Check socials for competitor engagement
People in your ICP who liked, commented on or reposted a competitor's posts in the last two weeks are interested in the category. Find them, and write about the topic, not the competitor.
The conversation
Sample accounts and numbers, for illustrationYouI’ve uploaded everyone who liked, commented on or reposted our main competitors’ posts in the last two weeks. Keep the ones who match our ICP and personas, show which competitor and post each one engaged with, and draft a first message that opens on the topic of the post, not on the competitor.
competitor-post-engagement.csv
Unify3 steps · your upload, contact data and CRM
- Read the people who liked, commented on or reposted the nine competitor posts in the upload, with the post each one engaged with.
- Enriched each person through the contact waterfall and matched title and company against your ICP and personas.
- Checked Salesforce for customers, open opportunities and owners, and removed the competitors’ own employees.
Eighty-four people engaged with the three competitors’ posts in the last two weeks. Twenty-two fit the ICP and a persona, and fourteen of those are at accounts nobody owns yet.
- 84
- people engaged nine posts, three competitors
- 22
- fit the ICP and a persona
- 14
- at unowned accounts
- 6
- already in Salesforce listed for their owners, not drafted to
| Competitor | Post | People | Fit the ICP |
|---|---|---|---|
| Signalpath | Routing rules, who should own them | 31 | 9 |
| Rowline | A pricing change, explained | 28 | 7 |
| Kestrel | Webinar recap on support handoffs | 25 | 6 |
Engagement is what the export contains: likes, comments and reposts on the posts you chose. Fit is decided by your ICP and personas, not by the engagement.
YouWho fits, what did each one engage with, and who was set aside?
UnifyTwenty-two fit and sixty-two were set aside. Comments come first, because the person said something you can quote back.
Commented on Signalpath’s routing post: “Ownership is the hard part, not the rules.” Head of Support, 400 people.
Reposted Rowline’s pricing post without a comment. VP Operations at a mid-market software company.
Liked Kestrel’s webinar recap. Support lead at a Zendesk shop.
Eleven people who work at Signalpath, Rowline or Kestrel. Removed from every list.
Nine people at agencies, which the ICP excludes.
Forty-two people in roles the personas do not cover.
YouWrite the first message for each, on the topic and not the competitor, and route the owned accounts to their reps.
UnifyTwenty-two messages are drafted, each opening on the topic of the post or the comment left under it. Eight go to account owners for approval; fourteen wait for an owner.
- Day 1LinkedIn
Connection note
Elena, your point under that routing-rules post, that ownership is the hard part, matches what we hear from support leads. Open to comparing notes on how Brightpath handles it?
- Day 3Email
Following on from my note
A short email that repeats the point from the note and offers one concrete example, with no mention of who wrote the post.
- Day 6Call
Only if either message got a reply.
- Elena MarshOwner ChrisIn review
- Dana HoltOwner AnaIn review
- Nils BergOwner UnassignedRouting list
Set up
- Eight drafts sent to account owners Approval sits with the rep who owns the account in Salesforce.
- Fourteen queued for assignment Unowned accounts wait in the routing list with the post and the comment attached.
- Two-week refresh Upload the next export and the same checks run again; people already written to are skipped.
No message names the competitor. Each opens on the topic of the post and, for commenters, on what they said.
Competitor-content engagement, with and without Unify
Someone in your ICP just told a competitor they care about the category. That is a list, if you catch it in time.
| Without Unify | With Unify |
|---|---|
| A competitor's post gets a hundred reactions and nobody on your side reads the names | The engagers on the posts you choose are uploaded as one list, enriched and matched to your ICP and personas |
| The few people you do recognise are looked up one at a time, days later | Comments, reposts and likes are ranked, and a comment is quoted back in the opener |
| The message that goes out names the competitor, so it reads as a pitch against them | Every draft opens on the topic of the post and never names the competitor |
| Nobody knows which of those people are already customers, in a deal, or the competitor's own staff | Customers, open opportunities and the competitor's employees drop out before anyone sees the list |
Start from this prompt
Make it your own in Unify, then review the results.
I've uploaded everyone who liked, commented on or reposted our main competitors' posts in the last two weeks. Keep the ones who match our ICP and personas, show which competitor and post each one engaged with, and draft a first message that opens on the topic of the post, not on the competitor.
What else you can ask for
The walkthrough is one path through this workflow. These are the turns people take most often.
- One competitorFrom the upload, who engaged with our main competitor's posts in the last two weeks, and which of them are at target accounts?Try in Unify
- Comments onlyKeep only the people who commented on a competitor's post, quote what each one said, and draft an opener that responds to the comment.Try in Unify
- Theirs but not oursWhich ICP accounts engaged with a competitor's posts in the last two weeks but never with ours, and who owns those accounts in the CRM?Try in Unify
How it changes by who you sell to
- Software
- Buyers comment on competitors' product and pricing posts while they evaluate, and a comment says what they care about. Ask for commenters at companies in your size band first, and quote the comment back in the opener.
- Professional services
- Partners engage with a rival firm's thought pieces more than with ads, and the engagement is public. Ask for partners at firms in your practice area who engaged with a competitor's posts, and open on the argument in the post.
- Media
- Agency people engage with everything, so a competitor's post draws a long, mixed list. Ask Unify to separate agencies from brands, drop the competitor's own staff, and keep only titles that buy rather than titles that post.
- Financial services
- Engagement from banks and insurers is sparse and senior, and a like from a compliance lead is worth more than ten from marketers. Ask for every engager at institutions in your ICP regardless of volume, and keep the message formal.
- Manufacturing
- Plant and operations leaders rarely post, but they do react to a supplier's announcement. Ask for engagers at manufacturers in your regions, take the operations lead as the contact, and open on the announcement's subject.
Next in signals and intent
+4Research intentAct on category and comparison researchSomeone reading comparison pages has moved past whether to buy and on to which one.
Hiring audiencesBuild an audience from hiring signalsFind accounts investing in the team you sell to and keep the job evidence with the audience.
+5Daily prioritizationBuild today's prospecting listOpen the day with ten accounts ranked on fit, this week's intent and your own history with them, each with a verified contact, instead of a judgment call about where to start.
Connect what this workflow uses
Each guide covers the connection, what Unify reads and writes, and what to check before the first run.
- Connect SalesforceAuthorize Salesforce in Unify, configure CRM field mappings, and choose when to enable writing.
- Connect HubSpotConnect HubSpot to Unify, map Company and Person fields, and plan CRM exclusions and supported write-back.
- Connect GmailConnect Gmail to Unify for sequence emails and replies.
- Connect OutlookConnect Microsoft Outlook directly to Unify.
Questions about this workflow
How do I get the engagement on competitor posts?
Export it per post: PhantomBuster's post scraper returns the people who liked, commented on or reposted a post, with their profile URLs. Upload the CSV to People with enrichment on and Unify fills in the contact details. Autobound is listed on Unify's Signals page for post engagement signals.
Is engaging with a competitor a buying signal?
It is interest in the category, not a decision. Someone who commented on a pricing post is thinking about pricing, which is a reason to write. The message treats it as a topic they care about, never as evidence they are shopping.
Should the message mention the competitor?
No. Naming the competitor makes the message about them. Each draft opens on the topic of the post, or on what the person said in their comment, and asks a question about it.
How does it decide who fits?
By your ICP and personas, not by the engagement. Everyone is enriched first, then kept or set aside on company and title. The competitor's own staff are removed, and the set-aside list is kept, not deleted.