How to Raise Brand Awareness through Social Media Today

By now, many of you know about the importance of social media when it comes to your brand. It’s estimated that there will be around 2.77 billion social media users around the globe this year, which is up from 2.46 billion in 2017. Fact is, a strong online presence keeps you relevant in today’s world. With social media, your company, no matter how small it may be, has the ability to stand side by side with your biggest competitors and in front of the eyes of your ever-scrolling audience. Whether you run a service-based company, a retail business, or a digital brand, developing a social media presence is a no-brainer when it comes to growing your brand. When you establish a presence on social media, it gives you the chance to connect with your target audience, share branded content, and forge important relationships that positively influence your brand. Not sure where to start? Or maybe you just need ideas for taking your strategy to the next level? What if your business is looking to specifically boost your brand awareness? If so, check out these tips for using social media to build brand awareness.

Know Your Target Audience

Before creating and promoting your content on social media, you must know specifically who you are addressing. For many, this is just the basics of marketing, both in traditional and digital realms. When you promote something, no matter if it’s a video, a Facebook page, or a brand, you must curate it to appeal to a specific target audience. Let's face it, not everyone’s interested in what you have to have to sell or offer. So keep your message very concise and relevant to those who are truly interested. Targeting your content in today's digital landscape is absolutely imperative to its success.

Show People What Your Brand Is All About

Don’t be afraid to get visual with your audience! Visual content shows people what your brand is all about, and can make much more of an impact than simply telling them can. Yes, writing compelling posts are important for any social media platform. But channels like Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook also give you the opportunity to build strong brand awareness using visual, video, and interactive content. This content is typically much more powerful than written content alone. Consider this: An estimated 65 percent of people are visual learners, which means using images and videos can help you better reach nearly two-thirds of your audience. Online photo editors and graphics creators, such as Photoshop Express and Canva, make creating visual assets easy, even if your brand is on a budget.

Bring Value and Relevancy through Content

Mark Hawser, marketing expert at Rushmyessay UK, suggests:

“Nowadays, high-quality content is quite rare to find. This is not a general statement though, as there are plenty of webmasters that do their best to post only relevant content and information. While your social media networks allow the spreading of your content, the quality of your content is the aspect that differentiates your brand from the rest.”

Basically, if your competition is posting the same content over and over again, you’d better consider coming up with something unique. Emphasis on unique, not original. Morris Udall famously quoted "Everything has already been said but not everyone has said it" Try and add your own spin to everything you publish. Reading a 500 words article on a topic is a vastly different experience than consuming a 10-minute interactive (yet educational) video. Both can be engaging, yes, but that is still always dependent upon how you communicate the message!

High-Quality Visual Content Wins Social Media

The saying “one picture is worth a thousand words” is a mantra we likely all grew up hearing. Considering that you agree (and for the sake of this exercise, we will), imagine how many words a video can express? Whenever you publish a new update on your social pages, include an image along with every written blog post/article. But ensure that your image really speaks to the reader, so it doesn't come across lazy or random. Also, be sure you use images you own the rights to, or stock video and images in order to stay out of trouble. Using images that don't belong to you is not only frowned upon but can also bring consequences. Be sure to prioritize high-quality content over large volumes of content. This is crucial whether you use just one or even ten social media platforms. Publishing an endless stream of posts that offer minimal value is likely to give your audience a negative view of your brand and might even drive potential customers away. So naturally, it is in your best interest to always favor quality or quantity. Instead, ensure that the posts you publish highlight quality content that adds value by answering your audience’s questions, entertaining your followers, or sharing intriguing stories about your brand. Take the time to publish well-written posts in your brand voice, share relevant links to excellent articles, and create attention-getting visual assets. The link between high-quality visual content and brand awareness is this: a great piece of content is likely to be shared, which means that reach will increase. If you use watermarks to brand your video, many people will stumble upon your brand’s name and logo. And even if you don’t, people will still see the original poster.

Start Conversations

Social media should never be a platform for your brand to broadcast one-sided messages. To get the most out of Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, focus less on making statements and more on starting conversations. You’ll quickly find that both your brand and your audience benefit from this inclusive approach. Your audience will appreciate the opportunity to be a valuable part of your community and will enjoy watching your company grow. At the same time, you’ll get greater insight into your target market and build a community of dedicated fans. Influencer marketing is a particularly appealing way to accelerate this process. That's because influencers have the ability to create a dialogue with their audience around a brand with a single post on social media.

Connect With Influencers

While you’ll certainly want to connect with customers and fans on any platform you choose, don’t underestimate the impact that reaching out to influencers can have. We spoke about tools like BuzzSumo to identify important influencers in your niche in our last article. You can also use LinkedIn to find key figures in your industry. Once you’ve compiled a list of influencers, connect with them and start building relationships by commenting on their posts and sharing their content. This type of admiration and positive sentiment directed towards an influencer rarely goes unnoticed by them, particularly when it is coming from a brand. Once you have laid the foundation, politely and professionally ask them to share your content with their audiences as well. Or even collaborate on a branded project to expand your reach and brand awareness even further. Influencers can be utilized in many fashions to drive brand awareness for your company. And considering their talents at being 'socially savvy', they tend to have a tremendous effect on their audiences thoughts when it comes to brands. Utilize this to your advantage!

Host Contests and Giveaways

Let's keep it real. Most brands will never truly go viral on social media. However, that doesn't mean it's all but impossible either. With the right strategy, you can amplify your brand's reach substantially. One way to start this amplification is by hosting giveaways and running contests on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter, are two of the best ways to build brand awareness quickly and effectively. To increase the chance of your contest achieving your goals, make sure you’re giving away something your audience truly wants. Make the contest easy to enter, confirm that it follows the guidelines of the platform you choose and encourage your audience to share it. Consider partnering with an influencer or a complementary brand to increase your reach. This is just another of many great examples of the benefits of social media marketing.

Final Thoughts

Improving your brand’s awareness through social media platforms is surely a challenging objective. There’s an unknown learning curve that every brand and business owner must go through in order to excel. You can’t simply know what works best. Building buzz around your brand might take a bit of experimenting, but having a dedicated awareness strategy should be a top priority for businesses today, no matter the size. Follow these tips and you are sure to see your brand awareness skyrocket!

Are you ready to amplify your brand awareness with influencer marketing?

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