In This Article
You’re scrolling through LinkedIn, half-reading posts, when something catches your eye—a competitor just announced a new product that looks suspiciously like the one you’ve been working on. It’s moments like these that make you wish you could see their whole strategy laid out before you, like a poker hand flipped at the end of the game. But what if you could?
LinkedIn Makes Competitive Analysis Easy
I’ve noticed that a lot of entrepreneurs really struggle with market research and understanding their competition. A lot of that confusion comes from not knowing where to go for information and what to look for.
So, why not start with LinkedIn?
If you’re not using LinkedIn for competitive analysis already, you’re missing out on a goldmine of information that could take your business to the next level.
With more than 750 million users, LinkedIn is a database or online tradeshow with every company sharing their marketing approach and positioning for all to see – if you know what to look for.
Think of LinkedIn as the ultimate intelligence gathering tool. It’s not just about connecting with industry leaders or posting your latest blog—it’s about getting inside your competitors’ heads. From their content strategy to their hiring patterns, LinkedIn gives you a front row seat to their playbook.
How LinkedIn Went from Networking to a Competitive Analysis Goldmine
When LinkedIn launched, it was a place where professionals uploaded their resumes and sent connection requests. Today, it’s a key tool for B2B marketing, brand building and yes—competitive analysis.
With every company update, employee move and piece of content shared, LinkedIn gives you a peek into your competitors’ strategy. But the magic happens when you know how to use LinkedIn for competitive analysis.
Step 1: Who Are Your Competitors—the Usual Suspects and Hidden Players
Before you can start analyzing your competitors on LinkedIn, you need to identify them. And that means taking some quiet time with just you, your computer, and your LinkedIn account.
But don’t stop at the obvious names. There are different types of competitors that you may not have even considered. Let’s start with the obvious ones and work our way out to the fringes.
Direct Competitors: These are the companies that offer the same products or services as you. These are your main competition, the ones you think of when you hear “market share.”
Indirect Competitors: These businesses offer different products but target the same customer base. Think of them as the brands competing for your customers’ attention, even if their products aren’t exactly the same.
Replacement Competitors: These are the disruptors, the ones introducing something entirely new that could make your product obsolete.
Use LinkedIn’s advanced search filters to find these competitors and get started gathering the intel that will give you an advantage.
Super Tip: Here’s one more tip. You’re not captive to LinkedIn. Google is your friend, so keep searching and adding to your list of companies to look up and track on LinkedIn.
I recommend that you start a spreadsheet especially if you aren’t using LinkedIn Premium or LinkedIn Navigator. In your spreadsheet create the following columns:
- Company Name
- Company website
- LinkedIn Company Page
- Notes
These are the basics, you can add more columns.
Step 2: How to Use LinkedIn for Competitive Analysis
1. Competitor Profiles
Start by visiting your competitors’ LinkedIn Company Pages. Let’s take a look at two popular marketing automation software tools; Keap and Hubspot.
Both of these companies offer marketing automation and CRM functionality (and so much more, but let’s stick with those). Both of these companies sell to small business owners.
But if you were going to launch a new email marketing software – what can you learn from these two companies straight from LinkedIn?
The first thing you’ll notice is that every company page has a sort of “navigation bar” like a website. And you can learn a lot about a company by what tabs they choose to use in that navigation bar.
Let’s take a look at Hubspot’s Navigation bar:
The About section is your first stop—here you’ll find their mission, values and unique selling points. But don’t just skim; look for what they’re not saying as much as what they are. Gaps in their narrative might be opportunities for your brand.
In addition to the standard navigation items on the Hubspot LinkedIn Company Page, they also have the LIFE tab. But not every company uses it. If your competitors do have this enabled, you’ll be able to see how your competitors position themselves internally can inform your own recruitment and retention strategies so you can attract the talent they might be losing.
Since Hubspot has it – let’s take a peek.
What we’ve learned from just this quick look at Hubspot is that work life and their employees rank just as high in their strategy as their software or features.
Your goal is to look for the elements that this company is “proud of” this is what they think makes them special and makes them the obvious choice for you. Not only that, but you can actually figure out who their ideal customers are by seeing what they are featuring.
2. Content and Engagement
One of the most valuable things about using LinkedIn for competitive analysis is tracking the content your competitors post.
- What topics are they covering?
- What formats are they using—blog posts, videos, infographics?
- More importantly, how is their audience engaging?
Look at their posts to see what works and what doesn’t and why you think that is.
In this example from Keap, we see that they have lots of posts about training events. Let’s see what Hubspot is posting.
