Competitor Monitoring
Track competitor mentions and find dissatisfied customers
Competitor Monitoring helps you find potential customers who are unhappy with competing solutions or actively considering alternatives.
Competitor Monitoring requires the Enterprise plan.
How It Works
Configure your competitor list, and Social Listening will:
- Detect mentions - Flag posts mentioning competitors
- Analyze sentiment - Identify negative vs positive mentions
- Prioritize opportunities - Surface complaints and switching intent
Setting Up Competitors
- Go to Settings → Social Listening → Competitors
- Add competitor names and variations
- Save your configuration
Example Configuration
Competitor: Salesforce
Variations: SFDC, salesforce.com, SF CRM
Competitor: HubSpot
Variations: Hubspot, hubspot.com
Competitor: Pipedrive
Variations: pipe drive
Include common misspellings and abbreviations to catch more mentions.
Competitor Signals
Posts mentioning competitors are tagged with detected signals:
| Signal | Example | Opportunity |
|---|---|---|
| Complaint | "Salesforce is so slow" | High |
| Switching | "leaving HubSpot" | Very High |
| Comparison | "Salesforce vs X" | Medium |
| Recommendation | "I love Pipedrive" | Low |
| Question | "Anyone use Salesforce?" | Medium |
Filtering by Competitor
In the post feed:
- Click Filters
- Select Competitor mentions
- Choose specific competitors or "Any"
Posts mentioning competitors show a badge with the competitor name.
Sentiment Analysis
Each competitor mention includes sentiment:
- Negative 🔴 - Complaints, frustration, leaving
- Neutral ⚪ - Questions, general mentions
- Positive 🟢 - Recommendations, praise
Focus on negative sentiment for the best opportunities.
Engagement Strategy
Negative Mentions
When someone is frustrated with a competitor:
- Empathize - Acknowledge the pain point
- Share experience - "We had similar issues before..."
- Offer help - "Happy to share how we solved this"
Example:
"We switched from [Competitor] last year for similar reasons. The data migration was actually pretty smooth. If you want, I can share what our evaluation looked like."
Switching Intent
When someone is actively leaving a competitor:
- Move quickly - These are hot leads
- Be helpful, not pushy - They'll ask for demos if interested
- Address specific concerns - Reference their stated pain points
Comparison Discussions
When people are comparing options:
- Provide honest perspective - Don't bash competitors
- Highlight differentiators - Focus on what makes you unique
- Share use case fit - "If you're focused on X, you might like..."
Best Practices
Don't Spam
Jumping on every competitor mention looks desperate. Focus on:
- Genuine opportunities to help
- Posts with clear pain points
- Active discussions (not old threads)
Be Authentic
Disclose your affiliation when relevant:
"I work at [Company], so I'm biased, but we specifically built X feature because we ran into the same issue."
Track Results
Use the Converted status to track which competitor mentions turn into customers. This helps refine your approach.
Analytics
View competitor-specific metrics:
- Mentions by competitor - Who gets talked about most?
- Sentiment breakdown - Overall perception of each
- Conversion by competitor - Which competitor's users convert best?
Previous: Analytics dashboard