How to Perform a Social Media Competitive Analysis: A Complete Guide

Your brand’s journey on social media is unique, and so is your competitors’ experience. And there is such beauty in learning from each other. But how do you do that?

Whether you are a startup focusing on a niche or a big established corporation, social media competitive analysis will give you a powerful overview of your market and audience’s needs.

So, let’s dive into the world of benchmarking against competitors on social media.

What is social media competitive analysis?

Social media competitive analysis is your compass to building and maintaining a relevant digital strategy.

It is a systematic process of monitoring and analyzing information about your competitors’ content, customer service, and campaigns on social media. This will help you get insights into what works in your industry, areas you need to rethink, and ideas on how to upgrade your marketing plan.

Why should you do a social media competitive analysis?

Keeping an eye on your brand’s performance is crucial, but so is monitoring and analyzing your competitors. A social media competitive analysis will enable your brand to: 

• Identify and keep an eye on your competitors. 
• Understand which social networks they use. 
• Discover their audience profile and behavior. 
• Find out what is the best time to post. 
• Get inspired by their content.
•  Find gaps in your social media strategy and adapt it accordingly. 
• See where you rank in your industry. 
• Discover new market trends. 

The list goes on and on. Read on to get behind the scenes of how you can reveal all this precious information.

How to conduct a competitive analysis on social media?

Let’s discover the main steps you should undertake in order to perform a social media competitive analysis and improve your marketing strategies.

1. Identify your competitors on social media. 

The first step is to get to know your competition. Keep in mind that there are a couple of categories you should consider.

• Direct competitors 

Start by analyzing your direct competitors — you most probably share the same audience and offer similar products or services.

• Indirect competitors

Don’t forget to also investigate the indirect competition, which can be high-end or low-end substitutes in your industry. Such new insights can put the puzzle together about your audience.

A good way to start your competitor analysis is by a keyword search on Google. Check who is ranking against the 10 most relevant industry or product keywords that are relevant for your brand. This will give you an idea of who your top competition is. Also, pay attention to the brands who invest in Google ads in order to get their names on top of organic search. 

Pick the 5 most relevant brands and research them further on social media. It’s completely possible that search engines’ results differ from the social networks’ ones, so keep your eyes open for brands with similar target audiences and successful results.

2. Gather the relevant data on social media. 

Now that you’ve found your competitor group, it’s time to dig deeper into their strengths and weaknesses on social media. 

You should address questions like:

• What social channels do they use?
• How large is their following and how fast does it grow?
• How often do they post?
• What kind of content do they offer?
• How does the audience engage with their posts?
• What kind of hashtags do they use?
• How fast do they respond to comments and engage with the community?
• What makes them unique?

The metrics you want to follow also depend on the goals and development stage of your business. If you are a new start up you might want to focus on building your fanbase first, but if you are an established company – engagement could be a leading metric to follow.

You can also use tools for more in-depth analysis and easily follow your competitors’ marketing strategies more closely. 

For example, with Benchmark you can monitor your competitors’ posts, campaigns, hashtags, and user interactions. Monitor your competitors and learn from their ideas, successes, and failures just as you would your own.