Competitor analysis in influencer marketing: how to check who your competitors work with and how

Competitor analysis in influencer marketing means checking which creators your competitors work with, in which formats, how often and how audiences react. You do it in a few steps: list your competitors, find their labelled collaborations (#ad, “paid partnership”, collab posts), look them up in the public Meta Ad Library, note niches, formats and frequency, judge the quality of comments, look for gaps and turn your conclusions into your own campaign plan.

You can do all of this without paid tools, using a simple spreadsheet and your phone. Once you know which creators and formats you need, you can look for them manually or describe the task on Blogger Bank, where creators from the chosen niche apply to the brief themselves. Below is the whole process step by step, with what to look at and what conclusions to draw.

Step 1. List the competitors that are really worth watching

Do not analyse every brand in the industry. Pick three to six that compete for the same customer as you. It helps to split them into three groups:

• Direct competitors — they sell a similar product at a similar price to the same audience. You will learn the most from them.
• Category leaders — bigger brands that set the communication standard. You will not copy their budget, but you will see which formats and topics work in your niche.
• Smaller, fast-growing players — they are often the boldest at testing new creators and formats, because they lack big budgets for traditional advertising.

How do you find them if you have no ready list? Search for the main phrases customers use to look for your product and see who shows up. Check which brands appear in the comments under posts by creators in your niche and which accounts Instagram or TikTok suggests as similar to yours. For each competitor, note the website and links to its social profiles.

Step 2. Find competitors’ collaborations with creators

This is the most important part of the analysis. In Poland, creators’ advertising content should be clearly labelled, which makes the job much easier — you can read more about the rules in our article on how to label influencer advertising (in Polish). Search in several places at once.

Labels and hashtags

Search Instagram and TikTok for the competitor’s brand name together with hashtags such as #ad, #reklama or #współpraca. Also go through posts in which the brand account was tagged — on Instagram you will find them in the tagged tab of the brand profile. Watch for the “Paid partnership” label above a post: it tells you immediately that this is an ad, not a spontaneous recommendation.

Collab posts and joint publications

Instagram lets one post be published on two accounts at the same time. When you see two names in the header, for example the brand’s and a creator’s, it is usually a planned collaboration. Such posts also appear on the brand’s own profile, so scroll through its grid and note every co-author.

Meta Ad Library

The Meta Ad Library is public and does not require an ad account. Choose a country, the “All ads” category and type in the competitor’s name. You will see active ads on Facebook and Instagram, including those the brand runs from creators’ accounts as partnership ads. If the same creator video has been promoted for a long time, it is a strong signal that it performs well — brands rarely keep paying for content that does not work. We cover this format in more detail in our piece on Meta partnership ads with UGC (in Polish).

The competitor’s website and newsletter

Many brands show off creators on product pages, in the reviews section or in newsletters. Subscribe to competitors’ newsletters for the duration of the analysis. Discount codes with a creator’s name, which you see at checkout or on coupon sites, also reveal who the brand works with.

Searching from the creators’ side

Reverse the direction: find a few popular creators in your niche and go through their recent labelled ads. If a creator in the pets category advertised two competing pet foods in recent months, you know more than from the brand’s profile alone.

Step 3. Record each collaboration in a simple spreadsheet

Without notes, an hour of browsing leaves you with nothing but a general impression. Set up a spreadsheet in which one row equals one creator publication for a competitor. Record:

• the competitor brand and the publication date,
• the creator’s name, platform and approximate profile size (small, medium, large),
• the creator’s niche, for example food, home or automotive,
• the format: reel, carousel, story, YouTube video, live, collab post,
• the type of collaboration: one-off post, series, ambassador, PR package, discount code, giveaway,
• the main message: which product benefit the creator shows and in what situation,
• whether the content reappears as an ad in the Meta Ad Library,
• a short assessment of the audience reaction (see step 5).

A few dozen rows are enough to see patterns. You do not need to collect everything from several years — focus on the last six to twelve months, because brand strategies change quickly.

Step 4. Look for patterns: niches, formats, frequency

Once your data is collected, sort it and answer a few questions.

