When you think of business competition, what thoughts and feelings come to mind? Often, we regard competition in the most concrete of terms. This is usually the right way to think about it. For instance, what market share do our competitors hold in our local scene? How busy might a rival restaurant be on a Saturday night, for instance? Are they offering the same products for less? How many likes through social media pages do they earn day after day?

It’s worth asking these questions because by seeing how others perform, you can gain a great understanding of where you fit within the market. However, business competition is not solely related to these matters. Understanding that can help you open your mind to further considerations, perhaps considering business competition through measures that are less material, or at least, less easy to read on the surface.

This takes a cohesive viewpoint, and it also requires a certain deft skill in reading between the lines. As you’re someone reading business advice on a carefully curated business blog, we’re willing to bet you’re more than sharp enough to notice those patterns when they exist. So, let us aid you in your journey:

Social Media Standing

Your social media standing means something, because by and large it’s how most modern people will interact with your brand. While live chat and call center functionalities are still in play across the board, new methods such as instant messaging a live chat agent is also becoming the norm in many companies.

But more than that, it’s also that your engagement, promotion, and word of mouth benefits all come from your social media pages, and so it’s no wonder why ‘social media manager’ has become such a vital role to have recruited within your firm. Thankfully, you needn’t the sharpest team of individuals only focused on your social media strategy to curate the best reports, because, with the ability to track your Facebook competitors through excellent services, you can better see your standing and how you compare to others within your field.

This can help you completely erase any illusions you may have had surrounding your practice, and from this angle, you can start approximating the best solutions. Perhaps you’re lacking in engagement due to tepid promotional strategies, or you’re not using your audience in the best way you can. When you track this information, you have the foundation to progress further with care.

Goodwill & Loyalty

Goodwill and loyalty are essential elements for any business to curate and sometimes even rely on, but it can be hard to figure out just how much of this you have. To start with, we need to find a means in which to measure it. The best way we can do that is by offering an incentive to take an anonymous survey, perhaps only sent to the email addresses of those who have purchased your products in the past. Here you can assess if they would be likely to return or recommend your business to another person. You can also track the buying habits of loyal customers, and allow them to create customer accounts on your website and volunteer information to help you understand your most loyal demographics.

Goodwill is why businesses go the extra mile. It’s why they try to do everything they can, even in small ways, to outshine the competition. IIf you can approximate those efforts, you’ll be much better aided in your fight to stay competitive, as every little thing counts.

An Ecosystem Of Familiarity

More than ever, competition is now found in how easily you can adapt a customer to your systems, in order to become the default choice. For instance, there are many people out there who will purchase Apple products no matter what. This is because they use iCloud, they have a vast iTunes library, they perform all their editing and copywriting on such machines, and have thousands of photos gained throughout years of using said devices. This ecosystem supports those who wish to stay within it, and that’s a powerful drive for many consumers.

Might it be that curating your own ecosystem can help you attain further competitive potential? After all, retaining an audience is also important, not only attracting them. We may measure just how many people switch ecosystems rather than how many people join them as an indicator of how well they’re working. At least with this view, you’ll be taking a much more cohesive viewpoint going forward.

With this advice, we hope you can understand the various ways in which business competition can manifest.