Why You Should Like Your Competitors
The easy way to learn more about your competitors is to like them. Not in a “let’s invite them over for dinner” kind of way, but in a friend/follow/like kind of way. We know you’re busy, but here are some quick things to do to keep on top of what your competitors are doing:
1. Like Them on Facebook
See what they’re doing. Follow their comings and goings on the world’s largest social network. Pay attention to who follows them, ad campaigns they might be running, and the messaging and offers used in their invitations and calls to action. You obviously won’t be able to learn the conversion rates of your competitors’ Facebook ads (unless you date someone working at Facebook!), but you will learn a lot through observation.
2. Follow Them on Twitter, Google+ and Others
Learn what they think is important, what they’re talking about, and who is following them. What kind of content are they creating and promoting? What keywords are they obviously focusing on?
3. Subscribe to Google News Alerts
This one is pretty easy to do. Visit Google Alerts and create an alert for your competitor by using their name and brands. You’ll receive emailed alerts of the Google web and news search results based on your queries.
4. Read Their User Reviews
If your industry is the type that generates or solicits user or customer reviews, (think Angie’s List, Yelp, Google, Amazon, etc.), make sure you visit your competitors’ pages and see what people are saying. With the caveat that user reviews can be fake or just slightly untrue, you can still get a feel for what people think.
5. Subscribe to Everything They Publish
Whether it’s a monthly email, a quarterly report, or product webinars, etc., if they are publishing content, you want to get your hands on it. Same thing applies if you attend or exhibit at trade shows or conferences where they are. Grab their product literature and product samples.
These are some easy “like and follow and learn” kinds of research activities. There are also many, many tools you can use for free or subscribe to for a small monthly fee. Here are two of the most popular tools:
6. Hootsuite
Hootsuite is a very poplar platform for managing social media activities. It’s most often used by companies to manage their own social campaigns. This doesn’t prevent you, however, from using its analytics, tracking and monitoring features to learn what your competitors are doing on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn, etc.
7. Hubspot’s Marketing Grader
Hubspot’s a provider of marketing automation services that’s grown very fast in the past five years, due in part to the popularity of its free automated website analysis offering called WebsiteGrader. In the past year, WebsiteGrader was rebadged as MarketingGrader but the premise remains unchanged. Although the MarketingGrader functionality appears a little thin compared to what its predecessor offered, it is still worth adding your main competitor’s domain into the field, and reviewing the analysis and recommendations.
How to Find the Time to Follow Your Competitors
These are just some of the ways you can easily learn more about your competitors. The bigger challenge for you, however, may be to find the time.
If you personally don’t have the time, an easy way to find someone who can is to contact a local college with a communications department. Find a rising sophomore or junior who is looking for an internship. Research is an inseparable component of communications, so you will be providing them with a learning opportunity that is probably much more valuable in terms of post-graduation employment than writing for the college newspaper.
If the school operates a formal internship program that undergrads are required to complete prior to graduation, then you’ve found yourself a candidate pool. Choose a smart and eager student to help you learn more about your competitors. It isn’t hard.
