Being a freelance social media manager involves a lot more than simply creating posts and managing engagement for clients. Before a post is written, I undertake a thorough review of the client’s current activity and compare this to their main competitors.
Judging the success of any business requires much more than just looking at figures on a balance sheet. You might be really pleased to have achieved substantial turnover over the past 12 months, but how does your business really stack up against your closest rivals?
Personally, I firmly believe that benchmarking performance against the competition is an essential element for creating an effective social media strategy that delivers the key objectives for clients. Here are the main benefits for benchmarking:
Understanding industry trends
As a freelance social media manager, I work across a number of sectors including manufacturing, HR, printing and accountancy. Every industry is different, so by monitoring competitors’ social media activities, I can gain valuable insights into emerging trends, popular content formats and audience demographics. From Facebook to Instagram, this knowledge helps me to identify opportunities when shaping the social media strategy so my clients can stay ahead of the curve.
Identifying strengths and weaknesses
Benchmarking allows me to spot competitors’ strengths and weaknesses in terms of content quality, engagement levels, follower growth and overall performance. This analysis helps in identifying areas where your own social media strategy can be improved. While I am based in Hertfordshire, just north of London, I work for clients across the UK so this process enables me to identify local trends such as popular hashtags.
Setting realistic goals
Writing a social media strategy involves setting performance targets, but how do you know what is achievable? By benchmarking against competitors, a freelance social media manager can set realistic goals for their client. By understanding how the best (and worst) in the industry perform, it will be easier to gauge a successful set of key performance indicators (KPIs) that align with the business objectives.
Learning industry best practice
Every industry is governed by its own set of guidelines and legislation, and social media best practice should reflect these rules. Observing competitors’ successful strategies and campaigns provides valuable learning opportunities for social media managers. By reviewing what works well for other organisations, I can adapt similar tactics and standards into the strategy for my client.
Where are the opportunities?
The benchmarking process not only involves analysing direct competitors but also identifies gaps in the market. Are there opportunities within the industry that competitors are not addressing? The aim is to devise ways to use these insights to create unique and differentiated content that resonates with the client’s target audience. What messaging or unique selling points are others missing?
Depending on your particular industry, there are various ways to compare performance, but here a few common areas you should cover:
- Products: range, price, quality
- Website: design, features, information, ease of use
- Social media: channels, followers, post activity, engagement
- Customer service: answering phone calls, website enquiries, delivery times.
The benchmarking process
When I was asked to help a small business with its social media content, one of my first tasks was to compare their accounts with their closest rivals. Using a grid, I charted the current performance of each competitor, which produced some surprising results. Although my client was behind on the number of followers, they were well ahead when it came to activity and engagement. The grid also highlighted a few other areas which showed the business was well placed to grow and to take advantage of the weaknesses of its closest rivals.
The next task was to develop a strategy to make the most of my client’s advantages while narrowing the gap in other areas. Once the work was completed, I kept the data on file so I could repeat the benchmarking process in a few months to gauge progress.
Need advice from a freelance social media manager?
Staying competitive in a constantly evolving digital landscape is essential for brand survival. Benchmarking helps in keeping tabs on competitors’ strategies and adapting accordingly to maintain or gain a competitive edge in the market.
As an experienced freelance social media manager, I consider benchmarking the competition as an integral part of my role to enables organisations to stay informed, adapt to changes and continuously improve their visibility. Benchmarking provides valuable insights that drive strategic decision-making and ultimately contribute to the success of a brand’s online presence.
Hopefully, the next time someone asks ‘how is business?’ my clients will be able to state confidently ‘better than my competitors!’. If you need engaging social media content, contact WordSmart Communications – we would be more than happy to help.