Outperform your competitors on social media

By doing a competitor analysis on social media, you can better evaluate your own brand’s performance. Through social media benchmarking, you’ll be able to see if your social strategies are more effective than your competitors, identify areas of improvement, get content ideas, and better understand and predict industry trends.

Competitive benchmarking can be performed at a platform level and across multiple channels, which is recommended for a more accurate perspective of the social media landscape.

To simplify competitor research, you can use a social media competitive analysis tool like Socialinsider, which offers social media industry benchmarks besides competitive insights.

When doing a social media competitive analysis it’s important to start with the most relevant metrics for your brand. Usually, KPIs like engagement, number of fans, or top posts are important to track.

A more in-depth look at competitive social media analytics is helpful in identifying your competitor’s social media strategies, given that a limited series of metrics monitored may not always offer the most accurate insights since different brands can have different objectives.

1. Define Objectives

Clarify whether you aim to improve engagement, increase followers, or analyze content trends. This determines which metrics (e.g., engagement rate, follower growth) to prioritize.

2. Identify Competitors

Select 5–10 competitors using tools like Google Search, industry reports, or social listening platforms. Include both direct and indirect competitors.

3. Collect Data

Track these metrics for each competitor:

- Platform presence: Which networks they use most actively.
- Content strategy: Post types (videos, carousels), frequency, and themes.
- Engagement: Likes, comments, shares, and sentiment analysis.
- Audience demographics: Age, location, and interests.

4. Analyze Performance

Compare competitors’ strengths (e.g., viral video campaigns) and weaknesses (e.g., low response rates to comments). Identify patterns in their top-performing content. Social media analytics platforms like Socialinsider are especially helpful for this step.

5. Create a SWOT Framework

Summarize findings using:

- Strengths: What competitors do well (e.g., high-quality tutorials).
- Weaknesses: Gaps in their strategy (e.g., inconsistent posting).
- Opportunities: Trends they haven’t capitalized on (e.g., TikTok Reels).
- Threats: Their advantages over your brand (e.g., larger influencer partnerships).

6. Generate Recommendations

Propose actionable steps based on insights, such as adopting successful content formats or posting at optimal times identified in competitor analysis.

7. Report Template

Use a structured format:

- Executive summary
- Competitor profiles
- Metrics comparison charts
- SWOT analysis
- Strategic action plan.

A competitor analysis report requires structured data collection, SWOT analysis, and clear strategic recommendations. Native app analytics provide basic insights, but for comprehensive analyses, you'll need a dedicated third-party social media analytics app like Socialinsider that offers historical data beyond the usual 30-day limit, as well as advanced benchmarking.

Social media plays a central role in competitive intelligence (CI) because it’s a massive, real-time data source that reveals competitors’ strategies, audience reactions, and industry trends — often faster than traditional channels.

- Trend spotting: Viral posts or sudden spikes in engagement can signal emerging market shifts.

- Performance metrics: Engagement rates, share of voice, follower growth, and ad spend estimates help benchmark your position.

- Public feedback loop: Social comments, reviews, and user-generated content reveal how customers perceive competitors.

- Ad libraries: Platforms like Facebook Ad Library and TikTok Creative Center let you see live and historical ads from competitors.

- Partnership spotting: Monitoring tagged posts, mentions, and influencer collaborations reveals competitor alliances.

Bottom line: Social media isn’t just a marketing channel, it’s a living database of competitor moves, customer sentiment, and market shifts. When monitored systematically, it transforms from a promotional tool into a strategic early-warning system for decision-making.