Social media is not just a platform where you can market and promote your products and services. It is a medium through which you can start a real conversation with your audience. People look for brands that speak to them, that are more personal, and social media is a great place to have the kind of authentic conversations these people are after. With the right social media strategy, brands can use social media to build trust. Beyond that, brands can build long-lasting relationships with both potential and current customers. Over time, building these relationships creates a sense of loyalty to your brand. Ultimately, loyal customers can be your best brand ambassadors.
Nevertheless, building trust via social media takes a refined strategy. You can’t just publish posts haphazardly and expect to build trust-based relationships. Rather, you need to follow a pre-set editorial calendar and ensure your content fits within specific guidelines. In order to do this, you need to understand what kind of content your audience likes and when they want to consume it. This requires you to do hours of research into industry trends. To reduce the burden of research required, we often recommend talking to industry experts who have been there and done that.
Therefore, we have curated a guide filled with advice from 8 marketers who will share how you can use social media to build brand trust.
How to use social media to build brand trust
Tyler Rice, from Animas Marketing
While it seems like it should be an obvious choice, having personalized responses to each of your customer’s comments is one of the easiest and best ways to build brand trust. Too often businesses are relying on automation that they skip the important connection that people love when they see a business respond in a unique and caring way – whether that comment be in the form of a complaint or praise.
Raluca Toma, from Socialbee
When it comes to building brand trust, social media is one of the most powerful assets a company can have.
Social media creates a safe space where a business can interact directly with its followers, ask them questions and start intriguing conversations on various topics. Essentially, social media is the place where you can get to know the people behind the profile pictures and they can get to know the people behind the company.
By sharing valuable content, initiating and participating in conversation, leveraging the power of unfiltered, behind-the-scenes company updates, and by being consistent, you can inspire a sense of trust that your audience will feel connected to.
When a company starts viewing social media as more than just a means to promote products, services, and content, that’s when the process of building trust begins.
Tanya Kumari, from Classic Informatics
One of the best ways to build brand trust through social media is to share content that provokes interest in your target audiences. The base should be on engaging human interactions crafted by humans. Be it by adding behind-the-scenes (if you are selling a product), insider views by interviewing teams/leaders, hosting polls and adapting the results into the product/services, or sharing customer feedback in the most creative ways.
The idea is to show that you are connected with your audience and you value them by presenting a raw and real version of your brand.
Anurag Kumar, from clearout.io
In today’s landscape, social media plays a vital role in promoting a brand and winning an audience base. However, it is effective only when you do it the right way.
And the most important thing is to understand the role of each platform. Once you figure out where you can find your audience, and what they like, start building your presence accordingly.
- Build a profile that reflects exactly what you are
- Create content that adds value
- Promote your brand and logo
- Be consistent with your posts
- Initiate conversations
- Use the right SEO techniques and hashtags
- Connect your social media platforms
- Use email marketing to further extend your reach
Read in more detail: 9 Best Brand-Shaping Strategies for Social Media.
Jack Ramsay, from GetResponse
There are two core ways to build brand trust using social media.
1. The first and most important is to humanize your brand
Recent years have seen a shift whereby consumers now no longer trust institutions, and it’s now all about people and peers.
It’s therefore crucial to get real people talking positively about your brand on social media and beyond – be it from your customers (think review sites and user generated content), via influencers within your space, or your own employees showcasing their industry expertise and your company culture. Ultimately, the more human beings you can get talking positively about your brand on social media, the better.
2. The second point on building trust over social media is to listen
The overwhelming temptation on social media can be to post and post and post, and be as busy as possible when it comes to pushing out your message. That’s OK, and posting consistently and frequently is certainly no bad thing.
However, brands need to also take the time to listen. This can start out as simple as responding to comments on your social media channels and review sites, and making sure your online customer service game is up to scratch.
Helga Moreno, from andcards.com
1. Be transparent
The first step in building brand trust is to be transparent. Customers can smell BS from a mile away, so don’t try to pull the wool over their eyes. If there’s been a problem with your product or service, own up to it and do whatever you can to make it right. Customers respect companies that are honest and forthcoming—and they’ll be more likely to do business with them as a result.
2. Don’t oversell yourself
No one likes a bragger—least of all your customers. So don’t go overboard when promoting your product or service on social media. Stick to the facts and let your results speak for themselves. Also, avoid using too much “salesy” language; it’ll just turn people off. Instead, focus on creating helpful, informative content that will actually be useful to your target audience.
3. Respond to all questions & comments promptly & politely
When someone reaches out to you on social media, whether it’s to ask a question or leave a comment, be sure to respond promptly and politely. Ignoring customers’ questions says a lot about your company—none of it good. And if you do respond, but come across as rude or unprofessional, you’ll just end up doing more harm than good. So take the time to craft thoughtful, helpful responses that will leave a positive impression on everyone who reads them.
Dorota Lysienia, from LiveCareer
Interact with your audience
You will only build strong relationships with your audience if you try to understand them better. That is also true when it comes to building brand trust. One of the tools you can use to do it is social media. In your posts, show your audience that you’re willing to listen and that their opinions matter to you.
Social media platforms can help you position yourself as a partner in the minds of your customers. Your audience will treat you as their go-to source they can always reach out to rather than a distant figure they have no relation to.
That’s why engaging in a conversation with your customers is essential. It’s a good idea to react to positive comments on your social media and thank people for their kind words. However, it’s also important to respond to negative opinions in a respectful way. If left unnoticed, negative comments can lead to a snowball effect that you won’t be able to stop.
My advice is to take the conversation out of the social media platform to resolve complex problems in a more appropriate place. There is no “one-size-fits-all” solution but always look at the issue from the customer’s perspective. Showing empathy also helps connect with your audience and builds brand trust among your customers.
Tufan Erdogan, from Jotform
In my opinion, the most integral part of using social media to build brand trust is sharing high-quality content that is of value to your visitors. This helps build a loyal following by increasing the time visitors stay on your website and how much they engage on social media.
Another important point is being active and encouraging interaction in order to create sustainable relationships. People will trust your brand more if they view you as available and responsive to the audience.
Being active on social media allows you to expose your brand to more people, which can help you increase your brand awareness as well as make new connections.
Conclusion
The above tips are all crucial to establishing authority in your industry and building brand trust. Remember – playing the social media game might seem easy, but when it comes down to it you need a well-thought-out strategy that will help your audience feel like they matter. Once you’ve invested time and effort in getting to know your audience and building mutually-beneficial relationships with them, you’ll have an easier time connecting with them. Ultimately, with the tips above, you should be able to earn your audience’s trust as well as their brand loyalty.