Ep 81: 5 Ways to Boost Brand Awareness on Social Media

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Dawn:

Welcome to Dawn of a New Era, the podcast where we talk about all things marketing, motivation, and mindset, with myself, Dawn McGruer, digital marketing speaker, author, and trainer. Now in this particular podcast, we’re going to focus on one of the most important things in business, which is how to boost your brand awareness on social media. And in fact, we’re going to talk about five ways to boost your brand awareness on social media.

Now I’m often asked, how did I grow my network on LinkedIn and other channels into not just the tens of thousands, but for instance, on LinkedIn, I have 30,000 direct connections and the same in followers. I didn’t just grow that audience overnight. It didn’t just happen. I’ve been using LinkedIn since its first started. And if you think about social networks, think about which one was the first. Now LinkedIn started way back in 2002, even before Facebook, which arrived in 2004, but it’s often the one that, well, we misunderstand or is not leveraged to the biggest value.

Prioritise which network you’re going to focus on

Now, when you are looking to boost your brand awareness on social media, I would absolutely say that my number one point or tip for you is to prioritize. So prioritize which network you’re going to focus on. And don’t dilute your efforts. If you think about influencers, most influencers or an influencer on a particular channel like Instagram or Facebook or LinkedIn, it’s rare that they have such a huge following on all networks.

Now, many brands fall into this pitfall because they believe that because everyone else is on there, that they have to be putting all of their effort into each and every social channel. Now that’s just exhausting, and also you’re not going to get the same returns because you are diluting those efforts. You know, you’re going to be literally creating content, pushing that content out, and you’re going to forget the importance of really slowing things down and making that network your key channel of choice.

Now, with LinkedIn, I started building my network. I got to 30,000 direct connections, about the same in followers. Now I’m pushing forward to try and get to a hundred thousand, but I don’t just want anyone in my network. I want to make sure that I am attracting the right people.

Make sure your profile really sings your brand

Now, the second thing you’re going to have to do is make sure that your profile really sings your brand. To build a personal brand, to grow a business, you need to make sure that it’s up to date, all the information possible is completed, you have a smiley picture on there. The amount of pictures I see on LinkedIn that don’t even have a smile, I mean, these people just look scary. They’re not going to entice someone to want to connect nor to do business or connect in a community spirit. You want to position yourself on there and sing what you do.

You need to make sure that it says who you are, what you do, how you do that, how you can help people, and really take some time to focus on giving your profile a spring clean, a bit of a zhuzh, and making it stand out from the crowd. Having a really nice banner on there. Making sure that you have an all-star profile. Making sure everything is complete, everything’s up to date. And then you are including things like your keywords in there so that your profile is going to show up and it’s going to do some work for you while you are not working.

Having a profile that’s highly visible and searchable is key

You want your content to be available while you sleep. Having a profile that’s highly visible, highly searchable is going to be key. Making sure that you’ve got things like testimonials on there, making sure that you have skills on there. These are all things that contribute to the searchability and where you rank, of course, in that search.

For me, I want to be visible as the top 1% in digital marketing everywhere in the globe. Now, thankfully I am, but that’s because I make sure I keep my profile up to date. Now, if you are using Instagram, Facebook, wherever. The same is true. You need to prioritize whichever network. You need to make sure your profile absolutely resonates and talks to people about your brand. You want to shine online.

Be clear about your tone for your brand

Now this takes me on to the second one, which is all about having a personality, really being clear on what the tone is for your brand, how you are showing up, making sure that you are positioning everything that is important to you, your mission, your vision. Think about your whole content-marketing piece and what the strategy is there. When you’re trying to position a brand, you need to make sure that you are very clear on what it is that you want to achieve.

And the personality behind that, you know, you don’t have to just be kind of like serious and boring. You can have a personality and have some fun, right? You can make people laugh and still be professional on social media. So think about what it is that you want people to think, feel, and do. Now, that takes me onto number four, which is posting.

Post with purpose

Now, every time you post, you want to post with purpose, really kind of think about what you want that person who’s reading the post to think, feel, and do. This is where you start to get people to relate to you. They resonate with you, and you start to build a relationship. It’s really important that you are going to carve out quality posts that have a purpose. You’re not just posting because you are posting. You’re telling a story. You’re taking your audience on a journey. Now be prepared to do what other business owners won’t. For me, I’m doing a challenge right now, whereby right up until the end of the year to the last Friday, every weekday, I’m going live.

Why is that important? It’s a huge brand and visibility piece. Now I don’t generally go live a huge amount, but when I do it generates huge results. Now just last week, I went live and got 2802% reach increase on Instagram, right? I did the same on LinkedIn. I got 214% increase in profile views, 800% increase in likes, 1700% increase in comments. So what this is doing is it’s not just reaching visibility, it’s engagement too. Now you want to leverage these social networks to build a brand, to grow a business, but to generate leads too. You have to remember that you have to be a savvy part of this community. You have to show up and really network.

Participate

Now this takes me on to number five, the last but not least. Participate. You need to absolutely show up, not just as a broadcaster, but someone who is a thought leader, industry expert, sharing your insights, your tips, your trends, your tools, whatever it’s going to be so that people are absolutely loving this valuable content that you are creating. You’re creating content that has demand. You’re creating content that naturally gets engagement because people want it.

You’re thinking about your audience. You’re thinking about how you attract your ideal client, because you know their pain, problem, and challenge. Each and every day, you’re showing up in a way that you’re not just posting, but you are actually commenting, liking, sharing. You are a part of the community that people see, and by doing this, you are continually increasing the consistency and the visibility. You’re causing a ripple across the networks. The more activity you put in, the more visible you are. The more you celebrate other people and you engage in their content, the more you get back. So you reap what you sow.

So I’m going to recap. The five ways to boost your brand awareness on social media is number one: obviously, get your profile in place. Number two: make sure that you are absolutely prioritizing your networks. Number three: think about the personality of your brand, your mission, and your vision. Showcase that and post with consistency and post with purpose. Remember, you have to think about what you want the audience to think, feel, and do. How do you relate to them? How do you get them to resonate? And how do you build a relationship? And last but not least: participate. Be a valuable and savvy member of whichever communities you are part of and stand out from the crowd so that you can shine online. Now, I hope you enjoyed this episode, and I will see you on the next one.

Thank you for listening to Dawn of a New Era Podcast, and for your free checklist to find out how to boost your business for growth, profit, and success, and join our community, go to dawnmcgruer.com.