How Can You Compare Your Social Media Performance With Industry Competitors?

Analyze Share of Voice

One strategy that has worked for us is analyzing share of voice (SOV). A SaaS client came to us feeling overshadowed by a larger competitor. Instead of comparing likes and comments, we assessed the SOV—how often they were being mentioned across platforms versus the competition. This insight allowed us to focus on areas where they could dominate, such as niche industry conversations. By doubling down on specific, high-impact content, the client boosted their visibility by 40%.

Don’t just compare numbers—understand your industry’s unique conversations and find your space to lead.

Track Competitor Ad Campaigns

To gain deeper insights, track competitor ad campaigns through Facebook’s Ad Library, which shows you exactly what kind of paid content they’re pushing. This is a gold mine for understanding not only what messaging they prioritize but also how much they’re investing in paid promotions. By studying their ad formats, creative approaches, and targeting, you can reverse-engineer what might work for your audience. It’s not just about copying but learning what gaps you can fill with your own twist to outmaneuver their strategy.

Engage with Competitor Content

Instead of relying solely on traditional metrics or competitor tools, set up dummy accounts or personas that follow and engage with your competitors as if you were an actual customer.

This way, you’ll see exactly what their audience experiences in real time—from targeted ads to the types of posts they prioritize.

But here’s the clever part: Use the ads you get from them to reverse-engineer their marketing strategy. Track the frequency, content focus, and any unique calls to action.

You’ll get direct insights into their customer segmentation and ad spend distribution, all while naturally staying ahead of their tactics.

Use Qualitative and Quantitative Data

To compare social media performance with competitors, it’s essential to use both qualitative and quantitative data, ensuring you’re measuring against relevant industry benchmarks.

1. Social Media Analytics Tools – Tools like Sprout Social, Hootsuite, and Socialbakers offer features specifically designed for competitive analysis. They allow you to compare follower growth, engagement rates, and post frequency with your competitors. One key metric I focus on is the engagement rate per post, as it shows how well content resonates with the audience compared to competitors, irrespective of follower size.

2. Competitive Benchmarking – Using tools like SEMrush Social Media Tracker, you can track key metrics like follower count, engagement, and top-performing posts. These tools offer a side-by-side comparison of your brand’s social media accounts with your competitors’ accounts across multiple platforms. For example, by tracking your share of voice, you can understand how much of the overall conversation in your industry is driven by your content compared to competitors.

3. Content Analysis – Look beyond just numbers—analyze the content your competitors post. Use tools like BuzzSumo to evaluate which posts and content formats (videos, polls, infographics) generate the most engagement for your competitors. This analysis can reveal insights into what resonates most with the audience, helping you refine your strategy.

4. Hashtag and Keyword Tracking – Tracking competitor hashtags and keywords is crucial to understanding their social media strategy. Tools like Keyhole or Hashtagify allow you to monitor hashtag performance and see which hashtags your competitors use frequently. Using alternative hashtags, you can then assess whether you should adopt similar tactics or create a unique niche.

5. Audience Sentiment and Demographics – Tools like Brandwatch and Mention provide insights into audience sentiment toward your competitors, helping you gauge brand perception. They also provide demographic data on your competitors’ followers, allowing you to compare audience reach and engagement among different segments.

Leverage Advanced Social Listening Tools

We’ve honed a comprehensive approach to comparing social media performance with competitors that goes beyond surface-level metrics. Our strategy focuses on understanding the nuances of engagement and content effectiveness in relation to business goals.

We start by leveraging advanced social listening tools to track mentions and engagement for both our clients and their key competitors. This provides a holistic view of the share of voice and sentiment across platforms. We’re not just counting numbers; we’re analyzing the quality of interactions and the topics driving conversations.

Regular content audits are crucial in our process. We analyze the type, format, and frequency of posts that perform well for competitors. This isn’t about imitation, but about identifying gaps and opportunities in our clients’ content strategies. Are competitors succeeding with video content where our client is focused on images? Are they leveraging user-generated content more effectively? These insights help us refine our approach continuously.

We pay close attention to engagement rates, calculated as (likes + comments + shares) divided by total followers. Comparing this rate across similar posts between our clients and competitors gives us a clear picture of whose content truly resonates with their audience. We also focus on audience growth rate rather than just total follower count, as this indicates momentum and strategy effectiveness.

Another key aspect is analyzing the effectiveness of paid social campaigns. We use tools to estimate competitors’ ad spend and reach and compare this with the engagement their ads receive. This benchmarking helps us develop more efficient ad strategies for our clients.

Cross-platform performance comparison is also vital. We examine how our client’s engagement on Instagram compares to Facebook, for instance, and how this ratio differs for competitors. This can reveal platform-specific opportunities or challenges we can address.

Importantly, we tie social media performance to concrete business outcomes. Using tools like SEMrush, we estimate the social media traffic competitors drive to their sites and compare conversion rates. This approach connects social media efforts directly to business results, ultimately what matters most.

