Monitoring Competition, Being Where Your Competitors Aren’t

91% percent of B2B marketers use content marketing, and the budget for content development and digital strategy continues to rise. As a B2B marketer, you should be monitoring competition to find out where they are pushing their content and what works. However, you also need to discover where your competitors are not.

To reach that uncrowded territory, you need to look at your content analytics and buyer behavior to create different materials for different platforms. The future of B2B content marketing is a mix of the best creatives with the best analytics, while the competition fades into background noise. With that in mind, here are three factors you should consider when monitoring your competitors:

• Platforms: More than 70% of B2B marketers use the ‘Big Four’ social media sites (LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube) to distribute content, while 55% use Google+ and even less use Pinterest and Instagram. Competition on the ‘Big Four’ is high so you’re fighting for impressions and engagement. You may be able to find a niche platform your competitors are not using and become giants in that space. Take a look at how your competitors are using the platforms and you can find a way to differentiate. Perhaps their postings are mostly about recruiting initiatives; you can instead post trending industry research.
• Content: When discovering insights through content analytics and buyer behavior, you can discover that your competitors are focused on text-based formats. Thus, you can produce video content to stand out and engage your customers. Or perhaps your competitors are churning out quick-hit posts that lack depth, in which case you can produce more long-form, educational content. Discover what is lacking and what space is already filled and you will be able to deliver content that stands out. For example, only 17% of marketers plan to increase podcasting this year.
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• Timing/Frequency: View when your competitors are posting and how often. You want a balance of posting at the correct times to increase your own engagement levels, but you also do not want to post at the same time as your competitors every day. Try posting at different times and watch how your engagement levels perform.

In the crowded space of digital marketing, it is vital to learn what areas your competitors are not in so you can create a more successful online strategy. By gaining insights on your competitors, you discover gaps that your content can fill, thus earning your share in the digital space.