Month: September 2024

Excelling in a rapidly evolving digital environment entails closely monitoring the successful strategies employed by others within your sector. This competitive analysis is vital for grasping the constantly changing dynamics of social media, enabling you to create a solid marketing plan.

Analyzing social media competitors requires a proactive mindset because these strategies don’t function in isolation. Therefore, it is important to frequently assess the methods, achievements, and setbacks of your rivals. This will reveal gaps in your own strategies and highlight areas where you can stand out from the competition.

These observations will assist you in refining your audience targeting, optimizing your content, and enhancing your overall digital footprint and presence. In the end, this gives you that essential advantage needed for enduring success.

Keep reading to discover more about the benefits of conducting a social media competitive analysis and the steps involved.

What is social media competitive analysis?

A social media competitive analysis involves scrutinizing the social media tactics, content, and performance of your competitors to gather insights into what succeeds within your industry.

This entails monitoring various metrics, such as follower growth, engagement rates, types of content, frequency of posting, and customer sentiment.

What are the benefits of social media competitor analysis?

Conducting a competitive analysis on social media delivers valuable insights that help you understand your brand’s position relative to your competitors and strategize on how to improve.

Below is an in-depth look at several significant benefits of social media competitor analysis.

Identify gaps and opportunities

A social media competitive analysis allows you to recognize distinguishing elements that could enhance your brand’s position. For instance, while reviewing your competitors’ social media efforts, you might discover areas where they are failing or underperforming. For example, a rival could be actively utilizing Instagram but not be very present on TikTok or LinkedIn, leaving a potential audience unengaged. By spotting these deficiencies, you can capitalize on the chance to connect with users on less saturated platforms or explore topics your competitors are neglecting.

Furthermore, if a competitor is missing certain content styles, such as video tutorials or interactive polls, you can introduce those formats to break through the noise and cater to audience needs they might be missing. This kind of analysis also enables you to set measurable, data-informed objectives based on industry standards. By aligning your social media performance with that of your rivals, you can monitor your progress more accurately and discover the best strategies to adopt or enhance.

Strengthen your content strategy

This content performance evaluation will provide insights into the types of content that entice your competitors’ audiences. This may take the form of videos, infographics, user-generated content, or blog articles. Recognizing what stimulates engagement and discussion in your sector will aid in reinforcing your strategy.

For instance, if product demonstrations or customer testimonials from a competitor garner significant interaction, consider integrating similar elements into your content strategy to attract the audience’s attention. Likewise, studying how competitors structure their posts and employ visuals or narrative techniques can help inform what styles and messages resonate best with your shared audience. Adding unique features can also help distinguish your brand.

By continuously adapting based on competitive insights, you can maintain your content’s relevance and freshness, thereby increasing the likelihood of meaningful engagement.

Improve audience targeting

A thorough examination of your competitors’ engagement with their audience can offer insights into the demographics of their followers, the type of content they prefer, and their interaction patterns. This involves observing which posts receive the most engagement, the tone and style of their communication, and the platforms where their audience is most active.

For instance, if a competitor’s Instagram posts center on behind-the-scenes content and achieve high engagement, you might deduce that your shared target audience appreciates authenticity and transparency. You can then tweak your content strategy accordingly, perhaps including behind-the-scenes posts or more genuine moments that align with your audience’s preferences.

Knowing which messaging resonates can also inform adjustments to your social media advertising as well as boost engagement and conversion rates.

Improve your social customer care

Analyzing competitors on social media provides a clear perspective on how they manage customer interactions. This can help enhance your social customer service. You can observe how quickly they respond to customers, the manner of their communication, and their problem-solving strategies. This can aid you in avoiding common pitfalls while emulating effective customer service tactics.

For instance, if competitors are adept at publicly resolving complaints and transforming negative experiences into positive ones, you might implement similar strategies to boost customer satisfaction. Conversely, if you see that your competitors are slow to address their audiences, neglect certain platforms, or fail to provide useful solutions, you have an opportunity to surpass them by offering superior customer service in those areas.

Engaging with your audience proactively, addressing their issues swiftly, and demonstrating that you value their feedback can significantly enhance your brand’s reputation. As demonstrated in the 2023 Sprout Social Index^TM, over 75% (76%) of consumers prefer brands that prioritize customer support and respond rapidly to their requests. Moreover, 69% expect a response within the same day of reaching out.

