When you run your own website or business online, it becomes very important to see how well you have performed in comparison to your competitors. With the growing market of online businesses nowadays, doing competitor analysis may become even more crucial to keep track of your growth and success.
Nearly 1.79 billion people bought something online in 2019, and 88% of online shoppers perform research on the net before buying something they like.
So what do you do to make sure your brand is more appealing than the others? You keep an eye on your competitors. Read on to know why it is important to keep up with how your competitors are doing in the market.
1. To identify what type of content performs best
One big reason why you should conduct a competitive social media audit is to figure out what kind of content will perform the best in your competitive landscape. In order to reach out to others, your content has to be meaningful and engaging.
In a cyclic manner, the more people see your content, the more they will urge others to see and engage too. Tools like Rival IQ and Facebook in-platform competitor analysis help you to see which type of content is popular, which hashtags to use, and so on.
So, you get an idea of the kind of content your competitors are also bringing forth into the market. Understanding what performs best will allow your team to make strategic decisions wisely.
2. To see how the audience engages with your competitors
A compelling story or content garners a lot of attention, and from this alone, you can figure out a lot about your audience. You can understand how users interact with your brand, as well as with your competitors.
It is highly likely that your company’s target audience overlaps with those of your competitors, so it is recommended to take every opportunity to understand and know them better.
Through user engagement, you can see how enthusiastically your audience participates with the competitor brands. Tools like Brandwatch help you to monitor conversations regarding a particular type of brand or product.
Stillio is another tool to help you take website screenshots of the brand’s entire pages. Once you understand the engagement of the audience with your and your competitor’s brands, your content can be curated accordingly.
3. To see how your competitors engage with the audience
Just as it is important to keep a track of the audience’s engagement, it is equally important to track your competitor’s engagement with the audience. The expectations of how a certain brand will communicate with its audience have changed quite a lot in the past few years.
Users now expect quick responses, and faster customer care services (sometimes in under an hour!). If you can figure out how your competitors cater to their audience’s needs, you will be able to figure out a way to cater to your own audience in a similar or better manner too.
While seeing your competitor’s customer care service, see if the responses are good, neutral, or poor. Also see things like how they are engaging (likes, shares, or comments), and who is responding (brand ambassador of the company or a customer care service). These will give you valuable insights.
4. To see how you measure up against your competitors
As mentioned before, there are various tools you can use to keep up with your own performance, as well as that of your competitor brands. Rival IQ will show you different statistics on your followership, platform use, and frequency of posting.
So your overall competitive landscape average will be much clearer to everyone, including you, working in your company. Knowing how you stack up against your competitors will show you how each brand or product is viewed by the audience and who has the highest reach on social media.
Over to you…
These were the four major reasons why it is necessary to keep an eye on competitors and their growth. Of course, by keeping an eye on it, we mean healthy competition. Using unfair means will only end up in disappointment and loss.
Use proper tools and websites to monitor the growth of your brand, as well as those of your competitors, so that you can look after the welfare of your company. Once you’ve done your research thoroughly, it will hardly take time to boost your brand and products to new heights!