Developing a social media strategy is one of the most difficult aspects of online marketing for many companies. The process of formulating a plan, from social profile creation to content strategy, can be intimidating. You want to use data as the basis for your strategy, but it’s a lot of work to put everything together.

Luckily, you don’t have to start from scratch with your company. Examining the social content strategy of a competitor is likely to yield useful insights. This article will discuss methods for researching rival businesses so that you can incorporate their successful social media strategies into your own.

The first thing you should do is study the social media tactics

To begin developing a winning social media strategy, you must first identify your rivals. You should look for companies that are comparable to your own, but you shouldn’t restrict your research to businesses of a certain size. If you run a local marketing firm, for instance, you should consider the competition from both larger firms and their smaller counterparts. Both large and small marketing firms frequently target the same demographics.

Examining the profiles of the competition is the next step

Strong social media profiles and pages are the foundation of any successful social media campaign. Reviewing these aspects will give you insight into the social media infrastructures of your competitors.

How do competing businesses phrase themselves in their social media profiles?

It’s important to convey the essence of your business in fewer than 200 characters, as that’s how many people are likely to read your About Us section on a first visit. Examine what rival businesses are saying about themselves, paying close attention to the kinds of keywords they use. No matter what your rivals are doing, you should always include your URL in the description to maximise exposure on social media. As the URL in your profile is not visible in certain parts of the site (such as search results), this strategy is especially effective on Twitter and Instagram.

Where can I find examples of the images your competitors are using?

Your brand’s story can be told through images. Photos have always played a significant role in social media, but now native video can be shared on any platform.

To a large extent, your social media identity will be defined by the images you post. Examine the visual branding strategies of your rivals and draw inspiration for your own profiles. All of your rivals’ social media image and video uploads will be displayed in a single grid in Rival IQ. You can sort social media posts in the grid view by engagement rate, total engagement, content type (photo, video, etc.), or competitor (to spot branding patterns, campaigns, etc.). Successful social media campaigns rely heavily on the use of high-quality visuals.

In the third step, you’ll examine the content and social media approaches taken by your rivals.

After polishing off your profile, it’s time to get to work on some content for your social media updates. We’ve compiled some notes on how your rivals are using social media that you can use to improve your own approach.

Do rivals promote their own articles and those of related news outlets and blogs?

There are many ways in which companies can benefit from using social media. To keep their followers up-to-date on what’s happening in their field, some people use social media to regularly post links to relevant articles. It’s possible that they’re using a combination of original and sourced material for the content. If your rivals are posting a wide variety of updates, analyse the ones that get the most attention (comments, likes, shares, etc.) to determine the best strategy for your own company.
Does the content of your rivals’ updates include photos, videos, or other forms of media?

Facebook videos get the most interaction, and native video sharing on other networks helps maintain and expand your following. Check out the success of similar media-type enriched updates made by competitors to see if they would appeal to your intended audience.
When do your rivals typically update their pages, and how often? When will they finally get engaged?

Timing is essential for social media posts. In order to reach your target demographic where they spend their time online, you should schedule your posts for those times. If you want to reach customers all over the world, you may need to test different times of day to see how well they perform.

As a group, how often do your rivals talk to one another?

The social media platforms do not function as a monologue. Competitors who are actively engaging with their followers and fans will likely outperform those who aren’t. Your competitors may or may not be actively engaging with their respective social media audiences, but you should make it a priority to do so by responding to mentions and direct messages on Twitter, comments on your Facebook wall and Instagram feed, and comments on posts within LinkedIn groups.

Keeping an eye on the alterations made by your rivals is essential.

Even though you will learn a great deal from your preliminary research into the competition, it is important to keep tabs on them on a regular basis to detect any shifts in strategy. Using Rival IQ, you can see at a glance when a competitor’s strategy for using social media shifts, as well as how that shift affects their results across the most popular platforms.

You can also monitor when specific aspects of your competitors’ social media profiles, like profile pictures and bios, are updated.