apify-competitor-intelligence

name	apify-competitor-intelligence
description	Analyze competitor strategies, content, pricing, ads, and market positioning across Google Maps, Booking.com, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok.
risk	unknown
source	community

Competitor Intelligence

Analyze competitors using Apify Actors to extract data from multiple platforms.

When to Use

• You need competitor benchmarks for content, reviews, pricing, ads, audience, or channel performance.
• The task involves selecting Apify Actors to compare competitors across maps, booking, social, or video platforms.
• You need structured competitor data plus synthesized takeaways for strategy or positioning.

Prerequisites

(No need to check it upfront)

• .env file with APIFY_TOKEN
• Node.js 20.6+ (for native --env-file support)
• mcpc CLI tool: npm install -g @apify/mcpc

Workflow

Copy this checklist and track progress:

Task Progress:
- [ ] Step 1: Identify competitor analysis type (select Actor)
- [ ] Step 2: Fetch Actor schema via mcpc
- [ ] Step 3: Ask user preferences (format, filename)
- [ ] Step 4: Run the analysis script
- [ ] Step 5: Summarize findings

Step 1: Identify Competitor Analysis Type

Select the appropriate Actor based on analysis needs:

User Need	Actor ID	Best For
Competitor business data	compass/crawler-google-places	Location analysis
Competitor contact discovery	poidata/google-maps-email-extractor	Email extraction
Feature benchmarking	compass/google-maps-extractor	Detailed business data
Competitor review analysis	compass/Google-Maps-Reviews-Scraper	Review comparison
Hotel competitor data	voyager/booking-scraper	Hotel benchmarking
Hotel review comparison	voyager/booking-reviews-scraper	Review analysis
Competitor ad strategies	apify/facebook-ads-scraper	Ad creative analysis
Competitor page metrics	apify/facebook-pages-scraper	Page performance
Competitor content analysis	apify/facebook-posts-scraper	Post strategies
Competitor reels performance	apify/facebook-reels-scraper	Reels analysis
Competitor audience analysis	apify/facebook-comments-scraper	Comment sentiment
Competitor event monitoring	apify/facebook-events-scraper	Event tracking
Competitor audience overlap	apify/facebook-followers-following-scraper	Follower analysis
Competitor review benchmarking	apify/facebook-reviews-scraper	Review comparison
Competitor ad monitoring	apify/facebook-search-scraper	Ad discovery
Competitor profile metrics	apify/instagram-profile-scraper	Profile analysis
Competitor content monitoring	apify/instagram-post-scraper	Post tracking

Step 2: Fetch Actor Schema

Fetch the Actor's input schema and details dynamically using mcpc:

export $(grep APIFY_TOKEN .env | xargs) && mcpc --json mcp.apify.com --header "Authorization: Bearer $APIFY_TOKEN" tools-call fetch-actor-details actor:="ACTOR_ID" | jq -r ".content"

Replace ACTOR_ID with the selected Actor (e.g., compass/crawler-google-places).

This returns:

• Actor description and README
• Required and optional input parameters
• Output fields (if available)

Step 3: Ask User Preferences

Before running, ask:

1. Output format:
   • Quick answer - Display top few results in chat (no file saved)
   • CSV - Full export with all fields
   • JSON - Full export in JSON format
2. Number of results: Based on character of use case

Step 4: Run the Script

Quick answer (display in chat, no file):

node --env-file=.env ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/reference/scripts/run_actor.js \
  --actor "ACTOR_ID" \
  --input 'JSON_INPUT'

CSV:

node --env-file=.env ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/reference/scripts/run_actor.js \
  --actor "ACTOR_ID" \
  --input 'JSON_INPUT' \
  --output YYYY-MM-DD_OUTPUT_FILE.csv \
  --format csv

JSON:

node --env-file=.env ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/reference/scripts/run_actor.js \
  --actor "ACTOR_ID" \
  --input 'JSON_INPUT' \
  --output YYYY-MM-DD_OUTPUT_FILE.json \
  --format json

Step 5: Summarize Findings

After completion, report:

• Number of competitors analyzed
• File location and name
• Key competitive insights
• Suggested next steps (deeper analysis, benchmarking)

Error Handling

APIFY_TOKEN not found - Ask user to create .env with APIFY_TOKEN=your_token mcpc not found - Ask user to install npm install -g @apify/mcpc Actor not found - Check Actor ID spelling Run FAILED - Ask user to check Apify console link in error output Timeout - Reduce input size or increase --timeout

Limitations

• Use this skill only when the task clearly matches the scope described above.
• Do not treat the output as a substitute for environment-specific validation, testing, or expert review.
• Stop and ask for clarification if required inputs, permissions, safety boundaries, or success criteria are missing.