Using Social Media to best your competition

Keeping an eye on your competitors is smart business. You can't really stalk them, of course, but following their social networking activity is a safe and informative way to stay in the know.

Here are 7 tips for watching byTwitter-light.

1. Housekeeping. Take note of their basic platform, look, bio, where they link, who they follow and who follows them. Check out all their links and landing pages. Look at how organized (or not) their networking is.

2. Followers. Look at their follower/follower ratio and analyze its makeup as to whether the groups are being grown organically -- that is by hand rather than automated -- and their strategy for gaining followers. Consider the geographic location -- are they in your targeted area?  Are these your (potential)  customers, too?

3. Activity. Analyze their Tweet and Post activity, response and comments, sending patterns and frequency. Look at the type of content posted -- opinion, standalone comments, blogs, lists, sales information, news, or spice of life inserts.

4. Tools. Look for tools, plugins and automated updates being used to disseminate the information. For one, that gives you an idea of what tools they are using to track activity. Look closely and you can see whether their updates are automated, how they are organized, and shared. 



5. Conversations. Following their conversations will take some time, but understanding how they engage in conversations with their followers is important. You can probably tell if they are working a vacuum -- sending out unveiled sales dribble or are actually engaged. Look at whether they reply to customer comments and how quickly. Discern whether comments are made in read-time, which means they have person dedicated to social media. Watch whether they start conversations or just respond -- and how promptly.

6. Commitment. Solid commitment to social networking requires and a plan, a strategy and a campaign. If  you see that they are taking advantage of every opportunity -- your competition is a force to be reckoned with. If not, they may using it haphazardly -- a great opportunity for you. Augmented with tools like Twitter Grader, Twitanalyzer, Klout, you can measure their influence and power.

7. Follow their trail. Look for and keep an eye on all the communication tools your competition is using. YouTube, newsletter, e-vites, blogs, etc. are all effective ways to draw followers and improve engagement.  If they are doing a good job of cross-lining their media channels, you may have some work to do!