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Planning for 2023 – Researching the Competition

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Planning for 2023 – Defining Your Brand and Content Mission

As we lead into 2023, we’ve put together a new series of guides on key digital strategy elements, to help you map out the best approach for your business – or just to give you some pointers to refine your process.

In the first two elements, we covered:

This third post will explore the next stage – researching your competitors to better understand your business landscape, and learn from what they’re already doing in their digital marketing efforts.

Which, inevitably, does take time – but there are some new tools and tricks available to help you streamline your competitor research process.

Studying the competition

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In order to examine what your key competitors are doing online, you first need to know who they are, and how to find their various profiles.

Which generally means Google search, search on each social app, etc.

But ChatGPT streamlines this:

As you can see in this video from Andy Gray, you can use ChatGPT to generate a listing of the key competitors in your region, including links to all of their social media handles for your further examination. Copy that list across to Excel and you have a solid starting point for your competitor study, where you can glean more info into what they’re doing right and wrong online.

From there, however, you do still need to do some manual digging.

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First, you’ll want to list how many followers they have on each platform, so you understand which brands are performing best on each, and you have at least some benchmark for relative success. You can use Facebook’s comparison data within your Facebook Page to glean some of this (which LinkedIn now also provides), but you’ll likely need to click through on each profile to get the full numbers you want.

Also note that ChatGPT’s data doesn’t go past 2021 at this stage, so a newer competitor could have emerged too. A quick Google search of your niche and region could help to augment your data, while you might also want to conduct the same search on each social platform, depending on your business.

Digging deeper, you may also want to find out how many Likes each brand generates per post, how many comments, etc.

There are various tools you can use to access this type of data, but some are pricey, and if you’re looking to save money, you could manually sample a selection of their posts to get similar insight.

But if you have the resources available:

  • BuzzSumo – BuzzSumo has, at times, proven to be a critical tool for me in researching the competition, and gleaning insight into content trends, platform performance, and more. It’s not cheap, but it’s worth the investment if you’re serious about maximizing your content performance.
  • Fanpage Karma – Fanpage Karma enables you to dig deeper into the performance of any Facebook Page, with advanced data insights to help inform your strategy.
  • Followerwonk – A highly underrated Twitter analytics tool. Followerwonk includes a range of analysis elements, which enables you to dig into who’s following your competition, what time they see the most engagement, where their followers are based, bio keywords of their audience, and more.
  • Social Blade – Social Blade provides platform performance insights for YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Twitch, Facebook, Twitter and more, and can be great for growth analysis, in particular, and seeing when and how users add more users
  • Crowdtangle – This is likely a bit harder to access, but Meta’s analysis tool, which is primarily aimed at journalists, enables you to analyze any Facebook or Instagram profile, and glean insight into what they’re posting, what kind of engagement they’re seeing, keyword monitoring, and more.

Some of these tools have free trials available, which will give you some perspective on how they work, and whether they’ll suit your purpose.

In addition to this, you can also use Facebook’s Ads Library to analyze the advertising approach of any brand, along with TikTok’s ‘Top Ads’ mini-site, which includes a listing of the best-performing promotions by sector.

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Pinterest’s top trends tool also enables you to search the platform by keyword, which will highlight some of the top performers in your sector and region.

Pinterest Trends

Analyzing the data

Once you’ve collected all the raw data, you can dig into the specifics.

Which brand is getting the most Likes per post? That could indicate that they’re doing something right.

Which has the biggest audience in each app? Which is generating the most comments and discussion?

Each element will have its own value and relevance, and you can learn a lot from what’s working – while also avoiding the missteps of those that are not generating engagement.

Take note of their use of video versus still images, the use of short video clips and animation, memes, quotes, poll posts – and importantly, how often they’re engaging with users in the comments.

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You’ll also be able to compare how often they’re posting, and when, which could be another indicator for your approach.

At the end of this, you’ll have a clearer vision of what your competitors are doing, and how they’re seeing success, which will then help to refine your own posting process, while also highlighting which platforms should be your focus.

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Snapchat Explores New Messaging Retention Feature: A Game-Changer or Risky Move?

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Snapchat Explores New Messaging Retention Feature: A Game-Changer or Risky Move?

In a recent announcement, Snapchat revealed a groundbreaking update that challenges its traditional design ethos. The platform is experimenting with an option that allows users to defy the 24-hour auto-delete rule, a feature synonymous with Snapchat’s ephemeral messaging model.

