We’re going to keep it real with you. Building brand awareness isn’t easy. But, as you likely know, it’s necessary to develop if you want better sales – and social media helps it all become easier. If even for just a bit.
That being said, how social media impacts brand awareness is in its name. It’s social. Meaning, these platforms help your brand establish the human-to-human connection that’s largely lacking in the business industry.
Of course, there’s more to it than that which we’re going deeper into it below, as well as discussing a few other related topics, including:
- What is brand awareness (and why it’s important)
- Tips to increase brand awareness through social media
- Ways to tell if you’ve grown your brand awareness
What is brand awareness and why is important?
Brand awareness is when people know about your business. That’s the simplest way we can describe it.
It’s vital to businesses, like your PT clinic, because it helps you connect with more leads which, ultimately, can lead to more paying customers. It’s a large part of how you can compete with your larger competitors.
For example, let’s say there’s a basketball game in your local court and someone sprained their ankle. That person asks about a good place to rehab and his teammate who saw your posts recommends your clinic.
That right there is what brand awareness gets you – and social media can help get you there by putting your brand in front of people who care about what you have to offer.
11 tips to boost brand awareness through social media
1. Be consistent with your brand’s personality
Just like different people, your brand has its personality, too. That’s what’s going to give your business an angle that’s completely its own – even among others in your niche – because it’s going to help people remember who your brand is.
When people remember your brand, they’re more likely to choose you when it comes time to buy.
2. Team up!
“If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.”
It’s a quote that somehow always finds its way into our feeds year after year but, in this case, it’s true. Partnering up with other brands can help you introduce each other to separate audiences which, ultimately, makes it great for each other’s brand awareness.
For example, let’s say you have a physical therapy clinic in New York and a business who sells running shoes is organizing a marathon in a couple of weeks. Both of you could partner up and run social media campaigns, thus introducing yourselves to your respective audiences.
3. Repurpose your content
When it comes to social media (and digital marketing in general), content was and still is king. You make content long enough, however, and you discover that even the most creative people run out of ideas.
Our secret? We repurpose old content. It’s almost like cheating, to be honest.
For instance, say your PT clinic posted a full-length Youtube video about the best exercises for low back pain. One of the many ways you can repurpose this is to cut it up into clips and post it as reels on Facebook, or turn it into some sort of infographic and post it on Pinterest.
This gives life to a post that was already buried in the algorithm, thus reaching more people.
4. Create instructional content (or use demos from your customers)
While we’re talking about different types of content, “how-to” content is sought-after in just about any niche.
Not only that but creating one (or several) for your services will help establish you as an expert in your industry. In turn, this makes more people trust you enough to recommend you to their friends and family.
Even better when your customers create their own content based on your demos. You can easily share their content on your feed. This brings us to the next tip.
5. Reach out to influencers and content creators
Influencers are vital parts of today’s marketing landscape. For small businesses, in particular, these content creators have access to an audience that you likely don’t have.
You can partner up with them in exchange for sponsorships and affiliate marketing deals that you both can benefit from. They get a commission or a one-time payment in exchange for them putting out your brand’s name and service in front of more people. Thus, increasing brand awareness (and sales).
6. Post consistently.
Different social networks will have different algorithms for when and what to post. But, whatever platform you’re on, make sure you show up consistently in front of your audience so they remember you more.
We recommend creating a content calendar before you start any campaign on social. This helps keep you on track while also negating most of the hassle that comes with posting every day.
7. Create interactive posts
We’ve discussed examples of interactive social media posts in another blog but, basically, these are posts that encourage your audience to engage with your brand.
The more engagement you generate, the more likely it is that the social network you’re on puts you in front of a wider audience. For example, an Instagram post with 1000 thousand hearts and 100 comments will be easier to find than one with only 10 likes and 1 comment.
These interactive posts are also more shareable than most because they’re fun and personalized. Meaning, your audience will be more likely to share them on their feed which, again, puts your brand in front of more people.
8. Use visuals
These include photos, gifs, infographics, videos, memes, and others.
Visual posts are more, well… eye-catching. Compared to posts that are all words, posts with some kind of visual generally garner more attention.
9. Consider paid ads and boosted posts.
Needless to say, you’d have to shell out some dough here but both of these do get you an advantage over your competitors. Doing so ensures that your posts are seen by a relevant audience that you likely didn’t have access to before paying.
Luckily, paid ads and boosted posts don’t cost all that much to start with. You can experiment with as much money as you’re willing to use and, depending on how successful your campaign gets, scale up or scale down.
10. Optimize your social profiles
Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Youtube, and many others… Your brand’s profile for each of these platforms will look different but they should each establish what your brand is all about.
This is crucial as you only have a few moments to make a positive impression. So, when people visit your profile, make sure they understand what you’re all about at first glance.
For instance, even if you didn’t know about Under Armour, their Facebook and Instagram profiles already make it clear that they’re all about athletes.
11. Track your successes and failures
In any strategy we write about, we always recommend tracking your progress. Tracking certain metrics will help you adjust future posts and campaigns to make them just as, if not more successful.
This brings us to the next part of our discussion.
5 metrics that reflect brand awareness
The metrics you’ll use to measure brand awareness will vary depending on the platform you’re using. But, generally speaking, here are some of the most common ones:
1. Reach
This measures the number of people who saw your post or ad during a certain period. This metric will also show you how much your audience has grown, taking into account both organic and paid followers, as well as those who have unfollowed you.
2. Engagement rate
This metric tells you how much interaction you get per follower.
Needless to say, the higher your engagement rate, the more engaging your post. Consequently, higher engagement rates are also better for your brand awareness.
To calculate this, you simply need to divide the total interactions (from likes, shares, and comments) by your total number of followers, then multiply that by a hundred.
3. Impressions
This is the total number of times your post or ad was seen by people during a certain period. You can also use this metric to see how many unique views you had in that same time frame.
4. Conversion rate
This metric tells you the number of people who took a specific desired action, like filling out a form or making a purchase, after seeing one of your posts on social media.
6. Brand mentions
This is the number of times people mention your brand in their posts on social media. You know you have better brand awareness when more people are talking about you.
Conclusion
Social media helps make improving your brand awareness easier to do than just relying on word of mouth. Ultimately, establishing your brand on the platforms that your audience uses can drive your sales upward while also establishing yourself as a thought leader.
The tips we listed above should be easy enough to implement right away. But, if you need a hand, let’s talk and we’ll help you navigate your way around it.
