As Medium put it, some businesses are made for social media. And Starbucks is definitely one of them. It seems like the minute social media became “the new thing”, Starbucks was all over it with its bright cups, and pretty coffee foam, and hipster Instagram filters. Seems like the whole fashion of Instagramming coffee is Starbuck’s fault even, though there’s no proof for it. How did this happen? That we don’t only see the coffee shop on every street, but also on every second Facebook account?

Social media these days is an immense business, which brings social networks $23.5 billion in ad revenue annually. But 2018 wasn't a piece of cake for such giants as Facebook, which is losing money and users because of all the scandals, Instagram, which founders left the company, Google+, which is shutting down, and so on.

For some companies, the holiday season ends at New Years. They pack away pumpkin candies, Christmas trees, Santa Clauses, breath in, breath out, and get back to normal, everyday marketing. The closer it gets to February 14th, another great commercialised holiday, the more they feel like they’re missing out. But for one reason or another, these brands can’t simply paint their store pink, give out candies, or start selling jewellery out of nowhere. And what’s left?

At Awario, we try to keep a close eye on our competitors. Over the last few months, we've tried dozens of competitive intelligence tools, until we finally settled on a few that we use regularly. This post is a selection of free or affordable tools that keep giving us the best insights for growth.