How To Do A Competitor Analysis In Digital Marketing
In today’s digital age, businesses are continually striving to stay ahead of the competition.
One essential aspect of digital marketing is conducting a competitor analysis to understand the strategies and tactics used by your competitors.
By doing so, you can create a more effective marketing plan and stay ahead of the competition.
In this blog post, we will explore how to conduct a competitor analysis in digital marketing & the best practices that you can follow.
Shorts achieve a higher engagement rate as they are more likely to be watched in entirety due to their short bite-sized content
What Is Competitive Analysis
Competitive analysis in digital marketing is the process of analyzing and understanding the strengths and weaknesses of your competitors’ digital marketing strategies. It involves analyzing the digital marketing tactics used by your competitors, identifying areas where they excel, and identifying areas where they can improve.
The goal of competitive analysis in digital marketing is to gain insights into your competitors’ strategies and use that information to develop your own effective digital marketing plan.
Competitive analysis in digital marketing can include analyzing your competitors’ websites, social media profiles, content strategies, SEO strategies, paid advertising strategies, and email marketing strategies.
By analyzing these areas, you can gain insights into the keywords they are targeting, the type of content they are producing, the channels they are using to reach their audience, and the messaging they are using to engage with their customers.
The insights gained from competitive analysis can help you identify gaps and opportunities in your own digital marketing strategies. For example, if you find that your competitor’s website has better user experience than yours, you can focus on improving your website’s user experience. Or, if you find that your competitor is not leveraging a particular social media platform, you can capitalize on that opportunity by developing a strong presence on that platform.
Steps In Competitor Analysis
Step 1: Identify Your Competitors
The first step in conducting a competitor analysis is to identify your direct and indirect competitors. Direct competitors are those who offer similar products or services to your business, while indirect competitors are those who offer products or services that cater to the same target audience. Once you have identified your competitors, you can move on to the next step.
Step 2: Analyze Their Website
The next step in conducting a competitor analysis is to analyze your competitors’ websites. Look for their design, user interface, content, and messaging. Check if their website is optimized for search engines and if they have implemented any technical SEO tactics. Note their call-to-action buttons and how they are used to convert visitors into customers.
Step 3: Analyze Their Social Media Presence
Social media has become an integral part of digital marketing. Analyzing your competitors’ social media presence will provide you with insight into their social media strategy. Look at their social media profiles, how often they post, what kind of content they post, and how engaged their audience is. Note their followers and their engagement levels on different social media platforms.
Step 4: Analyze Their Content Strategy
The content you produce plays a crucial role in your digital marketing strategy. Analyzing your competitors’ content strategy can give you an idea of what kind of content resonates with your target audience. Look at the type of content they create, the topics they cover, and how they present it. Take note of the content format, whether it’s blogs, infographics, videos, or podcasts.
Step 5: Analyze Their SEO Strategy
Search engine optimization (SEO) is essential to improving your website’s visibility on search engines. Analyzing your competitors’ SEO strategy can give you insights into what keywords they are targeting, their backlink profile, and their on-page optimization. You can use this information to improve your website’s SEO strategy.
Step 6: Analyze Their Paid Advertising Strategy
Paid advertising can be an effective way to drive traffic to your website. Analyzing your competitors’ paid advertising strategy can give you insights into their targeting, ad messaging, and ad creatives. Look at the ad platforms they use, such as Google Ads, Facebook Ads, or Instagram Ads, and how they structure their campaigns.
Step 7: Identify Opportunities and Gaps
Finally, after analyzing your competitors, identify any gaps or opportunities in their digital marketing strategy that you can leverage. Look for areas where your competitors are weak, and you can capitalize on them. Similarly, look for areas where your competitors are strong, and you need to improve your digital marketing efforts.
Did You Know?
Shorts can be up to 60 seconds long, but users can also string multiple Shorts together to create longer videos
Best Practices In Competitor Analysis
YouTube Shorts appear in multiple places on the YouTube app, including:
Focus on the Right Metrics: Identify the key performance indicators (KPIs) that are important to your business and focus on those metrics when analyzing your competitors. For example, if website traffic is critical to your business, focus on analyzing your competitor’s website traffic.
