How to Build Trust on Social Media

For years, using social media for business marketing has been a hot topic. Since the rise of social media until today, brands are still trying to harness the power social media platforms have in order to directly impact their business goals.

As social media use advances, there are several factors that need to be considered in order to build an audience for your brand, not to mention to meet your targets in terms of size, loyalty, and engagement rates. And as proven by the rise of startups and small businesses, hitting the right metrics is often your key to success.

You can always objectively hit these marks – number of followers, likes, audience reach – but if you want to build an audience that truly cares about what you can offer, you need to take a step further. According to Oberlo, 71% of customers who had a positive experience with a brand on social media are more likely to recommend the brand to their peers.

Having a social media presence has become a non-negotiable requirement for almost every brand in the world. If you want to stand out from the rest, you need to invest in building trust with your audience.

6 Tried-and-Tested Ways to Build Trust on Social Media

Trust is one of the most important elements in social media where most brands fall short. Here are 6 ways you can build trust with your audience:

1. Have a consistent and personal brand voice

You can look at trust as a “relationship currency” between people. If you want people to trust your brand, then you have to reach your audience through a personal voice. Minimalistic, robotic, and structured messages have no personality and do not feel human. If you want to develop a personal brand voice, think about the key qualities of a person you want your audience to communicate with. You can mold this voice through choices of words, tone, and visuals on your social media.

2. Communicate through thought leadership

You also need to build credibility for your brand. One way to lose credibility is to simply spam your audience with services and products without value for the content. This value could give entertainment, topics that ignite conversations and reflections, teach a lesson, and gain honest feedback. This is an opportunity for your brand to showcase expertise, and in doing so, provide quality content for your audience.

3. Relate through humor and entertainment

Entertainment is another way to build and keep trust. Don’t always make it about the company or your services. Provide value in fun, creative ways that your audience would enjoy going back to.

4. Be interactive and responsive

If your audience knows they can reach you through social media and are engaged to do so, this is a good opportunity to offer them great services in front of a large audience. And don’t be afraid of negative comments. Whether or not their feedback is positive, it is still a demonstration that they are interested in your brand. Respond in a timely manner, and interact with as many individuals as you can, as this will show you hear them and care about their thoughts.

→ 100+ Statistics & Trends in Social Media (2022)

5. Have transparency

Transparency lets the people know that you do not have anything to hide. In today’s digital world, transparency is expected as you open your brand or organization to public discussions and scrutiny. Companies need to embrace this and dive into the discussion. Sadly, this is what most CEOs and leaders fear. But statistics show that 77% of consumers buy from businesses whose leaders are active on social media, and 82% trust the company more.

6. Hold yourself accountable

When businesses open up themselves in social media and interact with their audiences, it ensures a certain level of accountability. In social media, brands can hold themselves accountable for their services, products, and customer relations. Mistakes happen and negative news could come up, hold yourself accountable and openly address these on social media in order to solidify trust.

Summing Up

Trust can’t be earned overnight. It takes commitment and consistency to see results. But once you establish trust with your audience, your posts will be more impactful, your audience will more likely follow you on social media, and ultimately convert these followers into loyal customers and clients.

Marketin247 could help your business and organization grow and be the leader in your field. We can help you with marketing aspects and create an effective marketing plan for your business. Contact us today!