BtoB Magazine recently wrote that smart marketers make a point of strategically spying on their competition. They point out that keeping an eye on your competitors can be helpful on several levels, and we agree. Following conversations between potential leads and the competition can be very helpful in shaping your own brand’s communication strategy.
Here are a few tools that make social “spying” easier:
HootSuite Streams
You are probably already familiar with HootSuite as a tool for social network management, but take it a step further. Their side-by-side stream set up allows you to watch and compare competitor posts.
Radian6 is a high level tool developed specifically for social listening. Use it to listen in on conversations happening about your product or brand among consumer, or to stay abreast of what is keeping competitors busy.
SimplyMeasured offers features similar to Radian6, but at a more basic and cost-effective level. Their goal is to take data and make it “simple, beautiful, and accessible for everyone – not just data scientists.”
Sprout Social offers basic monitoring and analysis features and another way to listen in on competitor conversations, with a well-designed mobile-use feature for your whole team
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