Free Instagram competitor analysis: the ultimate guide

Let's start with defining the terms to make sure you can find what you need on this page. Instagram competitor analysis is researching IG accounts in your niche. This includes estimating their influence and understanding what they do for it.

Instagram competitor analysis tells what exactly success you can expect. It tells you what your rivals have on average. How many likes and followers they get, for instance. This allows you to be reasonable when setting goals and estimating your performance.

Also, when you analyze your Instagram competitors, you get an insight of a perfect content plan. You know how to post on social media to develop your brand.

First of all, find your Instagram competitors to analyze. Use search in the app to find their accounts:

If you already know your competitors, find their Instagram accounts. Type one of the brands' names in the search bar. You will see the rival's account on the appeared list. Find all the rivals you know this way.

If you don't know your Instagram competitors or need more to those you are going to analyze, use keywords. Brands often include them in their usernames and names. So try your niche keywords to find your rivals on Instagram. For example, if you are a marketing coach, type "marketing" in the search.

When you search for new Instagram competitors using keywords, you see five tabs. You can find your rivals in these tabs:

So now you know how to find your Instagram competitors for the analysis. There are probably a lot of them. Let's choose the best ones to analyze.

You may have found a lot of competitors on Instagram to analyze. Choose several that can give you good insights.

Analyze both big and small Instagram accounts. Big accounts belong to the industry leaders. Analyze them to know trends and what is possible to achieve in your niche. You also should analyze accounts which have a bit bigger number of followers that yours. They will tell you what you can achieve in the near future and what you should do for this.

There is no accurate number for how many Instagram competitors to analyze. Choose all the best examples. At the same time, be reasonable and remember you will have to check accounts one by one. 5 big accounts and 5 accounts like yours may be enough.

Now that you know what accounts to use for your Instagram competitor analysis, let's figure out what to look for in these accounts. We are going to analyze the metrics and content that give you insights into their success and failures.

You can analyze these metrics in the Instagram competitors' accounts manually. All the data for the calculations is available on profile pages. Or you can use free competitive analysis tools, but first, read below how to understand what the tools will show you.

Start your Instagram competitor analysis with account statistics. Find the average numbers for the big accounts to know what is possible to get in your industry, these are for your long-term goals. Also, find the average numbers for the smaller accounts you've chosen to know what you can expect from promotion on Instagram currently.

You can also analyze your Instagram competitors':

Just to know how many of them you can expect and be able to compare with your rivals.

Analyze posted content as a part of your Instagram competitor analysis. Pay attention to how many likes and comments posts get. Find out posts that get the biggest number of likes in each account. Then think:

The answers you get tell you what to post to get more likes and comments.

Posting statistics in your Instagram competitor analysis refers to:

If there is a pattern in the Instagram competitor analysis results, posting time and frequency can be a matter of your account promotion. Try to post like your competitors and track your results. If you see improvements, keep posting according to the schedule. If it's getting worse, try experimenting with the time and frequency.

Hashtags should also be a part of your Instagram competitor analysis. Take a look below your competitors' posts. The hashtags may be in the caption or comments.

So what to look for? Find the hashtags your Instagram competitors use most often. These are the tags you should use. You will also get some new hashtag ideas to diversify those you usually use.

Read where you should add Instagram hashtags — in the comments or caption.

You may say we already analyzed comments in your Instagram competitors' accounts. You're right, but we looked at the numbers. Now we need to read what the users write.

This part of your Instagram competitor analysis is for understanding your audience. Users who comment on your rivals' posts are your audience too. After reading the comments, you can know its attitudes and opinions about hot topics and routine things.

Such comments analysis helps to avoid putting your foot in your mouth. You will know what to say to be in favor or at least what not to say so that you avoid their hate.

We recommend that you use free Instagram competitor analysis tools. They help to automate most of the analysis. We give examples with Phlanx and Inflact. You should analyze your competitors one by one in them.

Use Phlanx for your Instagram competitor analysis. It calculates the engagement rate. Enter a competitor's username to analyze it. Check each of your competitors this way.

Inflact gives statistics for a big part of your Instagram competitor analysis.

The Instagram competitor analysis you get includes the following information:

Here is what Instagram competitors hashtag analysis looks like on Inflact:

You can also see if a post is a video or photo, the number of its likes and comments. This part of the free Instagram competitor analysis is only half-automated. Still, it is more convenient to analyze the metrics in the tool where you see all the posts and their figures than in the app when you have to open each post individually to see the figures.

Analyze each of your Instagram competitors in this way.

The rest of the data for your Instagram competitor analysis should be collected manually:

So you've analyzed your Instagram competitors. You know what they do to develop their brands on social media. Now let's see what you can do with the data to develop your brand too.

You've got some figures and words, let's make sense of them. Use the Instagram competitor analysis you have performed to improve your social media marketing strategy.

Instagram competitor analysis tells what a brand from your industry can achieve. You may aim to take over the market in a month, but the aim is doomed. Instead, aim to get what you have a chance to get.

Use the analysis results to set achievable goals when you create a social media marketing strategy. Look what results your Instagram competitors get and calculate the average numbers. Use these numbers in your marketing strategy.

Consider the number of followers in your and your competitors Instagram accounts. Analyze accounts that are nearly as big as yours to set short-term goals. Analyze the figures in accounts of the niche leaders to set long-term goals.

Here is an example. Your marketing goal is to increase engagement in your Instagram account. You measure it in %. You go check the engagement rate in your rivals accounts. You find the average numbers for the big and small accounts. The first number is what is possible to achieve in your industry. The second number is what you can aim to achieve in the near future.

Your Instagram competitors have tried a lot of things so you don't have to try these things yourself. You have alike audiences. You can expect your audience to react the same way as your rivals'. Use their experience to figure out what works for your audience.

Instagram competitor analysis helps to create a content plan. It tells you:

When you've performed your Instagram competitor analysis, you know exactly what your audience needs and likes. Thus, you can make an offer so that they buy:

Instagram competitor analysis tells you how to be as good as your most successful rivals. Thus, you can make your sales go up. But you need to be better than your rivals to make your sales skyrocket.

There is not much you can do on your profile page to outperform your rivals. You can keep it looking good and regularly post relevant content to it. But you need more opportunities to stand out.

A link in bio tool is what gives you the opportunities to beat the competition on Instagram. Use it to stand out among the rivals:

This is how it works: you sign up on Taplink to get a page for your Instagram bio. Then, you add all the information and buttons on it, you can use templates to make it quickly. After that, you add the page link to your Instagram bio. In posts and Stories, you invite users to follow the link.

Look at an example on the screenshots:

Now you know how to perform an Instagram competitor analysis. Start with searching for your competitors. Then, look at what they do and what it results in.

Use Instagram competitor analysis in your social marketing strategy. Set achievable goals. Repeat the rivals' best experience and avoid making the same mistakes. Offer what your audience wants and what it can buy. Outperform your rivals using a link in bio tool.

Spare a room for experiments, though. Try something new. You will find more things that work for your brand.

Always keep an eye on your Instagram competitors and analyze them from time to time. Then, you will be aware of the trends and updates.