Any tips for monitoring information from competitors?

Florian Schäffner
26 replies
I would be excited to learn about what you monitor for your closest competitors or companies in general? Personally I these are my favourites for Marketing & Product Insights: - Latest ads on Social Media (Meta & TikTok) → We did this not just to be informed about new messages and campaigns, but also from great brands to gather inspiration. - Reviews for identifying unmet needs or blind spots we have currently in our marketing approach. - Companies bidding on our own brand on Google → identifying new competitors. - Besides the checking the website on the surface: Are there any A/B Tests running → hard to catch, but good source for strategic insights. For me they have all one thing in common: You spend so much time, to find nothing new most times. But especially in fast moving industry monitoring is a must have. Do you feel the same about your routine? Cheers, Flo

Replies

Jakob Engelhardt
We used to monitor the funnel of our competition as well as their general product offering and market expansions.
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Absolutely, Florian, monitoring can sometimes feel like searching for a needle in a haystack, but it's crucial in a dynamic market. I complement your methods with regular analysis of competitor SEO strategies and changes in their site's job listings, which often hint at upcoming shifts or priorities.
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Jamie L
Absolutely, Florian, staying on top of competitor activities is crucial in a dynamic market—I also track changes in their job postings for insights into their strategic direction and tech stack updates. Additionally, setting up alerts for their brand mentions online helps me catch any buzz or shifts in their public engagement strategies.
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Florian Schäffner
@jamin_nanthan Do you use Google alerts for Brand mentions?
Vincent Xu
Absolutely, Florian, staying vigilant on competitor activities is crucial, especially in dynamic markets. I complement your strategies by using tools like SEMrush for SEO insights and Crayon for a broader market intelligence, which sometimes reveals subtle shifts in competitor strategies before they become obvious.
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Paul Turner
Follow competitors on social media Sign up for their newsletters
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PRIYANKA MANDAL
I totally agree with you that monitoring can sometimes feel like searching for a needle in a haystack, but in rapidly evolving industries, it's definitely a necessary practice to stay ahead of the curve. Personally, I find myself following a similar routine, especially keeping an eye on social media activities and customer feedback to understand market trends and identify areas for improvement.
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Joseph Collins
To monitor competitors: Set up alerts for their updates, follow their social media, subscribe to newsletters, track their website changes, and analyze their marketing strategies regularly
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Anastasia Liamets
I'd say checking their rankings and articles they focus on to identify their strategy patterns and messaging focus. Also just being their user – checking G2 and Product Hunt reviews – helps to see some pain points and problems of users = opportunities for us. But I'd say most important thing is to think about your own users and potential customers, not competition.
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Oscar
Attend industry events: Pay attention to industry events, conferences, and trade fairs where your competitors may be displaying their products or services.
khansaru
Join industry forums and groups. Participate in industry forums and organizations where your competitors and their customers hang out to remain up to date on market trends and competition activity.
Flo, your approach to competitor monitoring is thorough, especially leveraging social media ads for inspiration and reviews for blind spots. I've found setting up alerts for competitors' brand mentions and changes to their site structure via tools like Visualping to be quite effective as well.
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Jamie L
Hey Flo, I completely agree that consistent monitoring can sometimes feel like a treasure hunt for rare gems. Your approach is spot-on, and I'd add setting up Google Alerts for competitor brand names and key personnel to catch any emerging stories or changes in their strategy.
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Nadia Zueva
Launching soon!
I'm using Sensor Tower for mobile apps
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Monitoring information from competitors is essential for staying informed about industry trends, benchmarking performance, and identifying opportunities for growth. One effective approach is to leverage comprehensive tools like AiToolsKit.ai, which offers a range of free AI, SEO, writing, YouTube, and social media tools designed to streamline competitive analysis. By utilizing AI-driven insights, you can gather valuable data on competitor strategies, content performance, keyword rankings, and social media engagement. Additionally, staying active on platforms like AiToolsKit.ai allows you to stay updated on the latest advancements in AI and digital marketing, empowering you to make informed decisions and stay ahead of the competition. Remember, knowledge is power, and with the right tools and strategies, you can leverage competitor insights to drive your own success in the market. https://rebrand.ly/270e31
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Apurva Desai
check their social campaigns and also try to refer google ads tranperancy center to review their google ads
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Atticus Li
For Jobsolv, I am not looking at the competitors as much. I am looking at our user feedback. The users will let us know which feature to build. We currently don't have any direct competitors, and copying competitor marketing could cause us to be misaligned with our target markets.
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Abigail Salimpuran
@atticusli That's a smart approach! Focusing on user feedback is key to building a product that truly meets their needs. By prioritizing user input over competitor analysis, you're ensuring that Jobsolv stays aligned with your target audience's preferences and requirements. Keep listening to your users, and you'll continue to build a platform that adds real value to their job search experience.
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Florian Schäffner
@atticusli Thanks for sharing this insight. What tools and methods do you use there? Do you have public reviews or mainly interviews?
Steve Butterworth
That’s a good bunch of things there but in my experience doing that many things can make you a bit too obsessed with competitors rather than focusing on your own stuff. I do recommend Trackly https://trackly.io to monitor competitor sites and review sites, been using it for years, and spyfu for low cost ads and SEO spying!
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Florian Schäffner
@steve_butterworth Trackly seems to be a great tool Steve - thanks for sharing. Agree with your point to focus on your own stuff. AI should be a huge help in the future, to gain more relevant insights and process more data, without effort.