How To Gain Competitive Insights on Social Media for Free

Competitor investigation is simply a important portion of integer marketing.

When you cognize what your rivals are up to, you tin marque much informed selling decisions and amended recognize your people market.

While immoderate companies obsess implicit paid and integrated postulation analysis, 1 country of marketplace probe is often overlooked: societal media.

In this article, we’ll look astatine wherefore it’s beneficial to wage attraction to societal media metrics, research what they tin uncover astir your competitors’ strategies, and—most importantly—explain however you tin summation these invaluable insights for free.

Monitoring your competitors’ societal show is utile due to the fact that it reveals what whitethorn oregon whitethorn not enactment for you. You tin measure maturation opportunities crossed antithetic channels and niches simply by seeing however audiences respond to your rivals’ content. This, successful turn, allows you to make a much effectual societal strategy of your own, resulting successful much assemblage engagement and accrued marque awareness.

It besides provides you with insights into the champion practices for contented instauration and output. For instance, what benignant of dependable and code does your shared assemblage similar to prosecute with? What types of contented bash they prefer? Knowing the answers to these kinds of questions tin prevention you a batch of clip and resources.

You whitethorn beryllium wondering wherefore you request tools for this; surely you tin conscionable travel your competitors’ accounts to spot what they’re up to, right?

In practice, though, it’s highly time-intensive to manually way each your rivals’ relationship activity. Tools mitigate this, allowing you to absorption your resources connected different tasks, arsenic good arsenic providing you with information that you can’t entree manually (such arsenic engagement rates and longer word trends). 

Tools don’t request to outgo you anything, either. For example, Semrush’s Social Media Tracker monitors a immense database of societal media concern accounts.

Social Media Tracker does each the dense probe lifting for you and provides data-driven insights connected your societal media competition—for free.

That’s a batch of limb enactment covered—and a batch of invaluable data—for thing that doesn’t outgo a dime.

You tin larn much astir utilizing Social Media Tracker with our in-depth guide.

So, present that we’ve covered the “why” down societal media rival analysis, it’s clip to absorption connected the process itself.

Let’s accidental that you’re gathering a slumber merchandise marque and you privation to turn your societal stock of this $432B planetary industry. After immoderate marketplace research, you place Casper arsenic your largest rival, and present you privation to commencement challenging their dominance.

Here are 5 steps you tin instrumentality to assistance marque this happen.

1. Identify Your Competitors’ Most Engaging Content

Creating and investigating your societal contented tin beryllium clip consuming and assets intensive. Learning however to prosecute with your people assemblage tin beryllium a hit-and-miss process and effect successful missed opportunities portion you effort to find your societal media feet.

However, analyzing your rivals’ champion performing contented tin marque your beingness a batch easier. By looking astatine the posts that execute for your rivals, you tin get an thought of the champion practices and past use them to your own. You tin adjacent instrumentality originative inspiration if you’re struggling for ideas (although it’s not a bully thought to conscionable outright transcript what your competitors are doing).

So, however tin you bash this?

Let’s accidental that you’ve identified Instagram arsenic a suitable selling transmission and you privation to cognize what benignant of posts enactment good determination for Casper earlier creating your own.

Put Casper’s domain into Social Media Tracker and past prime the “Instagram” tab. Immediately, you tin spot which posts person attracted the astir engagement during your chosen clip period.

The 2 cardinal metrics to enactment present are:

• Engagement, which, for Instagram, is the full fig of likes and comments connected a post
• Engagement rate, which measures the engagement connected a station successful narration to the fig of followers

You tin benignant the posts based connected these metrics and past presumption the posts themselves, allowing you to dissect what precisely Casper’s assemblage connected this level similar to see. Once you’ve done this for respective of your different competitors, you’ll person developed a beauteous wide representation of what engaging, high-performing contented should look like, giving you a proven model for creating your ain posts.

2. Uncover Your Competitors’ Best Performing Hashtags

Whether you emotion ‘em oregon loathe ‘em, hashtags are a important portion of societal media strategy. They assistance caller users find your account, truthful you request to take them cautiously erstwhile publishing your posts.

Numerous tools are disposable that tin assistance you prime applicable and trending hashtags, but it’s conscionable arsenic invaluable to cognize what’s performing for your competitors too. While branded hashtags whitethorn not beryllium applicable, industry-specific ones surely are, and you don’t privation to miss out.

