How to Beat Your Competitors and Stand Out on Social Media
With millions of content shared every hour, what social media marketing tips can you use to beat the competition on social media? In today’s digital age, you have to out-perform your competitors if you want to stay in business, whatever your niche may be.
Social media is one of the best digital marketing tools for businesses to thrive, why? Because the various social media platforms provide the best channels for marketers to engage with consumers, interact with eventual customers, promote and expand their businesses.
As a result, brands are taking advantage of the opportunities that Social media offers by applying different marketing tactics to stay ahead of the market. Companies are spending millions of dollars on social media to promote their companies. In this way, they’re creating an avenue to communicate directly with potential customers.
According to Statista, one of the leading statistics companies on the internet, social media spending in the US alone it is expected to increase to $17.34 billion in 2019.
Image Credit: Statista
Furthermore, Mark Sweney’s article on The Guardian shows that social media ad spending will grow 40% — about £1.3bn between 2018 and 2020, from £3.29bn to £4.59bn. It also shows that by 2020, social media ad spending will overtake traditional TV ad by about £500m — £4.59bn compared to £4.04bn.
Understandably, big businesses are the primary spenders on social media. They must have effective marketing tactics that enable them to out-perform their competitors. Therefore, how can newer and small business owners keep up the fight on social media?
What marketing tips for social media can they apply to stay ahead of the competition? In this article, you will learn eight practical marketing tips that’ll help you stay ahead of the game.
Marketing Tips #1: Steal from your competitors
Research your competitors to figure out what they are doing differently; what marketing tips they are using to beat the competition. Thus, consider the following when researching your competitors:
- What kinds of content are they creating?
- How are they engaging with customers on social media?
- How active is their customer service?
- Why are potential customers choosing to do business with your competitors instead of with you?
The list goes on and on.
However, if you can study your competitors and learn what they are doing behind the scene on social media, you will be at a more significant advantage over them. That is because the information you gathered will enable you to make necessary adjustments and improve your social media marketing strategy.
Hence, the quote;
“If you don’t have a competitive advantage, don’t compete.” — Jack Welch
Yes, you must have a competitive social media marketing tactics that give you an advantage over others. It will put you ahead on social media. Further, while analyzing what they’re doing behind the scene, you also need to learn about their shortcomings.
Figure out the things they did wrong; the mistakes they’re making. Look for a loophole and feel in the gaps. The information will help you avoid their mistakes, enhance your marketing strategies, and stand out on social media.
Also Read: How to Establish a Social Media Marketing Straegy That Actually Works
Marketing Tactics for Social Media #2: Learn from Consumers
As you are gathering information about what your competitors are doing to stay ahead on social media, you also need to study the customers and audience as well. Analyze them to find out what they are buying from your competitors and the type of content they love to engage the most.
However, bear in mind that consumer needs can vary due to geo-location or region. Therefore, what you learn from studying your customers will give you the essential information you can apply to your business’ social media marketing strategy.
This process will improve your chances to stay ahead of the competition on social media. Hence, expand your horizon, widen out, dive into different waters, and explore the best marketing tips for your business. It is a fantastic way to beat the competition.
Marketing Tips #3: Establish Your Brand Voice
The easiest and most effective way for you to beat your competitors on social media is to establish your unique brand voice. A unique brand voice is one of the essential attributes of a phenomenal online presence.
Without a voice, you have no brand, and your online reputation is at risk. Why? It is because your target market won’t be able to identify and or differentiate your brand from the others. Accordingly, it is crucial to create a brand voice to help you reinforce and sell your brand’s personality.
Remember, your tone of voice must be consistent across all marketing channels. Whether on a podcast, video, your blog or website, and of course, social media, your audience and customers need to recognize your brand.
In consequence, a professional tone in business will make you stand out on social media and stay ahead of the competition.
Marketing Tactics #4: Leverage Visuals to Beat The Competition
Creating quality visual content is a powerful marketing tactic that can help you beat the competition. Why? It is because visuals are easily digestible and remembered even after a while. For example, infographics are remarkable content types that generate much engagement.
That is why over 40% of marketers surveyed said that graphics like infographics are the best performers in their marketing strategy. They stated that infographics drive the most traffic and engagement. Moreover, people follow visual instructions 323% better than written instructions.
Source: Venngage
Here is what some experts are saying about visuals:
When individuals or businesses want to stand out on social media, they should think visually! Images catch our attention, keep our attention, and are digested faster than text. Add hi-res images to social media profiles and posts, and install free features like Twitter cards on your web properties so that anyone who posts your content also shares the visual love.
