3 Secrets for Using Your Competitors to Succeed in Social Media
Corporate espionage aside, there are some very easy secrets you could use today to leverage what your competition is doing in social media to get ahead yourself. I’m not talking illegal or even immoral things, but rather knowing which rocks to turn over to discover what others are doing in the market place.
For those of you who believe in keeping secrets at all costs and “protecting” your brand, you might want to cover your ears, because here’s the thing – if your brand doesn’t survive in wide open space with nothing protecting it, you probably won’t be in business long anyway.
It’s a sad sad truth – cover up and manipulative spin is quickly losing its power. Time to come out into the light of day, show and share, and grow.
So, in the spirit of being compassionate observers of the social space, let’s see what we can do to learn from others…
Secret #1 – Observe who they follow and do the same
Brands have a hard time hiding their motives, so you can pretty much rely on their behaviors to be ultimately self-serving. It’s easier, perhaps, for people to be tricky, but not so much for brands.
If a brand is following a certain demographic of social media fans, it’s because that group is valuable to them. It’s who is listening and reacting to their message – it’s their peeps. If you serve the same audience, they should be your peeps too.
Secret #2 – Notice who follows them and engage with those groups
This one seems obvious but I can’t tell you how many of my clients hadn’t done it until I suggested it. Any time you can get a pre-filtered demographic group to raise their hands as interested, you are halfway home to success. It’s a perfect laboratory of market research to notice what your competitors are doing with this group, see how they like to engage and be talked with, and emulate that. It’s a great big swimming pool – jump in and play!
Secret #3 – Watch what they say, how they say it, when they say it, and what they leave out
Observation is the great leveler. We can cuss and discuss all day the why of things, but often, behavior is the perfect answer. Notice what people do. Analyze your competitor’s social media stream – see what works for them, when they engage, who talks back to them,what they say, etc. You do NOT need to reinvent the wheel, so don’t.
Just like it’s smart to put a Burger King up on the corner opposite a McDonald’s, you should notice the competitors in your space that do great research, have a concerted and focused social media strategy, and follow their lead. (and then, of course kick their butts to the curb because we both know you are so going to be better than they are…duh…)
Tricky is Good – Easy is Better
As much as I adore a sexy James Bond story, for me, I’m busy – I have a huge to-do list to get done today. Any time I can leverage someone else’s research and strategy budget to accomplish my own goals, and do it ethically, I grab that chance. The above tips are something you could easily delegate off to a junior member of your team or some outsource hero at Fiverr.com and be better off for it tomorrow. So go, now, go do it!
[graphic by cdrummbks]
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This is a spot on article that shows that social media monitoring (SMM) is more important then ever and should not be left to a junior staffer. I always include SMM strategies with all my PR clients and make sure experienced people on the team are in charge of it. (Warning, shameless product promotion ahead). That is why I am starting Ensomo, a company solely based on providing Social Media Monitoring and Analysis. We should be launching the site next week with all the info, but feel free to contact me at steve@ensomo.com with any SMM questions.
Thanks,
Steve
@Steve, my suggestion re: using a junior staffer was to do the research of a competitor more than to service a client directly or even to interact with that competitor. For me, it’s more about being in alignment with the competitive landscape than the listening or being in charge of a campaign. Perhaps I am not fully understanding your meaning. I find that, for my staff and contractors, that the awareness of what our competitors are doing is a great lesson in marketing and tends to help them understand my USP better. And, of course, it gives them an eagle eye’s view of alternative ideas we can use too.
Best of success with your new venture – I’ll keep my eye peeled for your launch.
Vicki @Smartwoman Flaugher
Hi Vicki,
Sorry I missed your reply to my comment….and apparently the second to last line in your piece. Having a junior staffer monitor a brand’s social media pages, follow who they follow and even aggregate what they are (and are not saying) can be done by a junior staffer as long as they are given the time to get it done on a regular basis. For some brands this could be a daily task. My point is that the analysis of this data needs to be done by a more senior level employee as a part of a larger listening program on what is being said about the brand and its competitors across the entire social media universe. Here is a great article from Brian Solis on the importance of listening in order to find vital business intelligence that can be shared across the entire organization. http://bit.ly/n7f5rp
Again, apologies for taking so long to reply and for missing a key point in your post.
Steve
@Steve, we’re definitely on the same page, both about the need for senior level strategy involvement and the requirement for consistent monitoring and engagement (no matter who does it) for social. I’m a huge supporter of measurement in the digital space. As an SEO freak from before the days of Google (yes, there was a web before the Big G), I have been a metrics fan girl since even before social broke out. Frankly, most brand awareness marketing of old never even had a call to action, which to me is a lost opportunity big time. With the web, CTA’s are easy, fun to do (like a treasure hunt for yummy treats), and can really amplify results. Same with social media listening. If there would be anything I’d want someone entering social to understand is that it’s a chance to throw out the megaphone, put on your “I give a @^%$&^%$ about you” ears and have a conversation.
Thanks for returning and for commenting. I appreciate the engagement.
Vicki @Smartwoman Flaugher
Hello Vicki!
I am happy that in this crazy marketting world there is some SEO gurus in woman shape too!;) I wanted to say thanks for the article as it is bright and clean from the dust around!I always believed in success of spy stories and your way to do competition research reminds me of the apple of Eden! Sooo juicy and so pleasant when you find your competitor backlink somwhere hidden in goverment website
Anyway – a quick note about Fiverr – novadays it is become a monster and as any monster it is starting to dictate! There is plenty of hard rules now, people reffering about suspending accounts(basically stealing money) and more and more unhappy practice taking place! Also, a lot of people are not happy with just $4 dolar profit from the gig and that there is no possibility to change amount of what you are willing to do and what you are willing to earn. Thanks God there is plenty choices around and one of my favorite is this Job Centre The best feature there is you can earn for your gig until $50! Worth to look definitely.
Vicky, Thanks for your clean and reminding article again and see you around!
Regards,
Suzann
Ah, @Suzanne – flattery will get you everywhere. I appreciate your fun remarks – SEO is a great tool to integrate with social and I love sharing ideas about it. I”m a sucker for a great spy story too.
Thanks for the feedback re: Fiverr. I have friends who are quite happy with it, but you are certainly right – monsters can bite. We all have to step lightly and carefully when it comes to outsourcing out work. Please be sure to drop by again and thanks for the tip on Job Centre. I will check them out.
Vicki @Smartwoman Flaugher