​Are you looking for ways to improve your social media marketing but you feel like you have run out of ideas? Are you losing hope in getting your spot as a small business in this world of giant businesses? How about this, have you looked at how your competitors are using social media? If not, perhaps you should start now. Getting a glance on how your social media marketing compares to similar businesses is a great avenue to improve and build new strategies this is called Competitive Analysis. Here are some tools to help you in getting to know more your competitors and gather data to analyze their activities.

​1. Google Alerts sends reports right to your inbox. If you want to know every single time your competitor is mentioned online, whether as a link or simply a mention, you’ll get that report. You can monitor keywords as well!

​2. SocialMention tells you what’s being said about that term you searched. You can see how many times and how often it’s mentioned and you even can subscribe to an RSS feed for that term, so you never miss a beat.

​3. Topsy looks up your competitors’ tweets and gives free information when you type in a site. You can see how many tweets that company had, a list of those tweets, and which tweets were influential.

​4. Marketing Grader gives each of your competitors an overall score based on social media activity, blogging success, SEO, and lead generation. It’s fun to see if their score fluctuates and then to notice if your score does the same.

​5. Competitive Research & Keyword Research Gadget gives information about your competitors once you’ve placed it on your site. In other words, it’s more of a “gadget” than a tool, meaning it’s a little button you can use to find information.

​6. InfiniGraph tracks what is trending in your social media circles by focusing on your specific industry. The idea behind this tool is that you “use the power of your audience to know what content and brands are trending with them.”

​7. Instapaper saves web pages for later to read on your computer or mobile phone. When it comes to spying on your competition, it’s incredibly helpful to know who your competition is, and this tool will help save contents from competitor sites that might be of use to you.

​8. Monitor Backlinks allows you to follow different competitors’ backlinks and have them sent straight to your inbox, with a description of which are the highest domains and which are the lowest. You have a dashboard you can look at and compare your results. Use it to look at links your competitors are earning.

​9. SEMRush specializes in competitor data. You can visit the homepage and type in a competitor’s website and immediately get information regarding organic keywords and rank, ad keywords, and traffic. The best part: it all comes to you in a graphic format.

​10. SpyFu lets you know which keywords your competitors are targeting, both in organic search and in AdWords. You simply type in your competitor and you can download an entire list of these keywords.

​11. Website Review from WooRank helps you track and optimize your website based on the results your project. If you want to spy on competitors, you can check their potential projects.

​12. SimilarWeb allows you to get traffic insights for any website. Get global rank, country rank, and category rank of that website, along with a nice graph that shows the weekly number of visitors in the last 6 months. You can see how many leads come from social, search, referrals, display ads, and many more. 

​13. Compete Digital Marketing Solutions gives you access to competitive rank and unique visitors when you type in a domain. You can also export the CSV to help get your whole team involved.

​14. What Runs Where has some great features for watching your competition. It supports over 40 ad networks across several different countries and allows you to track a list of your competitors. You then get an alert every time that competitor launches a new ad or publishes new content.

​15. Open Site Explorer allows you to follow your competitors’ link-building efforts. You can see who is linking back to them regarding PageRank, authority/domain, and anchor text. You also can compare link data.

​16. Alexa has been rating websites for a long time. This tool does it all when it comes to spying on your competitors and is an excellent resource if your competitors are international.

​17. Simply Measured offers everything you possibly could want to know about your competitors – trends, traffic and conversions, analysis, social media, etc. There are 35 different reports you can access.

​18. Majestic SEO allows you to download the link profile for any of your competitors’ sites. This means thousands and thousands of links will be right at your fingertips.

​19. The Search Monitor offers great information. It focuses solely on competitor data. Also, it allows you to monitor affiliates and trademarks. It monitors results from Google, Bing, Yahoo, YouTube, and Baidu along with blogs, websites, forums, news, mobile, and shopping.

​20. iSpionage allows you to type in a competitor and see the best performing keywords for organic as well as for PPC, and how much the competitor spends on both organic and paid search. You can see the competitor’s most effective ad copy, and you can look at graphs that compare all of this data.

​Now that you’re equipped with some of the strongest tools to monitor and analyze your competitors’ presence across social media, it’s now time to think about some of the top content you saw that blew you away. Innovate and apply them to your strategy.

