Competition tracking is now an inevitable part of all social media plans. Brands and businesses need to keep a close watch on what their industry competitors are doing. Initially, competition analysis involved comparing basic metrics like the number of likes, followers, shares, and so on. However, the increase in the number of social media platforms and features has changed the process entirely. Competitor monitoring is also a part of the competition tracking process. Even with all the tools in place, competitor analysis requires time and effort.
The competition tracking tools can feed you with all the necessary data but the data can make sense only if it is decoded, analysed, and implemented in the right manner.
In most cases, marketers end up comparing data on a weekly, monthly, and yearly basis but fail to implement the findings into their strategies. In this blog, we will tell you about the most common mistakes marketers make in competition tracking and competitor analysis.
Evaluating your competitors is all about detecting the strengths and weaknesses of your competitors through the data. The metrics will help you figure where you lack in your social media marketing efforts.
The pointers below will tell you the errors you must avoid when carrying out this process of analysing competitors. Let’s begin.
Mistakes to Avoid In Competition Tracking
1. Not taking into account the competitors that matter
Direct competitors are easy to find and evaluate but marketers must keep an eye for indirect competitors too. The indirect competitors may not deal with the same products and services but might share a similar market or target audience. It is necessary to analyse this set of competitors too because they can pose a threat to your online reach and engagement. Likewise, only analysing and comparing established businesses in your niche is not enough. Look out for the new players in your industry and decode their social media strategies with the help of competition tracking.
2. Relying on a few common metrics
The data you get from competition tracking must be holistic. The data must give you a complete blueprint of how your competitors are faring on social media. Marketers often rely on a few common metrics and end up failing in their strategies. It is necessary to check all the metrics when conducting competitor analysis. Make sure you focus on all the metrics available and analyse all the aspects of the report carefully before coming to a conclusion.
3. Only focusing on numbers and not seeing the patterns
Competitor data analysis tells you more than just the number of followers and likes your rivals have. The data you get from competitor analysis shows you a lot of patterns in the performance of your competitors. Study the data closely to detect these patterns and implement relevant strategies to get the desired results. Marketers fail to read under the lines when they conduct competition tracking and this is because they do not analyse thoroughly. For instance, find out about their posting schedules, consistency on various social media platforms, the kind of content that gets them the most reach and engagement and so on. You are likely to find a pattern if you observe these metrics closely.
4. Comparing data manually without proper tools
Competition tracking requires time and effort and needs to be done systematically. Marketers often do not realise the importance of competition tracking tools and end up wasting time comparing basic metrics manually. Make sure you rely on proper tools for competition tracking because only then can you get detailed reports. Competition tracking tools like Unbox Social give you insights on audience demographics, share of voice, audience sentiment, and lots more. This data cannot be obtained from basic social media dashboards. The Unbox Social gives you a blueprint on how your competitors are performing on different social media platforms!
5. Not analysing the competitor’s data on a regular basis
Just like you maintain a calendar for posting content on social media, it is necessary to keep a schedule for analysis too. Marketers often fail to analyse their competitors for a long time and end up implementing strategies that have no outcome. More often than not they are surprised with the data after analysis! This is why it is important to analyse the competitor’s data on a regular basis to avoid errors in marketing plans.
6. Not taking into account audience segmentation and content tonality
Every brand has a different identity on social media. Even when you conduct competition tracking and analysis you must keep in mind that your rivals are not your identicals. There is bound to be some difference in metrics because of the content curation techniques, content posting schedules, audience selection and so on. This does not mean your strategies are entirely a fail. Give some room to these factors because they impact the overall metrics on a large scale.
7. Not implementing the findings in the right manner
Even with a dozen reports filled with data, marketers fail to come up with result-oriented strategies. Simply gathering the data from a tool is not enough. It is necessary to study the data and implement its findings in the strategies. Only when the data is analysed and implemented it will show results.
Hope you will remember these 7 mistakes when you conduct competition tracking for your brand/business. We have a few more blogs on competition tracking and analysis to help you. Check out!
[“source=unboxsocial”]
