I have to make an apology for the misleading title, because this post is not about competitive intelligence and social media. At least, not the combination that is so often described as synergy in its purest form. I cannot help thinking that some (more or less) highly respected people write about social media (in some cases related to Competitive Intelligence or any other underestimated and underappreciated profession) because writing about social media scores. I really encourage everyone to draw attention to my beloved profession, but do not do it by stating nonsense, please! You might as well write about CI in relation to Britney Spears or Tiger Woods.

This article by Bruce A. Brien, author of The Stratascope Sales Enablement Blog gives basic but helpful tips, for people who are just starting to discover Competitive Intelligence, on how to set up a system to monitor their competitors. Basically he categorizes three ways to collect information on each of your competitors:

• Their website: the website will not only display their services, products and solutions offerings. It will also most likely be used to broadcast their success stories.
• Social media: Brien recommends following your competitors on Twitter, Facebook, blogs, et cetera.
• RSS feeds: set up RSS feeds based on searches about your competitors and one or two keywords, such as issue.