What About Your Competitors social media?
Do you have a solid understanding of how your brand’s social media strategy is working? What about your competitors? It may be time to stalk… Whoops! I mean “examine” your competition to gain a deep understanding of how they operate on social media. Do your research and track down what channels they use. Monitor how active they are for a few months. Who has the biggest audience on each network? Is the same content re-purposed across networks, or is it different for each audience? How many comments, likes, and shares does a post earn on average? Who has the most engaged followers and the largest reach? These are all metrics that will help you compare performance.
Look for a Social Media Opportunity
Stalking the competition may lead you to an opportunity. If your competitors have a much larger audience, don’t automatically assume there is no chance of catching up. I have had to deliver the bad news that their strategist bought fake followers that were nothing but pulseless numbers to more than a few failed social campaign owners.
Be sure to look for unannounced social presences too. Is your competitor building up a presence on a social network that is not yet linked to their website? Snapchat is a hot news item lately. If you are not on it, you might want to get moving!
Look for social media tracking pixels on your competitors’ websites. This will offer clues into how serious their paid social targeting is and if they are using remarketing. Maximize your reach with a real audience, relevant posts, engaging content that resonates with your audience, and timely customer service. Your brand can earn more engagement from loyal followers.
Social media strategists are always weighing which channel is this year’s flash-in-the-pan and which will go big! If you are serious about selling on social, it’s important that you establish and work toward a measurable goal like increasing the number of followers, driving traffic to a promotion, or increasing number of visitors to a website.
