In this Article:
Plan availability: This feature is only available on our Enterprise (legacy) plan
Brand DNA is your all-in-one social intelligence tool to see how your content strategy stacks up against competitors—and uncover the opportunities to stand out.
With Brand DNA, you can:
- Compare your content and engagement to one competitor side-by-side
- Spot content opportunities to improve your strategy
- See the posts, themes, and creators that drive real engagement
Tip: Start with a competitor who shares a similar audience for the most actionable insights.
Getting Started
Plan availability: Brand DNA is only available on our Enterprise (legacy) plan
- Open Later and select Social Listening from the sidebar.
- Click Brand DNA in your dashboard.
- Select your brand and choose a competitor to begin your analysis.
The following tutorial provides an overview of Social Listening and its features:
Brand Comparison: See How You Stack Up
Plan availability: Brand DNA is only available on our Enterprise (legacy) plan
Quickly see how your brand measures up. Brand DNA compares your core identity, brand voice, target audience, and top posts against a selected competitor.
Use it to:
- Understand your positioning in the market
- Identify differentiators that make your brand unique
- Spot gaps where your competitor is outperforming you
Tip: Look for differences in tone, target audience, and post types to refine your brand’s voice
Content Opportunities: Find Where to Improve
Brand DNA highlights what’s working and where to improve in your content strategy.
- Get a breakdown of your content mix
- Identify strategic opportunities for higher engagement
- Make smarter campaign decisions with targeted recommendations
Example: If unboxing videos drive high engagement for your competitor, Brand DNA may recommend adding similar premium or community-driven content.
Top Engaging Content: Learn from What Works
See which posts are driving the most engagement—for you and your competitor.
- Learn what resonates with your audience
- Spot emerging trends in your niche
- Guide future content planning with proven formats
Tip: Analyze captions, visuals, and post types for patterns in engagement.
Top Themes Driving Engagement: Focus Your Efforts
Discover the themes, topics, and formats that lead to top-performing posts.
- Double down on creative elements that deliver results
- Spot themes your competitor dominates—and find your edge
- Prioritize topics with proven engagement
Example: You might see that your competitor excels at humorous UGC, while your luxury-lifestyle content performs better in recipe or influencer posts.
Limitations
- Brand DNA is available on Later’s Enterprise (legacy) plan. If you don’t see Brand DNA in your account, it may not be included in your current plan.
- Brand DNA reports can take up to 15 minutes to load, especially when analyzing 300+ posts. Wait before refreshing to avoid interrupting processing.
- Each report can include 1–2 Instagram profiles, and each profile must have at least 10 posts in the selected date range to be analyzed.
- Reports can include up to 90 days of data. You can edit reports after they’re created, but reports must be deleted by Later’s support team.
- Media thumbnails may disappear or break 1–2 days after report creation.