- Stacey Miller, Autocare
Neal Schaffer also said this:
The best way for individuals or businesses to stand out on social media is to take a visual approach. Visuals appear prominently in news feeds of social networks, so take a visual approach to not only posting information but to communicating as well. Combine this with your own unique branding and perspective, and you’re bound to stand out in this noisy social media world of ours.
Consequently, create high-quality visual content such as videos and infographics to improve your marketing tactics.
Marketing Tips #5: Test Your Social Media Strategies
Social media and marketing performance strategist and top content marketing influencer, Rebekah Radice once said;
“What you get from social media is what you put into it. You have to test, test, test.” — Rebekah Radice
Is she right about that? Yes, you must keep testing your marketing strategies to find out what is working and what’s not working for you. The marketplace is competitive already, so the only way to beat the competition and is to keep testing whatever marketing tips you develop.
That way, you can identify the ones that work for you and those that don’t. If it requires putting money into testing, go ahead and invest in it. Use the feedback to make positive adjustments to your advantage. This procedure can help you beat the competition on social media.
Marketing Strategy #6: Add Value to Your Audience With Compelling Content
People say content is king, and we all agree to that because compelling content is the backbone of every successful digital marketing strategy. In light of this, ensure to add value to your customers by creating content that is convincing and forceful.
Develop content pieces that have the power to persuade your readers and move them to action. Hence, to create compelling content that adds value, you need to understand your audience. Yes! Understanding your audience is key to creating persuasive content your targets will love to read.
Pro tips:
- Interview your audience
- Organize social media contest
- Find out what problems they want to solve
- Ask them the types of posts they want you to see more often
This step will give you blog content ideas that can make all the difference in your social media marketing efforts. Then share the resulting posts frequently across social media site to boost brand reputation. It is a fantastic way to help others.
Speaking of helping others, here’s what the brain behind Blogging Wizard said;
One thing in particular that has worked best for me has been simply to go out of my way to help someone. For just a moment, forget your business goals or trying to get anything out of the situation for myself. (the gains come later) Just be helpful and don’t ask for anything in return. Use your expertise to help people solve their problems and you’re not just standing out, you’re wowing the people you help and becoming memorable
In the short term, you will earn more followers that are more engaged, and that’s great. But the real magic happens in the long term. The gains come later when the people you have helped need a service your business offers or a product that you sell. — Adam Connell
Marketing Strategy #7: Follow and Connect With Influencers
Following and connecting with influencers in your niche is important because they’ll help to create brand awareness for your business. Furthermore, you will be in a position to weigh-in on their trustworthiness to control your brands status. This approach can effectively make you stand out on social media.
We are aware that not all the influencers you follow will respond positively. However, the more you actively engage with them by sharing their content and commenting on their work, you are setting yourself up for the long run. And, in the end, they may reciprocate by sharing your content to their followers.
Align yourself with the right people, forge the right relationships and you will set yourself up for the long run.
- Daymond John
Also, Marsha Collier said;
Standing out in a crowd of millions of tweets is never easy. Sharing good content is a given, but that is not enough. Show your personality in your posts, don’t just quote titles, add interest!
Real standouts respond and connect with their community. .. — Marsha Collier
For example, what might happen if you are following John Rampton who have over one million followers on Twitter alone? Then you consistently engage with and share his work across social media; thus, he responds by sharing your content to more than one million followers?
The result is, you become visible to over a million of his audience who can potentially drive enormous traffic to your blog or website. And as a result, you will generate additional leads and drive more sales.
Marketing Tips for Social Media #8: Offer Excellent Customer Service
Offering excellent customer service is a critical part of every business — big or small. It is so important that many companies are investing significant amounts of money in customer service, making it a primary part of their business.
Consequently, to help you beat your competitors, consider doing the following:
- Create a conducive environment for your customers
- Communicate with them
- Listen to what they have to say and respond accordingly
- Give them a reason to trust you.
If they can sense that you welcome and appreciate them and that you have a unique customer service system, they will always come back. Yes, because you have set yourself apart from your competitors as a reputable brand.
Wrapping It Up
As noted earlier, the competition is intense; so to stay in the game, take exceptional measures that will help you boost your marketing tips on social media sites. And although there are several other ways to beat your competitors on social media, the tips in this article are proven to work depending on how well to use them.
Thus, implement them correctly and tell us about it. Let us know your thoughts in the comments section.
About the author
Moss Clement is a b2b freelance writer, blogger, and founder of Moss Media. He is working closely with B2B marketers — helping several startups grow their online presence in the digital marketing space. By delivering highly informative content pieces, he has assisted small & medium-size businesses to build their online reputation and connect them with their buyer persona.
