With social media benchmarking, you can analyze what’s working in the market, understand your target audience’s behavior, and optimize your strategies to increase engagement and boost your brand’s relevance.
What is social media benchmarking?
Before learning how to monitor competitors on social media, it’s important to define benchmarking. Benchmarking is the process of comparing your company’s practices with those of your competitors to identify the best strategies and find ways to improve your performance. On social media, this means tracking your competitors’ content, engagement, and interactions to apply the best practices to your business.
Why is it important to monitor competitors on social media?
Monitoring competitors on social media offers valuable insights into the market and helps answer questions like: Which content strategies are working for them? How do they interact with their audience? What types of posts generate the most engagement?
By doing this, you can:
- Understand your target audience’s behavior;
- Discover strategies that your competitors aren’t yet exploring;
- Improve your campaigns and adjust your strategy based on the data observed.
These insights are essential for staying competitive and not missing out on opportunities.
How to monitor competitors on social media
Now that you understand the importance of monitoring competitors on social media, here’s a step-by-step guide to help you do it efficiently.
1. Identify your direct and indirect competitors
The first step in monitoring competitors is defining who they are. Direct competitors are companies that offer similar products or services. Indirect competitors may not sell exactly what you offer, but they still compete for your target audience’s attention.
Make a list of 3 to 5 key competitors and start monitoring their social media. Tools like Buzzmonitor can help with this task by making it easier to track multiple accounts simultaneously.
2. Analyze the type of content they post
Observe the type of content your competitors are posting. Are they focusing more on images, videos, polls, or long texts? Also, evaluate how these formats are received by the audience and compare them with your current strategy. This can open up new content possibilities that you haven’t yet explored.
3. Monitor engagement metrics
A crucial part of monitoring competitors is looking at their engagement metrics. Analyze likes, comments, shares, and other interactions. With this data in hand, you can reveal which types of posts are working best and use this information as inspiration to adjust your own posts.
4. Track posting frequency
It’s also important to track your competitors’ posting frequency. Do they post daily, a few times a week, or only on specific dates? Understanding this can help you see if you’re being consistent enough or if you need to adjust your posting schedule.
5. Evaluate customer service on social media
Monitoring how your competitors handle customer service on social media is often overlooked but crucial. Check how they respond to customer inquiries and complaints. This will help you identify their strengths and weaknesses in customer service and, consequently, improve your own.
6. Create benchmarking reports
After gathering all this information, it’s time to organize it into benchmarking reports. Compare your metrics with those of your competitors to identify areas where you can improve. Remember, the goal is to learn from the best practices and apply what’s relevant to your business.
Additional tips for social media benchmarking
- Focus on quality, not quantity: Many companies become obsessed with follower numbers, but engagement quality is what really matters.
- Don’t copy, get inspired: The goal of monitoring competitors is not to copy their strategies but to learn from them and adapt them to your reality.
- Constantly monitor: Competitor behavior can change over time, so monitoring should be a continuous activity.
Include competitor monitoring in your digital strategy
Monitoring competitors on social media and benchmarking is a fundamental practice for any company wanting to stand out in the digital landscape. By following the steps outlined in this post, you’ll be prepared to improve your strategy and position yourself more competitively in the market.
Now that you know how to monitor competitors on social media, it’s time to apply these techniques and start reaping the benefits of well-executed competitive analysis.
Buzzmonitor, with its expertise in artificial intelligence and advanced monitoring, offers solutions that allow you to track your competitors’ performance in real time. Additionally, the platform provides Social Listening, Analytical Metrics, and Multichannel Relationship functionalities that help you identify trends, evaluate audience behavior, and optimize your campaigns precisely.
If you want to take your competitor analysis to the next level, talk to one of our specialists and discover how our solutions can help your business stand out in the market.
