Facebook Competitor Analysis with Metricool

A Facebook competitor analysis is a game-changer for businesses looking to fine-tune their social media strategy. By understanding what your competitors are doing—whether they’re excelling or falling short—you can uncover opportunities, benchmark your performance, and design a strategy that sets you apart. Here’s a deep dive into what Facebook competitor analysis entails, why it matters, and how Metricool simplifies the process.

What Is a Facebook Competitor Analysis?

A Facebook competitor analysis involves studying other brands in your niche to evaluate their strategies and performance. This process helps you uncover insights about:

• Competitor Standing: Identify where they rank in your industry and understand their current influence.
• Strategies in Use: Analyze what tactics are driving their success, whether it’s a specific type of content, engagement method, or posting schedule.
• Weaknesses: Pinpoint gaps or inefficiencies in their strategy that your brand can capitalize on to stand out.

Key Metrics to Focus On

When analyzing competitors on Facebook, it’s important to track metrics that give you both a quantitative and qualitative understanding of their performance:

• Page Likes: The total number of followers on their page indicates the size of their audience and reach potential.
• Engagement Rates: Assess how actively their audience interacts with their content through likes, comments, shares, and reactions.
• Content Strategy: Examine the types of posts they share, the frequency of their updates, and which formats perform the best—like videos, images, or carousel posts.
• Customer Service: Take note of how they handle comments, questions, or direct messages to gauge their responsiveness and level of customer care.

Why Is Facebook Competitor Analysis Important?

Conducting a thorough competitor analysis isn’t just about keeping an eye on others—it’s about strengthening your brand’s position in the market and ensuring you’re meeting (or exceeding) audience expectations. Here’s why it matters:

• Identify Market Gaps: Spot opportunities where competitors might be underperforming, such as underserved audience segments or overlooked content ideas.
• Benchmark Performance: Use competitor data to set realistic goals for your own brand and track progress over time.
• Optimize Content Strategy: Learn from your competitors’ most successful posts and adapt similar strategies to suit your audience.
• Improve Targeting: Analyze audience demographics and engagement to refine your targeting and uncover new potential customer groups.
• Stay Ahead of Trends: Keep up with the latest industry trends and ensure your brand evolves alongside them.
• Allocate Resources Wisely: Focus your time, budget, and efforts on areas where you can outshine the competition, whether it’s content creation, engagement, or ad campaigns.
• Enhance Customer Service: Learn from competitors’ responses to customer interactions, and adopt best practices to improve your own communication.

How to Use Metricool for Facebook Competitor Analysis

If you’ve been imagining the exhausting task of manually combing through competitor pages and posts to track their performance, you’re not alone. The thought of it is enough to make anyone feel overwhelmed.

Thankfully, Metricool makes this process quick, easy, and just a few clicks away. Here’s how you can get started:

💡 Step 1: Create a Metricool Account

Before diving in, you’ll need a Metricool account. If you haven’t already, sign up for free here.

💡 Step 2: Connect Your Facebook Page

1. Open the Connections dashboard from the drop-down menu in the top-right corner.
2. Select Connect Facebook Page and grant the necessary permissions.

With just a few quick steps, your Facebook page will be linked to Metricool, setting the foundation for your competitor analysis.

💡 Step 3: Add Competitors

1. Go to the Analytics menu in the left-hand column and select Facebook > Competitors.
2. Click Add to search for the Facebook pages of the businesses you want to track.
3. Select the desired pages, and they’ll automatically be added to your competitor list.

Once added, Metricool will provide all the key metrics you need to analyze your competitors’ performance.

What Metrics Does Metricool Facebook Competitor Analysis Provide?

Once your competitors are added, Metricool gives you access to detailed insights when you click ‘More stats’, including:

• Total Likes: The number of followers on your competitors’ Facebook pages.
• Posting Frequency: The number of posts shared during a selected time frame.
• Average Interactions: Reactions, comments, and shares across posts within the analyzed period.
• Engagement Rate: A key metric calculated as the average interactions divided by total followers, multiplied by 1,000.
• Post-Level Analysis: View individual posts with details such as the date posted, reactions, comments, shares, and engagement rate.
• Competitor Comparisons: Use the Compare feature to analyze two or more competitors side by side, giving you a clear picture of their relative performance.

Metricool also allows you to organize these metrics based on your priorities—sort by likes, posts, reactions, or any other column to make your analysis even more efficient.

Download Competitor Reports

Analyzing data is great, but what if you need to present it to a client or include it in a media kit? Metricool has you covered:

• Professional Reports: Download comprehensive PDF or PPT reports that include all competitor data from your dashboard, along with your own performance for the same period.
• CSV Exports: Prefer to work offline or crunch numbers in your own way? Download your competitor analysis as a CSV file. While not as visually polished as the reports, it’s still a handy option for customized analysis.

