Here’s a step by step guide on how to analyze a Pinterest account and its competitors.

1. Analyze the overall performance.

To see the big picture of where Pinterest stands in your social media strategy, compare your Pinterest account results with your pages in other social networks. And find out which social network tends to be more effective for your brand.

Example: Walmart has the highest Amplification (Repins per Pin) and Applause (Likes per Pin) rates among top 6 retailers on Pinterest. Target totally loses the battle - having the biggest number of Followers but extensively lower number of engagements among 6 brands.

3. Analyze your Content.

Analyze how effective your content strategy is at this point by looking at the % of ‘Dead posts’ in your account - absolutely ineffective pins with 0 Likes, Comments, and Repins. And see how it diverges from the results or your closest rivals.

Example: Kohl’s is the winner with only 1% of absolutely unengaging pins and Target is totally defeated with outraging 99% of unengaging pins.

Study your Posting Density effectiveness: How often you and your competitors post and how much engagement everyone gets - taking into account the Number of Followers. If posting a lot but not getting enough engagement: You may be spending a lot of resources on content creation in vain, because you are posting too much and followers don’t have enough time to engage with all the pins; or you are missing the best time to post; or your content ideas are not appealing to your fans.

Example: Walmart is a true orator: While posting less than 100 pins per month (compared to 250-300 pins/month by other brands) they get more than 5 times more social interactions than all 5 other brands - taking into account the Number of Followers for each brand.

4. Gather ideas for improvement.

Look at the best and worst pins among your competition and your own account to steal some great ideas from rivals and learn from their mistakes.

Example: WalMart's best posts show that cooking receipts and visual step-by-step guides tend to resonate with brands’ fans on Pinterest.

Take a look at the Best time to post report to increase the activity within your account. Compare ‘Current posting’ tab (time when you post now) with the ‘Engagement’ tab (best time to post) to see if you are missing the sweet spot.