Stay ahead of trends

Keeping tabs on your competitors’ social media activities ensures you stay updated on emerging trends, allowing you to adapt promptly and maintain a competitive advantage. By observing how competitors explore new platforms, content formats, or engagement strategies, you can pinpoint successful methodologies and integrate them confidently into your approach.

For example, if a competitor is attracting engagement through interactive content like live videos or augmented reality filters, you may adopt a similar strategy to engage your audience and position your brand as innovative. Similarly, competitive analysis can highlight shifts in consumer behavior, such as a rise in the demand for short-form videos or more personalized content. This allows you to preemptively modify your strategy to align with changing consumer expectations.

Remaining aware of trends keeps your brand relevant and enhances your standing as a leader in your industry, fostering audience loyalty and engagement.

How to perform a social media competitive analysis?

1. 1. Identify your social media competitors
   2. Gather platform-specific data
   3. Analyze competitors’ social media strategy
   4. Enhance your competitive analysis with social listening
   5. Utilize your social media competitive analysis template and data

Before getting started, download our social media competitive analysis template to optimize your use of this article and simplify your following steps. We’ll reference this resource throughout the guide to assist you.

1. Identify your social media competitors

A majority of respondents in a Gartner survey expressed that choosing a recognized brand matters less than it did three years ago. Being a well-known brand alone is no longer sufficient for differentiation. However, you must first determine who your competitors are.

Look for brands in your sector that are active on social media. These brands can serve as learning points and benchmarks.

Your direct competitors on social media are those offering the same products as yours. For instance, let’s say we have a fictional coffee company named Sprout Coffee: La Colombe, Peet’s Coffee, Caribou, and nearby coffee shops are all direct competitors.

Don’t overlook indirect competitors as well. These brands don’t offer the same product but address a similar need and reach the same audience. For Sprout Coffee, indirect competitors could include grocery stores or local cafes selling food alongside coffee.

How to identify your social media competition

A straightforward approach is to Google it! Searching for keywords that potential customers would use to discover your business is one of the best ways to uncover competitors. For Sprout Coffee, relevant searches might include “ground coffee” or “instant coffee.”

Seek out websites and social accounts from brands within your specific industry. In our example, La Colombe and Folgers could serve as ideal choices, while Peet’s Coffee is another frequently active brand on social media.

To gain a more targeted understanding of your audience, conduct market research or monitor competitors. Utilizing social media listening, you can discover discussions surrounding your brand, your industry, and your competitors—even when your accounts are not tagged.

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2. Gather platform-specific data

This is where social media intelligence becomes crucial. Tracking your competitors’ performance on social requires examining each platform closely.

Moreover, this isn’t merely a one-off task. To maintain a grasp on your competition and establish competitive benchmarks, refresh this data every quarter or biannually alongside your broader social media evaluations.

In a highly competitive field, this process can be time-consuming. However, a more thorough approach will yield superior results. Here, leveraging a social media analytics tool becomes indispensable.

Sprout’s competitive analysis tools offer a comprehensive view of your competitors. By utilizing our Competitor Performance Reports and Listening tools, you can gather your rivals’ social performance data in one location for direct comparisons and to ascertain your share of voice.

Let’s dive into how to compare your brand’s social media presence on Instagram, X (formerly Twitter), and Facebook—the networks covered by Sprout’s reports. Use these instructions to help gather data for other platforms like TikTok or LinkedIn.

Instagram competitive analysis

Begin by visually assessing your competitor’s Instagram account. Ask yourself:

• Are they using a link in bio tool? How frequently do they update it?
• What is their activity level on stories? What does that content look like?
• Do they utilize a brand-specific hashtag?
• What do they express in their bio to establish their uniqueness?
• Are they leveraging Instagram highlights?

Enhance your analysis by using Sprout’s Instagram Competitors Report to effortlessly compare and evaluate your brand against others in crucial areas:

• Audience growth: Are your rivals expanding their audience faster than you?
• Media sent: How frequently are these brands posting? This can indicate whether you’re posting enough to keep your audience engaged.

• Engagement: What are the average likes and comments on competitor content?
• Hashtags: Which hashtags are your competitors using to enhance their exposure?
• Top posts: Identify why these posts perform well. Are they product images? Do they utilize certain colors? Find out what these high-performing posts possess that your content lacks and apply this knowledge to improve your visuals and videos.

Pro tip: Another effective strategy is to search for your competitors by hashtag on Instagram, such as #Folgers, to see how many people are tagging them in their posts. A high number indicates that the company is gaining attention and has an enthusiastic following.

