Competitive Intelligence and Twitter: How to Monitor Competitors and Create an Awesome Strategy

[kalie moore]

Read more at http://blog.rivalfox.com/competitive-intelligence-and-twitter-how-t...

For a site that only requires 140 characters to get your message across, there is a lot of confusion about how to effectively use Twitter to monitor competitors, and how to analyze that information to create an awesome social media strategy.

Competitive Intelligence and Twitter:

Why even use Twitter?

Almost every major brand has jumped aboard the Twitter wagon, but just showing up is not enough. You’ve seen them in your newsfeed, possibly from a company, or perhaps from your Mom who just signed up to the service: the dreaded Pointless Tweet.  Pointless Tweets are messages that do not provide value to your reader. Repeating your marketing message or Tweeting inspirational quotes is not a way to engage your customers.

Used properly, Twitter provides a platform for you to engage with customers and potential customers, provide instant customer service, and establish your company as an industry leader.

How to find competitors through Twitter.

To search for competitors, and discover who they engage with, simply type their names into the Twitter search. You can see the competitors’ Tweets by clicking ‘People’, and learn who is Tweeting about them by clicking ‘Tweets’.

Want to get fancy?  Twitter also has an Advanced Search feature that lets you track by location, or search for Tweets with links from a specific user, or even for Tweets that are only positive or negative.

What information should I track?

1. Number of followers
2. How frequently your competitor Tweets
3. The engagement impact of each Tweet – How many retweets, replies, and favorites
4. How often your competitor responds to customer inquiries
5. What times of day they are Tweeting

This should be tracked daily in an excel spreadsheet, or you can take the simple, automated route and sign up for Rivalfox’s upcoming beta release. Over time, the data will provide you with valuable insights, e.g. which type of Tweets create the most engagement and whether the time of Tweets correlates to more followers. Armed with this information, you can fine-tune your own awesome Twitter strategy.

Creating Awesome Strategy

When it comes to Twitter strategy, you do not need to reinvent the wheel.  Utilize what works for your competitors and change what doesn’t.  The most important goal is to share thrilling creative content, provide excellent customer service, and to engage potential customers by reaching out directly to their screens.