New Way of Exploring Competitors by Social Media

In the present era of mass communication, social media is being used by millions of professionals for the purpose of distributing data about their business and gathering data of others.

To search your desired information about your rival, you just need to sign up into a social media site and research. It costs nothing and it is effective. You only need to know which tool is best suited for you.

You can access any of the 4 mediums to get your job done.

• Blog

Maintaining a blog is a common trend among professionals now-a-days. They frequently publish their annual reports, future events, portfolios. You can take a look at them to find out the information you wish for.

Another easy way to keep yourself updated with your competitor's news is to subscribe to the RSS feeds. You will get information instantly about clients, rivals and present condition of markets.

• Twitter

The largest micro-blogging site Twitter which has more than 54 million users is another convenient way of researching competitive intelligence.

Famous corporate members, businessmen, and professionals often tweet on Twitter about their business news. You can track their posts and analysis to get information about their plans and thoughts.

There are some sites to help you find Twitter profiles of renowned scholars. You can also begin your search with a list of professionals to whom you should follow on Twitter.

• LinkedIn

LinkedIn is the best social media site to find competitive intelligence as it is the most popular among professionals. It's advanced search feature has made it a unique place to find professionals and their colleagues and gather data about them.

In LinkedIn researchers get the chance to know about existing relationship among professionals, prospective candidates, corporate houses and increase networking capabilities.

• Facebook and Ning

The possibility of success in researching competitive intelligence lies in the communication skill of the researcher. The researcher should join different groups and forums and take part in discussions. Facebook and Ning are two sites that allow the researcher to do so. Researcher got the opportunity to follow the news about rival's business.

Different businesses open "fan page" frequently. Researchers can become fans of these pages and have a closer look at the current state of competitor's business plan and developments.

Summary: Using social media tools will not only give you the opportunity to gather competitive intelligence information but also give you fun. You will be able to communicate with renowned people in your field of work.