Analyzing Competitor Efforts

Just as it’s important to understand where your consumers participate in the social web, it’s necessary to understand how your competitors engage in the social web. But where should you start? The following are some types of information to consider when you are planning your SMM investigation:

check.png Keywords being used by competitors.

This is something you have probably heard again and again, but its importance can’t be overemphasized. If you don’t use the right keywords, you won’t be found. Make sure to note which ones your competitors are using. They may not all be “home runs” for you, but it’s important to evaluate them.

check.png Where their traffic is coming from.

Using Google Analytics and a host of other tools (detailed in the three sections that follow: “Setting up Google Alerts,” “Setting up Twitter alerts,” and “Monitoring blogosphere conversations”), you can determine how they get traffic to their website and other channels.

check.png Rankings by important engines.

You can do a quick look at major ranking engines like Alexa (www. alexa.com) to see how their sites compare with yours.

Which social media platforms they are on and which distribution channels they use. ...

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