How Should you Analyse Competitors Social Media Strategies

When we launch a business, there is always an element of competitive research involved.  What they are doing, how they are doing it - and what results it is bringing them in. One of the things it’s important to look at is their social media strategies. It’s typically a good indicator of how successful their marketing efforts are and have been.  Here, we talk about how you should analyse your competitors' social media strategies.

Use Benchmarking Tools

There are pre-existing benchmarking tools on social media channels that you can make use of.  On Facebook for example, you can watch other brands and businesses.  When you use this tool - it will automatically pull through some comparative stats for example, the number of posts they have completed, the number of followers each of them have.  It will also show indicators as to whether this is going up or down or not.  Bear in mind, this isn’t a functionality that is available on all platforms.

Look at their Engagement Levels

There is always a lot of focus placed on the number of followers a business has on social media, and whilst that is important, engagement is a better indicator as to whether or not their strategies are actually working - so it’s worth diving a little deeper.  Look into how many views their videos are getting, how many reactions there are posts are getting - and is anyone sharing their content?  By doing this you will be able to paint a picture as to how well people are responding to them and whether it’s going down well. There are some fantastic social listening tools available for use.

Is the Business Interacting with their Audience?

You should always look to see if a business is interacting and responding to users.  It will give you an idea as to how much focus they are putting on their social media strategies. It will also allow you to have a deeper understanding as to the community they have built up and how that is working for them.  This can be on any social platform including Google My Business.  You can learn a lot from a company based on how they respond to both positive and negative feedback.

The Consistency of their Posting

The frequency of the posting isn’t as important as the consistency of the posting on social media channels. It could be that a brand posts 4 times a day, but it’s a scattergun approach. Or it posts 3 times a week one week, but then goes missing in action for a long period of time.  Look for campaign type content that has a well-thought out strategy behind it and whether the regularity is consistent. 

Conclusion

If you are looking into your marketing plans, then a deep dive into your competitors social media strategies definitely won’t go amiss.