In today’s hyper-competitive digital landscape, social media isn’t just a platform for sharing memes or promoting your latest product. It’s a battlefield where brands fight for attention, loyalty, and market share. If you’re not monitoring your competitors on social media, you’re leaving valuable insights—and money—on the table.
Why Monitoring Competitors Matters
Let’s get one thing straight: monitoring your competitors isn’t about copying them. It’s about understanding the game they’re playing so you can play it better. By keeping tabs on their social media activity, you can:
- Spot trends before they go mainstream.
- Identify gaps in their strategy that you can exploit.
- Learn what resonates with your shared audience.
- Avoid their mistakes.
In short, competitor monitoring is your shortcut to staying relevant and ahead of the curve.
Step 1: Identify Your Real Competitors
Not all competitors are created equal. Some brands might look like competition but target a completely different audience. Focus on:
- Direct Competitors: Brands offering similar products or services to the same audience.
- Indirect Competitors: Brands in adjacent industries that could attract your audience.
- Aspirational Competitors: Industry leaders you can learn from, even if they’re not in your niche.
Use tools like Google Search, industry forums, and customer feedback to identify these players. Once you’ve got a list, narrow it down to 3–5 key competitors to monitor.
Step 2: Choose the Right Platforms
Your competitors aren’t active on every social media platform—and neither should you be. Focus on the platforms where your audience spends the most time. For example:
- Instagram and TikTok: Great for visual brands and younger audiences.
- LinkedIn: Ideal for B2B and professional services.
- Twitter: Perfect for real-time updates and thought leadership.
- Facebook: Still relevant for community building and older demographics.
Once you’ve identified the platforms, create a spreadsheet to track each competitor’s activity.
Step 3: Use Tools to Automate Monitoring
Manually checking your competitors’ profiles every day is a waste of time. Instead, leverage tools that do the heavy lifting for you. Here are some of the best options:
- Hootsuite: Set up streams to monitor competitors’ posts and mentions.
- Brandwatch: Dive deep into sentiment analysis and audience insights.
- BuzzSumo: Track which of their content performs best.
- Social Blade: Analyse follower growth and engagement metrics.
- Google Alerts: Get notified whenever they’re mentioned online.
These tools will save you hours while providing actionable data.
Step 4: Analyse Their Content Strategy
Once you’ve gathered data, it’s time to dig into the details. Look for patterns in their content strategy:
- Frequency: How often do they post?
- Timing: When do they get the most engagement?
- Content Types: Are they focusing on videos, carousels, or static images?
- Tone and Voice: Are they formal, casual, or somewhere in between?
- Engagement: Which posts get the most likes, comments, and shares?
Pro Tip: Don’t just look at what works—pay attention to what doesn’t. If a certain type of post consistently underperforms, it’s a sign to avoid that approach.
Step 5: Monitor Their Audience Engagement
Your competitors’ audience is your potential audience. Pay close attention to how they interact with their followers:
- Comments: What questions or complaints come up repeatedly?
- Replies: How quickly and effectively do they respond?
- User-Generated Content: Are they leveraging their community to create content?
This will give you a clear picture of what your audience values—and what they’re missing.
Step 6: Track Their Campaigns and Promotions
Competitors’ campaigns can reveal a lot about their priorities and strategies. Watch for:
- Seasonal Promotions: Are they running sales during specific times of the year?
- Partnerships: Who are they collaborating with, and why?
- Ad Campaigns: What kind of ads are they running, and on which platforms?
Use tools like Facebook Ad Library to see their active ads and reverse-engineer their approach.
Step 7: Benchmark Their Metrics Against Yours
Data without context is meaningless. Compare your competitors’ performance to your own to identify areas for improvement. Key metrics to track include:
- Follower Growth: Are they gaining followers faster than you?
- Engagement Rate: How does their engagement compare to yours?
- Content Reach: Are their posts reaching more people?
Set realistic benchmarks based on this data and adjust your strategy accordingly.
Step 8: Stay Ethical
Let’s be clear: monitoring competitors is not the same as spying. Avoid shady tactics like creating fake accounts to access private information. Stick to publicly available data and focus on improving your own strategy, not sabotaging theirs.
Step 9: Turn Insights into Action
All the data in the world won’t help you if you don’t act on it. Use your findings to:
- Refine Your Content: Double down on what works and ditch what doesn’t.
- Improve Engagement: Address gaps in your customer service or community management.
- Innovate: Launch campaigns or products that fill the gaps your competitors are leaving.
Monitoring your competitors on social media isn’t a one-time task—it’s an ongoing process. The digital landscape changes fast, and staying ahead requires constant vigilance. By following these steps, you’ll not only keep up with your competitors but outpace them.
The goal isn’t to mimic your competitors. It’s to learn from them, adapt, and ultimately carve out your own unique space in the market. Start monitoring today, and watch your social media strategy transform.