7 Proven Strategies to Boost Brand Awareness on Social Media
Ready to step up your brand awareness on social media? Here are 7 proven ways to boost your reach.
Posted 11 days ago
Written by
Mackenzie TaylorPosted 11 days ago
Did you know you could use social media for brand awareness? If you’re launching a startup or looking to revamp an established brand, social networks offer a unique stage. Platforms like Instagram showcase your brand’s personality and values to a global audience. They’re powerful tools that let you talk directly to people around the world, turning them into fans and supporters of your brand.
In this article, we’re delving into seven proven strategies that can help you increase your brand’s visibility on social media channels.
The Importance of Leveraging Social Media for Brand Awareness
Your brand’s voice needs to cut through the noise to reach its audience, and social media is the megaphone that can make that happen. Social media connects brands with their audience where they spend a significant amount of their time.
The stats are compelling: a vast majority of consumers discover new products and brands on major social platforms. According to Statista, the most popular channel–Facebook–has nearly 2.9 billion users, YouTube has over 2.5 billion, and Instagram has more than 1.4 billion.
So if you use social media, you can increase your brand’s visibility and build an emotional connection with your target audience. This level of personal engagement is something traditional advertising channels simply can’t match. Plus, social channels provide a great opportunity to engage with potential customers in real-time.
Additionally, social media platforms offer targeted advertising options that allow you to reach specific demographics, interests, and geographic locations. This means that every dollar you spend can be optimized to maximize your brand’s exposure to the right audience.
7 Effective Tactics for Increasing Brand Awareness on Social Media
Social media is a key channel for boosting brand awareness. But how can you ensure your brand stands out in your followers’ feeds instead of being just another social account they scroll past?
Well, that depends. There’s no single right way to achieve this. The possibilities are as boundless as your creativity allows. To effectively use social media for brand awareness, consider these seven powerful tactics:
1. Optimize Your Social Media Profiles
When it comes to making a first impression online, nothing is more crucial than your social media profiles. This is the place where visitors can instantly get a sense of what your brand stands for.
Use a high-quality logo as your profile picture, create social media headers, and choose a username that is both memorable and reflective of your brand.
Your bio is often the first point of content interaction—it should tell your brand’s story in a nutshell. Include a brief description of what your brand offers, sprinkle in a bit of personality, and most importantly, include a link to your website. Make it easy for potential customers to reach you by including up-to-date contact information such as a phone number, email address, or a link to a contact form on your site.
Also, use high-quality visuals for your cover photos and banners that align with your brand’s aesthetic. Regularly update them to reflect new campaigns or promotions. Optimize images to ensure they load quickly while maintaining clarity and impact across all devices.
Lastly, take advantage of the ability to pin posts on social media platforms like Instagram, X, Facebook, or Pinterest. When you pin a post about a new product launch or an upcoming event at the top of your profile, you ensure the information is the first thing visitors see.
2. Run Contests
Contests are like the fun parties of the social media world—that’s why everyone wants to join! They are an excellent way to quickly increase engagement, grow your followers, and spread the word about your brand.
Before launching a contest, decide what you want to achieve. Is it more followers, increased engagement, or perhaps something specific like promoting a new product? Your goal will guide the design of your contest.
The prize should be something desirable and relevant to your brand and your audience. It doesn’t have to be expensive, but it should be valuable enough to encourage participation. Often, products from your own brand make the best prizes as they also showcase your offerings.
Encourage participants to submit their own content as part of the contest. For example, they could share photos using your product, using a specific hashtag. This strategy is super engaging, plus it provides you with content you can use in future marketing efforts.
Schedule these contests in your content calendar to ensure they are well-integrated into your overall social media strategy. Here’s how to use Flick’s scheduler for your Instagram content distribution:
This way, you’ll keep your audience anticipating and engaged with your brand’s activities.
If it seems like entering your contest is too complicated, many will skip it. So, apart from keeping the rules simple, specify only the important rules people need to know in your post. If your post looks wordy, people might just ignore it.
So, in your post, you can just say “Like this post, follow us, and tag two friends in the comments.” Then use a QR code generator to create a code with your branding in seconds. Incorporate this code into your post so those interested in joining the contest will only have to scan it to learn more about additional contest details.
3. Host Live Events
Many social media platforms like Instagram and Facebook allow you to host live events, offering a unique way to engage directly with your audience. These events provide a platform for real-time interaction, helping to deepen the connection between your brand and its followers.
If you decide to give live events a go, you need to plan your event well. Start with a clear objective. So, if you’re launching a new product, conducting a workshop, or hosting a Q&A session, the goal will dictate the format and content of the event.
Promotion is key to ensuring a successful turnout. Build anticipation with teaser posts, countdowns, and sneak peeks of what to expect. Utilize stories, posts, and even paid ads across all your channels to spread the word effectively.
For a smooth experience, ensure you have a stable internet connection and the right equipment to broadcast high-quality video and audio. Consider the strengths of different platforms—Instagram Live might be perfect for a visually-oriented showcase, while Facebook Live could suit longer, more interactive sessions.
After the event, keep the momentum going by sharing highlights or a full replay for those who missed it. This follow-up keeps your audience engaged and looking forward to future events.
4. Create Other Engaging Content
Apart from live events and contests, there are other types of content you can create to grab attention and encourage shares and interactions.
Why not create quizzes or polls? Writing ordinary social media posts using the variety of content formats offered by social media platforms helps as well, of course. A mix of these formats—text, images, videos, stories, and more—can keep your audience interested.
Whatever the content you post, bear in mind that it should always serve a purpose. You can aim to teach your audience something new, make them laugh, or inspire them with a touching story. Overall, your content should add value to their lives.
