It's difficult to know where to begin when developing a business social media strategy.  Even if you have an initial strategy, chances are it has become stale. In an industry that experiences incessant change, it's important to consistently refresh your social content as well as your social tactics.  As a microcosm of the general marketplace, analyzing your competitor's strategies can provide crucial insight for your own.

6 Ways to Assess Your Social Media Competition:

1. Platform Choice: Firstly, what social media platform sites are your competition using? Chances are, depending on your industry, customers are looming on one platform far more often than another. Are most of your competition gaining the best presence on their business LinkedIn profile? If so, it's probably because they have determined that LinkedIn is the place where potential customers are listening most.
2. Keywords: Using the best keywords will help customers find you, and that is the ultimate goal with any Internet marketing strategy. Analyze which keywords your competitors are using; they may not all be appropriate, but they will give you a good starting point for compiling the best list of keywords for your own company.
3. Ranking: View how major ranking engines are evaluating competing sites using a tool such as Alexa
4. Partnerships: If done correctly, business partnerships share a general outlook on their customers. By evaluating who your competition partners with, it will provide you with a lens to see how your competition views their target audience.
5. Customer Service: How is your competition interacting with their audience, if at all? If they are consistently providing customer support and resources, follow in their footsteps. If this is a facet of social media they are currently missing out on, this can be a great distinguishing characteristic for your own social media efforts in order to give you a competitive edge.
6. Qualitative Information: What content does your competition deem most important to share and create? Better yet, what content is gaining the most audience interaction (ie: retweets, mentions, comments, etc).  See what information your target audience is finding most valuable, and refine your own content strategy.

Remember, copying exactly what your competition is currently doing on social media won't get you too far.  Instead, focus on creating a fusion of your own unique tactics as well as any proven tactics you find have been successful for similar businesses within your industry. As always, remain true to your unique business voice and brand. Ultimately, this is what will allow you to not only gain loyal followers but also-more importantly-loyal customers. For a full consultation on your own business social media strategy, contact a professional at Blue Archer.

Carla Rosemarino

Internet Marketing Analyst

@BlueArcherPGH