Outsmarting the Competition with Social Media

We’ve previously discussed how if you’re not using social media, you’re missing out on an amazing opportunity to connect with your audience and establish your brand. Now let’s take it a step further. Social media isn’t just the voice of your company, it’s the voice of your competitors as well.

Silence kills businesses. Chances are, your competitors and other industry professionals are already on social and are making those connections and building relationships that we’ve encouraged you to do. The longer you’re off social media, the more your voice is silenced in the conversation and the your chances of converting that vast pool of potential leads becomes even more slight. Don’t let your competitors steal your audience away from you simply by not being present. Maintaining social media can be tough work, but not participating at all puts your lead generation and visibility at even more of an uphill challenge. Setting aside time to jump on Facebook or Twitter to engage with your audience is going to save you a lot of hurt down the road.

If you’re coming in late to the game, all is not lost. There are still ways you can leverage social media and even outsmart your competition at their own game. Here’s how to start.

Follow Your Competitors

Whether it’s building a Twitter list or following your competitors accounts on Facebook, observing your competitors is one of the biggest advantages you can give yourself. Start by outlining who you see as your biggest competition in a variety of verticals. Find their accounts and keep track of their engagements. Tools like SproutSocial can do a lot of this for you and even give you metrics on the metrics of accounts you specify. Make it a part of your daily or weekly routine to see what your competition is posting.

Learn From Their Mistakes and Successes

By observing, you have the priceless opportunity to study their moves. What are they doing that’s working? What are they doing that’s not? Since your audiences crossover, you’ll be able to tell what’s resonating and apply those concepts to your own posts and content calendar. Look for posts that get both high and low engagements – meaning comments, likes, and shares. This takes the burden of trial and error partially off your plate. Don’t simply replicate their content, but take note of the concepts and ideas that clearly can be beneficial to you as you broaden your social reach.

Become the Thought Leader of Your Industry

When you combine the previous two concepts, you’re priming yourself for thought leadership. Social media gives you some of the best audience research you could ever ask for and these ideas let your competitors do it for you. Start building your voice and the content you share around what you know will work. You’ll be able to be more authoritative and bold with your posts and your audience will take notice.

Need some help learning how to navigate observing your competition and creating content your audience wants to see on their news feeds? We can help. N2Q’s social media team are experts in this field and can guide you to thought leadership. Don’t be silent anymore – be smart and vigilant and take full advantage of what social media has to offer.