Brand awareness is something every business possesses—it could be your logo, slogan, or a specific color that makes your brand immediately recognizable to your audience. Many businesses are curious about how they are perceived but often don't know how to measure brand awareness.
You might be surprised to find out that measuring brand awareness is easier than it seems. In this blog, we will explore exactly how to measure brand awareness. But first, let's define what brand awareness really is.
What Is Brand Awareness?
Brand awareness measures how familiar your target audience is with your brand and how easily they recognize it.
It goes beyond just knowing your business name; it includes understanding what you offer, specifically your products or services.
Take, for example, clothing brands. Which ones come to mind immediately? The few that do are likely those with high brand awareness; you recognize their names and what they sell without a second thought.
Ideally, you want your brand to be a top contender in your industry, known as the go-to source for your target audience. Achieving this level of recognition takes considerable effort, but the results are worth it in the long run.
The Importance Of Measuring Brand Awareness
There are several reasons why it's crucial to measure and enhance your brand's awareness:
Boosts Market Share
When consumers are familiar with your brand, they are more likely to choose you over your competitors. A strong brand awareness campaign sets the stage for future growth and helps secure a place in consumers' minds.
Enhances Brand Perception
It's not just about being known; it’s about how people feel about your brand. If many know you but none care, then that recognition is worthless. So, when building brand awareness, also focus on how you want people to feel about your brand.
Builds Trust
Think about how often you have relied on recommendations from friends or family when choosing a product. You are more likely to trust and choose a brand that comes recommended by someone you trust. That’s the kind of trust you want your brand to inspire.Facilitates Lead Generation
Lead generation is smoother when people are already familiar with your brand. They are also more receptive to your marketing if they recognize your brand and understand what you offer.
Drives Traffic
A strong brand awareness strategy naturally increases organic traffic to your website. If your brand is top of mind, consumers are more likely to visit your site when they are ready to buy.
Increases Sales
Research shows that customers are more likely to purchase from brands they recognize, regardless of actual quality or price differences. Therefore, it's important to promote all aspects of your brand awareness - your name, your offerings, and what makes you different from your competitors.
Improves Content Creation
Improving your brand awareness also allows you to develop better marketing campaigns. With more people familiar with your business, you get access to more data on consumer behavior, which helps tailor your marketing and content strategies to better meet the needs of your target audience.
Promotes Organic Advocacy
Happy customers are your best marketers. Those who enjoy your brand and what you offer are likely to share their experiences, both online and offline. They may even promote your brand inadvertently through interactions on social media.
How To Measure Brand Awareness?
There are many methods to measure brand awareness, and the secret to doing so is to use multiple strategies together. This approach helps you create the most accurate representation of your brand's visibility.
Create A Customer Survey
One of the best ways to measure brand awareness is by asking your target audience directly. Several businesses use customer surveys to understand how people discover their brand and where they have seen it mentioned. When designing your survey, choose between measuring brand recall or unprompted brand recognition based on whether you want to check if customers know what your brand does and their feelings towards it. Let these objectives shape the questions you include.
Source: 123FormBuilder
Also, think about how to distribute your survey. As today's consumers have shorter attention spans, traditional surveys often fail to engage them deeply enough to provide valuable insights. Many businesses are now opting for innovative survey methods such as Voiceform's voice surveys, which capture genuine opinions and emotions by making the data collection feel more like a conversation. This approach not only improves engagement but also gives rich, authentic data that can significantly improve your understanding of brand awareness.
Examine Social Media For Brand Awareness Metrics
If you are using social media for your brand (ane you should be) you will find that there are a range of social media metrics and analytics tools available that give you deep insights into brand awareness. Whether your approach is organic or you are using paid advertising, social media metrics tell you a lot about how people perceive your brand.
Social media provides several key performance indicators (KPIs) useful for tracking brand awareness, such as impressions, likes, shares, and comments. These metrics help you understand not only the reach of your brand but also if the perception is positive or negative and if it's driving people to follow your accounts and interact with your content.
How to measure brand awareness on social media? Here's what to monitor:
- Follower Count: This is the total number of people following your social media profiles. A larger follower count generally means greater brand visibility.
- Follower Growth Rate: This measures how quickly your follower count is increasing. Consistent growth is a good indicator of increasing brand awareness.
- Post Reach: This metric shows how many people see your posts. The goal is to maximize this number to extend your brand’s reach.
- Engagement Rate: This is calculated by comparing the number of interactions (likes, comments, shares) your posts receive relative to your number of followers. A high engagement rate suggests that your audience is not only large but also interested and active.
While native analytics does you a plot of the above metrics, if you want to dig deeper into your social media performance, benchmark against your competitors, and share reports with stakeholders, it's better to opt for a social analytics tool like Statusbrew.
Look At Search Volume Data
If you are aiming to improve brand awareness through Google or other search engines, it's helpful to monitor the search volume associated with your business and the keywords relevant to your industry. This information reveals how many people are actively searching for your brand and the products or services you provide.
You have access to several tools that can assist you in tracking these searches, such as Google Trends, Google Keyword Planner, MOZ, and SEMrush. By entering your business name and target keywords into these tools, you can compare your search volume with that of your competitors. This insight allows you to craft targeted campaigns that are informed by how often people are searching for specific keywords, helping you to build your brand's presence.
