Should your brand share and link out to your competitors’ content? Yes. Here is why.

You must set yourself up as the go-to source of information. This is essential to give the best customer experience on your websites and social media channels. This is critical.

You must treat information like a product.

Thanks to the internet and mobile devices with web services, customers are now in full control. They can filter out the noise or messages that do not help them.

Anytime. Anywhere.

As a result, your company needs to build strong relationships with your audience.

You must consistently give them valuable, relevant, and helpful information. Whatever the source is.

Treat your content like a product

With the increasing popularity of content marketing, it is essential to treat information as a product.

If you do so, you will be capable of sell, cross-sell, and up-sell more products and services. This will help you drive business growth.

With the rise of social media and content marketing, you need to report on our industry. Do this as the traditional media do. Also, consider how modern online media sources report.

You must do so in various media, including text, video, and images.

Your competitors are more than just your traditional competitors. They are now your trade publications. The traditional media.

They are any media outlet, blog, or online publication.

Anyone who discusses your industry or the products and services you offer is considered a competitor.

Become a media company

Your company should become a media company and tell its own stories, rather than begging the media to cover them.

It is not as simple as saying “let’s become a media company.” It is the process of creating a more agile, adaptive, and real-time approach to content marketing.

Take tips from professional journalists to create stories that don’t promote your products and services.

It’s important to master the fundamentals of content marketing.

It is a mindset shift, so it is essential to transform your brand into a media company.

Progressive CMO Jeff Charney says that your brand should have the vast reach of ESPN. It should also feature Netflix’s innovation and HBO’s original content programming.

5 reasons you should share your competitors’ content

Why would you want to give a competitor free publicity? Why should you link out to and/or share their content? Won’t it drive website traffic away from our brand, and we lose clients or prospects?

Sharing or linking out to your competitors feels counterproductive.

After all, they are your competitors for a reason.

Nonetheless, sharing or linking out to your competitors can work to your advantage. Here’s why.

1. Google determines what your company is all about and what industry you are in

As much as you would like to believe it, you may not always have the best content.

It is important to share and link to other great pieces of content.

Neil Patel links to his competitors multiple times a week. He says that it is okay to give them traffic. He believes he is doing what is best for his users.

In the video below, he explains how he prioritizes his users. He ensures they get a great user experience from his website. This encourages them to return.

In fact, 40% of his monthly traffic is from repeat visitors.

Neil also notes that Google determines the topic of your website. This happens when you link to your competitors and other sites within your industry.

This linking helps Google decide where to rank your website.

By linking to competitors, they can link back to you, boosting your search engine rankings.

2. You show confidence in your company

Sharing your competitors’ content shows confidence. It demonstrates to your social media followers that you believe in your company. You trust the products and services you offer.

Companies that consistently create great content are not worried about sharing a competitor’s article.

They are confident in the value they deliver to their readers through content creation and curation.

These types of companies become the “go-to source of information.” They filter out internet noise. The internet has an overwhelming amount of content.

Your company is now a media company, so you must report the stories.

3. People already know your competitors

Look at your company page on LinkedIn. It shows you similar companies (aka your competitors).

If you Google your company’s competitors, you get sources like G2.

Your clients or prospects will ask industry analysts about your competitors. They will reach out to Gartner or Forrester about similar companies anyway.

By sharing and linking to your competitors’ content, you can control the conversation.

You’ll look confident in the fact that your brand has nothing to hide.

4. It makes you more trustworthy and increases loyalty

Building trust with your audience takes years to develop. To keep that trust, you must consistently share and create valuable, relevant content.

That way, your audience will keep coming back for more information. They will become loyal to your brand because you offer helpful and insightful information.

Companies that offer value and insights are winning over their customers or clients.

82% of buyers viewed at least five pieces of content from the winning vendor.

Your competitors are your competitors for a reason. They create content as you do, and sometimes, their content is worth sharing because it is helpful and informative.

The key is to offer consistent content that your audience can consume.

It doesn’t matter if it is your content, your competitors’ content, or someone else’s content.

5. It makes you better at what you do

By sharing and linking out to your competitors’ content, you make your content better.

The goal of your content is to help your audience. So it is critical to understand what you are up against and what your clients or prospects are reading.

For example, you can ask yourself:

• What makes their content great?
• What makes it worth sharing?
• Can you use the ideas presented in their content and expand upon it?
• Can you use the idea(s) presented in their content and expand upon it?

People will be more likely to trust you if you talk about it in a way that shows you understand. Explain how it stacks up against your competitors.

Take Marcus Sheridan, for example.

He is best known for his revolutionary marketing strategy of answering his customers’ questions.

Yes, all he does is answer his customers’ questions and … he writes about his competition a lot.

Stop caring about the competition

His swimming pool blog covers unique topics. These include comparing swimming pool types and swimming pool companies. He discusses the best and worst practices of pool builders.

He wrote an article about the two major fiberglass pool manufacturers in his industry.

The article has been read thousands of times. It ranks first for many keyword phrases. Most of the comments asked his pool company for tips on which brand to choose.

Sheridan’s bottom line: stop caring about the competition.

Start caring about your customers by answering their questions with your content. Use the content you share and link out to answer their questions as well.

Bringing it all together

Be confident in your work and don’t fear your competition. By sharing and linking to your competitors’ content, you can help guarantee your readers and followers are more loyal.

It helps you become that go-to source of information. It increases the chance of getting traffic and shares back from your competition.

Remember, if it benefits your community, share it.

Become that go-to information source by sharing your competitors’ interesting blog articles. Write responses to their blog articles.

Allow your competitors to write guest blog posts on your blog. Summarize the most important news and best articles in your industry, including those written by your competitors.

The bottom line is clear. To build your skills and become a thought leader in your industry, you must have access to comprehensive resources.

You must tell compelling stories, no matter the source.

Be confident. Show your audience that your brand is centered on helping them solve problems.

It will give your competitors a reason to promote your content. It will give your audience a reason to promote your brand. They will recommend it as a place you must go for information.

Sharing and linking out to your competitors’ content is crucial when done correctly. It is a critical part of building your thought leadership online.

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