I have just read a very good article in the Social Media Examiner called How to Gain Competitive Insight with Social Media.
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This is a very interesting topic which not only highlights a) how you can research your competitors online, beyond Google, but also, b) gives some insight into what you can be doing online yourself, in order to be one step ahead of your competitors.
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The further advantage is that you can research what people in your industry are doing in other territories of the world – this can also give you a competitive edge for your local business ahead of others. Great stuff !
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The article gives some good tips of researching competitors – have a read of the article to find out how to do the following indepth research. There are also references and links to some good online tools you can use:
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- Find your competitors using Twitter search directories such as Twellow
- View their latest Tweets to ascertain their strategy
- Look at their Follower list to see their clients
- Check out their Replies to see feedback they are receiving
- See what content is most popular
- Find your competitors using Facebook Search
- View their Fan Page to find out what they are doing which will highlight their Strategy
- See what “fans” like the most by the interaction on the Wall
- Look at their Favourite Pages
LinkedIn Company Pages
- Find your competitors using the search box
- Browse the companies Followers
- View information about their Employees
- View their activity on LinkedIn to see what they are doing to gain new followers
Other Social Media
- YouTube
- Social Mention
- Location-based social media
and much more.
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Do you use Social Media to research your industry and your competitors?
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