Brand awareness has changed since the days Mad Men on Madison Avenue drank scotch while they created catchy tag lines and hired a speech writer to write copy for them, but it still remains one of your primary goals. Cultivating a brand identity goes beyond just getting the attention of your target audience. It is a complex process that includes understanding the sequential stages people who buy a product or use a service go through before becoming a customer. In today’s digital world, that means monitoring the metrics. The good news is there are apps for that and many are free.
1. Topsy
Topsy is a social media analytics tools that works with Twitter. By analyzing how often a brand name is mentioned on the social web, agencies see the afterglow of their marketing campaigns.
Topsy goes beyond the general information that you get with many metric programs. It shows you exactly who is tweeting your brand name and where they sit on the hierarchy of social media. A guy from New Hampshire with five followers isn’t as helpful as a tweet from the CEO of a major company. Getting an industry influencer to tweet about your product or brand is like finding a Wonka golden ticket, but you will never know it happens without Topsy.
Topsy introduces you to potential leads, as well. If your client sells mouse traps, searching Topsy using the key phrase “Need a mouse trap” puts you on the path to a new customer.
2. Facebook Insights
What Topsy is to Twitter, Insights is to Facebook. Facebook Insights give you a social media advantage when developing your brand strategy, but only if you create a brand page. Insights provides a snapshot of seven days worth of data, so you can see which posts are having an impact. For example, you can tell at a glance how many likes the brand receives days after starting a new campaign.
It tells you what region a brand is popular and where it is losing traction, too. You have the choice to focus your ads in the area where the brand gets the most attention or look to enhance its presence in places it is not doing as well.
3. Google Analytics
Topsy and Insights monitor social media activity, but you need a tool to analyze website traffic, too. The current go-to program is Google Analytics because it offers a comprehensive look at who is spending time on the brand’s website.
It also gives you a peek at which pages are getting the most attention. You want site visitors to focus on product pages, not the About section. If Analytics shows that most people go right to About page and bounce out, you know it is time for a website redesign.
The best part about all these tools is there are free to use and abuse at will. Brand development is complicated, so having the right tools, especially for the budget-friendly price of free, can make or break an agency.
Darla F spends her time writing and tackling artistic projects like painting. Her first novel was published in 2009 and she is working on a second and third, while still creating engaging content for her clients.
