If you want to improve your social media marketing strategy, you need to know what your competitors are doing. A social media competitor analysis report can help you identify their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, and use them to your advantage.
Here's how to create a social media competitor analysis report using the best tools and methods.
The first step is to identify who your main competitors are on social media. You can start by searching for keywords related to your industry, niche, or target audience, and see who shows up in the results. You can also use tools like BuzzSumo, Social Blade, or SimilarWeb to find out who has the most followers, engagement, or traffic on different platforms. You should aim to select 3-5 competitors who are similar to you in size, scope, or goals.
I would say do not rely just on the tools rather do your complete analysis like we used to do before these tools came. Nowadays, we humans are completely dependent on tools which is not appropriate to an extent. Relying on anything means getting dumb with time. Manual research and analysis is the best practice. It does take some time but the results are always great.
Many of the tools listed here do not have the capability to access Linkedin. I successfully used ChatGPT to get some information to start with.
To kickstart your competitor analysis, these tools are valuable. However, it's crucial to prioritize understanding your business, its goals, and customer offerings. This knowledge serves as a key starting point to identify competitors who resonate with your target audience, allowing you to then refine and pinpoint your competitive landscape.
The next step is to analyze their social media profiles and see how they present themselves to their audience. You should look at aspects such as their bio, logo, cover photo, tone of voice, posting frequency, content mix, hashtags, and calls to action. You can use tools like Sprout Social, Hootsuite, or Agorapulse to compare their metrics and performance across different platforms. You should also note their unique selling points, value propositions, or brand personality.
The third step is to evaluate their content and see what types of posts they create, how they engage with their audience, and what results they achieve. You should look at aspects such as their content themes, formats, quality, relevance, originality, emotions, and storytelling. You can use tools like BuzzSumo, Social Animal, or ContentStudio to find out their most popular, shared, or commented posts on different platforms. You should also note their content gaps, strengths, or weaknesses.
This is a good idea. However, I would add that this only goes so far, as you should also focus on what your potential clients want to see, and what solutions you provide to their pain points. Remember, you won't become the market leader by copying the market leader, so carve out your own content plan (while keeping an eye on what your competitors are doing).
I like to go directly to competitors' company pages and look through their posts to see which ones have driven the most engagement. While I am there, I will also look through their ads as well, to see what messages they are sending out to the market.
The fourth step is to monitor their activity and see how they react to changes, trends, or events in their industry or niche. You should look at aspects such as their frequency, timing, responsiveness, consistency, and adaptability. You can use tools like Mention, Brandwatch, or Talkwalker to track their mentions, sentiment, or reputation on different platforms. You should also note their opportunities, threats, or crises.
This is great steps to follow, but you can't forget that while your target audience might be the same as your competitors, the community that you built on your pages is not necessarily the same as your competitor. And therefore you would need to differentiate the content you put out.
The fifth step is to benchmark your performance and see how you compare to your competitors on social media. You should look at aspects such as your reach, engagement, conversion, retention, and loyalty. You can use tools like Socialbakers, Rival IQ, or Phlanx to compare your metrics and performance across different platforms. You should also note your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, or threats.
I really like to use LinkedIns competitor analytics page to see how many followers my competitors have, as well as how fast they are growing overall. It also serves as a great benchmark that I can share with leadership to help convince them that we need to invest more in our organic LinkedIn program.
SEMRush's Social Media Tracker is also a great tool for competitor analysis across different platforms. For Twitter account comparisons, I also use Followerwonk.
The final step is to create your report and summarize your findings, insights, and recommendations. You should use a clear, concise, and visual format that highlights the key points and data. You can use tools like Canva, Piktochart, or Venngage to create your report using templates, charts, or graphs. You should also include your goals, objectives, and action plan for improving your social media marketing strategy.