Brand lift is one of those phrases you see on agency slides or hear during big campaign recaps. But what actually is it, and why does it matter for social media? If you’ve ever found yourself nodding along when someone brings up “brand lift,” you’re not alone. Let’s try to put the jargon aside and get real about what this means, how you measure it, and why it actually matters for your social strategy.
What Does “Brand Lift” Mean, Anyway?
Brand lift, in simple terms, is the measured change in how people think or feel about your brand after seeing your marketing efforts—like your latest TikTok dance or that Facebook ad you spent days perfecting. We’re talking about actual shifts in things like brand awareness, favorability, or intent to buy—not just reach or impressions.
Why is this important? Because no one cares if you reach a million people if nobody actually remembers your brand. Marketing should move the needle on perception, even before it earns you a sale.
Why Social Media Matters for Brand Lift
Social media isn’t just a place for jokes and memes. It’s become the first spot many people see or hear anything about a brand. Instagram stories, Twitter threads, and YouTube pre-rolls all shape what people know and feel. One tweet can start a conversation. A TikTok challenge can make people notice who you are for the very first time.
The “lift” from social often comes much faster than traditional ads. People respond right away with likes, shares, or feedback—sometimes brutally honest—and you can see trends in real time.
Ways to Measure Brand Lift from Social Media
Let’s get specific. How do you measure whether your social campaign actually moved the needle? There are several main ways. Some are more direct than others, and brands often use a mix.
Surveys are the obvious place to start. You put questions in front of people: “Have you seen this brand recently?” or “How likely are you to buy this product?” You ask pre- and post-campaign and compare the difference. The trick is getting the questions right, and finding people who might actually care to answer truthfully.
Then there are engagement metrics. People liking, sharing, or commenting on your posts means something. It’s not the whole story, but higher engagement often matches a lift in awareness and sometimes intent. Still, someone could “like” your post and forget you five minutes later.
Social listening tools help track the broader conversation about your brand. Brands use these to monitor sentiment—are people talking more positively, negatively, or just more often after a campaign? You can track keywords, phrases, and even emojis to see how people really feel.
Key Numbers: What Matters When Measuring Brand Lift?
Within this “brand lift” concept, there are three main things almost everyone looks at.
First, brand awareness. This is pretty basic: Do more people know who you are after your campaign? Are you top-of-mind when someone thinks about your product category? You can measure this with “have you heard of” surveys or track increases in followers and mentions.
Next is brand favorability. It’s not enough for people to know you exist. Do they like you? Have their opinions shifted since your last round of sponsored posts? Sometimes this is as simple as tracking positive vs. negative comments, but survey questions can dig deeper, asking people to rate their feelings.
The most concrete is purchase intent. Given the choice, would someone be more likely to buy your product now than before? This is the final stop between being memorable and actually driving business. A little uptick in intent, detected through surveys or direct questions, means your message had power.
Tools for Brand Lift: What’s Actually Out There?
There’s a whole ecosystem of tools out there—some built into the big social platforms, and others that work independently.
Google Surveys is great for reaching broad audiences and can help compare answers before and after a campaign. Costs aren’t outrageous, but you’re working with general questions and broad groups.
Facebook Brand Lift is built right into the Facebook and Instagram ad system. It splits your target audience into groups exposed to your ads and those who aren’t, and then surveys both sets. You get direct answers on awareness, consideration, and intent, making it easy to see how your ads performed.
Twitter Brand Surveys works in a similar way, getting feedback from users who saw your campaign and those who didn’t. If your brand is heavy on Twitter, this digs deeper than simple engagement.
Independent options like Brandwatch or Sprout Social focus more on social listening. They can track mentions, sentiment, or conversation spikes, offering a less “survey-fatigue” approach if you worry people might not want to answer yet another question.
What Makes Measuring Brand Lift Tricky?
It sounds straightforward, but measuring brand lift from social is not a perfect science.
A big issue is attribution. If sales go up after a campaign, how much credit goes to your Instagram posts, and how much to that billboard across town? It often isn’t clear.
Data accuracy can be a minefield. Surveys have sample bias—maybe only your loyal fans bother to reply, or people just want to click through quickly. Engagement can be gamed, and sentiment analysis tools sometimes misread sarcasm or context.
Isolating social’s impact is a challenge, too. Rarely does someone see one post and decide right there to buy your running shoes. There are so many touchpoints, and social is just one of them.
Making Brand Lift Measurement Actually Work
There are some things you can do to get more accurate results.
When designing surveys, keep questions short and direct. Run test surveys with small groups to check if the wording makes sense. You’ll get more honest answers if you avoid loaded questions or industry speak.
If you’re using engagement metrics, compare activity against normal benchmarks. Look at comment quality, too. Flag posts that start genuine discussion or feature thoughtful replies—they offer more insight than a flood of emojis.
Stay consistent with your measurement methods, campaign to campaign. That way, you can spot real trends over time, and not get excited every time you have a lucky viral hit.
What Works: Real Examples of Brand Lift
Let’s look at something recent. When Ruffles ran a TikTok campaign and paired it with sponsored Instagram Reels, they used a Facebook Brand Lift study and found a seven-point increase in unaided awareness. The campaign included star athletes, UGC challenges, and hashtags. The takeaway: multi-platform, high-energy creative, and consistent branded messaging can help people actually remember you among all the noise.
Another example: a mid-sized beauty brand, embracing authentic “before and after” Instagram stories, saw not only a double-digit rise in brand favorability in surveys but a burst of positive mentions on social listening tools. They checked survey data against spikes in organic discussions to confirm the lift.
If you want more real-world, in-depth breakdowns of how brands measure this stuff and the tactics they use, take a look at this resource on brand lift strategies and campaigns.
Where Does This Leave Us?
Brand lift isn’t just a marketing buzzword. It’s a practical, measurable way to see if your social media efforts are changing people’s minds—or just shouting into the void. If you care about more than clicks and impressions, tracking brand lift needs to be part of your regular review.
The tools are there, and the methods are getting smarter. Some bumps will always remain—no method is perfect, but the payoff is knowing your efforts are doing more than just making noise.
If You’re Running Social, Start Measuring Brand Lift
If you haven’t added brand lift tracking to your social strategy, no time like the present. Even a basic survey before and after a campaign can spark ideas for what’s working and what’s not. Stay curious about new tools or tricks, and share what you learn with your team.
Like most things in marketing, the only real mistake is doing the same thing, over and over, and hoping nobody asks for proof. Staying updated and thoughtful isn’t optional anymore—it’s just part of the job.