Influencer marketing is on an unstoppable rise. As the number of influencers increases, a growing number of companies use influencer marketing as a permanent element of their marketing strategy. However, the tough competition still holds several businesses back. There is one method, however, that many brands overlook, even though it offers valuable opportunities to find hidden gems, and that is competitor analysis. Examining your rivals’ campaigns allows you to uncover which influencers they worked with and whether the partnership was successful, and with this knowledge, you can already define what kind of creators your company needs.
Gain Insights into Your Competitors' Influencer Partnerships
Chances are, your brand closely follows at least 4-5 of your competitors' activities and tactics, and if not, it's about time you started. These businesses likely target similar demographics with similar interests to yours, and even their message and vision reflect your own. Furthermore, if you notice their creator campaigns perform well on social media, why not scrutinize them carefully?
By studying the marketing efforts of other brands in your sector, you can learn from their mistakes and successes. Apart from this, you will also identify what audience they target, which social media platform they use for influencer marketing, what content creators engage their audiences most, and how many and what kind of influencers they work with. Finding relevant creator partners is essential, especially if you want to compete in a crowded market or a particular niche and your competitors can unknowingly assist in this process. Here's how.
1. Monitor Who Mentions Your Competition on Social Media
All social networks provide search functions where you can enter your competitor's account name and identify influential people and average users who mention them in their posts - whether paid or organic. Meta, LinkedIn, Snapchat's Ad Libraries, and Twitter's Transparency Center let you track sponsored ads based on mentions or keywords. Social media transparency tools provide details about impressions, audience demographics, location, and ad spending.
2. Search for Branded and Niche Hashtags
Almost all campaigns have hashtags, and anyone who shares them and has a strong following will increase your potential candidates list. You can search for hashtags and keywords on social media, which allows you to find potential influencers and discover which brands utilize user-generated content.
Pro tip: Use tools for social media monitoring
Social media monitoring tools or influencer marketing platforms with social listening capabilities can help you reduce the time you spend manually polling every platform for mentions and hashtags. HypeAuditor, for example, allows businesses to track keywords, mentions, and hashtags on TikTok and Instagram. The tool displays the influencer's size, the number of posts linked to the hashtag, keyword, or mention, and the platform. You can check out the posts themselves and examine the views, likes, and comments they received.
Influencers who mentioned the keyword ‘hellofresh’ recently.
A closer look at Joti Wall’s post about HelloFresh.
3. Keep an Eye on Your Competitors’ Social Media Activity
Be aware of how often other industry players are mentioned by content creators and vice versa. Yes, you must pay attention to the experts and authoritative figures your competition mentions. Find out what type and size of influencers they work with. Are their creators specialized or do they cover a wide range of topics? Do your rivals collaborate with micro-influencers or mega-influencers? Are their audiences younger or older; males or females? Are they limited to a region or do they cover multiple countries?
Track hashtags and mentions to determine how often they launch influencer or UGC campaigns. How do they encourage users to create content around a service or product? Do they gift influencers products or sponsor their posts? You'll be able to answer these questions by keeping track of other companies' marketing efforts and by figuring out what content engages users and which influencers they prefer.
Pro tip: Leverage a competitor analysis tool
Again, tools will garner you all the above-mentioned information and even more about your competitors’ influencer marketing. A market analysis tool or an influencer marketing suite with a comprehensive tool kit including competitor analysis will save you time and effort by showing you the top performing influencers, the top audience gender and age, and the most popular hashtags. HypeAuditor’s Competitor Analysis tool offers brands a summary of the campaign’s performance, posting frequency, audience geo and demographics, and content with the highest and lowest ER and most likes. And of course specifics of the influencers involved, for example, the influencer’s follower size, category, the most active individuals, and the number of sponsored and organic content.
No matter if they are sponsored or organic posts, Cadbury is mostly mentioned by nano-influencers in the Sweets & Bakery category, closely followed by creators in the Food & Cooking and Family niches.
While HelloFresh sponsored mostly content from mid-tier creators, its organic posts were shared primarily by nano-influencers. As a meal subscription service, HelloFresh partners with momfluencers and creators who have families and lack the time to prepare meals from scratch.
4. Discover Influencers Identical to Your Competitors
It is completely understandable if you exclude influencers who frequently work with your rivals. On the one hand, it might be prohibited by their contract, and on the other, it might confuse both of your audiences if the same influencer is used by two different brands. Still, wouldn't it be great if your company could launch successful campaigns with influencers similar to your competitors? If that's the case, you should search for similar influencers.
Manually searching is best done by looking at what niche hashtags and keywords these influencers use and finding creators who also use them. Having created a list of influencers with similar interests, you can analyze their content and determine their audience characteristics.
Pro tip: Find creators with an Influencer lookalike tool
Yes, HypeAuditor has a tool for finding influencer lookalikes as well. Simply, enter the desired influencer's Instagram, YouTube, or TikTok account name in the search bar, and voilà, you'll find a multitude of identical creators. Filter your search results based on the influencer's location and size.
A bunch of fitness content creators similar to Senada Greca featured with their follower number, ER, and quality audience.
5. A Bonus Tip for Uncovering Rival Brand Influencers with HypeAuditor
There's one more way to spot influencers who mention your competition. Find the account of a rival brand in HypeAuditor’s platform, open its analytics report, and scroll down to the Mentioned By section.
Lululemon was mentioned by these 3 influencers among others.
You can analyze influencers' audiences and performance instantly by clicking on their profiles. If they meet your criteria, you can find similar creators by using our lookalike tool.
Wrapping It Up
The bottom line is that peeking at your competitors' marketing efforts isn't just about keeping pace with them. It's a goldmine for discovering influencers who truly speak to your audience. Remember: Influencer marketing isn't just about quantity. You need to find creators whose values and vibe align with your brand. Take the time to explore those partnerships and find the influencers who will help your brand grow!
