5 Ways To Build Trust On Social Media
Today’s consumers are cynical, making it a big challenge to build trust on social media, especially if you are a smaller brand.
Trust leads to revenue in the business world, and social media can be the perfect tool to achieve that goal even without professional help.
If you’ve found yourself struggling to build trust among your audience, we’re happy to highlight 5 proven ways you can build trust with your customers, attract new followers and earn decent revenue using social media as your intermediary.
1. Share Relevant and High-Quality Content
Assuming you already have your social media platforms all set up, the first thing you need to do to build trust is to provide quality content that is of value to your visitors. This offers staying power, both with regard to how long visitors stay on your pages, and how much they engage with you. It also helps establish a loyal following that will keep coming back for more.
Posting great content shows your brand is an authority and is about more than just making money.
To become an authority in your industry and provide content that builds trust:
- Determine who your customers are, what they want, and why they want it
- Identify your competitors, what they say in their content, and what their content lacks
- Provide more valuable content by filling the gaps left by competitors and aligning your content to consumers’ needs.
Though you’ll always hope to convert a few followers with your content, never make your content all about selling your product or services. A good practice to follow is the 80/20 rule – i.e. 80% of your content should be informative and non-promotional, while the other 20% can talk about your brand or product.
If you can establish your brand as a thought leader, you may become a go-to resource. This should build up a strong following on social media and, hopefully, lead to more opportunities to strengthen your position.
2. Leverage User-Generated Content
Another way to build trust on social media is to take interaction to the next level by encouraging customers to share their photos and videos of your products on social media.
Today, consumers want to see real people using a product before they buy – and UGC allows marketers to share this information through their social media accounts in order to build social proof and gain trust. UGC brings real consumers into the fold. This will make your authenticity ratings soar, while customers will be delighted to see their content shared or retweeted.
Consumers are twice as likely to share user-generated content. This means your brand can get twice the amount of exposure. Research from Facebook also found that ads with UGC have a click-through rate three times higher than other ads. This and other statistics suggest the same: UGC is influential.
Puma does it with its #ForeverFaster hashtag on Instagram.
Toyota did it with its Feeling the Street campaign on Facebook.
3. Communicate Values
People are increasingly aware of businesses’ impact on the world around them. In fact, majority of people shop at businesses that support issues they care about. Use social media to demonstrate and communicate your passions, principles and commitment to social responsibility.
Consider using your platforms to provide additional insight about your company’s approach to addressing issues like:
- Customer interests
- Working conditions
- Supply chain
- Sourcing
- Manufacturing processes, etc.
Use social media as your medium for communicating the values you maintain for each issue.
4. Information Transparency
Open and honest communication between employees, customers and other stakeholders is a winning ticket. Letting your audience believe one thing while doing something else entirely will eventually give you a bad reputation. If you’re serious about building trust on social media, let people know the real thing, not smoke and screens – for instance with your products, tell them exactly what they are buying, what makes it different/better, and how much they are paying for it.
Even if you have copywriters who work independently, you still need to align the promotional content they provide to the public, with the raw truth that is reality.
If you are transparent and honest in your stories, announcements and even policies, your customers will not only be endeared to you, they’ll happily come back for more. This is what leads to customer retention and positive word-of-mouth advertising. Remember that short-term gains are not enough to justify the false narrative you might be considering.
5. Quick & Coordinated Customer Support
Customer support is an essential part of building trust with your customers, no matter what niche you operate in. It is a much-needed addition to any brand that operates online, especially through social media channels. Some of your customers will be dissatisfied with what they bought, but it is your job and moral obligation to correct the mistakes.
Even the best writer on your team can make a mistake that can be quickly corrected if proper customer support channels are established. Giving people a clear line of access to customer support on social media as well as your home website will go a long way in making sure that you look like a legitimate and open-minded firm (which you already are).
In times when the biggest consumer demographic is seeking experiences with brands and is drawn to authenticity, a business with no vision is one with no future. Members of this generation are looking for things they can connect with that make them feel something. And lucky for today’s businesses, they have a direct line of communication: social media.
Make it count.
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