If you are still struggling in processing all the data and no results are seen, maybe it’s time to consult a social media expert. This might be the best option so that you would be able to conquer social media marketing challenges

​In this very competitive market, it is really important to know exactly where your social media strategy stands, compared to your competitors. It’s essential to know how you could monitor and make use of competitor data to make smart decisions for your own business.

This is why it is convenient to have an expert in social media to guide you in getting to know your competitors but if you haven’t decided on getting one, here are guides and tips to provide you a clear picture of your competition. From what they’re doing well to what they’re not and everything in-between. This will help shape your strategy into a winning one.

​Looking at your competitors’ social accounts and activity, as well as using social media tools to monitor it. It’s also getting a better understanding of what the social media landscape looks like in your industry.

​Knowing who they are, collecting data about them, and breaking that data down into something you can understand. These are key points you need to do to have a successful analysis of your competitor’s business.

​The very first step to analyzing your competitors is definitely knowing who they are. It’s seems to be impossible without this step. You have to do this now and do it properly to get you in a good place. If you don’t know them yet, these are ways to know them:

1. Checkout who your audiences follow. Checkout your audiences’ social media accounts and look for similar businesses as yours. Take note of these businesses.

2. Search keywords on Google. This is a very easy way to see a list of your top competitors as the search engine will likely show you the top businesses on that keyword. Again, list them down.
​
Use three to five of the competitors to study. You want this number to make sure you have enough manageable data.

​Here are data you need to be looking for from your list of competitors in order for you to conduct the analysis more effectively.

1. Know what social media platforms are they on.
2. How many followers do they have?
3. How often do they post?
4. What do they often post and how are the engagement on the posts?

​Once you have collected these data, use competitive analysis tools to analyze and understand them. It’s very important that you fully understand the data so that you can use it to your advantage and in coming up with your own social media strategy.

​It’s hard to be keeping up with lots of data if you will not have an organized way of collating them. Make sure that you have figured out what works best for you in arranging all the information your gather around. Remember, the more data you have, the more organized and systematized you should be. 

​Focus in understanding the data and results. Do not conclude right away but instead, try to understand why some organizations are successful, why others are not, and where you fit into that equation. Remember, always base your conclusions on the result of your analysis and not just from your observations.

Be Imaginative and Innovative

​Once you get an idea on what works for your competitors, you need to imagine why it worked and then come up with new ideas and perks that will more likely give your business an edge over the others. Make sure you always follow the Golden Rules to Successful Social Media Marketing. You can come up with totally new ideas or innovate what they are doing to fit your business! Remember, the more authentic, the better.

Be Meticulous 

​Aside from getting ideas on your competitor’s strategies, you may also look for places they are not very good at or look for things that are lacking in their social media strategy. If you are able to cater to these unanswered needs of customers, you will do very well. Remember, anything they lack is a chance for you to do it better and give your brand an edge.

Be Unique

​While it’s a great start to base your social media strategy on what already works for your competitors and what they are lacking, it is still a goal to come up with ideas that will make you stand out. Try to think of new and unique contents that will build interactions with your audiences. Find out where you are best at and start marketing it. Remember, anything original that’s happening in your industry will catch the attention of your target market.

Be Consistent

​Analyzing and monitoring your social media competitors should not just be done once or until you have come up with your own strategy. It is supposed to be a continuous process. You need to keep an eye on your competitors to know if there are new activities that they are doing. Also make sure to check if there are new competitors that paved their way. Get to know them and the technique they used to rise up. Remember, social media changes everyday and so as the demands and interests of your customers!

​A social media competitive analysis gives you an amazing advantage by providing you with the insight and information you need to create a winning social media strategy. You need to use this wisely to have a better understanding on how things work in your industry and what your competition is doing to cope with the trends.

​At this point, you are already equipped with the knowledge on how you can get to know your competitors and analyze their activities. If you need any help, you can look for best social media company to help you out in making sure that you have a good analysis and understanding of your competitors.

​We always tell you that in order to succeed with your social media management, the key is to post engaging contents. Whatever tools or strategy you use if you are not posting quality contents, you marketing will fail. Thus, there is a need for a well-thought of content every single time. However, it’s easier said than done. It is definitely a challenge to think on what to post next and how to make it engaging to the audiences. 