Monitor Key Metrics and Trends

So, when comparing your social media performance with competitors, you need to begin by analyzing key metrics such as engagement rates, follower growth, and content reach. Leverage social listening and analytics platforms to garner insights around your competitors’ approach, their audience engagement trends, and popular content. Also, compare to industry standards in order to see where you could do better. And, make sure to stay current with the new trends and adjust your tactics in order for you not to get left behind.

Track Referral Traffic and Social Listening

To make sure that you’re performing well compared to our competitors, here are a few of the ways to monitor success:

• Keep track of how your competitors are performing – You know who your competitors are, and a big part of monitoring your own success is monitoring theirs. This includes looking at their total number of followers, their follower growth, and their engagement rates (through likes, comments, and shares). Some tools make this easier, like Hootsuite, which will help keep track of this for you.

• Look at referral traffic – Another way to look into the success of your social media is to track the referral traffic you get from posting your content. This will give you figures that you can compare with other industry benchmarks. Google Analytics will tell you how your social media efforts translate into website visits, and you can compare this with your competitors with other platforms like SimilarWeb.

• Use social listening to your advantage – Social listening is a great way to keep on top of what your competitors are posting, how customers are reacting to their content, and what direction the overall sentiment tends to track. Tools like Mention are helpful with this and will help you better understand the audience’s preferences, feedback, and sentiment (which you can then use to fine-tune your own social media strategy).

Perform Platform-Specific Analysis

One effective way to compare our performance with competitors is by doing a platform-specific analysis. This means we focus on one social media platform at a time, like Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter.

For example, on Facebook, we can look at how many likes, shares, or comments our competitors get on their posts. We can also study the types of content they post, and how often. This helps us understand what works for them and where we might improve.

On Instagram, we can compare the number of followers, likes on posts, and the use of hashtags. This can give us insights into what strategies are effective in engaging with the audience.

Every platform has its own set of metrics we can analyze. By focusing on one platform at a time, we can get a more detailed understanding of our competitors’ strategies and performance.

Monitor Engagement and Growth Patterns

Comparing performance with competitors on social media is crucial for any digital marketer aiming to stay ahead in a highly competitive landscape.

Tools like Sprout Social, Hootsuite, and BuzzSumo allow you to monitor your competitors’ engagement rates, growth patterns, and content effectiveness directly alongside your own metrics. Using a dashboard and similar organizations as comparisons, you can evaluate how well you’re doing in terms of likes, shares, comments, and overall engagement.

You can determine which subjects and presentation styles are popular with your audience by tracking the kind and volume of information that other companies publish. To do this, examine their most popular posts to find trends in the time, hashtag usage, and type of material.

Monitoring the rate of growth of an opponent’s social media following can reveal useful strategies they might be using. This could include collaborations, advertising initiatives, or even sponsored product placements.

Resources such as Mention and Brand24 provide information about the frequency of competitor mentions on social media as well as the context of such mentions. This helps them in assessing how the public views them and how successful their PR campaigns are.

By using these techniques, I can monitor the performance of our competitors and improve our social media tactics to ensure the company remains competitive and relevant in our market.

Compare Relevant Performance Metrics

You have to compare the right metrics; if someone else gets 5x the amount of views, that doesn’t mean that they’re making more money off their campaigns than we are. Outside of that, you want to make a note of how many people pick you over the competitors. If you can keep that at a high rate, you’re winning; if you’re not, you can make changes and tests to reposition yourself.

Benchmark Against Industry and Competitors

Comparing your social media performance with competitors involves a strategic approach using both qualitative and quantitative data. Here are key steps to effectively benchmark your performance against competitors:

• Identify Key Competitors: Start by identifying your main competitors in the industry or market. These should be businesses that target a similar audience or offer comparable products or services.

• Analyze Key Metrics: Use social media analytics tools like Hootsuite, Sprout Social, or native platform insights to compare key metrics such as follower growth, engagement rate, content reach, and post frequency. Look for patterns in their performance that could inform your strategy.

• Evaluate Content Strategy: Review the types of content your competitors are sharing, including formats (videos, infographics, stories) and messaging. Assess which content types generate the most engagement and consider how you can adapt or improve upon these tactics.

• Assess Audience Engagement: Compare how audiences interact with your competitors versus your own channels. Look at the quality of engagement, including comments, shares, and direct feedback, to gauge how well their content resonates with their audience.

• Track Share of Voice: Use tools like Brandwatch or Mention to track your share of voice in comparison to competitors. This helps measure how much of the conversation in your industry is about your brand versus others.

• Benchmark Against Industry Standards: Use industry benchmarks to understand average performance metrics. Comparing your results to these standards, as well as your competitors, provides a clearer picture of where you stand.

• Identify Gaps and Opportunities: Use your analysis to identify gaps in your strategy or areas where competitors excel. This could be untapped content themes, posting frequencies, or new platform opportunities.

By consistently monitoring these elements, you can refine your strategy to improve your social media performance and stay ahead of the competition. Remember, the goal is not just to match competitors but to find unique ways to outperform them.