If you’re looking to fire up or flat out provoke a room full of marcomm professionals, casually inquire if analytics should be used to measure brand awareness.
After they’ve unclenched their fists, the brand purists in your midst (creative types, typically) will vigorously shake their heads no no no. Brand awareness is rarified terroir that transcends metrics of any kind. It’s nothing to do with numbers; it’s about vibes, and vibes are felt, not quantified.
At the mention of “vibes,” the metrics may need to be physically restrained. The pushback will be immediate and likely vocal. They’ll insist that any aspect of a marketing plan can and must be measured. Advertising isn’t Mad Men, they’ll say. They may or may not add “dude” to this pronouncement.
At heart, Breakers are creators, not mediators, but suffice to say we’ve been thrust into this maelstrom of divergent opinion (downy duel?) a time or two. And insofar as brand awareness is fertile ground for showcasing our imaginative chops, we used to have a dog in this hunt. But not anymore! Now, we sort of like both dogs. Now, we believe that using analytics to inform a brand awareness campaign can indeed be crucial to ensuring its success.
How to do it? One quick way to resolve any dispute is to clear the room, but what the hell? Let’s get granular anyway.
Social Media Metrics
Social media platforms provide a wealth of data about how people are interacting with your brand. The more they like it, the more they’ll engage. Key metrics to track and consider include:
- Impressions: The total number of times your content (posts, ads, etc.) has been displayed.
- Reach: The number of unique users who have seen your content.
- Engagement: Likes, shares, comments, and clicks show how users are interacting with your brand content.
- Mentions: Track how often your brand is mentioned on social platforms, even if it’s not part of a direct post by you.
- Hashtag tracking: If you use specific hashtags related to your brand, measure how often they are used by others.
Helpful tools: Sprout Social, Hootsuite, Google Analytics, Brandwatch, or native analytics in platforms like Facebook Insights or Twitter Analytics.
Google Analytics – Website Traffic
How are users interacting with your website? GA can be measured via a number of traffic-related metrics. If they like your campaign, look for a lift.
- Direct Traffic: The number of people who visit your website by typing the URL directly or using a bookmark. A significant increase suggests growing awareness.
- Referral Traffic: See how many visitors are coming to your site from social media platforms, blogs, or other external websites.
- Organic Search Traffic: Track how many people are searching for your brand or related keywords via search engines (Google, Bing, etc.). If your brand name or related terms are commonly searched, it indicates higher brand awareness.
- Bounce Rate & Average Session Duration: High engagement levels suggest that people are finding value in your brand when they visit.
Tools: Google Analytics
Surveys & Polls
Running surveys or polls is an effective way to ask customers directly about their familiarity with your brand. Useful questions might include:
- "Have you heard of [Brand]?"
- "Which brands come to mind when you think of [Product Category]?"
- "Where did you first hear about [Brand]?"
Surveys can be conducted online, in-app, or even through email campaigns.
Tools: SurveyMonkey, Google Forms, Typeform.
Brand Search Volume
Tracking how many people are searching for your brand or related terms on search engines is a direct indicator of brand awareness. Higher search volumes should flow from a compelling brand campaign.
Tools: Google Trends, SEMrush, Moz, Ahrefs.
Sentiment Analysis
Measure the sentiment of your audience’s conversations surrounding your brand. Positive, neutral, and negative sentiments can reveal public perception of our brand.
- Positive sentiment often signals that your brand awareness campaigns are creating a good impression.
- Negative sentiment can provide insights into areas for improvement.
Tools: Brandwatch, Mention, Talkwalker, Social Mention.
Media Coverage & PR
Track how often your brand is being mentioned in the media, blogs, or other public outlets. Media coverage directly contributes to brand awareness.
- Press releases and media mentions are valuable indicators.
- Track share of voice: How often your brand is mentioned compared to competitors.
Tools: Google Alerts, Meltwater, Cision, BuzzSumo.
Influencer Marketing Analytics
If you’re using influencers, track the reach and engagement their posts generate when they mention your brand.
Tools: Influencity, Upfluence, or simply use social media platform analytics to measure how many people see, interact with, or mention your brand through influencer collaborations.
Brand Lift Studies
This is a more advanced way to measure how a campaign has impacted your audience’s awareness of your brand. For example, you could run a brand lift survey on platforms like Google or Facebook.
- Measure metrics such as brand recall, ad recall, or purchase intent before and after the campaign.
- Brand lift studies typically focus on a control group (people not exposed to your campaign) versus a test group (those exposed to the campaign).
Tools: Google Brand Lift, Facebook Brand Lift.
Customer Journey Mapping
Understanding how potential customers interact with your brand across different touchpoints can give insights into awareness. For example, tracking the path from social media ads to website visits and then to conversions helps you see where brand awareness efforts are making an impact.
Tools: Google Analytics, Hotjar, Kissmetrics.
Competitor Analysis
Compare your brand's visibility and awareness metrics with your competitors. If your brand mentions, search volume, or social media engagement surpasses that of competitors, it indicates higher brand awareness.
Conclusion
Are you still with us? Here’s the point – brand awareness purists need not fear any data tsunami. Data deserves a place at the table. Rigorous analysis of inspired thinking isn’t a threat, and it’s certainly no reason to toss a pillow. Rather, it’s an opportunity to realize premium concepts in powerful and invaluable new ways.
Now that dog hunts.
