If you’re a small business and you’re not leveraging social media to build brand awareness, then you’re missing out! Social media is one of the most cost-effective ways to reach a wider audience with your message in today’s world. In this post, we’ll share some insights on how to increase brand awareness on social media. Keep reading to learn more!
Why is Brand Awareness in Social Media Important?
The first step of building any successful business is awareness. It all starts with getting your potential customers’ attention.
Of course, the importance here cannot just rest on being seen, but also on making sure your brand is remembered when consumers are faced with other options available for purchase or consumption. Plus, this will lead them down an aisle towards long-term brand loyalty, when done right.
Usually, business owners who decide to build brand awareness through social platforms already have an idea of how to go about finding new audiences and making them familiar with their brand. The most successful entrepreneurs create a social media strategy for their brand that targets the emotions of their target audience, thereby creating more conversions and sales.
As an example, National Geographic has been sharing stunning photos of people, places, and animals all over the world through its Instagram stories since 2012. The organization’s powerful voice in visual storytelling helps users experience different cultures authentically with unfiltered perspectives.
In this way, National Geographic uses social media as a way for them to elevate individuals by bringing awareness to important issues like global warming and poverty, among other hard-hitting topics, while proving to be a memorable brand to viewers. They also create valuable insights through the user-generated content of different audiences and creators.
Similarly, the social media marketing strategy of your own brand should also create brand recognition among social media users.
Let’s look at another example. Global fashion brand Ralph Lauren used Instagram stories ads to build awareness campaigns for its 50th anniversary collection among millennials and Gen Z users. This brand awareness strategy not only saw an increase in product page views, but it also led to 18% more buyers online, all of whom were within their targeted prospective customers!
Related: The Importance of Brand Building for Your Business
Social Media Tactics to Increase Brand Awareness
So, how do you go about your brand’s social media campaigns? Check out the different tried-and-tested methods below:
1. Understand Your Brand and Your Audience
Do you understand your own brand? You need to have a deep awareness of your brand before you can successfully (and easily!) get people to know about it.
Another aspect to consider is, what are your strengths and weaknesses as a brand? What are your similarities and differences with your competitors? Can you provide better value than the other products or services in the same market?
If you have a clear idea of what your brand is supposed to represent, it’s much easier to target and reach your intended demographics. To get a handle on your target audience, you should use social media as if it were Google. Search for relevant hashtags and take inspiration from competitor channels to stay up-to-date with the trending topics within your industry. This is a great way to build an accurate picture of who engages heavily or sparsely across different types of social channels.
2. Use Social Networks that Perform
Once you know where your audience spends the majority of their time on social media, then you can determine what social platforms you need to create content for and actively engage on.
When it comes to different platforms, there are different rules, too. Your social media posts should be compatible with the platform that you choose to post on. For instance, blog posts are best on your website or LinkedIn. Short-form announcements are better as a tweet on Twitter, longer video content is best highlighted on a YouTube channel, and visual content like photos are ideal for Instagram.
In other words, it’s important to choose the right platform for the type of content that you decide to make.
3. Create Valuable Content
Many social media studies show that educational content provides more value than highly-produced content. Your social media posts, blog articles, and other content should provide value to your audience and encourage them to engage with you.
If audiences engage with your content, it’s important that you find the time to respond to their inquiries, comments, or reactions.
Of course, many successful brands like Wendy’s and Starbucks are always engaging with their customers. When this is done, audiences feel like you’ve take the extra step to identify with them as a person, rather that just being a company.
4. Track Your Metrics
No matter what platform you use for a social media marketing campaign, it’s important to always track the performance of your content. This is the best way to get a better understanding of where improvements can be made. In fact, most platforms provide engagement statistics and other social media metrics that allow users to see the information in detail when analyzing their posts.
Tracking your metrics will also help you figure out the most effective ways to keep your viewers engaged. Plus, your metrics can show you what you need to stop doing, too.
As an example, posts with less engagement should be reviewed and analyzed. Ask yourself what you can improve on and make the necessary adjustments to your social strategy.
5. Be Flexible
Finally, it’s crucial that you decide to be flexible with your brand awareness efforts. Whether you need to focus on your business’ content marketing, start influencer marketing, or something else entirely, it’s important to know what your next step is and to be flexible as you figure out the most effective way to market your brand.
And, if you get stuck, we highly recommend asking for help. Social media management companies that specializes in brand awareness through social networks like Shelten, LLC are great places to start!
Related: 15+ Brilliant Brand Awareness Advertising Examples
Getting Help with Brand Awareness Through Social Media
Shelten, LLC is a brand awareness company that comprises of industry experts that are very well adept in all of the different social media channels. We can help you boost your business’ brand awareness while making sure that you know every step of the process.
We team up with you so that your marketing efforts and dollars are never put to waste. Get in touch with us today if you’re ready to discuss what more you can do to gain new customers while retaining the current ones.
Click here to book your free consultation!
Related: 10+ Social Media Tips for Service-Based Businesses
Conclusion
It’s no secret that social media is a powerful tool for small businesses. But what may be less clear is how to use social media to increase brand awareness and, ultimately, drive sales.
We hope the tips in this blog post have given you some ideas on how to get started!
At Shelten, LLC, we specialize in helping businesses harness the power of social media and digital marketing. Let us know how we can help you take your brand awareness to the next level with our top-of-the-line services.
