How to Conduct Social Media Competitor Analysis

Updated on August 17, 2024

As a brand, you probably measure your social media success by the growth of Followers on your channels and by how many mentions and engagements you receive. While these are valid measures, they are not enough. This is because these numbers don’t tell you how you are stacking up against others in your industry. In such cases, social media competitor analysis comes in handy. This analysis provides valuable insights into how your social media performance compares to that of others in your industry, which can give you direction in terms of which strategies can be modified or improved to result in ultimate growth and success.

Social media is one of the best platform for the business or products who want to get users engagement on their social media profile by Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and many platform. If you have good followers or like on your social media page but still your competitor has more then yours followers and want to know how to confine competitor analysis for social media profile on the competitor social media. The best part of social media is that if you have new business and want brand awareness for your business then social media is good platform for your business that help your business to get accomplish your goal which you are looking for. For doing social media competitor analysis is good practice but you must have to know how to perform this competitor analysis for your social media profile.

While this analysis typically informs the creation of social media strategy, it can, and should, be done on a regular basis. This guide will walk you through the simple steps you must take to conduct a thorough social media marketing competitor analysis.

What is Social Media Competitor Analysis?

Before we discuss how to conduct this analysis, it is worthwhile to elaborate on what it entails. It involves analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of the social media strategy of the heavy-hitters in your industry, comparing them with your own. A social media competitor analysis should include the following:

• Identification of your competitors in the industry
• Identification of the social media platforms they are on
• Details regarding each competitor’s social media strategy, its strengths and weaknesses
• Set goal how your social media performance compares with that of your competitors

Fact That Works During Social Media Competitor Analysis

• Likes and Comments

  If you will do likes or comments on different social media profile then your users engagements will increase and also you will get other comments and like on your profile.

• Post per engagement rate

  The engagement rate of your post will increase if you will follow to the other people or business profile which is related to your business.

• Account mentions

  This is one of the great factors when you do the account mentions on your social media profile by sharing your post so that third party will also do the same on their social media profile which increase followers to both of us and also increase your brand awareness.

• Reach

  If you follow the above mentioned tips according to your social media competitor then your profile reach will increase and unique viewers also increase on your profile.

How to do Social Media Competitor Analysis?

A social media competitor analysis can be broken down into five simple steps. They include the following:

• Identify Your Competitors

  The first step is to identify the competitors in your industry and the social media platforms they utilize. You should choose only those competitors who are active on their social media handles, since you don’t want to compare yourself with a competitor who doesn’t engage seriously on the platforms. You should look for at least five companies from your industry. Compile their social media handles in a spreadsheet.

• Gather and Compile Data

  Once you have identified your main competitors and their social media handles, look through each of their social media handles, such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. With the help of specialized tools, you can identify the following:

  • Follower counts for each of their handles
  • The number of comments their posts receive
  • The type of content they are posting, such as videos, pictures, or text
  • Whether or not they use hashtags and, if so, which ones
  • The tone and style of the posts
  • The frequency of their posting
  • The level of engagement their posts generate

  Many brands use specific services and companies to help them with this process. At this point, you should also conduct a social listening analysis that will allow you to identify how many times your competitors are being mentioned on social media. Specific social media listening services scan search engines and social media platforms to provide a comprehensive view of the social landscape and the position of your brand and its competitors within it.

  Compile this data in a spreadsheet and perform an analysis to determine your and your competitors’ strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT).

• Incorporate Insights into Your Social Media Strategy

  Use what you learn from the SWOT analysis to inform your social media strategy. This should be a regular practice, as revisiting your strategy and revising it in accordance with the data will strengthen your practices and positively impact your social media performance.

  It is important to note that you don’t need to copy everything that your competitor is doing. You must, instead, use it as guidance and as a measure to critically evaluate what you’re currently doing versus what’s possible. Once you compare your strategy with your competitors’, you should make any changes you feel are necessary.

• Use Social Media Competitor analysis tools

  There are many online tools available for social media competitors analysis which analyze their profile with all details. In those analysis tools you have to just enter the social media profile names and they will fetch all the details. Few competitors analysis tools like keyhole.co, buffer.com, SpyFu, BuzzSumo, Hootsuite and many more.

Conducting a social media competitor analysis can be a challenging and arduous task, which is why guidance from a business intelligence consulting firm like Maven Road could be significantly helpful. They partner with brands to determine what research and analysis will best help them enhance their strategy and drive strong business outcomes.