Short answer
Choose three to five accounts that sell to the same people you do. Read each one's last 20 to 30 posts and compare every post with that account's own median, so a large and a small account compare fairly. Note what the standouts share, read their comments, and pick one or two ideas to test for a few weeks.
Steps
- 1Pick three to five rivalsChoose accounts that sell to the same buyers, plus one that is a step ahead of you.
- 2Read 20 to 30 recent posts eachFewer posts let one viral post skew the picture.
- 3Compare each post with its account's medianA post at three times its account's median is a standout at any follower count.
- 4Note what the standouts shareFormat, topic, the first line or first second, length, and the day and hour it went out.
- 5Read the comments on the standoutsRepeated questions and complaints are post ideas.
- 6Log it and test one or two ideasRun each idea for two to four weeks before you judge it.
What you will learn
You will compare a few rival accounts on the same terms and end with a short list of ideas to test on your own account. The example is a small coffee roaster with an Instagram and a TikTok account.
Pick the rivals
Choose three to five accounts that sell to the same people you do. A national chain with a million followers tells you little about what a local roaster's buyers want.
To find them, search your main product keyword on each platform and note the accounts that keep showing up in the top posts. Add one account in your niche that is a step ahead of you.
| Rival type | Why include it | Example for the roaster |
|---|---|---|
| Direct | Same product, same buyers | Two other roasters in the same city |
| Step ahead | Same niche, larger audience | A roaster that ships across the country |
| Adjacent | Same buyers, different product | A shop that sells grinders and brewers |
Compare each post with its account's median
Raw likes favor big accounts. Compare each post with the median of that account's recent posts instead. A post at three times its account's median is a standout whether the account has 2,000 followers or 200,000.
Read the last 20 to 30 posts per account. With fewer, one viral post skews the picture.
Engagement rate is likes, comments, and shares divided by followers, times 100. Use it to compare accounts. Use times-the-median to compare posts.
Note what the standouts share
For each standout, write down:
- the format: Reel, carousel, short video, photo, or text
- the topic
- the first line, or what happens in the first second of a video
- the length
- the day and hour it went out
Act on a pattern only when it shows up in at least three standouts. One post can be luck.
For the roaster, the standouts on two rival accounts were short videos of a pour-over with the recipe in the caption. Plain product photos sat below the median on all three accounts.
Read the comments
Comments tell you why people engaged. Look for questions, complaints, and requests that repeat. If five people under different posts ask which grind to use for a moka pot, that is a post you can make.
Log it and test one or two ideas
Keep one row per rival and update it each month.
| Account | Followers | Median engagement | Standouts | What they share | Idea to test |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rival A | 4,800 | 120 | 3 of 25 | Pour-over videos with the recipe | One recipe video a week |
| Rival B | 12,300 | 310 | 2 of 30 | Behind-the-scenes roasting | A roast-day story |
Pick one or two ideas and run them for two to four weeks before you judge them. Compare your new posts with your own median, the same way you read the rivals.
Follow their growth over time
One follower count is a snapshot. Record it weekly so you can see whether a rival's new kind of content changed their growth. Compare growth as percent change, so a small account and a large one sit on the same chart.
How to do it in RankMySEO
Social research starts on Starter.
- Open socmed and choose the platform.
- Run Post performance on a rival's handle. You get their recent posts with their numbers, the median, and the posts that beat it.
- Run Comments on a standout post to read what people said under it.
- Run Top posts or Hashtags for your keyword to find accounts you missed.
- Add each rival under Accounts. We read their followers every week and draw the growth as percent change.
Every result is saved on your account and can be downloaded as Excel or CSV. See social media research for the lookups on each platform.
What this cannot tell you
You see what any visitor sees. Reach, saves, and other numbers that only the account owner can open stay in their own insights. Private accounts cannot be read.
