Trust is a major factor in consumers’ shopping habits. PwC published a Consumer Insights Survey that found 35% of their respondents reporting that trusting a brand was one of their top reasons for shopping where they did. 14% of those ranked trust as the second-most important influence on their shopping habits with price as the most important. But if trust is so important in attracting customers, how can businesses use social media to establish that trust?
1. Share Only High-Quality Content
One way to earn your followers’ trust is to share only high-quality content. Make sure that every post you make on social media is valuable in some way to your audience. This way, you can earn a reputation for sharing useful content that they want to read. Additionally, it’ll establish you as an authority in your field.
How Do I Know What Content to Share?
The first step is to identify exactly who your audience is. Most social media platforms offer analytics for businesses and you should be able to see some demographic information about your audience there. You can also look at what your competitors are sharing on their own social media channels. Look for what they’re not sharing, where there may be an opportunity for you to fill that gap. Learning what your audience likes and dislikes may take some trial and error. Pay attention to which posts get the most engagement and views.
2. Make Sure Your Links are Trustworthy
If you’re sharing other websites’ content, then you should ensure that it’s also trustworthy. What you share on your social media feed represents your brand just as much as your own content does. Do your research on the source of each link before you include it in a social media post. That way, you’ll only be linking to reputable, trustworthy sources that can help to boost your own trustworthiness.
3. Socialize with Your Audience
Social media is first and foremost a social platform. This means that it’s an opportunity for you to communicate directly with your potential customers. Your followers follow you on social media because they’re looking for more interaction with you than they’d get just by visiting your website. Interacting with your audience will help you to build a reputation as a company that is available to engage with its audience and also answerable to them. You’re not just building a brand but also a community that trusts that brand.
4. Don’t Be Afraid of Live Video
Users love live video feeds and so do social media platforms. They often get higher priority in the social media feed’s algorithm and get more engagement from users than other types of content. Part of this is that users get a behind-the-scenes look at your company. This intimate access can help show your audience that your company doesn’t have anything to hide from them.
5. Maintain Consistent Branding
It’s important for companies to be consistent with their branding and this doesn’t just mean your logo and company colors. It also means making sure that your company’s actions back up the image you’re trying to create. Users don’t like a hypocrite and can turn on companies they view as such. Often, if a company has lied about something, it gets found out eventually and it completely ruins the brand and any trust that users had with the company.