Raising brand awareness is not just about advertising. Yes, advertising is important, but it will often struggle to reach an audience once they are bombarded with texts and images every day. A better way to promote your company or business not only on Facebook or Instagram, but across social media channels in the age of information overload is through well-designed content marketing.

The goal of good content marketing isn’t actually to sell anything; its purpose instead should be to lead viewers down a path that makes them aware of what you’re selling without overtly trying to advertise it.

There are three major techniques that companies can use for this purpose: position themselves as experts, build suspense or anticipation, and produce user-generated material like reviews. Ideally , a business will use all three simultaneously if they want to achieve the most success with social media marketing.

Positioning yourself as an expert is one of the best ways to build brand awareness across social media like Instagram.  People don’t typically turn to strangers for advice, so this approach works by gradually earning people’s trust and respect. The idea behind this is that your target audience will think of you as an authority on a subject.

Here’s how to do it:

First, create a blog and post useful articles  on topics related to your industry or business. Post these articles on social media channels like Facebook and Instagram as well as on sites with content marketing algorithms like Medium and LinkedIn.

Don’t just post these articles once, though; keep them consistently coming out on a regular basis. For instance, write three posts the first month you launch your blog then seven posts the next month and so forth until you have at least 10 or more new posts published. This shows people that not only will they get something out of reading your content, but that you have what it takes to complete a project.

Second, Building suspense or anticipation is another effective technique for increasing brand awareness across social media like Instagram. The idea behind this tactic is that you start out with a hint of information and slowly reveal details as you go along until the full picture has been revealed. If people know there’s more information coming down the pipe, they’re much more likely to keep an eye out for it and visit your website when its published.

Third, be sure to interact with readers who comment on your articles. Ask questions about what they thought of a post and provide links to related articles that you’ve written for more information.

Once you have an established social media presence with blog posts, videos, or images that showcase your expertise in your given industry then you’ll be seen as a figure of authority within the minds of your audience. This will be a great way to increase brand awareness on social media by leading viewers down your desired path.