How to Apply Competitor Insights to Your Facebook Strategy

Gathering data from a Facebook competitor analysis is only the first step. The real value lies in how you apply these insights to improve your own social media strategy. Here’s a detailed guide to leveraging the information you’ve uncovered:

1. Optimize Your Content Strategy

Your competitor analysis provides a wealth of inspiration for content creation. Take note of their top-performing posts—whether they’re educational, entertaining, or promotional—and adapt those ideas to suit your brand’s unique voice and audience.

• Identify Successful Formats: If competitors see high engagement with carousel posts, videos, or infographics, incorporate those formats into your strategy.
• Repurpose Topics: Use themes that resonate with their audience but customize them to align with your brand values and messaging.
• Fill Content Gaps: Spot areas where competitors are underperforming or neglecting specific topics and step in to deliver high-quality content in those niches.

2. Refine Your Posting Schedule

Timing is everything on social media, and analyzing when your competitors post can reveal patterns for audience engagement.

• Identify Peak Times: Look for trends in the timing and frequency of their posts that lead to high engagement.
• Test and Adjust: Experiment with posting during similar time slots or intervals, then analyze your own data to optimize further.
• Balance Quality and Quantity: Learn from competitors who post too frequently (and overwhelm their audience) or too rarely (and lose relevance).

3. Boost Engagement with Proven Tactics

Understanding what types of posts generate the most reactions, comments, and shares for your competitors can help you craft more engaging content.

• Interactive Content: Test strategies like polls, quizzes, or “comment-to-win” contests that perform well for others.
• User-Generated Content: If your competitors feature customer testimonials, reviews, or tagged posts, consider implementing a similar approach.
• Storytelling: Analyze competitors’ storytelling techniques—whether through captions, videos, or multi-post campaigns—and adapt them to connect with your audience emotionally.

4. Target Smarter with Audience Insights

Competitor data often provides a window into audience demographics, behaviors, and interests, which you can use to fine-tune your targeting.

• Demographics: Study competitors’ audience age, location, or gender trends to refine your own targeting criteria.
• Interest-Based Targeting: Analyze the topics or industries their audience engages with to adjust your content themes and ad placements.
• Geographic Insights: If a competitor is performing well in a specific region, consider focusing your efforts there as well.

5. Enhance Your Ad Campaigns

Competitor insights can be a goldmine for improving your Facebook ad strategy. Observe the ad types, messaging, and visuals that are driving results for them.

• Ad Formats: Note whether competitors prioritize video ads, carousel ads, or single-image ads, and experiment with these formats for your campaigns.
• Copywriting Techniques: Study their headlines, call-to-actions (CTAs), and tone of voice to understand what resonates with their audience.
• A/B Testing Ideas: Use competitor ads as a foundation for testing variations in your own campaigns—such as different visuals, ad placements, or CTAs.
• Targeted Offers: If your competitors are running promotions or discounts, consider how you can create even more compelling offers to attract shared audiences.

6. Measure, Adapt, and Improve

Competitor analysis isn’t a one-and-done task. It’s an ongoing process that evolves as trends change and markets shift.

• Track Your Progress: Regularly compare your performance metrics against competitors to gauge improvement.
• Monitor Competitor Changes: Stay updated on adjustments to their strategies—whether it’s new content formats, campaign ideas, or collaborations.
• Stay Agile: Be ready to pivot your strategy based on insights from your own data and continued competitor analysis.

Pro Tips for Effective Facebook Competitor Analysis

To truly stand out on Facebook, it’s not enough to gather competitor insights—you need to analyze them strategically and put them into action. These tips will help you make the most of your analysis and keep your strategy sharp.

• Keep It Fresh: Regularly update your competitor analysis to stay aligned with new trends and shifts in the market. Social media moves fast, and yesterday’s strategy might not work tomorrow.
• Start with Similar Brands: Focus on competitors that are closest to your business in size, audience, and niche. This keeps your analysis relevant and actionable.
• Don’t Forget Secondary Competitors: Keep an eye on smaller or indirect competitors, too. They might offer unique approaches or fill gaps your primary competitors are missing.
• Go Beyond the Numbers: Metrics matter, but don’t overlook the tone, style, and overall quality of your competitors’ content. These subtler elements can offer valuable insights.
• Pay Attention to Feedback: Read through comments on your competitors’ posts to understand how their audience feels about their content. It’s a direct line to audience expectations and pain points.
• Find Your Differentiator: Use what you’ve learned to carve out a unique space for your brand. Whether it’s a fresh take on content or a standout customer experience, focus on what sets you apart.
• Turn Insights into Action: Don’t let your findings sit idle. Apply what you’ve learned to your strategy—whether it’s refining your posting schedule, testing new formats, or targeting untapped audience segments.

Gretchen Oestreicher , 21 February 2025