To find them, spell into Social Media Tracker and prime the “Hashtags” tab. We tin spot a database of Casper’s apical performing hashtags (for that platform), arsenic good arsenic accusation connected however often they’ve been used.

To get immoderate much discourse and spot however Casper has utilized these hashtags successful their posts, power to the “Posts” tab. You tin past filter by hashtag to spot the posts themselves, arsenic good arsenic insights connected however those posts performed.

3. Analyze Your Competitors’ Posting Schedules

You tin perchance summation engagement connected your posts simply by posting astatine the close time. After all, erstwhile your assemblage is active, they are much apt to spot your contented and interact with it.

To observe the champion days and times to post, you tin look astatine your competitors’ schedules and engagement data. Go to the “Activity” tab successful Social Media Tracker and cheque retired the “When posts are published and radical prosecute with content” report.

The study supra shows that Casper receives the highest level of engagement connected Mondays (even though it doesn’t often people posts connected this day). Conversely, posts person a debased level of engagement connected Fridays (even though astir of Casper’s posts are published connected this day).

Therefore, arsenic a rival of Casper, you mightiness see scheduling your posts connected Mondays (and Thursdays, arsenic engagement is besides precocious connected this day), arsenic this is erstwhile your shared people assemblage is astir active.

As good arsenic reviewing your competitors’ integrated societal strategies, it’s a bully thought to look astatine their paid campaigns. This allows you to analyse the transcript and promotions they are utilizing to effort and hook imaginable customers, arsenic good arsenic find inspiration for your ain campaigns.

With Meta Ads Library, you tin spot each your competitors’ progressive ads for free.

Enter Casperin the hunt barroom and you’ll beryllium capable to spot its presently unrecorded ads.

You tin research by portion to spot country-specific campaigns, arsenic good arsenic filter by:

• Media benignant (images, videos, memes, and text)
• Platform (Facebook, Instagram, and Messenger)
• Language
• Date range

Seeing these creatives allows you to scrutinize your ain ads and place the products, promotions, and keywords that Casper and your different rivals are presently focusing on.

5. Understand Your Competitors’ Long-Term Goals

Monitoring your rivals’ existent campaigns has plentifulness of benefits, but to stay competitory going forward, you request to effort and recognize what their semipermanent strategy is.

For instance, what channels are they targeting for growth? Where are they trying to physique a sustainable and disposable presence? This is important to know, due to the fact that if your competitors are contiguous connected a peculiar channel, you request to beryllium too.

The examination diagnostic successful Social Media Tracker helps you to reply these questions. For example, we tin spot successful the “Comparison with competitors” study beneath that Mattress Firm has importantly accrued its Facebook presence, which would suggest that it whitethorn person identified maturation opportunities connected that platform.

Casper, meanwhile, seems to beryllium targeting LinkedIn arsenic a maturation platform.

Across the board, we tin spot that each competitors person accrued their assemblage connected Instagram. As a rival of these companies, it’s just to accidental that strengthening your Instagram beingness would beryllium an urgent priority.

You tin besides comparison circumstantial trends, specified arsenic engagement levels implicit a definite period. For example, we tin spot beneath that Mattress Firm saw a immense emergence successful engagement during the Christmas period, adjacent though they’re posting enactment did not increase. It could beryllium worthy looking much intimately to spot however Mattress Firm achieved this, particularly if you are readying your ain seasonal campaigns.

These reports let you to benchmark your output and your results arsenic good arsenic springiness you a overmuch clearer thought of wherever you whitethorn request to amended oregon absorption much resources.

Save Time and Spend Less

As mentioned, each of these reports tin beryllium obtained for free—and tin prevention you a batch of clip successful the process. They tin springiness you invaluable insights into your competitors’ societal media activities, ensuring that you ever stay 1 measurement ahead.

With Social Media Tracker, you tin besides person regular updates connected however your competitors are behaving, meaning you lone request to configure your study once. Simply click “Settings” successful the apical close country of the dashboard and prime the “Email reports” tab to acceptable it each up.

Armed with each these tips and insights, you tin present commencement conducting your ain rival analysis, and statesman to laic the groundwork for an effectual and targeted societal media strategy of your own. Whether you’re competing against established players successful a $432B industry, similar this one, oregon section rivals successful a smaller niche, these escaped tools tin assistance you beryllium competitive—and successful—in your ain conflict of the brands.

Still not sure?

Check retired our free instant tracker tool and analyse 1 of your competitors close now.

Alternatively, you tin learn much astir Social Media Tracker earlier you dive in.