The 5 step document provides a beginner's guide to social media success using competitive intelligence. The 5 steps are: 1) listen first to competitors' social media before engaging; 2) identify successful social media channels used by competitors; 3) define key performance indicators to measure success; 4) join social media conversations; and 5) continuously monitor competitors and benchmarks to stay ahead. The goal is to learn from competitors, maximize engagement on effective channels, and continuously improve strategies.

1. 5 StepS to
Social Media
SucceSS
uSing
coMpetitiVe
intelligence
A BEGINNER’S GUIDE
Brought to you by Compete.com
www.compete.com 617.933.5600 support@compete.com

2. You’ve had “the talk” and your organization is thinking
about implementing social media as part of your
communication strategy. Your marketing team is
ready to join the digital conversation, but you want to
take a disciplined approach to campaign planning,
tracking and measurement. It brings accountability and
rationality to an area of marketing that can be far too
undisciplined.
Using competitive intelligence, you can get the
insights you need to monitor your competition while
enhancing your marketing strategy, creating metrics and
benchmarks, and delivering measureable results while
you engage your community.
1. Listen First, Speak Later
Monitor what your competitors are saying in social
media before you join the conversation.
The beauty of social media is that it’s meant to be just that: social.
All of the information on your competition exists openly. One of the
best ways to join the conversation is to say nothing at all. Monitor
your competitions’ social media to establish best practices. You
may even learn from their mistakes. By listening to your competition,
you can make logical business decisions and maximize your social TOOLS TO HELP YOU LISTEN TO
media engagement. THE CONVERSTAIONS ARE:
http://www.google.com/alerts
You can also begin listening to what your customers are saying http://search.twitter.com/
about you in this stage. Using competitive intelligence tools, you http://www.google.com/trends
http://searchanalytics.compete.com/
can see which websites are getting traffic from keywords or phrases
relevant to your brand.
There are many tools that can help you listen to the conversation.
Google Alerts, are e-mail updates of the latest relevant Google
results (web, news, etc.) based on your choice of query or topic.
www.compete.com 617.933.5600 PAGE 1
support@compete.com pg.1

3. Twitter Search provides real-time search results on queries about
your brand, keyword, or phrase. Google Trends enables you
to compare the world’s interest in your favorite topics. You can
enter up to five topics and see how often they’ve been searched
on Google over time. Google Trends also shows how frequently
your topics have appeared in Google News stories, and in
which geographic regions people have searched for them most.
Compete’s Keyword Destination report allows you to enter a
keyword or phrase and get a list of sites it refers traffic to.
2. Imitation Is the Greatest Form of
Flattery
Identify what social media channels are working
for your competition and map out your strategy
based on their success
By analyzing referral and destination traffic for your competition
using competitive intelligence, you can identify which social media
channels are most effective for your competition. Does a majority of BEfORE STARTINg YOUR SOCIAL
their referral traffic come from Facebook? Twitter? Their company mEdIA mARkETINg EffORTS,
blog? LinkedIn? Using competitive intelligence tools, create a list
ANSwER THESE 3 qUESTIONS
ABOUT YOUR COmPETITORS’
of websites you compete with. Then, analyze the conversations SOCIAL mEdIA INITIATIVES:
and level of engagement your competition is having with their
community. Do they blog?
Are they on Twitter?
Are they on Facebook?
To measure destination traffic, look to see if your competition has
social media icons on their website. If so, how many people visit
their social media channels from their website?
If your competitors are receiving traffic from specific sites, it may be
worth targeting those sites as the first social media channels you
enter to see how your business can benefit from the relationships
you build there. If you have limited time and resources to dedicate
to social media marketing, competitive intelligence can provide the
insights you need to maximize the results you achieve from social
www.compete.com 617.933.5600 PAGE 1
support@compete.com pg.2
pg.1

4. media marketing.
For instance, Compete Referral Analytics can help you with your
site acquisition strategies with referral sources, historical trends,
and customized filtering capabilities that let you target upstream
(inbound) and downstream (outbound) traffic for thousands of
websites. Referral Analytics includes an at-a-glance channel map
to visualize the traffic metrics of competitors, clients, or prospects.
You can use the Compete Channel Map to efficiently explore large
datasets instead of relying on spreadsheets.
Examples:
Do they blog? If so, how often do they post? What is the tone
of their posts? Do they have multiple contributors? Is the brand
voice consistent with their marketing? Do people comment on blog
posts? What type of content is being distributed?
Are they on Twitter? If so, how many followers do they have?
How many people are they following? Are they actively engaging
their followers? Do people retweet their content? An easy way to
track this is using
Are they on Facebook? If so, how many people “like” them? Do
people interact with posts?
3. Define Key Performance
Indicators
Define your competitive set, learn what “normal”
really is for specific metrics, and know where your
competition ranks.
How can you win the game when you don’t know the playing field?.
Who are the leaders in your space? Who are the copy cats? Do any
of your competitors do anything in particular that interests you?
How many competitors do you think you have? Creating a list of
www.compete.com 617.933.5600 PAGE 1
support@compete.com pg.3
pg.1

