Madison Vale

A good competitor analysis is going to be what helps you elevator your brand to stand out from the rest. Identifying the good, the bad, and the ugly from your competitors is the first step to pulling out on top.

What is a Competitor Analysis?

A competitor analysis is going through and identifying your brands direct and indirect competitors and in this case, we also threw in an aspirational competitor.

Once you identify your competitive set, it’s all about collecting data about each brand.

Metrics I Looked for Included:

• Content
  • Themes
  • Quality
  • Frequency
  • Distribution Channels
• SEO Strategy
  • Target Keywords
  • On-Page Optimization
  • Backlink Profile
  • Featured Snippets
• Performance Metrics
  • Traffic
  • Social Follows/Subscribers
• Content Gaps
  • Underserved Topics
  • Unexplored Content
  • Audience Pain Points Not Addressed
• Brand Voice and Messaging
  • Tone and Style
  • Unique Selling Point
  • Brand Values Communicated
• SWOT Analysis

I know, it’s a lot. But to be fair, there’s a lot to look at in order to identify what your competitors are REALLY doing.

How Did I Tackle This?

My first order of business was to take a look at the social media presence of each of my competitors. Going through areas such as content, interactions, likes, comments, frequency, and quality to form a comprehensive overview of what they’ve got going on.

But how did I get the tricky numbers? Good question. With an order that tall, it’s not realistic to be finding all of that information on my own. I utilized a few different programs to help me get where I needed to go.

SEMrush

SEMrush proved useful in gathering data for my competitor analysis by providing detailed insights into the social media performance of each organization. Through SEMrush, I was able to track metrics like follower growth, traffic, and the backlinks. This tool also allowed me to compare keyword usage, and other account trends. This data not only highlighted areas where my competitors thrive but also revealed potential opportunities for the National Park Foundation to improve its own social media presence.

SEOquake

SEOquake was instrumental in my research. By being a simple chrome extension, I was able to get the data on any given webpage, easily. With SEOquake, I could quickly assess metrics like keyword density, page rankings, and backlinks for competitor websites. Through this tool’s ability to generate reports on-site structure, meta descriptions, and keyword usage, I was able to easily identify the SEO strengths and weaknesses of my competitors.

These programs were able to help me get through the nitty gritty details like SEO usage, backlink tracking, analytics, and more.

My Competitive Analysis

In the end, I identified three competitors:

Direct: Yellowstone Forever

Indirect: The Wilderness Society

Aspirational: Trust for Public Land

Completing each analysis provided crucial insights as to what the National Park Foundation is up against when it comes to their social media and content. Discovering what advantages the National Park Foundation has over these three competitors while simultaneously pinpointing what can be done better or can be implemented to continue to pull ahead of the rest.

View my full analysis here: