How Can Brands Use Social Media Listening to Build Awareness of Their Brand?

Developing Brand Awareness

For both B2C and B2B companies, building brand awareness is one of the top priorities when implementing new marketing campaigns. In 2023, a significant 86% of all marketers surveyed indicated that their social media efforts
have generated more exposure for their brands⁽¹⁾.  The evolution of social networks and social media has solidified their position as a vital component of brand strategies, gaining even more significance as younger generations progressively abandon conventional channels (TV, written press).

Why develop brand awareness?

Developing brand proximity allows:

• Shorten sales cycles.
• Increase market share.
• Remain a leader in your market.

Why should social media monitoring be part of your brand awareness strategy?

Without the right social data, brand awareness campaigns can be ineffective. How do companies know that their marketing campaigns are reaching the right audience on the right channels?

Social Media Monitoring and Analysis can help marketers increase brand awareness in 5 different ways:
    1. By creating quality content based on trends and "hot" topics.
    2. By creating audience profiles to target ads based on these customer profiles.
    3. Identify relevant influencers and companies to partner with.
    4. Set up contests and giveaways on your brand's top-performing social platforms.
    5. By increasing "organic" social presence.

1) Create content based on current trends and topics

Content is one of the best ways to build brand awareness. It demonstrates your ability to listen, innovate and adapt while staying on top of the latest trends and issues. The more "fresh" and "engaging" content is, the more likely it is to be discussed and shared online and socially. This allows brands to reach a broader audience.

How can you do this?

You can build your content strategy around the following:

• Influencers who are talking about your brand.
• Viral trends that your target audience is talking about.
• Recurring topics around major events or holidays that your brand can capitalize on (Newsjacking).
  
  

Case Study

The content creation team at a business-to-consumer (B2C) electronics manufacturer wanted to increase its brand awareness beyond the technology space. They selected a list of lifestyle influencers and analyzed their social media posts to see what topics were being discussed the most. Armed with this insight, the team was able to develop a content strategy that would associate their brand with these topics and reach out to customers in the lifestyle community.

2) Create audience profiles to set up ads tailored to those profiles

Building brand awareness isn't just about reaching a broader audience. It's also about reaching the relevant people and prospects most likely to convert into actual customers. By understanding who your audience is and targeting your communications campaigns to them, brands can focus their efforts on these high-potential targets.

How can you do this?

Perfectly targeting your audience depends on marketers' ability to define their key consumer profiles or buyer personas. By listening and analyzing social media, you can:

• Analyze the online conversations of Internet users.
• Understand consumers' needs and expectations.
• Identify the socio-demographic characteristics of each consumer who posts content on social networks.
  

Case Study

An Asian company in the financial sector wanted to increase its visibility and market share by publishing targeted ads on social networks. Using Social Media Listening, they were able to identify the main behavioral trends of their audience on social networks. This information was essential to understanding the audiences the company was trying to reach. By publishing these targeted ads, the company was able to reach and convert many prospects.

Demographics of internet users who discuss the Kiabi ready-to-wear brand, via Digimind Social

3) Identify influencers and influential companies for partnerships

In addition to using your brand's own content, you can also take advantage of influencers or companies that have large, active communities. Such partnerships allow your brand to develop a more trendy or prestigious image, both with your current customers and with your partners. The goal is to identify the most relevant partnerships for your brand in order to "borrow" their influence capital.

How can you do this?

To identify relevant influencers, it is essential to:

• Analyze their publications on social networks: are the topics discussed, the tone, and the style in line with your brand?
• Analyze their community and followers: what are their socio-demographic characteristics?
• Calculate the influencer's potential reach based on the size and engagement rate of their community.
• Determine whether your strategy should focus on a celebrity, a macro-influencer, a micro-influencer, or even a nano-influencer.

To identify relevant brands for partnership, it is imperative to:

• Analyze their e-reputation: will your brand be able to benefit from their fame?
• Analyze the influencers and the brands they are associated with.
• Analyze their audience: is it the same audience you want to reach?

Case Study

Through Social Media Listening, an international group of alcohol brands discovered that a popular singer had mentioned one of their brands in a song. The group seized the opportunity and began sponsoring the singer's events and concerts and creating specific content for his fans. This partnership allowed the group to increase sales but also to develop its notoriety with an audience that had not been exploited until then.

Detection of influencers and communities in the Beverage-Beer sector

4) Create contests, giveaways, and events on the most effective social platforms

Finally, contests, giveaways, and events are an old, classic, but sure way to increase brand awareness and subscribers very quickly. Because they're easily accessible, these initiatives are highly valued by Internet users. They also tend to have very high engagement rates.

How can you do this?

Before setting up a contest or event, it is important to know:

• Which social media platform is most used by your audience in terms of the volume of conversations?
• The most effective social media platform for audience engagement?

Case Study

A company in the computer, communications, and electronics industry discovered that its target audience was migrating from video-sharing platforms, such as YouTube and Vimeo, to more specialized live-streaming sites. So the company focused its efforts on more actively using its target audience's favorite platforms to broadcast events and contests. By knowing which channels its target audience was on, the company was able to develop its audience.

Games and contests a sure-fire way to generate commitment and brand awareness

5) Retain your social media audience with a regular presence

86% of marketers say their social media efforts increase their visibility⁽¹⁾.  Once you've defined your content and editorial strategy, your target audiences, and your influencers, don't neglect to maintain a regular presence on social media. Beyond your paid campaigns, an organic presence on social media platforms that correspond to your target audience is necessary. Prefer to publish on only one or two channels on a continuous basis rather than multiplying platforms with infrequent or even abandoned content.

Your contacts, fans, prospects, and customers must not only be able to interact with you and benefit from your publications, but they must also be reassured by your brand's presence, which reinforces your brand image and also your closeness through this capacity of engagement. Of course, it takes time to build new brand awareness on social networks. However, by combining the previous 4 points, this channel can prove to be an essential part of your brand awareness strategy.

Build brand awareness with an editorial strategy and regular content. Measurement via Digimind Social Analytics

In summary, social media can provide you with many insights on how to develop your brand awareness: from optimizing your content to maximizing the reach of your ads to identifying relevant partnerships to analyzing the performance of social platforms.

Sources

1. Social Media Marketing Industry Report 2023, SocialMediaExaminer.