Why Do You Want One to Win Or Lose?

Myspace got the first-mover advantage and remained the leading social website for quite some time. However, when Facebook was introduced, it captured a huge market share in no time and left other social media websites struggling with their loss.

When an innovative company is launched with the right strategy, it has a good chance of eliminating the predecessor and becoming the market leader. In the past, we have seen many such examples. Netflix beat Blockbuster; digital camera companies killed Polaroid; Circuit City lost to Best Buy.

This is a common trend that old and established businesses lose to new market entrants. It is because many traditional stores prefer to stick with the strategies and actions they have been using for years and fear change or innovation.

This practice isn’t good for anyone; neither marketers nor consumers. If there is no market competition, consumers would suffer the most.

Higher competition eliminates the monopoly. The more firms in the market, the more efforts would be needed for a business to make its place in the crowded market. They are motivated to innovate and offer value to consumers to stand out. It keeps them on their toes and they constantly put in their best efforts to stay ahead and stay relevant. Similarly, they are also inclined to offer better quality goods and services at reasonable prices.

How Do We Benefit From Each Network?

Investing time and money in social media is no longer optional for professional communicators and business marketers. With your competition gaining customers and building a good reputation via social websites, you can’t afford to miss out on this invaluable opportunity.

For marketers, the first step should be to get a website where you can display products, testimonials, and other relevant information. After that, you can gain several benefits from social accounts. The same is pretty much true for non-marketing communications professionals, except that there’s no “product” to display (though one could have a lengthy conversation about the “products” offered by non-profit organizations, political parties, and governments, as examples).

Regardless of which platform you choose, you can raise awareness via social posts, as well as paid social media advertising. Your social posts should include a call to action that guides users about the next action. For instance, if you post a special discount for your social media followers, you ought to add the link to the online store where they can redeem it.

Customers tend to trust businesses that have a transparent system. Not only should you share detailed information about your business, but also share accurate pricing and terms and conditions. With this approach, you can earn their trust.

Many customers post reviews about their experiences with a brand. When a satisfied customer posts a positive comment, you should respond to them. However, it’s equally important to respond to negative comments. When you take action quickly to solve their problems, your popularity and sales are likely to elevate.

Also, be mindful of changing trends. Where you gave your attention last year will not be the same as where you give your attention next year. Social media professionals need to be trend spotters and experimenters; explore new social media apps as they are released and check statistics about which platforms are thriving and which are in decline.

Explore and Experiment

In social marketing and communications, there are no rules and standards. You can’t follow specific rules that guarantee specific outcomes. The best way to succeed in the social media world is to adopt the trial and error technique. You should come up with a plan to promote the brand and execute it on social channels of your choice. If it brings you the desired results, then it’s great, but there is a good chance that social media efforts won’t always prove effective.

Despite your efforts to boost awareness, gain customers, or generate leads, your social strategy won’t always work. This is why you need a contingency plan. If the first plan doesn’t get results, you should adjust it based on the performance metrics.

The good news is that there are several options available for communicators and marketers. If Facebook doesn’t work, turn to LinkedIn or Youtube for the next campaign. You should set clear objectives, choose the right platform that meets your criteria, and measure performance after the execution of the a plan for making your social media campaigns fruitful.

Competition Check

Competitors offer similar products or services to your client. In many cases, the first point of competition is for the audience’s attention; there’s a strong push to win that competition in the world of social media, as the first to grab their attention gets the first chance to gain their interest and secure their favourable action (which could range from buying a product to donating to a charity to voting for a political party or any other activity your client needs performed).

The competition for the hearts, minds, and wallets of audiences is now global, but it also has a way of being regionalized. Social media disproportionately engage with people who live in their geographic area and they are more likely to shop from a business that has a local presence (even global companies, such as Amazon, have a stronger local presence in some places than others).

Competing can be a major challenge. However, a proactive approach improves success.

Keeping an eye on competitors is critical to success. If you are unaware what others are doing, they may capture your audience’s attention and lure them away.

Competition isn’t always bad. When you aren’t alone, you feel the motivation to keep improving the quality of products and customer service. You also get to learn from experienced competitors who have been in the market for a long time.

Why Perform Competitor Analysis

Performing competitive analysis assists in identifying your competitors and learning about their business. It’s a time consuming process and many entrepreneurs don’t find it too important. However, a comprehensive analysis can help you in many ways.

Understand Audience Needs

Businesses often fall victim to market myopia. They focus on the internal expertise or strengths and only consider the firm’s perspective. As a result, they ignore changing market trends and fail to understand customer needs.

Competitive analysis is a great way to broaden horizons and explore customer’s perspectives. By analyzing the activities and strategies of competitors, you can obtain a fresh perspective and evolve processes with time to stay ahead of the competition.

Identify Potential Threats

A business should always be aware of potential threats and risks. You can perform SWOT analysis to determine threats facing the industry. But competitive analysis is also a must.

With this approach, you can stay updated with what your customers are doing. Furthermore, you can also monitor new market entrants and take the right measures to deal with challenges they create for your business.

Set Suitable Benchmarks

Every business sets certain standards or KPIs to evaluate the performance of different departments as well as the entire organization. Through competitor analysis, you can ensure that your benchmarks suit the current industry trends and make necessary improvements.