Facebook Competitor Analytics
Facebook Competitor Analytics lets you track how competitor Facebook Pages are performing — their followers, posting trends and engagement rates — and compare them side by side. Add up to five Pages to a competitor report to benchmark your strategy, spot trends and make data-driven decisions, all from the same Analytics dashboard you already use for your own Pages.
How to Access Facebook Competitor Analytics
Here's how to open Facebook Competitor Analytics inside ContentStudio.
Creating a Competitor Report
A competitor report (previously called a competitor list) is a saved group of up to five Facebook Pages that you can compare side by side and reopen at any time.
- You can add up to 5 competitors per report. To track more Pages, create additional reports.
- Reports are platform-specific — a Facebook report can only contain Facebook Pages.
- Competitor tracking is completely private. The Pages you track are never notified.
Managing Your Competitor Reports
Every saved report appears as a card on the report list, showing the report name, the competitors' profile pictures and the date and time it was created. Click a card to open the report.
You can also edit a report while it's open: click Manage Report in the top-right corner, make your changes, and click Save changes.
Updating your competitor reports keeps your insights fresh and relevant — like giving your dashboard a little spring cleaning 🌸
Selecting a Date Range
Click the date range selector in the top-right corner of a report to filter the analytics to a specific timeframe. Available presets include:
- All Time
- 24 hours / 48 hours / Last 3 days
- Last 7 Days / Last 30 Days
- Last Week / Last Month / Last Quarter
- Last 3 Months / Last 6 Months
- Last 1 Year / Last 2 Years
You can also pick a custom date range on the calendars and click OK to apply it. Use Sync data next to it to fetch the latest data for the competitors in the report.
Understanding Your Competitor Report
A competitor report is made up of the sections below. Each competitor keeps the same colour in every chart, you can hover over any chart to see exact values, and the expand icon in the top-right corner of a section opens it in full screen. Hover over the question mark icon next to a section title for a short explanation of that section.
Competitor Cards
The top of the report shows a card for each competitor with their profile picture, Page name, total Followers and ER (engagement rate). The highest value across competitors is highlighted in green and the lowest in red.
Competitors' Performance Comparison
This chart plots every competitor by engagement rate (X-axis, increasing from left to right) and followers (Y-axis, increasing from bottom to top), so you can see at a glance which Pages combine a large audience with strong engagement. Hover over a competitor's picture to see their exact followers and engagement rate.
Competitors' Comparative Table
The comparative table gives you a side-by-side numeric breakdown of every competitor's followers' growth, posting frequency and engagement.
The table includes the following columns:
- Followers Trend — a mini graph of each Page's follower growth over the selected period.
- Followers and Followers % chg. — total followers and how they changed.
- Post/ Week and Post/ Week % chg. — how many posts the Page publishes per week on average, and how that changed.
- ER by Followers and ER by Followers % chg. — engagement rate calculated against followers, and how it changed.
Values highlighted in green are the highest in their column and values in red the lowest. Green up arrows show a gain and red down arrows a loss. Click a column header to sort the table.
Click the arrow next to a competitor's name to expand their Followers Growth Trend chart, which shows their follower count day by day for the selected period.
Competitors by Total Followers vs Net Change in Followers
This bar chart compares each Page's total followers (the height of the bar) with the change in their followers over the selected period (the label above the bar — green for growth, red for decline), so you can see which Page is actually growing rather than just which is biggest. Hover over a bar to see followers, follower % change, engagement and average posts per week. The change can only be calculated when historical data is available for that Page.
Post Activity by Competitors
Use the dropdown to switch between Image, Video, Others and Carousel posts. For the selected post type, the chart compares each competitor's average engagement (purple bars) with the number of posts of that type they publish per week (yellow bars), so you can see how each Page distributes its output and which format performs best. Click the list icon to switch to a table with each competitor's posts, total engagement and ER by followers, and click a column header to sort it in ascending or descending order.
Most Engaged Hashtags
This table lists the hashtags that brought competitors the most engagement during the selected period, with the number of Posts that used each hashtag, Average Eng./ Post, Eng./ Follower and ER by Followers. Click the arrow next to a hashtag to see which competitors used it and how it performed for each of them.
Post Engagement
Post Engagement compares the total engagement each competitor received (purple bars) with the number of posts they published (yellow bars) during the selected period. Hover over a competitor to see the exact figures.
Posts/Day
Choose a competitor from the dropdown to see how many posts they published each day and how much engagement those posts received, so you can benchmark their posting cadence against your own. Drag the handles on the slider under the chart to zoom in on part of the date range.
Distribution of Post Reactions
Choose a competitor from the dropdown to see how the engagement on their posts breaks down by reaction and interaction type during the selected period.
The chart shows the total for each of the following:
- Likes, Comments and Shares
- Love, Care, Haha, Wow, Angry and Sad reactions
Use it to understand how audiences respond to each competitor's content — for example, whether it mostly earns likes or sparks conversations and shares.
Bio Analysis
Bio Analysis shows each competitor's Page description and how many of the 255 available characters it uses, so you can compare how others in your niche present themselves and refine your own Page description.
Top and Least Performing Posts
Select a competitor from the dropdown to see the five posts that received the most engagement (Top performing posts) and the five that received the least (Least performing posts) during the selected period. Each post shows its Engagement, Reacts, Comments and Shares, and the open icon takes you to the post on Facebook.
Exporting a Competitor Report as PDF
You can turn any competitor report into a clean, well-structured PDF of competitor performance to share with your team or clients.
- Always make sure competitors and the date range are selected before exporting — the PDF uses what's currently selected in the report.
- Sections you can include: Competitors, Competitors' Performance Comparison, Competitors' Comparative Table, Competitors by Total Followers vs Net Change in Followers, Post Activity by Competitors, Most Engaged Hashtags, Post Engagement, Posts/Day, Distribution of Post Reactions, Bio Analysis, and Top and least performing posts.
- Check the Download Reports section if the report doesn't appear immediately. Earlier exports stay there, so you can download them again at any time.
FAQs
How many competitors can I add to a single report?
You can add up to 5 competitors per report. For more Pages, create multiple reports to stay organised.
Can I edit or delete a competitor report after creating it?
Yes. Hover over the report on the list and click the gear icon to edit it, or click the trash icon to delete it entirely. You can also click Manage Report inside an open report.
Can I add both Instagram and Facebook competitors to the same report?
No. Each report is platform-specific, so create separate reports for Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.
Can competitors see that I am tracking them?
No. Competitor tracking is completely private. Your competitors won’t be notified.
What date ranges can I apply?
Any preset from 24 hours to Last 2 Years or All Time, or a custom date range picked on the calendar.
Why does a section say "There is nothing to show for the dates you selected"?
The competitors have no matching posts or data in that period. Try selecting a wider date range.
Can I export reports for Facebook, Instagram and YouTube competitors?
Yes. The Export PDF option is available on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube reports under Competitor Analytics.
Can I customise the layout or content of the PDF report?
You can choose the report language and which sections to include. The layout itself is fixed to keep reports consistent, and is designed with clear readability, pagination and platform branding such as competitor avatars and the selected date range.
Where can I find previously exported reports?
All exported reports are available under Analytics → Manage Reports → Download Reports. You can track the progress of an export there and download any past report again.
What happens if the PDF export fails?
You'll receive an error message with an option to retry. Please make sure your internet connection is stable and that the report has data for the selected date range.
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