​While social media management agencies may know all the ins and outs of creating great contents, it’s useful that you, as the business owner, also has an idea about it. Here are some social media content ideas that will keep your audiences engaged.

​When you ask your audiences questions, their initial reaction is to think and express their thoughts. If you ask questions that relate to your business and their interests, there will be greater possibility that they will interact with you. People love to show off their brain-power so take advantage of that.

​Laughter makes life better so people are continuously looking for things that will make them have a good laugh. When you made your audiences laugh, there will sure be more interactions on your post and therefore more exposure on your page. You can just sit there and watch the shares and likes come in.

Inspiring and motivational quotes are everyday needs of people. With all the stress in people’s lives, they are looking for a little push that will keep them going. People easily relates to quotes so choose what’s relevant and timely and post it on your page.

​You might get surprised how this strategy on posts works. If you got an interesting message or image and you know that friends could relate to it, have them tag someone who will surely relate to the post. This is not just targeting your audience but also their circles of friends who would be interested on the topic and perhaps on your business.

​Find some hacks, trick or tip about your business that most people aren’t aware of. The more they learn about things around your business, the more they get interested about it. You will expects tags and shares with this kind of content.

​Infographics are images that aim to discuss something or give some knowledge. Infographics are effective as they are easy to understand with visuals and some text on them. They also work as they save time in reading about something.

​“I don’t care how much money you have, free stuff is always a good thing.” – Queen Latifah. You read it right! No matter how rich one person is, they would always be interested with what’s FREE. This is why social media contests and giveaways are easy ways to get your audience engaged. Do not forget to create a contest that relates to your business.

​Events and holidays are great ways to socialize and that is what social media is for on the first place, right? Let your followers know about events that are coming up! Let them know if you are having any plans for international holidays such as Halloween, Valentines, or Thanks Giving. Whether it’s an event on your business or you are participating on a community event, your audiences want to know what you are doing. If they are interested they could participate or share your post. After the event, be sure to give updates of what happened with photos or video and tag those who participated.

​You’ve probably heard about the 80-20 rule. Post 80% informative, entertaining and useful contents and 20% promotion. So yes just 20% about your business so you need to ace it! You can share your creation process, photo shoots, meetings, lunches or location. You can also highlight your employees work related accomplishments. Also, talk about some business news by highlight something that your business is currently doing in the community or the growth of your business. Share your success story!

​If you have a website, you probably also have a blog page. Sharing you blog posts on your social media page is a great way to engage your audience and drive traffic to your website. This also gives you a control of what they read about the business. So instead of directing them to read articles from other sites, get them read your own blogs instead. 

​Trust is a great foundation of a good relationship between customers and business owners. Thus, contents with testimonials and reviews are a great ways to build trust and connection. People tend to value other’s opinions more than advertisements so every good review should be used wisely.

​Have you ever heard of people saying “Nostalgic!”? Sure you have! That is an expression people often comment when they felt that you brought them back in time. Many people are sentimental and lovews remembering the past. So, post throwback and remind people of something that happened at the beginning of your business, last year or even last month. Let them reminisce the good times, making them want to try your product or service once again.

​Some people may have never tried or heard about your business so on your social media page, show what results they can expect from using your products or services. Once the saw how you do things, they might get encouraged to try it and even recommend it to others. This is also a perfect avenue to answer some queries and clarify confusions.

​Now that you have several options on what to post, go and try making your awesome contents! Make sure you are posting these quality contents on the right time. We are living in the world and time where a lot of content is produced on every single second so high-quality content is integral to a successful business strategy. If you require any help, make sure to ask from top social media marketing companies. 

​If you are on the process of learning about social media management, you surely have come across the term social media influencers. This is a known and proven effective way to introduce brands to the market and spread marketing messages. So what actually are social media influencers? They are people who have the ability to influence the behavior or opinions of others specially in making purchase decisions. They could be a blogger, YouTuber, celebrity, industry expert or a trusted source of information.

​Reputation plays such a key role in buyer decisions. People tend to trust peer recommendations over any company advertisement. If you have social media influencers with loyal audiences, a brand mention goes much further than a Tweet from your company account. These followers trust the influencer’s opinion, which is why they follow them on the first place. Working with social media influencers is another step toward humanizing your brand regardless if it’s a big or a small business.