This can also give you insight into the hashtags people use to reference other brands and inspire ideas for your own brand’s hashtags.

Once you compile all information from your Instagram competitive analysis, ensure you input that data into your spreadsheet, as shown below:

Facebook competitive analysis

Commence with a manual review of your competitor’s Facebook page, focusing on the essentials:

• Number of page likes and followers
• Any specific tabs or features they employ. For instance, certain coffee roasters might have an enabled shop section. Detecting a commonality among competitors could suggest its effectiveness.
• Examine their visuals and branding.
• Review their About section—how do they distinguish their business and social media presence?

A visual assessment is beneficial but only scratches the surface. This is where Sprout’s Facebook Competitor Report proves valuable in evaluating how effectively the competition’s content performs over time.

Utilize this report to uncover the volume of messages your competitors send and receive, the types of content they share (text, images, or videos), engagement levels, and the number of received messages. All this data answers questions about the nature of your competition’s presence and how you might stand out.

Include this in your spreadsheet, alongside any key metrics pertinent to your strategy.

X competitive analysis

Your X analysis will mirror your Facebook evaluation closely.

Consider these areas:

• Number of followers.
• Evaluate the visuals and branding of their cover and profile images. How often do they alter these elements?
• Scrutinize their bio—what are they emphasizing? How do they differentiate themselves?
• Do they modify their X name (not their handle) for special occasions like holidays?

To facilitate a straightforward, automatic comparison between your X account and competitors, leverage Sprout’s X analytics. This allows you to juxtapose your X profile against that of a competitor. Choose your account, then provide a competitor’s account for comparison.

The report outlines engagement, influence, follower changes, and mentions. You can modify the timeframe, but sticking to the most recent 30 days is optimal for data relevance.

After reviewing the competitive social media analysis from the X report, ensure you integrate the data into your spreadsheet as this tracking can be immensely valuable going forward.

Level up your data

Our spreadsheets and Sprout’s reports cover Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Nevertheless, we suggest performing a manual analysis on any additional platforms relevant to your brand and audience, such as LinkedIn or TikTok.

Also, explore Sprout’s new competitor widgets included in the Professional and Advanced plans. These enable a customized report that merges your data with competitor data into a singular, cohesive report.

3. Analyze competitors

Half of competitive intelligence is quantitative. Yet, to truly understand your competitors’ social channels, you need qualitative information regarding how they present themselves on each network.

Begin analyzing your competitors’ social strategies by concentrating on these three questions:

• How engaged is the competition?
• What categories of content do they publish?
• What’s their brand persona on social media?

How engaged is the competition?

Assessing brand activity can be straightforward with these questions:

• When was their last post?
• Are there extended intervals between posts?
• Do they reply to comments?
• How comprehensive are their responses to comments?

To be regarded as active, brands should post at minimum every few days. However, if your competitors post multiple times a day compared to you, you risk falling behind. For instance, X offers substantial flexibility regarding posting frequency—are your competitors significantly outpacing your daily outputs?

Exploring these aspects provides insights into their content strategies and customer care approaches—and reveals potential gaps.

What categories of content do they post?

According to a Q1 2023 Sprout pulse survey, 53% found changing content formats to be a significant hurdle in planning and scheduling content.

Examine the last 10 posts from each competitor and calculate the proportion that is promotional, such as urging their audience to sign up or purchase.

This applies to the content types they share as well. Do they predominantly use video content? Are they leaning more towards photographs? Do they heavily utilize creators and user-generated content? How frequently do they jump onto trending sounds or social media memes?

Use these insights regarding the content formats they employ to gain a competitive edge and eliminate uncertainties in your strategy.

What’s their brand persona

Some marketers focus on their competitor’s brand voice during their social media analysis. Brand voice refers to the tone and perspective a brand adopts on social media. Do they communicate from the standpoint of the brand (using “we”) or allow individuals to post on behalf of the brand?

For instance, the tone used by the Field Museum on social media…

…differs significantly from the tone of the American Museum of Natural History. Each has its own online persona.

Further exploration: As you conclude, consider evaluating your competitors’ websites, as content marketing and social media are closely interlinked. Many organizations repurpose their blogs for social media materials. Examine your competition and see how effectively they are utilizing the wealth of content they possess.

Once you’ve reviewed each competitor, remember to record the data in your social media competitive analysis template.

4. Enhance your social media competitive analysis with listening

If you’re just starting with social media competitive analysis, using our template will help you familiarize yourself with your competitors’ social media performance and recognize patterns to focus on.

