How do you conduct a competitive analysis and a social media audit for your B2C marketing?
-
Kurtulus ArasanDriving Global Success with Direct EXIM and THEFOCUS: Your Partner in International Trade
-
Julia KinnerGrowth Strategy & Execution for B2C Digital Products & Services | Business Consultant | Interim CMO | "Consumer-Back"…
-
Sumitra B.Marketing Leader | Performance Marketing | Digital Growth | B2C & B2B
Before you start analyzing your competitors and their social media activities, you need to have a clear idea of what you want to achieve and how you will measure it. Your goals should be SMART: specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound. For example, you may want to increase your brand awareness, generate more leads, or boost your sales. Your metrics should be aligned with your goals and reflect the key performance indicators (KPIs) that matter for your business. For example, you may track your reach, impressions, engagement, conversions, or revenue.
-
When defining your strategy you need to keep in mind that ultimately you don't fight against your competitors. Your social media content fights against all the other content that your target group has in their feed. Think about how to create a unique style that fits your brand and stands out positively.
The next step is to find out who your main competitors are and what social media platforms they are using. You can use various methods to identify your competitors, such as searching for keywords related to your products or services, browsing industry directories or publications, or asking your customers or prospects. You should focus on the competitors that target the same or similar audience segments, offer similar or substitute products or services, or have a similar or higher market share or reputation. You should also check what social media platforms they are active on, how many followers they have, and what type of content they post.
-
As a B2C marketing expert, it's important to emphasize the significance of staying updated with the latest trends and emerging competitors in the market. The competitive landscape can evolve rapidly, so continuously monitoring and identifying new competitors is crucial for maintaining a competitive edge.
-
It's definitely a great idea to understand direct competitors, but you need to keep in mind that ultimately you are not necessarily fighting against your direct competitors. You fight against all other content, your target group has in their feed. Hence, your competitors are everyone 😊 You fight against all other content, your target group has in their feed.
Once you have a list of your competitors and their platforms, you need to dig deeper into their content and engagement strategies. You can use social media analytics, content audits, or sentiment analysis to analyze their content and engagement. You should search for patterns and trends in their content and engagement, such as the topics, themes, or formats they use; how frequently and consistently they post; how they communicate their value proposition and brand personality; how they interact with their followers; the tone, voice, or style they use; how they generate buzz, curiosity, or emotion; and how they encourage action, loyalty, or advocacy.
-
From a B2C marketing perspective, it's crucial to highlight the importance of identifying the emotional triggers and storytelling techniques employed by competitors. Emotional connection and compelling narratives play a significant role in B2C marketing, so understanding how competitors leverage these elements can inform your own strategy.
-
Try to figure out in general what is the content your audience finds most engaging. That's not necessarily direct competitors, but can be content from other areas as well. Ultimately, you compete against the content that your target audience has in their feed. Based on those insights, create a strategy that is appealing yet unique for your brand. Based on those insights, create a strategy that is appealing yet unique for your brand.
Based on your content and engagement analysis, you can evaluate your competitors' strengths and weaknesses by using a SWOT analysis. Ask yourself questions such as: what are they doing well and poorly, what are their unique selling points and competitive advantages, what are their gaps and challenges, what are their opportunities and threats, and how do they differ from you and how do you differ from them? This will help you organize your findings and compare them with your own performance.
After you have analyzed your competitors, you need to conduct a social media audit for your own brand. A social media audit is a systematic review of your current social media presence, performance, and goals. You can use a similar approach as you did for your competitors, but with more detail and accuracy. You should collect and analyze data on your platforms, content, engagement, metrics, and goals. You should also look for inconsistencies, errors, or issues that need to be fixed or improved.
-
As a B2C marketing expert, it's crucial to highlight the significance of aligning your brand's messaging and visual identity across different social media platforms. Consistency in branding elements, such as logos, colors, and tone, helps build brand recognition and reinforces the connection with your target audience.
The final step is to identify your action points and recommendations based on your competitive analysis and social media audit. You should create a plan that will help you achieve your goals and improve your performance, prioritizing the most important and urgent actions and assigning responsibilities and deadlines. Additionally, monitor and measure your progress and results, adjusting your plan as needed. Examples of action points and recommendations include optimizing profiles and bios to reflect your brand identity, creating a content calendar and posting schedule, experimenting with different content types, formats, and styles, engaging with followers and prospects to provide value, using hashtags, keywords, and tags to increase visibility, collaborating with influencers or customers to expand your network, running contests or promotions to generate excitement, and using analytics and feedback to track performance.
-
Once the SWOT and competitive analysis has been completed, its important to take a step back and evaluate the channel and tactic that would create maximum impact. For eg - some brands work best on Instagram while others benefit from TikTok. Its finding the social media mix that works which is crucial.
Rate this article
More relevant reading
-
B2B Marketing StrategyYou need to create a social media schedule for your B2B marketing campaign. What tools should you use?
-
B2B Marketing StrategyWhat role does social media play in B2B versus B2C marketing tactics?
-
MarketingHow can you find the most effective B2C marketing channels?
-
EntrepreneurshipWhat do you do if your new business needs effective marketing on a tight budget?