It’s a good idea to keep an eye on your competition even if your business is successful. In fact, I’d encourage you to make it an ongoing task, whether you do it daily, weekly, or, monthly. Doing so will give you a lot of insight about your audience. From this data, you’ll be in a position to make improvements where necessary, which will in turn boost your business and make it more profitable.
Here are a few ways you can analyze your competition:
Follow Them On Social Media – see how they’re using each social medium to provide information and engage their audience. For instance, are they are using automation software?
Sign Up To Their Email List – email lists are a great way to check out your competition to see how they’re using email, in conjunction with social media to market their products and services.
Read Their Blog(s) – Review the type of information they’re disseminating to their audience on their blogs. Take note also as to whether they ask their audience to share their blog posts, for instance. Do they make it easy to share? Is there a call to action (CTA)? Do they ask their audience to leave a comment to encourage engagement? Etc.
What Do They Share On Social Media? – can you determine what is their goal from their shares? Do they lead people back to their email list, blog, other social media accounts, sales page, or somewhere else?
How Do They Get People To Like Or Follow Them? – did they incentivize their audience to like or follow them on multiple social media accounts? If so, are they giving new, or the same information on each account?
How Often Do They Send Out Updates? – track how often they post updates and their ROI. Is the audience engaging? Is your competition postinging at a specific time every day, for example, or multiple times a day?
Keep track of your research. Create a simple spreadsheet, or use a tool such as Trello to keep track of the different action steps your competition is taking, so you have it for easy reference.
Tracking what your competition is doing, as well as how their audience responds will provide insight that you can implement in your own social media marketing efforts.
© Cherry-Ann Carew
Cherry-Ann Carew is an Online Business Coach, who supports emerging business owners simplify their start-up journey and helps existing businesses scale, so that they can earn uncapped income and live life on their terms.