Now check this out! Look at Hubspot’s posts. You can already see their brand personality shining through.
Next, you can analyze the engagement metrics—likes, shares, comments—to see what’s working for them. If a particular type of content consistently gets high engagement, think about how you can adapt that to your strategy but with your spin.
Comparing the posts I shared here in my example, you can see that Hubspot obviously has more attention on their LinkedIn company page engagement than Keap. You can also see that these simple posts are driving all kinds of engagement.
3. Employee Moves
LinkedIn is the place to spy on your competitors’ employee movements—who’s joining, who’s leaving and what skills they’re bringing with them. This is gold for spotting strategy.
For example, if a competitor hires a bunch of engineers it might mean a new product is coming. If key employees start leaving it could mean internal trouble and that’s your cue to recruit top talent or anticipate a competitor’s decline in market position.
Here are some tips for tracking employee movements on LinkedIn:
LinkedIn Notifications:
Follow key people or employees from competitor companies and get notified when they update their job status. LinkedIn will alert you to changes in their profile, such as new jobs, which can mean movement between companies.
To receive automatic notifications, click over to “My Network” then click on “catch up”, then make sure that you have updates turned on.
LinkedIn Sales Navigator (Paid option):
Use LinkedIn Sales Navigator to target specific companies and track employee changes. This tool allows you to filter and track employees based on various criteria, such as job title or industry, to get insight into the workforce.
Networking and Connections:
Build a network within your industry. Connect with people who might share info on employee movement. This informal network can give you info that’s not always publicly available.
Your competitors are NOT your enemies! Some of my best friends in the industries I’ve worked were competitors at some point in time.
Company Page Analytics:
Use LinkedIn’s analytics to track changes in the number of employees on a company’s page. A sudden increase or decrease can mean hiring or layoffs respectively, which means movement in the workforce.
4. Use LinkedIn’s Analytics Tools
LinkedIn’s built-in analytics tools are a great resource for competitive analysis. The Competitor Analytics dashboard on your LinkedIn Company Page allows you to compare your company’s performance against up to nine competitors. By looking at follower growth, engagement rates and content output you can see trends and shifts in your competitors’ strategy.
Third party tools like Keyhole and Linked Helper can help automate the data collection process and give you detailed reports to benchmark your performance against your competitors.
5. Use the “Other Similar Profiles” Feature
The “Similar Profiles” section on LinkedIn is a secret weapon for competitive analysis. This feature shows you profiles and companies that LinkedIn’s algorithm thinks are similar to the ones you’re looking at. It’s a way to find unexpected competitors or discover new market segments you hadn’t thought of.
This is actually the entire right hand sidebar of any profile:
What to Do with the LinkedIn Competitive Analysis You’ve Gathered
Now let’s take a look at what you can do with all this work. If you were following along in real time doing some competitive analysis on LinkedIn, you were probably taking some notes along the way. This is where your notes will come in handy – and you’ll add more.
1. Content Strategy
Take note of what’s working for your competitors and how you can apply that to your own content.
If your competitor’s how-to videos are getting thousands of views, maybe it’s time to start creating video content with your own spin that highlights your brand’s strengths.
2. Marketing and Sales
Use the intel from your competitive analysis to tweak your marketing and sales strategies. If a competitor’s customer testimonials are getting engagement, consider showcasing your own customers with in-depth case studies or testimonials that highlight your unique selling points.
3. Stay ahead of the curve
By keeping an eye on what your competitors are doing you can anticipate industry trends before they emerge. If you see an uptick in content around a particular topic, maybe it’s time to explore how your brand can contribute to the conversation and even lead it.
Mistakes to Avoid in LinkedIn Competitive Analysis
While LinkedIn is a great tool, there are some common pitfalls to watch out for in your competitive analysis.
- Inconsistency: Competitive analysis should be a regular activity. Set a schedule—whether it’s monthly or quarterly—to make sure you’re on top of industry shifts.
- Data overload: With so much data available it’s easy to get overwhelmed. Focus on the most important data points that align with your business goals.
- Ignoring small players: Don’t just watch the big players. Smaller competitors can be more agile and innovative and are just as important to monitor.
Summary: Use LinkedIn For Competitive Analysis for the Win
LinkedIn isn’t just for networking anymore—it’s a competitive analysis tool. By learning how to use LinkedIn for competitive analysis you can get the intel to refine your strategy, outsmart your competitors and win in the market. Remember it’s not just about collecting data—it’s about turning that data into actionable strategies that gives your business the edge it needs to succeed.
So what are you waiting for? Get started, gather the intel and watch your strategy get sharper, smarter and better than ever.