​If you think that working with an influencer with the biggest possible followers would yield the best results, you are wrong. Your social media influencers should be unique to your field and product or service. You need to find an influencer who has built a reputation in your particular field of business.

​To start, here are tips in finding social media influencers to boost your business sales.

Use BuzzSumo
​

​This tool has an influencers and outreach feature that is made specifically for finding the top writers, bloggers and publications in your field using the same keywords you’re trying to reach as well. In the search results, you can easily view the stats of each influencer to have an idea who’s the perfect fit! If you ever need to find who is an expert in your industry, this is the tool as it gives you the option to sort via influencers, bloggers, companies and regular users who might not have the status of an influencer. With this tool, looking for the best influencer for your business is made extremely easy. Just do not forget to check their authority in your field of business. The number of followers gives you an idea of the influencer’s reach, and the retweet and reply ratios inform you about his or her engagement rate.

Tap LinkedIn
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​If you enter specific keywords or phrases in LinkedIn’s search box, you will get results on second-degree connections and those who are directly related to your search. So you can try searching using keywords about your business and you will sure to get some possible influencers. You have to make a research about them to know if they are perfect fit for your business and your objectives. Next step is for you to reach out to them. Try to establish a connection by trying to get in touch with them. You can use results from your research to establish rapport. This will make everything run smoothly as you get to know each other before offering them to be an influencer.

Hashtags on Twitter and Instagram
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​It is a given fact that Hashtags are very useful in social media marketing and that doesn’t exempt influencer marketing. Hashtag research can help you identify influential users who are already interested in products or services similar to what you offer. They have probably shared something about your brand before. These influencers are more likely to be interested in a partnership with your business. You have to make sure you are using an effective and specific hashtag and then use it to search on Google. You’ll get results from both Instagram and Twitter. You can conduct your research on either of these platforms whichever you think is more suitable for your business.

​If you check out the results, you’ll get a list of top photos for Instagram or tweets for Twitter using the hashtag you used. The top posts are usually the ones with the most likes. So choose any one of them and see who posted it. The idea is to find out if that user would make an ideal influencer for your business. Find out how many followers they have and what kind of posts they usually publish. Checkout the responses and comments to see how it appeals to the audience.

​Just like how it works in finding an influencer in LinkedIn, once you have seen that the influencer is what you’re looking for, establish connection before giving your partnership offer. Then, based on your agreement, you can send them freebies and gift baskets of your products which they can review and promote on their profile. 

Look Into Your Followers
​

​If you are lucky enough, you might have an influencer who is already a user of your brand and is already interested in it. This would be the most ideal way of finding an influencer ad it will take less effort to convince them to work with you and your partnership will be more authentic. Selling your business to them will be much easier as they probably already know and trust you.

​Just go through your list of followers on your social media accounts and check out the profiles of users who have around 1,000 followers or more!

​With these tips, surely you will find some of the best influencers to partner with. These influencers will also help you engage more effectively with your target audience while you maintain your social media marketing strategies. There are many facets to a successful influencer marketing campaign, but the foundation is in finding influencers who are relevant. Influencers can help you get your brand in the right direction. Remember to think about social media influencer relationships for the long run.

​Find the right Influencer and the rest of the process will be much easier, and much more likely to succeed. You can get people who are established in social media marketing for companies to find the right influencer for your business. After all, this will be a lot more cost-saving than any other marketing strategies.

​Facebook is a must-have for businesses nowadays. Everybody knows its value in terms of brand awareness and boosting sales. Among all the social media sites, it has the most population. Of course, when it comes to getting the most effective marketing strategy, too large an audience can actually be a bad thing.

​Thanks to Facebook ads, you can now advertise your business only to targeted audiences. Facebook ads allow business owners to pay an amount in exchange of being able to advertise in the site. After all, you only want to pay to expose your brand to people who might be interested in doing business with you. Targeting the right audience gives your business opportunity to maximize ROI. Facebook gives you the ability to target your ad by demographics, location, interests, and behaviors. Here are things you need to know before you invest your money.

​There are different types of ads and for you to choose the right one, you have to know your goals. Successful social media marketing is only possible if you have set a goal to achieve. If you haven’t decided, here some goals to help you.

