10 Powerful Ways to Build Brand Trust on Social Media

By on February 24th, 2020

5min Read

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Trust is hard to come by these days. Actually, the Edelman Trust Barometer report which has been around for years shares the same view – that trust has been on a decline in nearly every industry, with business, governments, media and NGOs being the least trusted.

Social media is now part of all these organisations and it’s not heavily trusted either. You could be doing everything else right on social media – great promotions, excellent content, stellar branding, etc. but is that enough to build solid trust with your clients and audience?

Definitely not! Yet it’s the revolutionary space where the presence of trust could bring you massive benefits as an organisation, business, or individual. Well, today I’ll explore the little-known time-tested and proven tips that will help you establish solid trust in your social media marketing efforts.

Quality Content

Content that has value is among the things that keep an audience or clients loyal to your social media platform. You can tell whether your content is valuable if the visitors stay on your pages longer and engage you. If they aren’t doing any of that, now’s the time for a change.

Do audience research, evaluate what your competitors are doing, and apply the 80/20 rule. Tweak and refine your social media marketing plan to be in line with these adjustments.

Engagement / Be Active

When your existing and potential clients or audience identify you as a brand that is fully available and responsive, they will develop more confidence in you and what you offer. If you only share content and do nothing else after that, this could be your biggest undoing.

Human beings are a social species and so good conversations definitely matter to them. 64 % of consumers in Australia say they have more trust in a brand that interacts on social media. So, interact with your audience, encourage them to participate in your online activities, thank and appreciate them where necessary, and so on.

Ask For Reviews / Social-Proof

What are people saying about your brand? If there’s none, take this chance to ask your followers, fans, and previous customers to share their thoughts about their experiences with you. Did you know well over 80% of consumers today trust their peer’s feedback about a business than an ad?

Encourage your audience to be honest. Positive reviews will definitely build your online reputation. The negative reviews could be your opportunity to know your weakness and also demonstrate your professionalism in handling customer concerns.

Remember, this is part of what most people take into consideration when vetting a potential business to seek services or buy goods from.

Be Consistent

Consistency can take many forms. One of the ways to achieve it is to ensure your words match your actions. For example, if you claim to care about education and health, follow that up with news, initiatives, projects, and other activities that support your cause.

Consistency should also be extended to branding. Your brand colours and other elements of your brand image should be consistent, like in the case of Coca-Cola’s red theme. This will enhance your professional image and build trust in the process.

Also, in the report mentioned earlier, 59% of consumers in Australia said they care a lot about content that is consistent. This applies not just to quality but also the message itself.

Hire Influencers

Influencer marketing is at its peak right now.  There are lots of brands using influencers to promote their products/services, increase their reach, refine their reputation, generate and sustain conversations that affect their business, and so on.

Currently, roughly 49% of consumers rely on influencer recommendations. This implies that there are millions of customers on the internet who trust influencers. Such kind of trust is built over time.

Now, if their fans/followers (who could be your potential customers) genuinely feel that the influencer is promoting quality products, they’ll trust what they recommend.

Admittedly, influencer marketing has its challenges. But looking at some of its upsides and pairing them to the need for a business to build trust, one can only see massive potential. If you need more advice on how to go about this, speak to a social media agency in Sydney.

Social Responsibility

Another excellent way to build trust and credibility with your audience is to make them see that you care a lot about others than yourself. This could be through initiatives and projects aimed at benefiting the community or the world around you. You can donate to charities, start or contribute to a noble cause, protect the environment, and so on.

Transparency

Label Insight recently published a study where 94% of the consumers surveyed admitted that they would possibly extend their loyalty to a brand that is more transparent while another 73% stated that they wouldn’t mind paying more for services or products that offer complete transparency.

This is a challenge to business and organisations that run social media accounts. There are lots of people who want to hear the story of your brand; explanations and answers to issues associated with your brand online; how your products are made, and so on.

It would, therefore, be better if you shared info that would erase any existing mistrust and also usher them into the heart of your organisational culture.

Be an Authority

People generally tend to trust experts or authorities in a specific space or on a certain topic.  If your content doesn’t inspire confidence in you or what you offer, that’s a sign you are not authority yet.

Your social media posts plus the insights and opinions you share on your platforms should be valid, relevant, helpful, and convincing. Participate in discussions and forums that are specific to your industry and make sure what you share is informed and meets the criteria mentioned.

Respond Quickly to Customer Concerns

As a business, it’s important to keep track of ongoing and emerging conversations about your industry, what you offer, and other relevant related information.  Also, asses the social media activity of your competitors. If there are any unanswered questions from their audience and customers, take note of them.

Thereafter, evaluate the need for a response and what kind is suitable based on what you have gathered. Once your existing and potential customers notice this, there will be convinced that you are listening to their concerns and feedback and this will eventually foster trust.

Host Live Video Events

Live streaming has emerged as a great way for business and individuals to build trust with fans. Since it’s live, your customers feel that they are getting raw information that hasn’t been filtered to suit a different purpose.

Also, the fact that they can engage with you, ask questions and get answers while the video is live means you have a chance to directly address issues that matter to your audience first. What’s more, viewers are likely to leave a comment on a live video than on recorded ones.

Note that live streaming requires careful planning and resources. If you don’t have the capacity to do it, explore the social media packages in Sydney. You’ll definitely find an agency that suits your needs.

In Summary

All these tips combined are a sure formula for your brand getting that desired trust from its audience and customers.  There’s no denying that consumers will continue to look for brands that they can fully trust. Your goal, therefore, should be to ensure that each of these tips is carried out well. Where you get stuck, remember to seek the help of a social media agency in Sydney that has the knowledge and experience to do the specific task properly.

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