A mention only works through a username. That fact alone removes part of any list: people without one cannot be mentioned at all, however well they fit otherwise.
Where they come from
The same places as an outreach list: members of topical chats, people who comment, people active in discussions. The selection rules are the same — what counts as an active member.
The one difference is the extra filter for a username. Half a collected list tends to fall away there, and that is normal — more on that.
Who not to mention
- Anyone mentioned before. A second mention of a stranger reads as pushiness, and complaints come from exactly there — keeping a log.
- Admins and moderators of the chats you collected from: they write to support first.
- Obvious bots and shops. No reply, same cost.
How many in one story
Fewer than you want to. A caption with twenty mentions looks exactly like what it is, and the first thing anyone does is close it. A few names and a clear sentence outperform a list.
Selection beats volume
Going through a narrow, well-chosen list twice a month beats a wide one once. The response rate is higher and the account cost is lower: fewer complaints, fewer restrictions.
How Neurogram does this
Everything above is manual work that runs into the number of hours in a day. Neurogram does it on your own accounts and without you: it collects channels and audiences, writes comments and replies with a language model, and keeps limits and quiet hours so the accounts survive. See pricing or look at your case.