How To Interact With Competitors On Social Media

A Battle Of Tweets

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So you've got yourself a social media account for your company. However big or small your company may be you've got competition. Competition shouldn't be hated or feared though, you should embrace it. With good competition comes a better company.

Here are a few tips on how you should conduct yourself when you interact with your competition on social media.

Always Be The Bigger Person

To come across as a confident person, you aren't worried about things that should get to you. You aren't bothered that someone lives a more lavish lifestyle than you do, you take everything in your stride and people will take notice of this. The exact same goes for your company.

Don’t be afraid to take notice of competitor’s achievements and to cheer them on when they have a good month while you've not had the most lucrative. Not only does that give you some attention from your competitor’s audience but it also gives you the opportunity to distinguish your company as new, fresh and smiley in comparison to other brands.

For example, you’re a restaurant. Another restaurant in the area just wins an award for being the best Steak House in the area. Drop a congratulatory tweet to them but also playfully mention something on your menu that you’re especially proud of.

You have to remember to keep your tweets friendly, playful, positive and non-threatening. If you come across too aggressive, you don’t look like a fun, confident brand and people will take note of that very quickly.

Listen To Everything

Keep your ears to the ground and make sure you’re listening to everything. Well, not everything, we don’t need to worry about what Twitter fight Rhianna is in this morning.

I've often said how engaged you have to be with your audience, but you should also always be engaged in what your competitors are up to on their social channels.

So you've got some people to monitor what your audiences are up to? That’s great, now you need to make sure that you've got people to keep tabs on your competitors. To stay one step ahead, you’ll need carefully analysed reports on a nearly daily basis. It sounds like a lot of work, I know, but it’s what you have to face if you want to excel.

If that all sounds like a bit much, just work out who your key competitors are and also, companies or brands that you aspire to be and set up alerts for their social media pages. Google can sort this out for you. Then check up on what they've been doing every day or so, it’s still a fair bit of work, but it’ll be worth it.

Get Allies

Calling for aid isn't so bad. Other companies will want to help you out.

Your allies shouldn't be your direct competitors, but more so companies that do something similar to what you do but aim for a different audience for example. If you can work together with another company who does what you do with a bit of a different twist you can gain much greater insights into your company and how it can more excel. Plus, if you’re not taking advantage of this, your direct competitors will be.

If you can, try to focus your efforts onto companies that are a bit bigger than yours, you’ll end up with more branding thanks to their exposure and once you've established a good relationship it can even result in the referral of clients and business.

The moral of the story is that by paying close attention to your competitor’s social media channels you gain key insight into their direction, client base and overall strategy. Using this to your advantage is of great importance. Furthermore, with good relations and communications, you make your company and brand the one people will begin flocking to. 

Tom Welby

Tom has just graduated from University of East London in Creative and Professional Writing. He loves writing and is currently interning as a content writer hoping to go further. His other loves include Arnold Schwarzenegger films and his dog. Follow him @TomAtSMF

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