That’s why it’s important for you to understand who your audience is before creating and posting content. What do they like? What problems do they have that your brand can solve?
Ideally, the more engaging content you post, the better as well. This approach can help ensure you cater to different kinds of content preferences.
Don’t have the time to create that much content? Then just use generative AI.
The tool can help you save time and even scale your content creation. To get the most out of the tool, check out a good generative AI guide that outlines the other features you can leverage when creating content. For instance, did you know generative AI tools could also be used to detect bias in content language used? You can also take advantage of these functions to ensure your final content pieces are neutral and align with your brand values.
Flick’s AI Social Media Marketing Assistant can help you do all of these things and more! With Flick’s AI Assistant, you can:
- Creative content ideas
- On-brand captions
- AI-generated graphics, images, and stock images
- Highly-relevant hashtags
- Remix and update past social media posts
- Scheduling your post for the best time
- Product and services tab to create highly relevant captions
Start a free trial of Flick today and try out the tool for yourself!
Posting at the right time can be just as important as what you post. Use analytics tools, like Flick’s Instagram Analytics, to understand when your audience is most active and schedule your posts accordingly to maximize visibility.
Flick, in particular, already calculates the top posting times every day based on audience activity. It also automatically syncs with your content calendar found in Flick’s own scheduling tool, making it easy for you to post at those right times.
Apart from analytics data, use the feedback you receive to refine your content strategy continually.
5. Utilize Hashtags
Hashtags are also your tools. When used correctly, they can extend your reach and connect your content with a specific audience or conversation. Here’s how to make the most out of hashtags on social media for brand awareness:
- Research relevant hashtags: Start by identifying hashtags that are relevant to your brand and your content. Look at what hashtags your competitors and industry influencers are using.
- Create brand-specific hashtags: Develop one or two unique hashtags that reflect your brand identity. These can be used consistently across your social media posts, helping to build brand recognition. Encourage your followers to use these hashtags as well, which can help spread the word organically.
- Balance popular and niche hashtags: While popular hashtags have a wide reach, they also come with high competition. Mix them with more niche hashtags, which have a smaller but more targeted audience. This can increase the chances of your content being seen by those most interested in your offerings.
- Use hashtags in stories and bios: Don’t limit your hashtag use to just posts. Include them in your Instagram stories and your profile bio to increase the chances of discovery across the platform.
Platforms like Flick’s Instagram hashtag tool can help you find, manage, and analyze popular and trending hashtags in your niche.
It’s an effective tool for keeping an eye on which hashtags perform best in terms of bringing in new followers and engagement. Adjust your strategy based on what you learn to continuously optimize your hashtag use.
6. Collaborate with Influencers
For some niches, influencer marketing is very effective. When done right, it can greatly improve how well people know your brand, keep customers coming back, and boost sales. A staggering 80% of consumers say they’ve bought something because they saw it on social media. That just shows how powerful this kind of marketing can be.
Influencers have dedicated followers who trust their opinions, making them perfect allies in boosting your brand awareness. The right influencer should align with your brand’s values and aesthetics.
You can start by searching for influencers in your niche using social media platforms, influencer databases, or tools like BuzzSumo and HypeAuditor. They can help analyze and identify influencers based on engagement and relevance.
The different types of influencers you might consider include:
- Nano-influencers – fewer than 1,000 followers
- Micro-influencers – 1,000 to 100,000 followers
- Macro-influencers – 100,000 to 1 million followers and significant reach
- Celebrity influencers – millions of followers and huge reach
- Industry experts and thought leaders – respected voices within specific fields, often with smaller but highly dedicated and influential audiences.
Collaborations should feel natural, not forced. That’s why you should work with influencers who genuinely like your product or service. This authenticity will translate into their posts and stories, making the endorsement more effective.
7. Engage with Your Audience in Ordinary Social Conversations
Alongside broadcasting your message, social media channels allow you to listen, respond, and participate in a conversation with your target audience. We’ve seen how live events, in particular, can help you talk to your audience directly in real-time. With interactive content such as contests, quizzes, and polls, you can also easily converse with social media users.
Does this mean you need to host a special live event or take the time to design interactive content pieces to converse with your audience one-on-one? The answer is no, of course. You can talk to them directly even in the absence of those.
Respond to comments, messages, and posts promptly. Acknowledging your audience’s feedback shows that you value their input and are attentive to their needs.
Spark conversations by asking your audience their opinions as well. This could be about your products, their needs, or topics related to your industry. With this strategy, you don’t just encourage direct engagement. You also show you care about their thoughts.
Simple gestures like thanking followers for their support and giving shoutouts can also go a long way in building community spirit.
Where possible, personalize your responses. Use the commenter’s name, refer back to previous interactions, or comment on specific points they’ve raised. This personal touch can make your audience feel special and valued.
Boost Brand Awareness with AI and Flick
Social media is indispensable for brand awareness. Above all, it’s where your customers are. It’s where conversations happen, opinions are formed, and brands are built. If your brand isn’t actively shaping its image on social media, you’re invisible in a room full of potential buyers.
Using social media for brand awareness can be incredibly rewarding. But you need to do it right.
Start by optimizing your social media profiles to make a strong first impression. Next, create engaging content that resonates and encourages sharing. Utilize hashtags wisely to extend your reach and connect with new audiences.
You can also run exciting contests and host live events to spark interest, attract followers quickly, and interact directly with your audience. Collaborate with influencers to gain credibility and tap into larger networks. Engage with your followers in ordinary social conversations consistently. That helps maintain relationships and build loyalty.
Now go out there and make your mark! Use Flick’s tools as you implement these strategies, and you’ll easily boost your brand awareness on social media.
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