How to Do a Social Media Competitive Analysis? Explained

In today’s dynamic social media landscape, staying ahead of the competition is important for businesses looking to maximize their online presence and drive results.

At Social Think, we specialize in providing actionable social media insights and analytics to help brands develop winning strategies.

In this comprehensive guide, we’ll walk you through the process of conducting a thorough social media competitive analysis, enabling you to identify opportunities, refine your approach, and outperform your competitors.

What is a Social Media Competitor Analysis?

A social media competitor analysis is the process of evaluating your competitors’ social media presence, strategies, and performance to gain valuable insights and inform your own social media marketing efforts.

By analyzing your competition’s strengths, weaknesses, and tactics, you can identify gaps in the market, optimize your content, and develop a data-driven strategy to achieve your business goals.

What Are The Benefits of Social Media Competitor Analysis?

Conducting a social media competitor analysis offers numerous benefits for your brand, including:

1. Identify Gaps and Opportunities: Examining your competitors’ social presence can help you uncover untapped opportunities and areas where your brand can differentiate itself. This might involve targeting underserved audience segments, exploring new content formats, or addressing customer needs that your competitors have overlooked.
2. Strengthen Your Content Strategy: Analyzing your competitors’ top posts, social media engagement metrics, and content themes can help you refine your own content and marketing strategy. Understanding what resonates with your target audience can help you create more compelling and relevant content that drives engagement and conversions.
3. Improve Audience Targeting: Studying your competitors’ audience demographics, interests, and behaviors can provide insights into how to better target and engage your own audience. This information can help you tailor your messaging, ad targeting, and content to effectively reach and resonate with your ideal customers.
4. Improve your Social Customer Care: Monitoring your competitors’ customer service interactions on social media can reveal best practices and areas for improvement in your own social customer care strategy. Delivering exceptional customer service can help differentiate your brand and foster loyalty among your audience.
5. Stay Ahead of Trends: By keeping a close eye on your competitors’ social media activities, you can stay informed about emerging trends, industry developments, and shifting consumer preferences. This knowledge allows you to adapt your strategy and remain at the forefront of your industry.

How to Do a Social Media Competitor Analysis?

Now that we’ve established the importance of social media competitor analysis, let’s dive into the step-by-step process of conducting one for your brand.

Identify Your Competition

Start by creating a list of your direct and indirect competitors.

Direct competitors are those who offer similar products or services and target the same audience, while indirect competitors may offer different products but compete for your audience’s attention and engagement on social media.

Analyze Audiences and Platforms

Determine which social media platforms your competitors are most active on and where their audiences are engaged. Evaluate their follower counts, audience growth rates, and engagement levels across various social channels.

Find Industry Benchmarks

Research industry benchmarks for key social media metrics, such as engagement rates, follower growth, and posting frequency. This will provide context for evaluating your competitors’ social performance and setting realistic goals for your own social media presence.

Analyze Your Competitors’ Content and Activity

Conduct a deep dive into your competitors’ social media content and activity. Analyze their posting frequency, content themes, top-performing posts, and engagement metrics. Look for patterns in the types of content that generate the most engagement and identify any gaps or opportunities in their content strategy.

Do a SWOT Analysis

Perform a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analysis of your competitors’ social media presence. This will help you identify areas where you can capitalize on their weaknesses and seize opportunities to differentiate your brand.

• Strengths: Identify your competitors’ strengths, such as a large and engaged following, compelling content, or effective customer service.
• Weaknesses: Pinpoint your competitors’ weaknesses, such as inconsistent posting, low engagement rates, or poor customer response times.
• Opportunities: Look for opportunities to differentiate your brand, such as targeting underserved audience segments or exploring new content formats.
• Threats: Consider potential threats to your social media success, such as emerging competitors or shifting consumer preferences.

Refine Your Social Media Strategy

Based on your competitive analysis findings, refine your social media strategy to capitalize on opportunities, address weaknesses, and differentiate your brand. Set clear goals, develop a content calendar, and allocate resources to execute your optimized strategy.

What Should You Do With Your Social Media Competitor Data?

Once you’ve gathered and analyzed your social media competitor performance data, it’s essential to put those data points & insights into action.

Here’s what you should do with your findings:

1. Set Benchmarks Based on Findings: Use your competitor analysis to establish benchmarks for your own social media performance. Set realistic goals for metrics such as engagement rates, follower growth, and content performance based on industry standards and your competitors’ results.
2. Integrate Insights Into Your Strategy: Include the insights gained from your competitor analysis into your social media strategy. Adapt your content themes, posting frequency, and audience targeting based on what you’ve learned about your competitors’ successes and shortcomings.
3. Decide What Metrics to Track Continuously: Determine which social media metrics are most critical for your brand’s success and establish a system for tracking them regularly. This may include engagement rates, follower growth, reach, or customer service response times.
4. Implement Ongoing Monitoring: Competitive analysis is not a one-time exercise. Implement a process for ongoing monitoring of your competitors’ social media presence to stay informed about their activities, identify new opportunities, and adapt your strategy as needed.
5. Adapt and Innovate: Use your competitor insights as a foundation for continuous improvement and innovation. Stay agile and be willing to experiment with new tactics, content formats, or audience engagement strategies to stay ahead of the competition.
6. Communicate Findings With Your Team: Share your social media competitor analysis findings with your team to ensure everyone is aligned and working towards common goals. Regularly communicate updates and insights to foster a data-driven, competitive mindset within your organization.

