How to Conduct a Social Media Competitive Analysis - Template

Home > Marketing | 45,304 views | 6 minutes read
15-03-2020

Social Media is a very competitive world and monitoring what others do is essential. I invited Pooja Shah to share her insights in a guest post.

JulienRio.com - social media competition

Simply put, social media is a highly competitive platform. Reportedly, more than 90% of brands are using it sporadically to create awareness. So, why should you stay behind? However, before you begin, it is worthwhile to run a social media competitive analysis. 

Not only will it help you build your identity against others in the row but also help track surfacing opportunities and mitigate threats to development. Here’s a guide to help you conduct a wholesome competitive analysis for your brand and sail smoothly. Read on to find out.

What is a Competitive Analysis Anyway?

Pooja Shah title

It is one such analysis that helps brands figure out the strengths and weaknesses of their competitors and compare the same to their own. 

In other words, it follows a benchmarking technique where your brand is pitted against the industry heavy hitters to help identify growth opportunities and success strategies, which are either a hit or a miss. 

In essence, it enables you to achieve the following:

  • Help identify your direct competitors
  • Know your social platforms right
  • Track competitor performance and their social strategy
  • Identify online threats to your business
  • Locate loopholes in your social strategy

Let’s figure out how to go about conducting social media competitive analysis in four easy steps

Identify Competitor Keywords

Pooja Shah competitor keywords

You surely know the keywords that your business targets to rank well across search engines. For instance, if your business is a Goa-based hotel, then probably you would like to focus on keywords like “Hotel in Goa” or “Best hotels in Goa to stay.”

However, if you are running a boutique hotel that specializes in showcasing local art accompanied by an evening of wine tasting, you might fall behind competing with the keywords targeted by your competitor, which is a Holiday Inn. 

Hence, you must have a thorough understanding of competitor keywords and keyword inventory. Google Adwords Keyword Planner is a great tool to help identify keywords that are most relevant to your business.

Gather Data

Once you have got a comprehensive understanding of who your competitors are, it’s time to take a look at their social media pages. Start from the official websites of such brands, and you can find links to their Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram pages at the top or the bottom of the website.

 

free template button

 

Make use of the social media competitive analysis template to note down the following:

  • What are the preferred social networks for brands?
  • The number of followers and the growth rate
  • Who are the top followers of the brand
  • What is the frequency of their social media posts and their rate of engagement
  • What are the hashtags they use mostly

Such data will help you in your next steps to make the best use of social media analysis to usher in success for your brand.

SWOT Analysis

Once you have gathered all required intel to understand where you stand in front of your competitors, it’s time to chalk out the winning strategy. SWOT analysis is a great way to take a closer look at your business alongside your competitions to help figure out a set of important stuff that includes:

SWOT Analysis Pooja Shah

  • S – Strengths
  • W – Weaknesses
  • O – Opportunities
  • T – Threats

Now, “Strengths” as well as “Weaknesses” is directly dependent on factors that internally govern your brand. They are mainly those things that you are already doing right alongside those areas where you need to work on. 

On the other hand, “Opportunities” and “Threats” are mostly based on external factors that include all those things that are happening right within your competitive environment for you to take note of.

Incorporate Updated Data

It is necessary to revisit your social media competitive analysis report to keep it updated. Mostly, this should be a part of your quarterly as well as manual reporting goals. However, for a non-stop supply of updated information, one needs to invest in developing a social media strategy with the help of the best social media monitoring tools.

Pooja Shah incorporate data 

It will help you to be aware of all conversations related to your brand around social platforms, your competitors as well the industry on the whole. Also, you must record all critical information as you unravel through multiple platforms and incorporate the same to help mitigate your threats and cash on your opportunities.

Apart from directly sourcing data from competitor social media profiles, there are a handful of tools that can make your life easy:

  • Facebook Analytics
  • BuzzSumo 
  • Brandwatch 

 

free template button

 

Conclusion

Create a spreadsheet to keep track of all your branding and marketing activities that form an integral part of your social media competitive analysis. Don’t forget to add a tab for SWOT analysis as well. While all the labor is worth putting in, here’s a link to a great template that you can use right away.

 

Pooja Shah. 

 

Pooja Shah is a Creative Writer at Auto Monkey. We provide an original analysis of the latest happenings in the social media industry. Connect with Latest Social Media Trends and News plus tips on Twitter, Facebook and other social tools on the web.

Last update: 2024-03-16 Tags:

Need help?

Do you need help with your marketing strategy or its execution? If you want someone to implement all the tips you just read, contact me and let's discuss it together!

CONTACT ME NOW

Julien Rio Digital Marketing