The Shorts tab on the YouTube app, which features a collection of short videos from different creators
The subscription feed, where you can see Shorts from creators you’re subscribed to
The search results page, where relevant Shorts may appear alongside regular video results
The notification bell icon, where you can see notifications for new Shorts from creators you’re subscribed to
Monetize With Shorts
YouTube Shorts is a new feature on the platform and as of now, it’s not possible to monetize Shorts directly. However, creators can still earn revenue from their Shorts content in different ways. Here are some ways creators can monetize their Shorts:
Ads On Longer-Form Content: Since Shorts views count towards a creator’s overall YouTube views, creators can use Shorts to drive more traffic to their longer-form content, which can be monetized through ads
Sponsorships & Brand Deals: Creators can use their Shorts content to showcase their creativity and attract brand deals and sponsorships
Merchandise Sales: Creators can use their Shorts content to promote their merchandise sales or other products and services
Channel Memberships: Creators with eligible channels can offer channel memberships to their viewers, which can provide exclusive perks and benefits
Super Chat and Super Stickers: Creators with eligible channels can use Super Chat and Super Stickers during their live streams, which allow viewers to support their favorite creators by making monetary contributions
YouTube’s Shorts Fund: YouTube is currently running a Shorts Fund program that rewards creators for creating engaging Shorts content. While it’s not a direct monetization method, it can provide a financial incentive for creators to produce more Shorts content
Revenue sharing for Shorts Ads has started from Feb 1st 2023 for those who’ve signed up agreements
How To Qualify For Youtube Shorts Fund
This brings us to the next question, am I eligible for Youtube Shorts Fund?
To qualify you need to create original, engaging content that needs the below criteria:
- Your content must comply with YouTube’s Community Guidelines and Terms of Service
- Your videos must be in a vertical format with an aspect ratio of 9:16 and no longer than 60 seconds in length
- Your content must be suitable for all ages and should not contain any explicit or graphic content
- You need to be based in an eligible country where the Shorts Fund is available. As of February 2023, the Shorts Fund is available in the US, UK, Canada, Australia, India, Brazil, Indonesia, Japan, Mexico, Nigeria, Philippines, Russia, and South Africa
- You need to have at least one eligible short-form video that has received over 600,000 views in the last 180 days
- You must be at least 18 years old and have an AdSense account linked to your YouTube account
If you meet these criteria, you may be eligible for the Shorts Fund. However, keep in mind that eligibility does not guarantee that you will receive funding.
The Shorts Fund is limited, and YouTube will decide which creators receive funding based on various factors, including video performance, audience engagement, and overall quality.
Subscribe to our Newsletter to stay updated on all news related to this topic. If you have any questions, email us on mail@digital-doorway.com
Frequently Asked Questions
YouTube Shorts are short-form videos that can be up to 60 seconds long and are designed to be viewed on mobile devices. They are similar to TikTok and Instagram Reels
To create a YouTube Short, simply open the YouTube app, tap the "+" icon, and select "Create a Short." From there, you can record a new video or upload an existing one, and then use the editing tools to add music, captions, filters, and effects.
Yes, YouTube has community guidelines that apply to Shorts just like any other content on the platform. This means that Shorts must be appropriate for all ages and should not contain any hate speech, violence, nudity, or other types of content that violate YouTube's policies.
Yes, creators can monetize their Shorts through ads, channel memberships, and the YouTube Shorts Fund.
However, there are certain eligibility requirements that must be met before creators can participate in these monetization programs.
Learn more here
YouTube Shorts appear as a separate section on the YouTube app's homepage, or you can go to the Shorts shelf on the mobile app's bottom navigation bar. You can also search for Shorts using hashtags or by browsing the Shorts tab on a creator's channel.
Yes, all YouTube Shorts are vertical and optimized for mobile viewing. This means they are meant to be watched in portrait mode, rather than landscape
Need Help?
Interested in scaling your business or get started in Digital Marketing?
