distribution-competitive-scan

Distribution Competitive Scan

Benchmark a protocol's distribution against the competitors actually taking its mindshare. The output is a comparison table with real numbers and three moves — not a generic channel checklist.

This is the distribution layer of the 6-pillar Web3 Growth Audit methodology (Social Media + Community + SEO pillars), adapted for self-serve use.

When to use

• A competitor with similar traction is visibly out-distributing the protocol
• The team posts consistently but engagement is flat
• Deciding where to invest content effort next quarter
• Before hiring a social/community person or agency

Inputs to collect first

1. The protocol's X/Twitter handle
2. 2-3 direct competitors (ask the user; if they can't name them, that itself is a High-severity finding — you can't win mindshare you can't name)
3. Links to the protocol's Discord/Telegram, blog, newsletter, YouTube if they exist

If you have browsing or scraping tools, pull the data yourself. If not, walk the user through collecting it — the methodology works either way.

Workflow

Step 1 — Channel inventory

Build the channel map for the protocol AND each competitor: X, Discord/Telegram, blog, newsletter, YouTube, Farcaster/Lens if relevant.

Mark each: ✅ Active (posted in last 7 days) / ⚠ Partial (posted in last 30 days) / ❌ Dormant or missing.

Step 2 — Engagement rate benchmark

For the protocol and each competitor, take the last 20 X posts:

engagement rate = (avg likes + replies + reposts per post) / followers × 100

Raw follower counts mislead — a 50k-follower account at 0.1% engagement is losing to a 5k account at 2%. Rate is the comparison, not size.

Step 3 — Content mix read

Classify each account's last 20 posts: product updates / education / narrative-opinion / memes-culture / partnership announcements.

The common failure: 80%+ product updates. Product-update-only accounts talk to existing users, not future ones.

Step 4 — Owned audience check

Does the protocol have an email list or any channel it owns outright?

• Newsletter with visible signup and recent sends: ✅
• Signup form exists, no evidence of sends: ⚠ Medium
• Everything lives on rented platforms (X, Discord, Telegram): ❌ High — the protocol is one algorithm change or account suspension away from losing its entire audience.

Step 5 — System check

The most important step. For each channel ask: does it feed another channel, or is it an island?

Signals of a system: X threads that route to the blog, blog posts that route to the newsletter, Discord onboarding that routes to the product. Signals of islands: every channel posts its own content with no cross-flow.

The diagnostic phrase that applies to most protocols:

"Most channels exist but operate independently. No visible activation loop. Growth accumulates impressions, not momentum."

Score: connected system ✅ / partial routing ⚠ / islands ❌ High.

Output format

# Distribution Scan — [Protocol] vs [Competitors]

## Channel map
| Channel | [Protocol] | [Comp A] | [Comp B] |
|---|---|---|---|
| X | ✅/⚠/❌ + followers + eng. rate | ... | ... |
| Discord/TG | ... | ... | ... |
| Blog/SEO | ... | ... | ... |
| Newsletter | ... | ... | ... |
| YouTube | ... | ... | ... |

## Engagement benchmark
[Protocol X.X% vs Comp A X.X% vs Comp B X.X% — one paragraph on what
drives the gap, with example posts as evidence]

## Content mix
[One line per account: the split, and what it signals]

## System check
[Islands or system? Evidence. This is usually the #1 finding.]

## Three moves
[Exactly three, prioritized, each one sentence of what + one of why.
No "post more consistently" — every move must be specific enough to
start this week.]

Rules

• Numbers over adjectives. "Low engagement" is banned; "0.3% vs competitor's 1.8%" is the standard.
• If the protocol is winning on distribution, say so — then point at narrative or on-chain activation as the likelier bottleneck (see narrative-diagnostic and post-tge-growth-system).
• Never recommend buying followers, engagement pods, or raid groups.

Going deeper

This skill covers the distribution layer with public data. The full Web3 Growth Audit adds Apify-scraped competitor intelligence (share of voice, top mentioning creators, sentiment trend), SEO/AEO analysis, and the community-to-on-chain bridge, delivered async with a fixed scope and price:

https://mangabeira.net/services/web3-growth-audit