How to organise competitor analysis correctly
Competitor analysis is an indispensable tool when developing an SMM strategy. It allows you to identify the factors to pay attention to, learn useful techniques, and see which ones are better not to use.
With the help of this analysis, you can solve a number of brand performance tasks, for example, to highlight the necessary bundles and funnels. It also allows you to study the positioning mechanisms and increase the company’s consumer awareness.
Where to start with competitor analysis
The first step in studying the competition is to determine the objective of the promotion. It could be to increase brand awareness and loyalty or to increase customer base and sales. Once you have a specific objective, you need to start selecting competitors. First of all, you should look for companies with well-established SMMs. It is possible to identify them by live, active pages where they interact with users. Selecting only competitors with a strong position on social networks is important. The rest are not suitable for analysis.
If the goal is to increase audience loyalty, look for companies whose publications generate active discussions and encourage users to create their own posts. In the case of developing a strategy to increase sales, accounts with high publication and advertising activity are of interest, regardless of engagement characteristics.
Experts recommend choosing 6-9 competitors:
- 3-4 will be direct competitors with the same goals and marketing budget;
- 1-2 companies will have a larger budget;
- 1-2 indirect competitors but with an active social media presence;
- 1-2 related companies if the business operates in a specific niche with few competitors.
If a company operates in a narrow niche, you should focus on effective SMM and pay attention to marketplaces. You need to find a company for a specific product and then go to their site.
Criteria for competitor analysis
Social network analysis of competitors should include:
- content marketing;
- mode and style of communication;
- advertising campaigns and influencer marketing;
- sales funnel overview.
Studying your competitors’ content will help you understand which topics and formats your target audience responds best. This information will help you create a content plan and choose publication topics.
Most of the analysis work is done by studying mailing lists and chatbots. Getting a lot of mail from competitors and communicating with bots is essential to see their strategy.
Page layout also provides useful information, as do anchored posts and stories. When studying sales posts, it’s important to note the seller’s style to analyse CTAs (call to action) and coverage. It is not necessary to copy your competitors’ strategy completely but to take the best from it and add unique techniques.
