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Monitoring Sentiment: Follow competitors and critics on social networks

May 4, 2010 By 9 Comments

Every business has critics and competitors. Not every marketer knows how valuable these relationships can be on social networks.

Don’t hesitate to monitor your competition on social networks. Not doing so isn’t a sign of loyalty. More likely, it’s a sign of ignorance.

‘Like’ competitors on Facebook using your personal profile. Become their ‘follower’ on Twitter. The more you know about what’s happening in your industry, the better you’ll be at serving the needs of your own business. Sports teams have recognized the value of scouting our the competition for decades.

There are entire websites, like new era scouting,  dedicated to sports scouting.  You’re not alone monitoring your competitors on social media either. Tools like Social Mention, Google Alerts, and Twitter search are ever ready. Instead of trusting yourself to visit these sites regularly, I recommend setting up RSS feeds based on competitor keywords and delivering them to your outlook (or other) inbox for real-time viewing and archiving.

Twitter lists also make it simple to manage competitors and critics. Every marketer on Twitter should create private lists for tracking competitors, industry influencers, advocates and critics.  This allows you to organize Tweeps by category and group comments effectively. Need to ensure you look at the information regularly and archive it for future analysis? You guessed it: set each list up as an RSS feed and deliver it to your inbox.

As the gatherpoint for competitive RSS feeds, your email client can be one of your most powerful tools for competitive intelligence.

Credits: Image is courtesy of Hugh Mcleod of GapingVoid.com.

Critical Thinking

Do you remember, The Critic, an American animated series (1994) revolving around the life of movie critic Jay Sherman, voiced by actor Jon Lovitz?  It was created by Al Jean and Mike Reiss, both of whom had worked as writers on The Simpsons. (In January 2009, IGN ranked The Critic 26th in the Top 100 Best Animated TV Series.)

Further Reading:

Filed Under: crowdsourcing, Facebook, google, Misc T, Strategy, Twitter, word of mouth Tagged With: , , , , ,
About Troy Janisch

Troy Janisch, Publisher of Social Meteor, is a digital marketing professional and social media beatnik. He is a contributor to SmartBrief on Social Media. Troy leads the marketing team at Sentry Insurance, but don’t let that scare you. He rarely talks about insurance in mixed company [grin]. Like a good social media program, SocialMeteor.com is all about content. It’s not a consulting company or marketing agency.

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  • http://www.twitter.com/fancy_lad Nate

    Great advice Troy – I cast a wide net with my monitoring but never thought to create Twitter lists to help streamline the process. Let’s face it – this social stuff takes a lot of time. The more time you put into it (focus people!) the more you get out of it. RSS feeds are a great way to keep up without getting overwhelmed. (Much.)

    Curious: what are your thoughts on the new LinkedIn Company follow function? Is this a useful tool to keep abreast of movers and shakers? Personally I think it’d be more valuable if companies could actively push news and announcements through these feeds, kind of like a virtual LinkedIn newsroom of sorts.

    A side: The Critic is one of my all time favorite shows. Right up there with The Tick. Brilliant!

  • http://www.linkedin.com/in/troyjanisch Troy Janisch

    From Jen Overhulse-King Owner, St. Nick Media Services, via LinkedIn:

    Hi Troy, it’s an interesting question and I think you will get a wide range of answers. When I worked for a magazine some years ago, a competing magazine’s publisher used a fake name to try to get a subscription. I called her on it, literally, by picking up the phone and having a conversation about it. I took the approach of “you show me yours, I’ll show you mine.” I know of many companies that will not allow competitors to “follow” them, will not “link in” with them, etc. I think that’s the wrong approach. Chances are some amount of your information will trickle into your competition’s hands innocently enough, so why not be open about it. I find it is a much better policy to approach the competition in a friendly manner than to be confrontational or combative, especially in a social media or trade show setting. Besides, in a trade show or social media setting, what you share is in the public domain anyway…it should not be proprietary/trade secret type information… I vote for sharing, engaging in conversation. Just a nicer way to live.

  • http://www.linkedin.com/in/troyjanisch Troy Janisch

    From Karen Yotis Community Manager – Web 2.0 at LexisNexis, via LinkedIn:

    I always check out the competition–especially at trade shows. LIke Jen, I think the ‘exclude them’ approach isn’t the best way to go. The other guys have good ideas too and trade shows give you a good chance to see what they are up to. Plus, sometimes they have better schwag . . .

  • http://www.linkedin.com/in/troyjanisch Troy Janisch

    From By Justin Silver Director of Business Development – Business Intelligence, via LinkedIn:

    I agree. If people are following you… I guess that makes you a leader.

  • http://www.linkedin.com/in/troyjanisch Troy Janisch

    From Thomas Wetzel Insurance Marketing & Communications Professional, via LinkedIn:

    I like to follow as many companies as possible. No one has a monopoly on good ideas. As to sharing your own information, I agree with Jen, much of it turns up eventually. Proprietary information is one thing, however in social media, the more you share, the more you reap.

  • http://www.linkedin.com/in/troyjanisch Troy Janisch

    From John Vercellino Director – Strategic Accounts – SunGard, via LinkedIn:

    I use every opportunity to monitor my competition. I also follow my company’s Business Conduct Policy and disclose my true name, company e-mail address, and company name. I don’t believe I’ve ever been excluded from any web events or material requests.

  • http://www.linkedin.com/in/troyjanisch Troy Janisch

    From Tracy Staniland Director, Marketing & Sales Programs, Camilion Solutions Inc., via LinkedIn:

    I totally agree with Jennifer’s comments. We follow our competition through the various social media platforms and they follow us. However, there have been some recent exceptions – one competitor blocked us on Twitter and another competitor blocked me from listening to their webinar. These tactics seem unnecessary given there are others ways to collect the same competitive intelligence – it only makes you feel that they have something to hide.

  • http://www.auterytech.com/ Steve

    From Thomas Wetzel Insurance Marketing & Communications Professional, via LinkedIn:

    I like to follow as many companies as possible. No one has a monopoly on good ideas. As to sharing your own information, I agree with Jen, much of it turns up eventually. Proprietary information is one thing, however in social media, the more you share, the more you reap.