Check Referral Traffic And Backlinks
Boosting your brand awareness extends beyond just your customers; it also involves making connections with other businesses and industry publications. By tracking the number of referral links your brand receives, you can understand how well other businesses know your brand and their willingness to refer traffic to your site.
Tools like Google Analytics provide you with information about referral traffic and backlinks. However, it's important to monitor your bounce rates as well, because not all referral links are beneficial.
Inappropriate or irrelevant referrals are detrimental. So, focus on the links that bring in genuine traffic from visitors who have a real interest in what you offer. Improve relationships with these referring brands or publications by engaging in activities like guest posting, link exchange, or employing other strategies.
Look At Website Traffic
If you are aiming to understand brand awareness through your website traffic, ensure you are checking the correct metrics. Google Analytics simplifies this by tracking how many visitors enter your site directly by typing your URL or using a bookmark. Although it's tricky to pinpoint exactly how many visitors already knew about your brand before searching, you can track progress over time in a few key areas:
- The growth in website sessions, distinguishing between new and returning users.
- The rise in traffic from both organic and paid searches.
- An increase in traffic coming from email campaigns.
Research Your Mentions
A "mention" is any instance where your brand name is used, whether on blogs, publications, social media, websites, or elsewhere. Generally, the more frequently people talk about your brand, the stronger your brand recognition becomes. By knowing who mentions your brand, how often they do it, and who their audience is, you can make better-informed decisions about your marketing strategies.
Brand monitoring tools like Statusbrew help you track mentions of your brand across social media. It also provides insights into where and who is talking about your brand.
With this information, you can understand the sentiment and context of these mentions. This knowledge allows you to make informed business decisions that align with your audience's preferences.
Evaluate Media Coverage
Don’t just focus on how your audience interacts with your brand. It’s also valuable to look at media coverage you have earned.
Earned media includes any coverage by external entities like news outlets, online magazines, or popular blogs. If your latest marketing efforts are being highlighted by the media, these mentions will expose your brand to a vast audience.
Review which types of media outlets are featuring you. Are they niche industry publications that reach a valuable targeted audience? Or are they major outlets with a global readership? See what this exposure means for increasing your brand awareness.
Additionally, you can link your earned media analysis with other brand awareness strategies. For example, check how much engagement these media pieces receive and whether there's an increase in referral or direct traffic to your website.
Use Google Trends
Google Trends offers a comprehensive way to measure brand awareness by tapping into extensive internet data. It shows real-time trends and specific searches within your industry, giving you a broad view of how the public perceives your brand.
While Google Trends provides a wide-ranging analysis, it's worth noting that it doesn't explain the reasons behind your brand's visibility. Therefore, it's mostly used in conjunction with other strategies.
Examine Ad Clicks & Conversions
First, brand awareness is important because 82% of consumers tend to click on ads from brands they recognize. Therefore, Paid Search Specialists should review ad clicks from past marketing campaigns. You will notice an increase in clicks from your pay-per-click and Facebook ads once your main campaigns launch.
It's also wise to track your conversions, which are key indicators of brand awareness. Successful brand awareness campaigns draw interested visitors to your website or landing pages, allowing marketers to measure consumer awareness through conversion rates.
5 Awesome Examples Of Viral Brand Awareness Campaigns
Here are the standout brand awareness campaigns of 2023. They exemplify how creativity, consumer engagement, and the effective use of current trends are key elements in successful marketing.
McDonald's "Raise Your Arches" Campaign
McDonald's kicked off the year with its "Raise Your Arches" campaign, designed to evoke the excitement and anticipation associated with their food. The campaign utilized McDonald's iconic golden arches to reinforce the emotional connection people have with the brand, proving that good marketing can boost buzz and deepen customer loyalty.
Heinz and Absolut's Nostalgic Collaboration
In a unique crossover between food and drink, Heinz and Absolut Vodka introduced a limited-edition tomato vodka pasta sauce. Inspired by Gigi Hadid’s viral TikTok recipe, this campaign leveraged a trending topic to draw in an already engaged audience. This demonstrates clever brand alignment with current social media trends.
Dove's #TurnYourBack Campaign Promoting Real Beauty
Dove advanced its mission of promoting real beauty and body positivity with the #TurnYourBack campaign. By challenging the unrealistic beauty standards set by social media filters, Dove emphasized authenticity and self-love. This way it deeply connected with consumers around the globe.
Heineken's Interactive Gaming Campaign
Tapping into the gaming community in Brazil, Heineken introduced a campaign that combined the nation’s love for video games and soccer. This approach not only captured the interest of consumers but also showed the importance of aligning marketing strategies with the hobbies and passions of the target audience.
Coca-Cola's Generative AI Campaign
Coca-Cola made use of generative AI in its latest campaign, maintaining its reputation for innovative marketing. This forward-thinking campaign highlighted how emerging technologies like AI and machine learning are reshaping the future of marketing.
Wrapping It All Up!
Measuring brand awareness isn’t a one-and-done activity.
It’s important to remember that brand awareness is constantly in flux.
One day, you might be a locally known business, and the next day your brand is making national headlines after a piece of viral news coverage. Or, perhaps more likely, you are gradually expanding your reach with each new campaign and brand awareness effort, thereby increasing your brand awareness.
But if you stay quiet for too long, your target audience could very well forget about your brand.
No matter what happens, your brand awareness metrics will look different from one season to the next. So, keep one eye on awareness and let the ebb and flow guide your next steps.
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