How To Reverse-Engineer Your Competitor’s Viral Posts (Without Copying Them)

Are you struggling to keep up with your competitors on social media? Do you feel as though they go viral without even trying while you publish post after post with little engagement?

Your competitors have clearly tapped into what your target audience wants. You need to figure out how to do the same.

In this post, you will learn how to reverse-engineer your competitor’s viral posts so you can incorporate what’s working for them into your own social media strategy, all while still being original with your own content.

1. Identify viral content in your niche

Start by finding viral content to analyze. There are a few different ways you can do this, some of which depend on the platforms you use:

Go to a competitor’s profile on TikTok, and change the post view to Popular
Go to a competitor’s YouTube channel, and change the post view under Videos to Popular
Use search terms related to your niche in each platform’s search bar
Go to a competitor’s Instagram account and see which videos they have pinned
View a competitor’s latest posts, and pinpoint any that have more views and engagements than others
Use keywords related to your niche on Google. You’ll find more competitors there. See if you can find their social media profiles, then search those accounts for viral posts

It’s important that you choose direct competitors or creators who work in similar industries but receive the same number of engagements as you.

There are plenty of viral social media posts out there for you to analyze, but some po