Can Social Media Increase Brand Awareness?

January 18, 2022

Social media plays a huge part in increasing brand awareness. According to Sprout Social, 70% of marketers stated that their main goal for social media is to increase social awareness surrounding their brands. 

What’s so special about social media?

With 48% of the population using social media, there is no doubt that it is the most influential platform when it comes to generating brand awareness. Statistics from the GlobalWebIndex show that 54% of web browsers use social media to research products; this is why it is essential to have a prominent online presence on multiple social media platforms in order for your brand to gain traction. 

Brand awareness through social media is steadily becoming more important than the inherent sales. In recent times, figures point towards the fact that despite social media being pivotal in increasing website traffic, its aims are mostly to increase the awareness of a brand also. 

social media for brand awareness
91% of social media users access social channels via mobile devices.


How can you measure social success online? 

Nowadays, there are many statistical and pattern-tracking tools available online to measure a brand’s social success. You can do this through using a platform’s in-house social media tracking, or you can use websites such as SEMrush, Buffer or Hootsuite. This is done through tracking different elements of engagement, such as:

  • Likes and/or comments: by tracking likes and comments, you will be able to see patterns within what your followers want to see. You can also track what posts do well, and what they have in common to then replicate in the future. 
  • Shares, retweets and/or saves: favoured highly by Instagram’s algorithm, it is always a good idea to have educational content worth saving and sharing. 
  • Interactions with consumers: present yourself as an accessible brand. This will help with your brand’s reputation and reviews. The more engaged you are with your consumers, the more engaged they will be in your brand. 
  • Inspiring customers emotionally and dynamically: make sure your content stays in the minds and hearts of your target audience, even after they have scrolled away from your content. 
good social media
Wendy's social media campaign boasts humour and wit for engagement.


For example, take a look at this brilliant engagement from the American fast-food brand, Wendy’s. By engaging through  humour on the desired platform of their target audience, they have received amazing engagement back, increasing brand awareness across Twitter. 

This then creates an internet ripple effect - the retweets will then become present on more of their target audience’s pages, without Wendy’s even needing to do anything for it.  

A step-by-step guide: promoting your brand on social media

Step 1: Choose the right platform(s) for your brand and target audience 

Social media can be heavily overwhelming. With so many possible platforms, it is almost impossible to keep up with all of them. Remember that your content should be about quality, not quantity. This is the overriding goal that should stay in mind whilst you are preparing for a brand awareness campaign.

Firstly, consider your target audience and their demographic. 84% of 18-24 year olds are on social media for at least 2.5 hours a day, mostly on TikTok, Instagram and Twitter. It is suggested to limit your scope to 1-3 sites only. Think about which platforms resonate with your brand, and then develop your content accordingly to the platform and desired demographic. 

Step 2: Plan your content accordingly to each platform 

Following on from Step 1, do not regurgitate the same post on each social media platform. As easy as it is, and as much time it may save, this can heavily damage the perception of your brand from consumers. Create content that is specific to the social media that you are using. Here is a quick guide for the main platforms:

  • Twitter: short posts, images, and quick facts 
  • Facebook: long posts, images and videos
  • Instagram: visual interaction and aesthetics, emojis, reels and stories 
  • Linkedin: educational content, images and videos 
  • TikTok: 30 second short videos, snappy content that is visually appealing 

To develop content for each platform, Canva is great for creating content with the right sizings. Remember, a post on Twitter will not look the same to your post on Facebook, so it is essential to get the dimensions correct for appealing page graphology. 

Step 3: Engage with your audience, and they will engage with you

Having your target audience share and interact with your content is one of the best ways to impose influence far and wide across a platform, or multiple. With shares and retweets, your content has the capacity to reach an immediate audience alongside other multiple networks of the same demographic. Sharing content implies a recommendation, which is essential in developing consumers to customers. 

Have a look at these brilliant examples here to see how humour, wit and emotional content can be used to influence a target audience. 

Step 4: Don’t be scared of the Influencer-Gram

In the 21st century, influencers can often get a bad reputation. Social media is growing at a rapid rate, so it is only a natural progression for influencer jobs to be born out of this growth. 

Interacting with influencers allows a brand to have complete control over their brand awareness campaign. Joint partnerships can vary in structure, which makes them flexible and appealing. The complexity of these partnerships is up to you.

49% of consumers depend on Influencer recommendations on social media, according to Omnisend. This means that influencers play a huge part in how consumers purchase products, revealing how brands can piggyback onto the power of influencers to reach out to their target audience. 

Step 5: Stay aware of your progress and active trends 

There is no point in implementing all these tips if you are unable to track your campaign progress and trends. By tracking your statistics and trends across your desired platforms, you will be able to summon patterns from your engagement responses. 

Ask yourself what your target audience likes to see, and which posts have achieved your desired awareness. You will then be able to implement this into future campaigns for further engagement. 

Keep an eye on the common trends, especially if you are using Instagram and TikTok. Instagram reels are booming alongside the use of music on TikTok - knowledge of these trends will give your brand the edge on these platforms, and make sure to keep up-to-date with trending hashtags for algorithms. 

Give it time…

It’s best to have patience with promoting your brand on social media. You will not gain a following overnight. Consistency and knowledge are key to developing a sustainable and rewarding campaign, and with these tips, you will have a brilliant head start. 

Written by Molly for We Should Create.

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