You probably read the title and you felt your skin crawl, just a little. The word “stalk” typically has a negative connotation and usually, the entire incident doesn’t end well for either party. Even in the case of a vegetable, the stalk is generally the least desirable part, as any mostly-eaten veggie tray will reveal. So why would you want to learn how to stalk someone at all?
In the context of marketing, stalking is actually a beneficial function and best of all: no violation or legal action comes about from your snooping! Once you get comfortable prying into the affairs of competitors – all in the name of business research and strategy of course – you may even start to wish that you’d begin stalking years go. If you’re still a bit hesitant consider this – your rivals around you and above you in the search engines have as big or a bigger share of the digital pie than you. They likey got there by doing something slightly different. They may be using techniques, types of content, platforms, outlets and resources that you haven’t tapped in to. Seeing what works well for them saves you hours if not weeks of the same leg work… and if the sheer business advantage alone doesn’t sway you, try thinking of yourself as a detective rather than a creeper.
To help you get started, we’ve put together a step-by-step action plan which guides you through how to effectively stalk a competitor, or rather, be an efficient virtual detective. By adopting these basic tactics, it will become much easier to identify trends and collect meaningful data.
Find your audience (AKA Know your Target)
Many have a love/hate relationship with social media. We get it. On one hand, there are privacy concerns, a worry about over sharing, embarrassing images and perhaps, a nagging suspicion that Facebook, Twitter and Instagram is for a social life, not a business one.
On the other hand, Instagram has over 400 million users, Twitter is used as a source of breaking news more often than most major media outlets and according to Shopify, “nearly two thirds of all social media visits to Shopify stores come from Facebook… and an average of 85% of all ecommerce orders from social media come from Facebook.”
The point being, many people share a lot of information on social media without completely realizing and many brands have nailed the use of social media as a sales tool.
With this in mind your first step is to know your target. Identify brands similar to your own business and then check out their social media pages. Take note of what others have to say, both good and bad. In particular, make sure to retain keywords as well as any influencers tied to the page. Look at the frequency of posts. Study the tone of voice. Assess the type of content mix used and make a note of the subjects or topics of posting referred to. If you want to delve deeper, you can also study audience behavior. What type of people like, share and engage?
Away from social media, look online. Use a tool such as Buzzsumo to find out who is posting what about topics that matter to your business. Which sources are the most prolific? Do a link: search for your competitor web address to see which sites link back to them.
In short, sift through any pages that your competitor brands frequent. This may well give you your own ready made list of new spaces, channels and outlets to get to know.
Create Alerts and Build Reports
Once you have determined what and who to watch, set alerts to help you keep track and stay up to date. Using simple tools such as Google Alerts that can send emails when a keyword appears in a piece of content means you’ll always stay in the loop with certain items and people.
By watching keywords populate in articles over time, you’ll get a greater insight of how you can incorporate these items into your own marketing campaign. Watching popular influencers allows you to gain an alternate perception of trends thanks to both the content produced by the author as well as commentary others provide within the article.
Also, consider using a social media monitoring tool to see how certain topics make the rounds throughout various sites. The company Brandwatch offers a paid analytics engine for monitoring various platforms but also has good information in a blog that identifies free options, ideal for startups with strict budgets. It is also possible to get a good grasp on how certain items perform by simply viewing information with built in tools like Facebook Insights.
Get Specific with your Targeting
Both search engines and social media utilize ever-evolving algorithms to display information to users. Originally, it was possible to pinpoint keywords and “stuff” content to have it surface in search results. Today, the process is a little more involved.
Remember: your goal is ultimately switching roles with people or businesses you watch. Keep in mind, not everyone you observed on social media or in web comment are viable candidates for what you have to offer. A starting point in picking targets for engagement should be geographic location, in most cases.
When taking on paid ad campaigns, whether using AdWords (like in the link above), Facebook or Twitter, placing an ad in a specific location has much to do with successful conversion for a product, service or piece of content. For example, mountain climbing will not garner much attention from those living on a plain just as scuba diving is probably not a popular past time for those living in a desert.
In Facebook, more accurate targeting is possible by refining advertisements based on age, gender and interests, among other parameters. This is where the information uncovered from earlier sleuthing comes into play. By combining this with analytics from Twitter that provide feedback on impressions (i.e. number of times your Tweet is served in a search) and engagement, you can construct an even more effective campaign and you’ll have the satisfaction of knowing your competitors have (indirectly) helped you do it.
Continue Stalking Across the Web
Plan to continue detective work, almost indefinitely. The market space is forever changing, especially for certain industries. Continually monitoring not only your own analytics, but also the trends of other businesses, whether in the same or complimentary industries, can be a source of great insight.
Many find, especially early in web marketing and social media campaigns, somewhere after establishing an initial direction, the course changes and ultimately affects the final destination, for better or worse. Fear not as this is commonplace and all part of the learning process. Keep modifying your strategy until something works and remember incorporating new information will always be a key element to a successful marketing campaign.
Image courtesy of The sun.
About the Author