• Which niches does the competitor work in? Does a kitchen appliance brand work only with creators from the food category, or also with interior creators from the home category? Less obvious niches are often a cheaper route to the same customer.
• Which formats dominate? If the competitor publishes almost only reels and nobody makes longer YouTube reviews, that may be your chance.
• How often does it publish? A steady weekly presence means a completely different strategy from two big pushes a year, for example before Christmas.
• Which creators? A few big names or many smaller creators? Do the same people come back, suggesting an ambassador programme?
• What message? Does everyone talk about price, quality or convenience? A recurring argument is something the brand considers its advantage.

It is also worth noting when activity peaks. If in the technology category all competitors launch creators just before product releases and in November, you can decide whether to join that crowd or choose a quieter time.

Step 5. Assess results qualitatively, not by follower count

You have no access to a competitor’s statistics, so you will not know its sales or exact reach. You can, however, judge whether the content generated real interest. Look at:

• Engagement relative to the profile. Compare likes and comments under the ad with the same creator’s typical posts. If the ad performs similarly or better, the audience accepted it. Our glossary entry on engagement rate explains how to calculate it.
• What the comments say. Questions about price, size, availability or a link signal purchase interest. Emojis and “great” mean little. Critical comments, in turn, show what customers dislike about the competitor’s product.
• Fit between creator and product. Does the creator really use the product in daily life, or just hold it in front of the camera? A natural integration usually works better.
• Repetition. If the brand returns to the same creator or promotes their video in ads for a long time, the collaboration probably delivers.

Be wary of suspiciously high numbers paired with weak comments — they may point to bought engagement. That is useful too: you know whom not to work with.

Step 6. Find gaps you can fill

The analysis only makes sense when it leads to decisions. Go through your notes and list the areas where competitors are weak or absent:

• Unoccupied niches. Everyone selling car accessories works with creators from the automotive category, and nobody with travel or family trip creators? Those are audiences you can reach without elbowing your way in.
• Missing formats. If competitors only make short videos, you can come in with honest tests, comparisons or how-to guides.
• Unused arguments. If the same unanswered questions keep appearing under competitors’ ads, your creator can answer them directly.
• Regions and cities. Big brands often skip local creators. For a physical shop or a local service, that is an easy advantage.
• Fresh creators. Check which creators advertise everyone in turn. Their recommendation is less credible, so it is better to bet on creators who have not yet worked with your competitors.

Step 7. Turn your conclusions into your own campaign plan

Finally, translate the analysis into concrete decisions. Ideally they fit on one page:

• Campaign goal — awareness, website traffic, sales with a code or content for ads.
• Niches and creator type — for example two niches where competitors are present and one new niche where they are not.
• Formats — those that drew good comments for competitors, plus one format nobody uses.
• Message — the argument that sets you apart from what competitors keep repeating.
• Timing — taking into account the periods when competitors are most active.
• Measurement — discount codes, links with UTM parameters, saves and comments.

You will find a detailed breakdown of the next stages in our guide on how to plan an influencer campaign step by step. Repeat the competitor analysis every quarter or before each larger campaign, using the same spreadsheet — after a few rounds you will see how your rivals’ strategies evolve.

What not to do during competitor analysis

• Do not copy campaigns one to one. The same creator and the same idea will at best make you second in line, and audiences will notice.
• Do not judge by follower count alone. A large profile with dead comments is worth less than a smaller creator with an active community.
• Do not draw conclusions from a single post. One successful ad is a coincidence; a repeated pattern is a strategy.
• Do not ignore negative reactions. Competitors’ mistakes are as valuable as their successes, because they show what to avoid.
• Do not contact creators during their campaign for a competitor asking about the terms. It is unprofessional and usually covered by confidentiality.

How Blogger Bank solves the problem of turning competitor analysis into your own collaborations

After the analysis you know which niches, formats and message you need. The next hard step is finding creators who will deliver it before your competitors get to them. On Blogger Bank it works like this:

• Instead of manually searching for creators in niches competitors have not taken — you describe the niche, format and message in a brief, and creators from that category apply themselves.
• Instead of writing to creators who already advertise everyone in your industry — you review applications and profiles and choose people who fit your brand.
• Instead of agreeing terms across messages and emails — you describe everything you expect once in the brief, and the contract with the chosen creator opens automatically.
• Instead of collecting content and payments from different places — conversation with the creator, content approval and payment are in one place, which makes it easier to compare results with what competitors do.

You can also browse the influencer catalogue by niche and city and invite specific people. Create a brand account and publish your first brief based on the findings of your competitor analysis.