14 Social Media Tools for Monitoring Competitor Activity

In a world where staying ahead of the competition is paramount, discovering the most effective social media tools for monitoring competitors can make all the difference. Insights from a VP of Market Operations and a CEO reveal the top strategies professionals use. The first expert highlights the comprehensive capabilities of Klue, while the final expert recommends analyzing competitors through Facebook Ad Library. With fourteen expert insights in total, this article provides a thorough overview of the best tools available.

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Use Klue for Comprehensive Competitor Insights

We use Klue for this. We like that it draws from data sources all over the web and goes well beyond specific social media platforms. This helps us learn much more about our competitors, including the ones we don’t even know about yet. It’s especially useful to us in our growth strategy. We’re taking it one local market at a time, and Klue helps us learn about local competitors before we enter a market.

Nick Valentino, VP of Market Operations, Bellhop

Monitor Competitors with Instagram

I’ve really come to see Instagram as a fantastic tool for keeping an eye on what our competitors are up to. The platform’s visual focus lets me check out how they showcase their brands and connect with their followers. Digging into their posts and stories, I can pick up on their content strategies and discover which visuals seem to grab the most attention.

What’s even more insightful are the comments and interactions—this gives me a peek into how audiences feel about their brands, which helps us gauge market trends. Using Instagram not only helps us spot industry trends but also sparks new ideas for our own content. Overall, it’s become a vital part of our strategy for staying in tune with what competitors are doing and improving our marketing game.

Michael A. Monette, Founder, Office Furniture Plus

Combine Sprinklr and Hootsuite

I’ve actually found a combination of Sprinklr and Hootsuite works best for different aspects of competitor monitoring in the SEO-service space. Sprinklr helps us track larger industry movements and brand sentiment, while Hootsuite’s more focused features help us monitor specific competitors’ content strategies and engagement rates. I especially appreciate how these tools helped us identify gaps in the market when we were expanding our service offerings last year.

Joe Davies, CEO, FATJOE

Track Competitors Using BuzzSumo

I find BuzzSumo to be one of the most helpful tools for monitoring competitor activity on social media. It allows us to track what content is performing well across different platforms, giving insights into our competitors’ strategies and audience engagement levels. With BuzzSumo, I can easily analyze the types of content that resonate with audiences, including shares and backlinks, which helps us refine our own content strategy.

Additionally, the tool provides alerts for specific keywords and competitor mentions, so we can stay informed about any significant changes or trending topics in our industry. This level of insight not only keeps us competitive but also inspires new ideas for our content and campaigns. Overall, BuzzSumo has been invaluable for staying ahead of the curve and understanding what works for our competitors.

Darryl Stevens, CEO, Digitech Web Design

Optimize Strategies with SocialInsider

SocialInsider helps us optimize our social media marketing strategies by analyzing competitor activities. Its intuitive dashboard displays deeper insight into competitors’ digital strategies on various social media platforms, including Facebook and Instagram (the most popular platforms for promotion and marketing).

We can add unlimited competitors’ profiles to monitor, compare, and analyze based on in-depth analytics, including historical data. For instance, before crafting our social media marketing campaigns, SocialInsider showed how our competitors’ social content performed. So, we designed our strategies according to competitor metrics and analytics, seeing what’s trending.

With these valuable insights, marketers can make better business decisions. Its cost-effective plans, which start from $99/month onwards, make it easy for small-business owners like us to maximize our marketing efforts within budget.

Soubhik Chakrabarti, CEO, Canada Hustle

Use Sprout Social for Competitor Analysis

I use Sprout Social to keep an eye on my competitors on social media. This tool provides all the analytics I need to see what they’re up to—from the types of content they post to how their audience engages with them. Understanding these aspects is important to knowing what grabs the attention of my target market.

With Sprout Social, I don’t just observe what’s happening; I talk about it. I track keywords, hashtags, and even the conversations my competitors are having. This helps me spot industry trends and show opportunities I might otherwise miss. The platform’s dashboard is super useful, too. It allows me to compare my brand’s performance directly against competitors, which makes it easier to change my strategies on the fly.

For any small business aiming to grow, keeping tabs on competitors is a must to stay competitive on social media.

