Today we’re talking about building brand awareness. Good ol’ top of the funnel brand awareness, the subtle (or not so subtle) art of introducing your brand to potential customers and, by extension, your conversion funnel. Traditionally, brand awareness building was the realm of the CPM advertising buy, but as the cost of digital advertising continues to rise (5x faster than inflation might we add), brands are looking beyond the traditional banner ad to identify awareness-building opportunities. That search is leading many to advocacy marketing.

Ninety-three percent of marketers say that influencer marketing helps to build brand awareness. 76% say it can help bolster customer loyalty. When individuals advocate for your brand by sharing your content on their social channels, they are putting that content in front of their following, friends, and family. This type of reach comes with a host of benefits including fostering trust, greater content engagement, and of course, building that sweet, sweet brand awareness.

Here’s how.

How to Boost Brand Awareness using Advocacy Marketing

Get Past Those Ad Blockers

Fourty percent of internet device users have ad blockers installed on their browser. From teens to moms, ad blockers are a noticeable part of every key demographic’s online browsing behavior. And if the ad blockers don’t squash your message, the rising phenomenon of ad blindness (people unconsciously filtering out your ad through the magic of selective filtering) can have a negative impact on who sees your ads even without blockers installed.

You can’t build awareness if your marketing message doesn’t make it to the end consumer.

When advocates share your content to their social page, that shared content becomes a form of native advertising. That is, it becomes part of the site’s content stream vs. an advertisement added to the users viewing experience.

Since the content is now considered a native post, your advocate’s shares don’t trigger ad blockers. Plus, as they’re now native to the experience, the content is less likely to get filtered through ad blindness, meaning your content has a greater chance of actually being seen and building awareness.

Garner The Attention You Deserve

Not only does advocacy-shared content get past ad blockers and ad blindness, it’s also more likely to make people stop their casual browsing and take note of the content. For years we’ve all heard the phrase, “Content is king.” Brands took this note to heart, increasing their content production – 78% over the past two years! Yet, as content costs and production count goes up, content engagement across the board dropped by 60%. It’s getting harder and harder to get content noticed in this crazy digital world.

People pay over 2x more attention to posts from people they know (friends, family, and influencers) than from posts shared by brands, even when it’s the same content. The more attention paid to your content, the more engagement and consumption that content receives, the greater your opportunity to boost your brand awareness.

Pair Awareness With Credibility & Trust

Awareness is wonderful. People need to know that your brand exists. But what if I told you that you can gain that awareness while simultaneously building a foundation of trust with your new audience? Would I have your attention then?

When an advocate shares your content through an advocacy marketing campaign (managed by SocialToaster, of course), their social network is predisposed to trust that message more than a message shared directly by your company. Ninety-two percent of consumers trust word-of-mouth recommendations, making advocacy the most trusted form of “advertising.”

The more trust your audience has in your messaging, the more likely they are to engage further with your brand and eventually becoming a paying customer. Can I get a ka-ching?

Bring On The User-Generated Content

Take some stress off your content production team’s plate by leaning on your advocates to not only share content, but also create content – with them as the star! User-generated content (UGC) posts have a 28% higher engagement rate when compared to standard posts.

People are simply more apt to engage with a post that features a “normal” person – 76% of people in fact. They’re also more likely to share the content as well. UGC posts are shared 2x more often than standard posts. This additional lift in shares can cause an exponential increase in branded impressions as your UGC post makes its way through your advocate’s extended social network.

Jumpstart Your SEO

Advocate marketing doesn’t just boost your brand awareness on social media. It can also have a correlating impact on your search engine rankings. Twenty-five percent of search results for many top brands link to UGC and advocate-shard social content.

By encouraging your advocates to share your content, you’re giving Google (and other search engines) the opportunity to index more brand-related pages. Not only does this help with your search rankings, it also provides a noticeable lift in brand awareness, as your brand appears more often in search results.

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Building brand awareness is still a key focus for most marketers. Brand awareness is the top-level of nearly all marketing funnels and is what feeds into your remarketing, email, sales, and other conversion funnels. By using your advocates to share your message through an advocacy marketing campaign, you’re able to increase your visibility without increasing your CPM advertising budget.

Ready to give your brand awareness a much-needed boost? Talk to a SocialToaster advocacy marketing expert today to learn more!