How Often Should I Conduct A Social Media Competitive Analysis?

The frequency of your social media competitive analysis will depend on factors such as your industry, the pace of change in your market, and your available resources. However, as a general guideline, consider conducting a comprehensive analysis at least once per quarter, with ongoing monitoring and updates throughout the year.

Social Media Competitor Analysis Tools

To streamline your social media competitor analysis process, consider using some of these powerful tools:

1. Semrush: Semrush offers a suite of tools for social media management, including competitive analysis features that allow you to track your competitors’ social media performance, content strategies, and audience insights.
2. Sprout Social: Sprout Social provides in-depth social media analytics and competitive benchmarking tools, enabling you to compare your performance against industry standards and top competitors.
3. Agorapulse: Agorapulse offers a comprehensive social media management platform with built-in competitor analysis features, allowing you to monitor your competitors’ content, engagement, and audience growth.
4. Quintly: Quintly is a social media analytics tool that provides customizable dashboards and competitive benchmarking features, making it easy to track and compare your performance against your competitors.
5. Iconosquare: Iconosquare specializes in Instagram and Facebook analytics, offering detailed insights into your competitors’ content performance, audience demographics, and engagement metrics.
6. Brandwatch: Brandwatch is a powerful social listening and analytics platform that enables you to track your competitors’ social media presence, sentiment, and share of voice across multiple channels.
7. Vaizle: Vaizle offers a range of social media analytics and competitive benchmarking tools, providing insights into your competitors’ content strategies, engagement rates, and audience growth.
8. Talkwalker: Talkwalker is a comprehensive social listening and analytics platform that allows you to monitor your competitors’ social media presence, track industry trends, and identify influencers in your space.

Social Media Competitive Analysis Examples

To help you visualize what a social media competitive analysis might look like for different platforms, here are some examples:

Social Media Competitive Analysis: Instagram

• Compare Instagram follower counts and growth rates
• Analyze competitors’ content themes, hashtags, and visual aesthetics
• Evaluate engagement rates and top-performing posts
• Identify influencer partnerships and user-generated content strategies

Social Media Competitive Analysis: Facebook

• Compare Facebook page likes and follower growth
• Analyze competitors’ posting frequency and content mix (e.g., text, images, videos)
• Evaluate engagement rates and top-performing posts
• Monitor customer service interactions and response times

Social Media Competitive Analysis: YouTube

• Compare YouTube subscriber counts and video views
• Analyze competitors’ video content themes, lengths, and publishing frequency
• Evaluate engagement rates (likes, comments, shares) and top-performing videos
• Identify collaboration opportunities and influencer partnerships

Social Media Competitive Analysis: Twitter

• Compare Twitter follower counts and growth rates
• Analyze competitors’ tweet frequency, content themes, and hashtag usage
• Evaluate engagement rates (likes, retweets, replies) and top-performing tweets
• Monitor customer service interactions and brand sentiment

Social Media Competitive Analysis: LinkedIn

• Compare LinkedIn page followers and engagement rates
• Analyze competitors’ content themes, posting frequency, and format (e.g., articles, videos)
• Evaluate top-performing posts and audience demographics
• Identify thought leadership opportunities and industry influencers

FAQ’s:

What Data to Integrate Into A Social Media Competitor Analysis Report?

A comprehensive social media competitor analysis report should include data on follower counts, engagement rates, content performance, audience demographics, posting frequency, and customer service metrics.

How Effective is it to Analyse Competitors’ Social Media Followers?

Analyzing your competitors’ social media followers can provide valuable insights into their target audience, growth strategies, and potential partnership opportunities. However, it’s important to focus on quality over quantity when evaluating follower data.

How Can You Check Competitors’ Social Media Growth Rates?

Many social media analytics tools, such as Sprout Social and Semrush, offer features that allow you to track your competitors’ follower growth rates over time. You can also manually record follower counts at regular intervals to calculate growth rates.

Should You Follow Your Competitors On Social Media?

Following your competitors on social media can help you stay informed about their activities, content strategies, and audience engagement. However, be sure to maintain a professional and ethical approach, and avoid engaging in any unethical or spammy behavior.

How Can I Identify My Real Competitors On Social Media?

To identify your real competitors on social media, start by searching for keywords related to your industry, products, or services. Analyze the social media presence of the brands that appear in the search results, and evaluate their content, audience, and engagement levels to determine which ones are your most relevant competitors.

Can I Perform a Competitive Analysis Without Using Tools?

While it’s possible to conduct a social media competitive analysis without using dedicated tools, it can be a time-consuming and manual process. Using social media analytics and competitive benchmarking tools can streamline the process, provide more accurate data, and save you valuable time and resources.

Conclusion

Conducting a comprehensive social media competitive analysis is essential for brands looking to stay ahead in today’s fast-paced digital landscape.

Following the steps outlined in this guide and using the right tools and insights, you can gain a deep understanding of your competitors’ strategies, identify opportunities for growth, and refine your own social media approach.

At Social Think, we’re committed to helping businesses like yours maximize their social media potential through data-driven insights and actionable strategies.

To learn more about how our social media analytics and consulting services can help you outperform your competition, visit our website or reach out to our team today