Amy Jam, Founder, Amy Jam

Track Competitors with Brand24

I’ve found Brand24 to be incredibly helpful for tracking how other plastic surgery practices present themselves on social media. Last month, it helped me spot a trending minimally invasive procedure that was getting lots of positive engagement, which I shared with my surgeon clients. I especially like how it lets me monitor patient sentiment across different platforms, helping me understand what potential clients are saying about various procedures and practices.

Josiah Lipsmeyer, Founder, Plasthetix

Monitor Competitors with Keyhole

I’ve found Keyhole absolutely essential for tracking our digital-marketing competitors, especially since it lets me keep tabs on their hashtag performance and content engagement in real time. After trying several tools, I love how it helps me spot trending topics our competitors are leveraging, which has helped us jump on opportunities before they become oversaturated.

Charlie Clark, Public Speaker and Founder, Minty Digital

Use LinkedIn Sales Navigator

LinkedIn Sales Navigator proves invaluable for tracking luxury event industry developments. This platform enables monitoring of service innovations and market positioning while maintaining professional standards. Through serving Fortune 500 clients, we’ve found this tool provides the most relevant competitive insights for premium event-staffing operations.

Daniel Meursing, Founder/CEO/CFO, Premier Staff

Track Competitors with Google Alerts

I find Google Alerts invaluable for monitoring competitor activity on social media. It provides real-time updates when competitors are mentioned online, allowing me to analyze the context and sentiment.

For instance, I’ve used it to track law firms’ online presence. This helps in understanding their engagement tactics and aligning my PPC campaigns accordingly, as seen with cases in Savannah and Seattle.

Additionally, Google Alerts’ simplicity and integration with other Google services allow me to stay updated with minimal effort, which is crucial in industries like digital marketing.

Robert Portillo, CEO, and Founder, 12 Adaptive Marketing

Monitor Competitors via Hootsuite

Hootsuite has been a game-changer for us when it comes to monitoring competitor activity. With its comprehensive analytics and ability to track multiple social media platforms, it gives us a clear picture of what our competitors are up to. I’ve leveraged Hootsuite to analyze competitor post frequency and engagement levels, which helped us adjust our content strategy accordingly.

In one case, while working with an e-commerce client, we spotted a competitor ramping up their Instagram Reels strategy. By analyzing their engagement metrics, we realized our client needed to amplify their video content, leading to a 30% increase in reach over two months. It’s all about spotting patterns and staying a step ahead.

Kerry Anderson, Co-Founder, RankingCo

Use Rival IQ for Practical Data

After trying several tools, I’ve settled on Rival IQ for keeping tabs on our clients’ competitors because it gives us really practical, actionable data. Just last week, we used it to help a local coffee-shop client understand why their competitor’s Instagram posts were getting double the engagement—turns out, posting at 7 a.m. instead of noon made a huge difference. I appreciate how it breaks down the analytics into easy-to-understand reports that even my less tech-savvy clients can grasp.

Kevin Pike, President, Rankfuse

Monitor Competitors with SEMrush

When it comes to monitoring competitor activity, I find SEMrush particularly effective. Its comprehensive suite of tools allows me to analyze competitors’ SEO strategies, PPC campaigns, and content marketing performance. SEMrush helped us identify a competitor’s keyword strategy that was leading to increased engagement. We used this insight to adjust our own SEO approach, resulting in a 20% boost in organic traffic.

Another feature I appreciate is SEMrush’s ability to track competitors’ social media presence. This helped us understand how similar companies were engaging their audience and which content formats performed best. For example, noticing a competitor’s success with video content inspired us to launch our own series of engaging, visually-driven posts, leading to a significant increase in our own social media engagement.

Incorporating data-driven insights from SEMrush not only allows us to monitor competitors but also proactively refine our strategies. This approach has been crucial in maintaining our competitive edge in the luxury transport market.

Ghita Skalante, Social Media Analyst, Windsor International Limo Inc

Analyze Competitors with Facebook Ad Library

As an e-commerce business, we find the Facebook Ad Library to be an invaluable tool for monitoring competitor activity. It allows us to see what other brands are doing well or poorly, providing insights and inspiration for our own campaigns.

We don’t limit our observations to direct competitors, either. We keep an eye on a variety of brands, even those outside our niche, for any standout creative ideas that we can adapt to fit our strategy. One key tip we follow is to pay close attention to ads that have been running for a long time. The logic is simple: if an ad wasn’t profitable, the brand would have stopped running it. This insight helps us identify successful ad trends and strategies worth considering.

David Mathews, Company Director, FitstrapsUK

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