7 Pillars of Brand Awareness on Social Media
Building a brand that people recognize, remember, and talk about
The Brand Awareness Journey
Every pillar contributes to moving your audience through this journey, transforming casual viewers into brand advocates.
Pillar 1: Mentions + Share of Voice
Share of voice measures how much of the conversation in your industry belongs to your brand compared to competitors. When people mention your brand organically—whether through @mentions, branded hashtags, or general discussions—you’re winning mind share.
• Branded hashtag usage and reach
• Competitor mentions for comparison
• Sentiment analysis (positive vs. negative mentions)
• Reply fast to mentions (within 1-2 hours when possible)
• Launch collaborations with complementary brands
• Host Lives and interactive sessions to spark conversation
When people naturally talk about your brand without being prompted, you’ve achieved true brand awareness. This pillar focuses on earning conversations, not just impressions.
Pillar 2: Reach + Relevance
Reach without relevance is noise. This pillar balances the breadth of your audience with the depth of connection. It’s not just about how many people see your content, but whether the right people are engaging with it in meaningful ways.
• Saves (signal of high-value content)
• Shares (amplification metric)
• Audience demographics vs. target audience
• Repeat core topics that resonate with your audience
• Maintain consistent visual identity and brand voice
• Post at optimal times for your specific audience
The key insight: A thousand engaged followers in your niche are worth more than ten thousand disinterested viewers. Focus on reaching the right people, not just more people.
Pillar 3: Web Traffic from Social
Social media awareness should drive tangible outcomes. This pillar measures your ability to move people from social platforms to your owned properties—your website, blog, or landing pages—where you can deepen the relationship and drive conversions.
• Social media sessions in Google Analytics
• New vs. returning visitors from social
• Branded organic traffic growth
• Use UTM parameters to track all social links
• Optimize landing pages for social traffic
• Update bio links regularly with current priorities
Social awareness without website visits is incomplete. This pillar bridges the gap between social presence and business outcomes, ensuring your brand awareness translates into deeper engagement.
Pillar 4: Search Demand from Social
The ultimate validation of brand awareness is when people actively search for you. When your social presence drives people to Google your brand name or related keywords, you’ve created demand that transcends platform algorithms.
• New vs. returning visitors from organic search
• Branded keyword rankings
• Search impression trends over time
• Integrate relevant keywords naturally in your content
• Create content that answers common search queries
• Build authority through consistent, valuable content
When someone sees your content on social media and then searches for your brand specifically, you’ve achieved a powerful form of awareness that lives beyond any single platform. This is brand recall in action.
Pillar 5: Surveys + Reviews
Direct feedback reveals not just if people know your brand, but how they perceive it. Surveys, reviews, and ratings provide qualitative insights that numbers alone can’t capture, helping you understand the emotional connection people have with your brand.
• Star ratings and written reviews
• Net Promoter Score (NPS)
• Customer sentiment and common themes
• Pin testimonials and 5-star reviews to profiles
• Ask for reviews after delivering results
• Respond to all reviews (positive and negative)
Reviews and testimonials serve double duty: they provide you with valuable insights while simultaneously building social proof that attracts new audience members. This pillar turns satisfied customers into brand advocates.
Pillar 6: Influencer Impact
Influencer partnerships exponentially expand your reach by tapping into established communities. When done authentically, influencer collaborations introduce your brand to highly targeted audiences who trust the recommender.
• Leads and conversions from influencer campaigns
• ROI (revenue vs. investment)
• Audience overlap and new follower acquisition
• Focus on story angle alignment, not just follower counts
• Provide unique discount codes or tracking links
• Build long-term relationships rather than one-off posts
The key to influencer marketing success is authenticity. Choose partners whose values align with yours and whose audience genuinely needs what you offer. Forced partnerships are transparent and ineffective.
Pillar 7: Media Impressions + Backlinks
When media outlets, podcasts, and industry publications mention or link to your brand, you gain credibility that money can’t buy. Earned media serves as third-party validation, dramatically increasing trust and awareness simultaneously.
• Backlinks from reputable sources
• Domain authority improvement
• Traffic and engagement from media referrals
• Partner with adjacent brands for co-marketing
• Repurpose media mentions across your social channels
• Create newsworthy content and data (studies, reports, insights)
Media coverage and quality backlinks create a virtuous cycle: they boost your SEO, which increases discoverability, which leads to more brand awareness, which attracts more media interest. This pillar is the ultimate long-term investment.
Bringing It All Together
The Synergy Effect
These seven pillars don’t work in isolation—they reinforce each other. Strong mentions increase your reach. Greater reach drives more web traffic. Web traffic boosts search demand. Search demand attracts media attention. Media attention draws influencer interest. And all of this creates more opportunities for reviews and testimonials.
Building brand awareness on social media is a marathon, not a sprint. It requires consistent effort across multiple dimensions, careful tracking of the right metrics, and a willingness to adapt based on what the data tells you.
Your Action Plan
- Audit Your Current State: Evaluate where you stand on each pillar today
- Prioritize Based on Business Goals: Not all pillars are equally important for every brand at every stage
- Set Measurable Targets: Define specific, trackable goals for each pillar you focus on
- Implement Systematically: Choose 2-3 pillars to focus on first, then expand
- Measure and Optimize: Review metrics monthly and adjust strategies quarterly
- Stay Consistent: Brand awareness compounds over time with persistent effort
Final Thoughts
The brands that win on social media aren’t necessarily the ones with the biggest budgets—they’re the ones with the most strategic approach to building awareness. By systematically strengthening each of these seven pillars, you create a brand presence that’s resilient to algorithm changes, platform shifts, and competitive pressure.
Start with the pillars where you have the most opportunity for quick wins, but keep the long-term vision of building across all seven dimensions. Your future self—and your growing brand awareness metrics—will thank you.
Remember: The goal isn’t just to be known. It’s to be known for the right things, by the right people, in a way that drives your business forward. That’s what these seven pillars help you achieve.