However, if you’re ready to elevate your competitive analysis, leverage social listening. This technique provides a broader view of the discussions concerning your industry and competitors occurring across social platforms—even when they’re not tagged. When combined with Sprout’s network competitor reports, social listening expands your perspective to encompass conversations happening on YouTube, Reddit, and across the web.

It’s an essential tool for revealing gaps that you can address, conversations to join, and more. For example, Grammarly utilizes Sprout’s Social Listening tools for cross-team insights and analyses of their competitive social voice. Sprout helped them uncover that their brand absorbed 71% of their industry’s social voice.

Sprout’s integrated competitive analysis tools also simplify measuring your competitors’ social presence and making comparisons to yours.

Using this template, you can target the key competitors you want to observe, as well as specify profiles, keywords, phrases, and hashtags for Sprout to monitor.

To experience the benefits of Sprout’s Social Listening tools personally, request a demo.

5. Utilize your social media competitive analysis template and data

Now that you’ve gathered all of this information, it’s time to put it to good use. By utilizing your brand’s social media analytics, you can compare your profiles against the competition. That’s why we’ve included space for your data in our template.

Your concluding step is to translate the data into comprehensible insights that can be shared with others, rather than just distributing your completed template. With data storytelling, convert those raw figures and insights into actionable takeaways.

Here are a few recommendations:

• Incorporate visuals. Data visualizations, including the charts and graphs provided by Sprout Reports, effectively convey information in an easily digestible format.
• Highlight significant points and insights. Most don’t require (or desire) every single detail. What are the primary findings from your social media competitive analysis?
• Anticipate inquiries or challenges. Prepare by supplying solutions and responses ahead of time.
• Present next steps. Conducting a competitive analysis of social media is one aspect, but determining the “what next?” is crucial. Based on your discoveries, what steps will you take to enhance your content and your share of voice?

It’s essential to remember that this social media competitive analysis is not a template for mimicking what everyone else is doing. Rather, it should guide you toward showcasing your brand’s distinctive value.

Top 3 social media competitive analysis tools

Among the premier social media competitor analysis tools, here are three that can fortify your social strategy and help you achieve your objectives more efficiently.

1. Sprout Social

Sprout provides a thorough social media competitive analysis across various platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and X, accompanied by hundreds of data points. If you’re curious about your competitors’ content or wish to benchmark your achievements against theirs, Sprout automates these tasks and eliminates the need for manual research or disorganized spreadsheets.

With Sprout’s Premium Analytics, you gain deep insights into your social performance through customizable, interactive charts and graphs that cater to your goals. For instance, its Share of Voice Report allows you to assess your brand’s presence relative to competitors by analyzing mentions and sentiments. Additionally, the Benchmark Report lets you compare your social media performance against industry standards and the profiles of your competitors.

Moreover, delve into public social conversations with the Advanced Listening tool to evaluate consumer sentiment surrounding your competitors’ products and services, helping you pinpoint opportunities to set your brand apart in the market.

2. Buzzsumo

Buzzsumo empowers you to assess your top-performing content, revealing insights on pertinent topics for your brand and competitors. This tool allows you to track content performance across social channels and other online venues.

The tool also helps highlight content formats and engagement metrics, aiding you in understanding what strategies excel in your sector. Additionally, it allows you to track backlinks and social shares, providing insights into how your competitors’ content spreads. This data is instrumental for refining your content distribution efforts to remain competitive.

3. Social Blade

Social Blade offers comprehensive insights into social media competitive analysis through statistics and growth patterns for various social media accounts. It monitors metrics like follower counts, engagement rates, and content performance across platforms such as YouTube, Instagram, and X. Comparing these metrics with your competitors can help you better understand their social media effectiveness and identify growth trajectories.

Social Blade also supplies historical data and forecasts, enabling you to benchmark your performance and strategize effectively. It simplifies the tracking of competitor successes and adjustment of your social media strategies accordingly.

Explore the Data with a Social Media Competitive Analysis

Ultimately, the goal is to evaluate your brand’s metrics and data relative to competitors and then make necessary adjustments to gain an edge.

You possess the template. Now, streamline your social media competitive analysis and automate the process by incorporating Sprout into your toolkit. Try Sprout free for 30 days and uncover deeper insights to enhance your strategy with our competitive analysis reports.

Start your free Sprout trial

The post How to perform a social media competitive analysis (+ free template) appeared first on Sprout Social.

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