How to Conduct Competitor Research

Competitor research is a key part of improving your social media strategy. By analyzing your competitors, you can see what’s working for them and what’s not. This can help you find ways to outperform them and better engage with your audience. In social media management, knowing what your competitors are doing lets you adjust your approach and stay competitive.

Tools for analyzing competitor social media presence

There are several tools available that can help you track and analyze your competitors' social media activity. Here are a few of the most popular ones:

Social Media Monitoring Tools:

Hootsuite and Sprout Social let you track what your competitors are posting, how often, and how much engagement they’re getting.

These tools allow you to monitor hashtags, keywords, and mentions, helping you see which content is resonating with their audience.

Analytics Tools:

Platforms like SEMrush and BuzzSumo give you insights into the content your competitors are creating. They also show how your competitors are performing across different platforms like Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram.

With these tools, you can track social media traffic, engagement rates, and even the type of content being shared.

Competitor Benchmarking Tools:

Tools like Social Blade or SimilarWeb let you compare your social media stats directly with competitors. These give you valuable data on their growth, audience demographics, and engagement.

By using these tools, you can gather data about your competitors’ social media presence, giving you a clearer view of their strategies.

Tracking competitors' content and engagement

Once you have the right tools in place, it’s time to track your competitors' content. Here’s what you should look for:

Content Type:

What kind of content are they posting? Is it videos, images, blogs, or polls? Are they using a lot of user-generated content or influencer marketing?

Pay attention to the tone and style of their content. Is it casual, professional, humorous, or inspirational?

Engagement Rate:

Track how many likes, shares, comments, and reactions their posts get. High engagement indicates that the audience finds the content relevant or interesting.

Compare these metrics with your own to see where you stand. A strong engagement rate can be a sign of an effective content strategy.

Posting Frequency

How often do they post? Is there a clear pattern to their posting schedule? Tracking this can help you decide how frequently you should post to maintain a consistent presence.

By tracking these factors, you’ll understand what works well for your competitors, and what you might want to try or avoid in your own strategy.

Identifying gaps in your competitors' strategy

Analyzing your competitors’ social media strategy isn’t just about copying them—it’s also about finding gaps or weaknesses in their approach that you can capitalize on. Here’s how you can identify these gaps:

Content Gaps:

Is there a topic or niche your competitors are ignoring that could interest your audience? If they aren’t covering certain important themes, you have an opportunity to provide that content.Check if there are underused content formats, like behind-the-scenes videos, podcasts, or interactive polls, that could help you stand out.

Engagement Gaps:

Do they have areas where engagement is low? For example, are their followers not commenting much, or are there posts that seem to get ignored? This might be an opportunity to create better, more engaging content in those areas.

Another gap could be a lack of customer interaction. If your competitors aren’t engaging with their followers in the comments, you can build stronger relationships by responding quickly and personally.

Platform Gaps:

If your competitors aren’t active on a platform where your audience spends time, you can step in and build a presence there. For example, if your competitors are not on TikTok but your target audience is, this could be your chance to create content for that platform.

By identifying these gaps, you can adjust your strategy to fill them, creating opportunities your competitors might have missed.