1.       Traffic
2.       Lead generation
3.       Conversions
4.       Engagement
5.       Reach
6.       App installs
7.       Brand awareness
8.       Store visits
9.       Video views
10.   Product catalog sales
​

Facebook Ads Format
​

​Once you have chosen your goal in using Facebook ads, you can now choose among these Facebook advertising formats. Here are some guides for you.

1. Photo Facebook Ads ​

This format requires images to only contain less than 20 percent text. Facebook wants it to be simple by not adding too much text for users to read. Simple photo ads don’t have to be boring there are things you can do to make it interesting. The less text there is on your image, the more widely it will be distributed. 

​·         Facebook ad specs: One image plus text
·         Campaign types: All except video views
·         Facebook ad image sizes: 1200 x 628 pixels
·         Text limit: 90 characters
·         Headline text limit: 25 characters

​Since most people are visuals plus the auto-play feature of Facebook, video ads are very advantageous for businesses in advertising their brand. Video ads can create massive engagement—if they’re done right. Facebook Video Ads are actually another form of the Link Click Ads – just that instead of a still image, your ad’s featuring a video.

·         Facebook ad specs: One video plus text
·         Campaign types: All
·       Facebook ad image sizes (thumbnail): Minimum width 600 pixels; match length to video aspect ratio
·         Text limit: 90 characters
·         Headline text limit: 25 characters
·         Facebook ad dimensions: Video aspect ratio of 16:9 (full landscape) or 1:1 (square) for all objectives; other aspect ratios available for specific campaign types
·         Maximum video length: 120 minutes

​Slideshow ads would generally show increase in return on ad spend and higher click-through rate compared to Facebook photo ads. This format allows advertisers to use more than one image. Thus, enabling them to show more of the brand.

​·         Facebook ad specs: A video automatically created from up to 10 still images
·         Campaign types: All except post engagement and product catalog sales
·         Facebook ad image sizes: 1280 x 720 pixels
·         Text limit: 90 characters

​If you are trying to promote multiple products from your store or looking to promote different posts and offers to see what works, Facebook carousel ad is what you need. The carousel ad format lets you show up to 10 images and/or videos, headlines and links, or calls to action in a single ad unit. 

·       Facebook ad specs: Up to 10 photos or videos plus text
·       Campaign types: All except post engagement and product catalog sales
·       Facebook ad image sizes: 600 x 600 pixels
·       Text limit: 90 characters
·       Headline text limit: 40 characters (for images) or 25 characters (for video)
·       Maximum video length: Two minutes combined

​If you want to focus in showcasing multiple products that are being sold on your website, Facebook collection ads is what you need. It makes it easier for people to discover, browse and purchase products in a visual and immersive way!

​·         Facebook ad specs: A mobile-only ad format that showcases multiple products or features
·         Campaign types: Conversions, traffic
·         Facebook ad image sizes: 1200 x 628 pixels
·         Facebook ad dimensions: Video aspect ratio of 16:9 (full landscape) or 1:1 (square)
·         Headline text limit: 25 characters
·         Maximum video length: 120 minutes

​This type of ad is only available on mobile but do not underestimate its capacity to increase interactions. It is an interactive ad that lets users engage with your content on Facebook. Audiences can tilt image in different directions, and/or zoom in or zoom out by moving their fingertips. Canvas also loads 10 times faster than standard mobile web applications!

·    Facebook ad specs: An immersive ad format incorporating text, up to 20 photos, and video
·     Campaign types: Brand awareness, conversions, engagement
·     Facebook ad size: Full screen
·     Facebook ad image sizes: 66 x 882 pixels (header); 1080 x 1920 pixels (full-screen image)
·     Text limit: 500-character text bock

​Once you have chosen your target audience, your goal, and the most appropriate type of campaign ad, you should set your budget and schedule. Ask yourself how much money you want to spend on your Facebook ad. Once you have decided on your budget, set the start and end dates if you want to schedule your ad in the future, or choose to place it live right away. Keep in mind that running your ad on a schedule may be the most efficient way to spend your ad budget, since you can choose only to serve your ad when your target audience is most likely to be on Facebook.

