Why You Should Follow Competitors on Social Media
April 12, 2023 By everybody , aka mind
Social media advertising is one of the most promising and rewarding strategies today. Due to its mass popularity and use, it allows businesses to rapidly expand and connect with a large number of potential customers. That is why marketers constantly try to improve their marketing approach to social media advertising and refine strategies to achieve tremendous success. If this is what you are trying to accomplish now, looking at competitor strategies can provide valuable insights. Here are a few reasons why you should follow competitors on social media:
1. It is a Learning Opportunity
Doing social media marketing is hard. There are things your business should be doing on social media, and the rules of the game constantly change. Consumers could change their behavior, and the market could go through a 180 degrees turn. Also, we get new social media features very often, which adds more to your toolset.
Because the entire environment is so dynamic and flexible, it is often possible to make social media marketing mistakes. And you will make mistakes, be sure about that. However, your competitors will go through the same process.
You can be one step ahead and monitor their performance. For example, look at how they use Instagram stories. There may be a better approach you did not think of. Be there to learn from their failures or successes, and implement that knowledge to improve your strategy.
2. Follow the Latest Trends
Another reason why you should follow competitors on social media is to learn about the latest social media trends and keep up with trends in your industry. Things often happen quickly, before you may even notice. That is especially important if we talk about the viral marketing strategy. There is a short window of opportunity for those who do something first or at the earliest stage.
You should always know what strategies your competitors use. That is because you cannot miss a fantastic opportunity just because you did not do something first. Being proactive will often get you more social media exposure, which is crucial for your business.
3. Improve Customer Experience
Whether using social media for customer service, wanting to improve customer experience, and more, checking in on your competitors can be helpful. By keeping track of your competitors’’ strategies, you will learn a lot about how they engage with their customers.
Furthermore, you will know what their customers think about them and their products. This can help you further define your target audience on social media and improve how you connect with them. Look at the number of likes and what kinds of comments their customers leave.
That will give you valuable insight into what type of communication they maintain. You can then compare their approach with yours and see if there is room for improvement. You may even identify other types of content to post on social media that help you connect better with customers.
4. Identify Potential Partners
Not all competitors are “enemies.” A lot of businesses do not realize this. By watching your competitors, you might discover that they have complementary services or products. If there is a potential benefit for both companies, working together would be a smart business move.
Remember that most of your competitors are very good at what they do. That is why they are valued. Having strong and smart partners will only help your business to become even better and more successful.
5. Identify Product Opportunities
Another good reason to follow competitors on social media is to look for inspiration and new ideas. You need to know if there is an opportunity for a new product. That is even a requirement if the market goes through a significant change.
New opportunities also apply to improving existing products and new social media marketing ideas for ecommerce. What you also want to know is what new offers your competitors release. That way, you will always stay up to date with your clients’ needs.
6. Improve Your SEO Strategy
Another essential strategy is to do an SEO competitor analysis. You can do this by doing a quick social media audit, using SEO research tools, and even looking at SEO efforts in WordPress. You can list their important keywords by closely monitoring their social media strategy. Then, you can check out their SEO efforts by analyzing those keywords to understand where their success comes from.
Another thing that is important to mention is that following your competitors and analyzing their strategies does not mean copying them. You should never try to just copy your competitors, especially regarding SEO. The idea of observing their SEO approach is so you can make yours better. Take a look at what they are doing, identify the insights that can help you improve your business, follow SEO best practices, and customize and expand it to something unique to your business.
7. Create Better Content
Since you and your competitors often have the same target audience, or at least overlapping target audience segments, keeping track of the content they release is a good idea. That includes:
- The type of content: images, videos, articles, infographics, etc.
- The content format: guides, tutorials, instructionals, reviews, etc.
- The length of content: short, medium, and long.
- The flavor of the content: how they use images, links, references, statistics, etc.
You can use content marketing tools to help identify, track, and analyze these things. Besides keeping track of these factors, it is also essential to understand what content performs the best and has the most engagement. That is a very crucial part because that can also tell you what your customers love. Use that information to improve your content strategy.
8. Adjust the Pricing
Price plays a huge part in the purchase process from the customer’s perspective. Even though everyone is looking for quality, not everyone can afford the same pricing level. As a business, you first need to figure out if you are offering luxurious products and services that cost a lot or if mid-range pricing makes the most sense for your target audience.
If you are following competitors with high prices, you cannot apply that to your business if your target customers are not willing or able to spend as much. A good example is the car industry. If you are selling family cars that focus on lower prices, there is no point in trying to match companies like Bentley, Ferrari, etc. on pricing.
However, it is crucial to know their prices when it comes to the competitors that work in the same range of pricing. That way, you can get a sense of how your pricing aligns with the market and adjust your pricing if needed to create a more attractive offer for the customers.
Follow Competitors on Social Media to Improve Your Business
If you want to improve your business, it’s important to follow competitors on social media. Keep in mind that they are doing the same thing. It’s a business race, and you cannot afford to fall behind. With that in mind, be diligent and persistent, and always be aware of your competitor’s marketing strategies.
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