply suggestions instantly.
Do I need X Premium to build a personal brand?
No. You can absolutely grow a personal brand on a free account. However, X Premium offers advantages that accelerate growth: verified status (which increases engagement by 41% according to 2026 data), longer posts, the ability to edit tweets, and potential algorithmic visibility boosts. If you are serious about personal branding and can afford it, Premium is a worthwhile investment. But it is not required — content quality and engagement consistency matter far more.
How many times per day should I post on X?
For personal brand building, quality beats quantity. One high-quality tweet or thread per day combined with 15-20 strategic replies will outperform 5 mediocre tweets with no engagement. The sweet spot for most creators is 1-2 original posts per day plus consistent replies. Avoid posting more than 5 times per day — it dilutes the quality of your feed and can overwhelm your followers.
Should I use my real name or a brand name on X?
Use your real name. Personal brands built on individual identity consistently outperform anonymous or brand-name accounts on X. The algorithm favors personal accounts, and people connect more deeply with a face and name than a logo. The only exception is if you are building a media brand (like a newsletter or publication) — but even then, the founder's personal account often outperforms the brand account.
What topics work best for personal branding on X in 2026?
The top-performing niches for personal brands on X are tech, AI and machine learning, personal finance, entrepreneurship and startups, productivity, and career development. However, the best topic is the one where you have genuine expertise and unique experiences to share. A niche topic with passionate followers will outperform a broad topic where you blend in with thousands of other creators. Pick the intersection of what you know, what people want to learn, and what you enjoy talking about.
How do I handle negative replies and trolls?
Negative replies come in two forms: constructive criticism and trolling. For constructive criticism, respond thoughtfully — it shows maturity and often turns critics into fans. For trolls, the best strategy is to ignore and block. Do not engage with bad-faith arguments. Every reply to a troll amplifies their visibility and wastes your time. Use X's mute and block features liberally. Protecting your mental health is part of building a sustainable personal brand.
Can AI help me build a personal brand without sounding fake?
Yes — when used correctly. The key is using AI as an assistant, not a replacement. Tools like ReachMore generate reply suggestions based on the context of each conversation, giving you a strong starting point that you then customize with your own voice and experience. AI handles the blank-page problem and saves time on repetitive tasks. You provide the personality, stories, and unique perspective that make your brand authentically yours. The creators who grow fastest in 2026 are the ones who combine human authenticity with AI efficiency.
Start Building Your Personal Brand on X Today
The decision to build a personal brand on X Twitter in 2026 is one of the highest-leverage moves a founder or creator can invest in. The platform's 557 million users, improving engagement rates, and low competition for influencer content create a window of opportunity that will not last forever.
Here is what to do this week:
Today: Define your brand thesis, target audience, and three content pillars
Tomorrow: Optimize your profile — headshot, banner, bio, pinned tweet, and link
Day 3: Write your first thread showcasing your expertise
Day 4-7: Start the 10-5-3 reply system — 10 replies to large accounts, 5 to peers, 3 to your followers
Week 2+: Settle into your daily posting and engagement routine
The biggest mistake people make is waiting until they feel "ready." You build a personal brand by building in public — imperfections, learning curves, and all. Your audience does not need you to be perfect. They need you to be consistent, valuable, and real.
If you want to accelerate your growth, ReachMore can help you engage smarter and faster on X. The Chrome extension generates AI-powered reply suggestions directly inside X, so you can maintain a high volume of quality engagement without burning hours every day. It is the edge that turns a 2-hour daily commitment into a 30-minute one.
Your personal brand is your most valuable career asset. Start building it now.
Sources: Hootsuite X Statistics 2025, Sprout Social X Statistics 2026, SocialPilot X Statistics 2026