5. the competitors in your space and indentifying why each poses
a competitive threat will be the foundation of your competitive
strategy. After identifying your competitive set, start to dig deep.
Social media success comes in many forms and will be unique to
wITH THE RIgHT kPI’S IN PLACE, YOU
CAN REACT ACCORdINgLY ANd:
your business. At first, some may be inclined to view social media
like any other channel. If you put resources and marketing dollars - Increase brand awareness
behind it, you may expect a calculated ROI. This is something you - Increase traffic to your website
- Learn more about your target
should avoid because successful social media will ultimately build
audience
relationships, increase customer loyalty and increase profits, but - Increase customer interactions
you will not likely see results overnight. However, setting up goals - Generate Leads
- Improve Search Engine Rankings
and objectives will help you develop benchmarks and measure
- Increase Sales
success.
Examples of popular key performance indicators (KPI’s)
include:
Brand Awareness – How many mentions are you getting?
Customer Feedback – Are responses and comments negative or
positive? Is the volume of favorable/unfavorable response going up
or down?
Website Traffic – How many visitors are going to your website. How
many are going to your competitiors.
Customer Interactions – how many times do you touch a customer
in a given week across customer support, email, chat, twitter, etc. Is
this going up or down?
4. Take The Plunge
It’s time to join the conversation. Be prepared! Get
excited!
Now that you’ve monitored the success of your competition,
www.compete.com 617.933.5600 PAGE 1
support@compete.com pg.4
pg.1
PAGE 1

6. listened to your audience (for better or worse), created goals and
objectives, you’re ready to join the conversation. It’s time to build
your voice on the web.
Social media is all about building relationships with your customers
in an unconventional way. Technology removes the geographic
barrier from the communication equation. You can now reach SOCIAL mEdIA ExPERTS wORTH
out to a customer who needs customer service, share a video on LISTENINg TO:
Facebook, educate customers about a new product or promotion
Joseph Jaffe
in a blog. Every interaction with a customer is an opportunity to
http://www.jaffejuice.com/
increase brand loyalty through relationship building or to acquire a
new customer. Chris Brogan
http://www.chrisbrogan.com/
Your social media experience will be as unique as your business. Seth Godin
Some helpful online resources and thought leaders you can http://www.sethgodin.com
reference:
Brian Solis
http://www.briansolis.com/
Joseph Jaffe is one of the most sought-after consultants,
speakers and thought leaders on new marketing. His focus is on Mashable
http://mashable.com/
helping clients achieve positive change and impact by joining the
conversation. You can read Joseph’s blog http://www.jaffejuice. Advertising Age
com/ http://adage.com/
Chris Brogan is President of New Marketing Labs, a new media
marketing agency. He works with large and mid-sized companies
to improve online business communications like marketing and PR
through the use of social software, community platforms, and other
emerging web and mobile technologies. Chris Brogan also has a
blog http://www.chrisbrogan.com/
Seth Godin is a marketer and author or twelve books that have all
been bestsellers. He writes about the post-industrial revolution, the
way ideas spread, marketing, quitting, leadership and most of all,
changing everything. You can read Seth’s blog http://sethgodin.
typepad.com/ or for more information about Seth, including his
books, you can visit his website http://www.sethgodin.com
Brian Solis who is globally recognized as one of the most
www.compete.com 617.933.5600 PAGE 1
support@compete.com pg.5
pg.1
PAGE 1

7. prominent thought leaders and published authors in new media.
A digital analyst, sociologist, and futurist, Solis has influenced
the effects of emerging media on the convergence of marketing,
communications, and publishing. http://www.briansolis.com/
Mashable is one of the top sources for news in social and digital
media, technology and web culture. Mashable reports breaking
web news, provides analysis of trends, reviews new Web sites and
services, and offers social media resources and guides. Mashable’s
audience includes early adopters, social media enthusiasts,
entrepreneurs, influencers, brands and corporations, marketing,
PR and advertising agencies, Web 2.0 aficionados and technology
journalists. http://mashable.com/
Advertising Age is a global source of news, intelligence and
conversation for marketing and media communities. http://adage.
com/
5. Stay on Top
Monitor, set benchmarks, and realize how your
site enhancements and marketing strategies
impact your competitors.
In order to stay on track and continue to grow your business, you
need an online marketing strategy that can adjust to ever-changing
economic, technological, and social environments. Incorporating
competitive intelligence into that marketing strategy can give
you the critical information you need to minimize risk and ensure
success.
Monitor your competitive set and use your competitive intelligence
tools on a regular basis. You will find much of the information
you collect to be critical in making decisions about your overall
marketing strategy. Then, set benchmarks and monitor changes
www.compete.com 617.933.5600 PAGE 1
support@compete.com pg.6
pg.1
PAGE 1

8. across your entire competitive set. Only then will you
realize the true impact your of your efforts.
Over time your online competition is only going to heat
up. Adding competitive intelligence to your day-to-day
marketing strategies will ultimately give you the upper
hand and allow you to accurately forecast recovery,
growth, and success in 2010 and beyond.
Compete harnesses the online behavior of
millions of consumers to help hundreds of
clients improve their marketing effectiveness.
Offering a robust suite of products coupled
with deep vertical industry insights, Compete
provides custom consultative services alongside
powerful competitive intelligence tools delivered
via compete.com. The results, used by some
of the world’s biggest brands, drive more
effective online experiences and highly profitable
advertising campaigns.
Compete’s services are supported by industry-
leading data, management, and technological
innovation. Our consumer behavioral data is
drawn from multiple sources and comprises the
largest active consumer database in the industry,
unmatched in depth, quality, and integrity.
Contact us for more information.
Become a fan on Facebook
Join our group on LinkedIn
Follow us on Twitter
Subscribe to us on YouTube
www.compete.com 617.933.5600 PAGE 1
support@compete.com pg.7