Building brand awareness and measuring success

By Chelsea Smith, Content Writer, Mayfly Inter net Marketing

There are so many questions when it comes to the feasibility of franchising a business Some voices say you need to have a cer tain amount of outlets or locations before you can star t Others say as long as you have the infrastr ucture for the product or ser vice, just jump right in

But essentially, one of the most impor tant aspects of franchising is brand awareness To have a share of voice in your market is paramount to success But when “awareness” is so intangible, how do we f ind a metric to measure success?

In the previous issue we covered branding basics, from integ rating core values to f inding your voice We offered tips on building a community presence and being exactly where your audience resides. But when it comes to measuring the success of these branding effor ts, it can be diff icult to understand just how much your audience knows about your brand. So let’s break it down.

Direct traffic

One of the simplest ways to measure brand awareness is direct traff ic When a user types your company’s name directly into their search bar you know your effor ts are working. Whether you’ve upped your social media, car ried out email campaigns or pushed on paid adver tising – direct traff ic is a suref ire metric for brand awareness.

Depending on your strategy, it’s good to measure this metric quar terly or annually Giving yourself time in between campaigns or phases means you can see success in real-time, and optimise your effor ts

The only downfall with this metric is that direct traff ic cannot be attributed to any par ticular strategy For example, your Instag ram might be brimming with content about your product or ser vice, but you can’t guarantee that’s what led the searcher to type in your brand name

Share of Voice

Another way to gauge your brand’s visibility is by monitoring your Share of Voice (SOV) Whether it’s within your industr y or a specif ic niche, SOV is the percentage of the market your brand owns compared to your competitors

The higher the market share, the better brand awareness you can claim Although SOV typically refers to paid adver tisement split, it also encompasses other elements of digital marketing such as:

● Social media mentions and engagement

● Search engine optimisation (SEO) power and keyword dominance.

● Media mentions from blogs, ar ticles and more

There are a number of tools you can use to monitor your SOV, and in retur n, unique ways to increase this metric Read on to lear n our top tips to increase your social media SOV

When it comes to your SEO power, you’ll want to look at your keyword prof ile Find out the keywords you’re ranking for and conduct a gap analysis against your competitors’ keyword

About the author

prof iles Fill in those gaps to gain the edge and increase your voice!

What are the benefits of measuring your SOV?

By keeping your eyes on the SOV metrics, you can utilise, optimise and increase your share in any given industr y. You can use the data to segment your audience giving you more insights to work on strengths and weaknesses

You can look into different demog raphics, regional markets and so much more You’ll be able to assess and analyse marketing campaigns, measuring the success of your effor ts and tweaking them based on the outcomes

How to increase your social media SOV?

We all know by now that social media is not just about posting and looking pretty Whether it’s a curated Instag ram feed, emojis on your Facebook titles, or industr y-themed memes on Twitter (sor r y, X) that capture attention – you’ll need more than likes and people scrolling past

Organic social media is much more than simply scheduling and closing the app. It’s replying to posts, engaging with your audience, sharing User Generated Content, offering exclusives to loyal followers, r unning giveaways, creating

Chelsea Smith is a Creative Writing graduate and Content Writer for Mayfly Internet Marketing She has written for a wide range of companies from small businesses, to nationwide enterprises and has worked for marketing firms spanning Liverpool, Cheshire, and the wider Merseyside area Throughout her freelance and agency work, Smith has built knowledge in content marketing, copywriting, branding and SEO Her role at Mayfly encompasses all things wordy, from captivating blog pieces to optimised product descriptions chelsea.smith@may-fly.co.uk www may-fly co uk