How to conduct a competitor analysis: instructions
Competitor analysis is one of the initial steps for a company that has decided to enter the market. Its importance is reflected not only in the construction of general business principles but also in the specifics of product promotion, communication with the target audience, and the choice of advertising channels. Studying how your competitors operate helps to understand pricing, demand dynamics, and other important points.
There are several steps on how to do a competitor analysis through social media. The first step is to find companies that work with you in the same market. There are several ways to do this:
- By hand. In the social network search, you enter a key phrase, which is used to produce pages. The optimal solution would be to search for several phrases, so you can cover a larger list of companies.
- Parser. There are special services that search for keywords and carry out the selection of the necessary pages. This process is automated, which means it takes less time. In this case, you can use the parser not by keyword, but by status.
The second step is to study the page of competitors on social networks. In this way, it is possible to determine what important points for promotion the companies highlight, and how they position themselves in the market. In this case, the competitive analysis will also help to determine the offers, which are used, which can be used for competitive positioning.
It is important to pay attention to the design of social media – the status of the company, and its main messages. Often a business will anchor a post describing its activities. It may contain information about the services or products provided, benefits, and a unique selling proposition. Such information will help create their own similar publications, but with their own features highlighted.
Competitor keyword analysis allows you to determine the priority products, and search queries, which are promoted by the competitor in advertising campaigns.
It is also important to track the presence of additional functionality on the landing page, such as various widgets. Pay attention to whether there are menus with sections, and what warming tools are used. There may be chatbots, questionnaires, and the ability to arrange a newsletter.
Separate attention should be paid to the style of design, with the right approach, it causes confidence in the company, and increases its recognition. This, too, should be taken into account when designing your own page.
Content plays an important role in competitor benchmarking. Which type of publication gathers more reactions from users – video, photo, or text? How often do users comment on posts? All these features should be taken into consideration in order to create your own content plan in the most effective way.Do not forget about the analysis of your competitors’ target audience, in its majority it should coincide with yours, but there may be some differences. Understanding these differences will allow you to develop a plan on how to influence such users and determine whether they will become potential customers for you.
