Social trust is a practical prerequisite for making your brand successful. If people don’t trust your brand or its products, you’re not going to generate revenue. The question is, how do you build more social trust in your brand, especially if you’re just starting?
The Power of Trust
There are many reasons why trust is important for your brand.
Visibility. Improving trust in your organization can improve your brand visibility. As you begin to grow your audience and win more public favor, you’ll naturally receive more attention on social media and from mainstream media outlets.
Word of mouth. Building trust is also a great way to increase word of mouth advertising and referrals. When people know and trust you as a brand, they’re going to be much more likely to refer their friends and family.
Persuasion. Arguably the greatest benefit of greater social trust in your organization is going to be greater persuasive power. Everything you claim, from hyping up a new product to explaining why you’re increasing prices, is going to hold much more weight when an audience inherently trusts you.
Conflict resolution. Similarly, if you’re trusted by your customers, you’ll have a much easier time with conflict resolution. If and when things do go wrong, they’ll likely give you the benefit of the doubt.
Long-term growth. Overall, trust is essential if you want to grow your brand in the long term. These factors and others make social trust in your brand a source of revenue, stability, and profitability.
The High Level
So how do you build more trust in your brand?
First, you need a solid foundation. You need to conduct your business in a way that makes people trust you naturally. Given enough time, and enough customers, this will eventually solidify your trustworthy reputation.
However, most brands need a little extra help. If you want to accelerate your accumulation of trust, you’ll need to make proactive efforts to spread the word about your company and frame it in the best possible light. For example, with an influencer marketing agency, you can put your products and services in the hands of major influencers who are already trusted by their followers and fans. Being associated with these influencers can be a major boon for your brand trust.
Starting With the Right Foundation
These strategies can help you establish the right foundation:
Quality products and services. If your brand consistently puts out excellent products and services, you should have no trouble generating trust. After a few good experiences with your brand, people will think more highly of it.
Reasonable prices. Similarly, avoid gouging your customers. If customers believe you offer fair prices for excellent goods, they’ll be much more likely to trust you in all other matters.
Accurate, honest messaging. You need to prioritize accurate, honest messaging in everything you do. This includes all claims you make in marketing and advertising materials, as well as PR statements, and even ground-level interactions with your customers.
Brand authenticity. Brand authenticity is increasingly important for companies trying to build trust. Too many brands try to build trust with generic platitudes and formulaic messaging, but it’s typically better to present your brand as authentically and humanly as possible. Don’t be afraid to show your flaws; admitting mistakes and imperfections can actually increase trust in your brand.
Customer service. Finally, pay close attention to how you handle customer service. Be authentic, transparent, and expedient in all your customer service conversations, and do your best to resolve conflicts in favor of your customers. Do this consistently and even your least happy customers will begin to trust you.
Marketing and Further Support
You can make that foundation stronger and more prominent by marketing and supporting it:
Influencer marketing.
Influencer marketing is one of the best marketing strategies for building trust, because it allows you to leverage trust that already exists. When people associate your products and services with an influencer they idolize, it’s only natural that they’ll begin trusting you as well.
Reviews and testimonials. Reviews and testimonials are excellent tools for building brand trust for similar reasons. If neutral third parties are consistent in supporting your brand and reviewing it favorably, most new and existing customers will begin trusting you as well.
Hard data in messaging. Give people objective reasons for trusting you. How do you handle complaints and issues? What success statistics can you cite?
Altruistic efforts. Also, consider demonstrating altruism on behalf of your brand, such as donating to a charity or volunteering your time.
It’s not always easy to build social trust in your brand, even if you’re doing everything right. Exercise patience and be willing to switch up strategies if you want to be successful in the long term.
