Monitor competitor activity from "summary" of A Survival Guide to Social Media and Web 2.0 Optimization by Deltina Hay
It is vital to keep an eye on the activities of your competitors in order to stay ahead in the market. Knowing what your rivals are up to, as well as their strategies, can help you make better decisions for your own business.- Regularly tracking competitor activity can keep your business in the loop. It gives insight into what is working for the competition as well as areas of opportunity for you to stay ahead of them.
- Pay attention to how often competitors are updating content, new products or services and changes in their strategic plans or tactics. Knowing this information will give you an edge when developing a plan to progress yourself.
- Become familiar with how your competitor's pricing stacks up to yours. Evaluating competitive offerings at regular intervals will keep you updated with the latest market conditions and allow you to implement new pricing models as needed.
- Utilize analytics platforms to monitor mentions of your competitors online, especially word-of-mouth comments that could influence potential buyers in the future. Keeping note of negative sentiment and engaging with any issues raised is an effective way to make sure your brand stays out of harm’s way.
- Monitor competitors' engagement with their customers across all social networks to understand their level of service. Doing so can help you modify your own efforts to ensure your solutions remain one step ahead.
- Keep an eye on which keywords lead customers to your competitors rather than your products or services. By examining this data, you can adjust your SEO strategies to get more traffic from niche search terms where your competition may lack visibility.
- Make use of mapping tools like Google Adwords to track who is running sponsored ads around similar topics, industries or locations as your products and services. This data could give you ideas to replicate successful campaigns and create greater reach on channels like Google Ads.
- When relevant, compare customer loyalty programs operated by your competitors and assess if your solution measures up. This type of analysis lets you identify gaps in customer protection and dig into what others do differently that sets them above those found in your marketplace.