The proposed change aims to introduce a “Never delete” option in messaging retention settings, aligning Snapchat more closely with conventional messaging apps. While this move may blur Snapchat’s distinctive selling point, Snap appears convinced of its necessity.

According to Snap, the decision stems from user feedback and a commitment to innovation based on user needs. The company aims to provide greater flexibility and control over conversations, catering to the preferences of its community.

Currently undergoing trials in select markets, the new feature empowers users to adjust retention settings on a conversation-by-conversation basis. Flexibility remains paramount, with participants able to modify settings within chats and receive in-chat notifications to ensure transparency.

Snapchat underscores that the default auto-delete feature will persist, reinforcing its design philosophy centered on ephemerality. However, with the app gaining traction as a primary messaging platform, the option offers users a means to preserve longer chat histories.

The update marks a pivotal moment for Snapchat, renowned for its disappearing message premise, especially popular among younger demographics. Retaining this focus has been pivotal to Snapchat’s identity, but the shift suggests a broader strategy aimed at diversifying its user base.

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This strategy may appeal particularly to older demographics, potentially extending Snapchat’s relevance as users age. By emulating features of conventional messaging platforms, Snapchat seeks to enhance its appeal and broaden its reach.

Yet, the introduction of message retention poses questions about Snapchat’s uniqueness. While addressing user demands, the risk of diluting Snapchat’s distinctiveness looms large.

As Snapchat ventures into uncharted territory, the outcome of this experiment remains uncertain. Will message retention propel Snapchat to new heights, or will it compromise the platform’s uniqueness?

Only time will tell.

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Catering to specific audience boosts your business, says accountant turned coach

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Catering to specific audience boosts your business, says accountant turned coach

While it is tempting to try to appeal to a broad audience, the founder of alcohol-free coaching service Just the Tonic, Sandra Parker, believes the best thing you can do for your business is focus on your niche. Here’s how she did just that.

When running a business, reaching out to as many clients as possible can be tempting. But it also risks making your marketing “too generic,” warns Sandra Parker, the founder of Just The Tonic Coaching.

“From the very start of my business, I knew exactly who I could help and who I couldn’t,” Parker told My Biggest Lessons.

Parker struggled with alcohol dependence as a young professional. Today, her business targets high-achieving individuals who face challenges similar to those she had early in her career.

“I understand their frustrations, I understand their fears, and I understand their coping mechanisms and the stories they’re telling themselves,” Parker said. “Because of that, I’m able to market very effectively, to speak in a language that they understand, and am able to reach them.” 

“I believe that it’s really important that you know exactly who your customer or your client is, and you target them, and you resist the temptation to make your marketing too generic to try and reach everyone,” she explained.

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“If you speak specifically to your target clients, you will reach them, and I believe that’s the way that you’re going to be more successful.

Watch the video for more of Sandra Parker’s biggest lessons.

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Instagram Tests Live-Stream Games to Enhance Engagement

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Instagram Tests Live-Stream Games to Enhance Engagement

Instagram’s testing out some new options to help spice up your live-streams in the app, with some live broadcasters now able to select a game that they can play with viewers in-stream.

As you can see in these example screens, posted by Ahmed Ghanem, some creators now have the option to play either “This or That”, a question and answer prompt that you can share with your viewers, or “Trivia”, to generate more engagement within your IG live-streams.

That could be a simple way to spark more conversation and interaction, which could then lead into further engagement opportunities from your live audience.

Meta’s been exploring more ways to make live-streaming a bigger consideration for IG creators, with a view to live-streams potentially catching on with more users.

That includes the gradual expansion of its “Stars” live-stream donation program, giving more creators in more regions a means to accept donations from live-stream viewers, while back in December, Instagram also added some new options to make it easier to go live using third-party tools via desktop PCs.

Live streaming has been a major shift in China, where shopping live-streams, in particular, have led to massive opportunities for streaming platforms. They haven’t caught on in the same way in Western regions, but as TikTok and YouTube look to push live-stream adoption, there is still a chance that they will become a much bigger element in future.

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Which is why IG is also trying to stay in touch, and add more ways for its creators to engage via streams. Live-stream games is another element within this, which could make this a better community-building, and potentially sales-driving option.

We’ve asked Instagram for more information on this test, and we’ll update this post if/when we hear back.

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