You are now ready to set your Facebook ad. Just go to your Facebook ads manager account. If you think you are one of the companies that need social media help, Coxier Social Media Management is here to assist you.

​It’s not a secret that among today's most potent solutions for connecting and building brand awareness is social media. This is also a perfect place to interact with old customers to keep their trust and loyalty. Thus, it could be the most powerful tool any business owner can use nowadays to quickly and easily drive sales.

Making the most of social networks isn't simply about driving more likes or page views. We need to keep in mind that more than those short term goals, it's about finding better ways to engage audiences and convert their enthusiasm into tangible sales. So how can you use social media to make sales? Ask yourself these questions:

Where Are My Clients And Prospects?
​

​First and foremost, social media utilizes a lot of platforms. Your clients and potential customers are not in a single place. You have to know what social media sites are they actually using. You need to know this to determine which space you need to utilize for connecting and interacting with them. In simple words, you need to find out where your market is having conversations, and then go there.

​Although Facebook has the largest population, it doesn’t mean that your customers are there. It's also important for businesses to consider tools like Instagram and Pinterest along with their Facebook strategy to increase visibility and sales. These are the platforms that you need if you are targeting customers who are into visuals like images and videos. On the other hand, LinkedIn is the place for professionals. It is the platform to use for sales of business-to-business products or services. Use it to connect with people at big corporations that might be interested in your product or service. If you want to listen to quick and real-time feedback for customers, use Twitter. 

How Do I Connect With Them?
​

​Be personal and act natural. Have a personal account, have conversations, and become acquainted with the norms and expectations of the community. Show them that you are likeable and trustworthy. Show your network that you’re an amiable, trustworthy resource. Make sure that you are not being annoying by overly presenting yourself as the ‘perfect’ person.

​The best way to connect? You should not simply post about what you are offering as a business but you should be engaging with your followers. You have to share images and posts that appeal to the lifestyle of your end-user. If it applies, you can have blogs, live chats and comment sections on websites to generate leads. 

​Monitor and listen to what your audiences are saying and you will eventually be able to engage in a meaningful conversation with them. Once you develop a relationship, that is the time you can tell the prospect how your product or service might be something they want or need. 

​Remember, you are not supposed to only do social media management but community management at the same time.

Who Else Do I Need To Know?
​

​Build relationships with influencers and social media celebrities. Most consumers are influenced by the recommendations made by these social media celebrities. Social networks are a terrific opportunity to gain more followers with the skills influencers has to offer.  Did you know that 92% of consumers trust recommendations from individuals that they don’t even know over brands? That’s the reason affiliate marketing is one of the hottest strategies for bloggers to make money online.

​So you have to follow, connect and interact with these individuals with profiles that match your clients’. Conduct a search on each social media website to find people who are talking about your industry or using related keywords. That’s where you start to interact through commenting on their posts, retweeting, or sharing something they say. In that way you are building connections with people on the same industry as you are and that will surely make things easier. 

What Else Can I Do?
​

​While social media could be used for free with very wide opportunities, you have to keep expanding your horizons. You can try paid social media marketing. Different social media sites offer ways for you to advertise your product more through launching paid marketing campaigns. The number of marketers leveraging promoted posts on Facebook has risen by 80%, in the last two years. You may want to start it with Facebook as it is easy and affordable.

​Next, you have to engage in conversations. Let us start with contributing to existing conversations about your brand. Look for conversations that were initiated by costumers. You can start by listening to what people are saying about your brand. Next, you can start responding to explain your side if it is negative or you can further build interaction if it’s positive. By doing this, you add value to your business and possibly gaining the approval of customers.  On the other hand, you can initiate a new conversation. You can create a Facebook group or post a tweet related to your product or service and invite prospects to join. Then, send targeted messages to members who are active within the group. Do the same process to establish relationships!

​Now that we’ve answered your major questions in using social media in achieving bigger sales, make sure that you use it wisely. With prospects, customers and competitors all over social media, if you don’t use it properly for your business, you might regret it forever. Embrace it and watch your sales grow or ignore it and get left behind. It’s that simple.

​If you find yourself in a situation where you want to embrace it but you’re not yet confident or you don’t have time, keep in mind that you are not alone and there are a lot of companies using social media marketing team to build their names in different social media sites.