Brands that grow on X (formerly Twitter) do not only watch their own account — they study their competitors' followers too. People who follow a competitor have already shown interest in your space, which makes them your most likely future customers.

Here is a step-by-step way to analyze a competitor's followers, plus the three angles worth looking at.

Why analyze a competitor's followers?

• Your target persona gets concrete — you see real profiles of people interested in your category
• You find audiences you are missing — segments that follow competitors but not you
• You spot key people — influential accounts within your industry

The process

1. Pick the competitors to compare

Choose two or three accounts that sell to the same audience. Accounts growing at a similar scale to yours are usually more useful than huge, famous brands.

2. Get their follower lists

In X Lists, choose "Followers", enter each competitor's URL and download the follower list as CSV.

3. Analyze in a spreadsheet

Open the CSV in a spreadsheet and look at it from the three angles below.

Three angles to look at

Angle 1: Audience size distribution

Sort by follower count and bucket accounts into groups such as 10k+, 1k–10k and under 1k. Whether a competitor is followed by influential accounts or mostly by everyday users tells you a lot about where their strength lies.

Angle 2: Common bio keywords

Note the words that appear most often in bios — job titles, locations, hobbies. These keywords are great input for your own content themes and ad targeting.

Angle 3: Activity level

Accounts with very few posts or likes may be inactive. The share of active followers tells you about the real quality of a competitor's audience.

Track it over time

Follower analysis works best as a recurring check, not a one-off. Extract the same accounts on a fixed schedule — once a month, for example — and compare with the previous CSV to see which segments are growing or shrinking.

Summary

A competitor's followers are one of the best sources for sharpening your target persona. Looking at size, bio keywords and activity is enough to give your X strategy a clear direction. Start with one competitor you know well.