Dimension 10 of 12

Social media competitor analysis

Updated

What is social, per platform competitor research?

Social media competitor analysis compares rivals platform by platform on followers, engagement rate, content themes and hashtags, across Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn, X, Facebook and Pinterest. Engagement rate matters more than follower count. Social Blade covers follower history for free.

Why it matters

Social shows what a competitor's audience responds to right now. Comparing engagement and themes tells you which formats and topics to try, and which platforms a competitor is ignoring.

What to capture

FieldWhat it tells you
Profile linksEach platform the competitor is active on
FollowersCount and growth trend
Engagement rateLikes, comments and shares divided by followers
Content themesTopics and formats they post
HashtagsTags they use repeatedly

Where to find it

  • Social Blade: Follower history for YouTube, Instagram and X
  • Social Bearing: X (Twitter) account and engagement analysis
  • The platforms themselves: Recent posts, formats and comments

How to do it, step by step

  1. List each competitor's profiles on every platform.
  2. Record followers and growth over the last six months.
  3. Work out engagement rate on the last 20 posts.
  4. Tag the content themes and formats that get the most engagement.
  5. Note the platforms where no competitor is strong.

Questions this answers

  • Which competitor has the most engaged audience, not just the largest?
  • Which themes and formats get the most engagement?
  • Which platform is under-served in this category?

Do this research in CompetitionOS

CompetitionOS keeps each competitor's social profile links on its record, and you can save platform snapshots as dated evidence to track growth over time.

  • Find competitors with AI discovery or from the Google results for your keywords
  • Keep one shared competitor library across projects, split by direct, indirect and search competitors
  • Save evidence with its source: search results, website snapshots and SEMrush data
  • Check whether ChatGPT and Claude mention your brand, and which competitors they name instead
  • Connect Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor so an assistant can do the research for you
  • Export every project to CSV or Excel

Are AI assistants recommending you, or your competitors?

Buyers now ask ChatGPT, Claude and Perplexity which tool to use. CompetitionOS runs the questions your buyers ask, records which brands each answer names, and shows where competitors are mentioned and you are not. That is answer engine optimisation (AEO), alongside your SEO.

All 12 dimensions See CompetitionOS Social analysis

Frequently asked questions

How do I calculate a competitor's engagement rate?

Add up likes, comments and shares on their recent posts, divide by the number of posts, then divide by their follower count.

Is follower count a good measure?

Not on its own. Followers can be bought or old; engagement rate shows whether the audience is active.

All 12 dimensions of competitor research

  1. Company and funding
  2. Market
  3. Customer insight from the website
  4. Features and USPs
  5. Key metrics
  6. Paid media
  7. PR
  8. App
  9. Product range
  10. Social, per platform
  11. Content
  12. SEO