How to Use Social Media to Build Brand Trust
Convincing your audience to convert relies heavily on your ability to build brand trust. But the truth is that proving your business’ credibility is more challenging than ever.
Consumers’ current default state is being distrustful of brands (and governments and media). On top of that, research also shows that three-quarters of shoppers are willing to change their shopping behaviours and are trading down to combat the current economic climate.
These findings prove how essential it is for businesses to double down on trust in 2022 and beyond. The good news is that building brand trust isn’t rocket science. What’s more, you can do it using your existing marketing channels, such as social media or your company blog.
If you’re looking for tips on using social media to generate credibility for your brand, the following are the best practices you can integrate into your current strategies.
Show Your Expertise & Educate Your Followers
According to Edelman’s Special Report from 2022, young consumers won’t trust just anyone. The organization’s findings show that:
- 66% of Gen Z trusts scientists and experts
- 61% places confidence in feedback from fellow consumers
- 58% consider brand experts to be credible
But that’s not all. The same report found that for brand ambassadors to be seen as trustworthy, they must:
- be committed to educating their followers
- provide recommendations based on experience
- uphold values their audience can relate to
In other words, businesses that want to build credibility through social media need to establish expertise and an education-based approach to producing and distributing content.
By doing something similar to Scott’s Cheap Flights and putting together short guides that deliver unique value to your followers, you won’t just show that your brand experts know what they’re talking about. More importantly, you’ll give your followers a compelling reason to look forward to reading your posts, interacting with them, and sharing them with their friends and family. You’ll maximize their chances of converting into customers, seeing that they’ll have formed a positive opinion of your organization and perceive it as a brand that puts its customers’ interests first.
Source: instagram.com
Alternatively, if you feel like this approach won’t be powerful enough in proving your business’ credibility, you could also do what SomniFix does on its TikTok page. This brand regularly shares in-house and expert-created resources to educate its audience. They work hard to ensure that their 13k followers know they’re not just selling fog but that their products deliver proven health benefits.
@somnifix @Andrew Huberman talks all things #nasalbreathing like for part 2! #didyouknow #learnontiktok #mouthtaping #hubermanlab ♬ Lofi Vibes – Gentle State
Source: tiktok.com
Turn Social Proof into Social Media Posts
Displaying social proof on your site is an excellent business growth strategy, seeing that it’s one of the best ways to present your brand as authoritative and trustworthy.
But if you only showcase customer feedback on your homepage/landing page/product pages, you’re missing some valuable opportunities to take your brand to the next level.
Data shows that 77% of consumers “always” or “regularly” seek out and read online reviews. Nonetheless, why wait for your target audience to research your brand and how well it can meet their needs? Why not take the plunge and use social proof to grab their attention on social media?
This will not only boost your brand’s credibility but also help you move prospects through the sales funnel. It will minimize the number of interactions it takes for your audience to move from the awareness to the purchase stage of the buyer’s journey.
And the best thing about this approach is that transforming traditional instances of social proof into engaging social media content is super-easy and budget-friendly. Look at how well KURU Footwear does it on their Facebook page, doing nothing more than combining an instance of customer feedback with a compelling product photo.
Source: facebook.com
Of course, you don’t have to stop at this — especially if you want to take the extra mile with social proof on your social media profiles. For exciting ways to turn testimonials into trust-building posts, you can look up to Herman Miller. This company teamed up with Slack to create a short testimonial and demonstrate the benefits of investing in a workspace when aiming for better collaboration results.
Case Study: Slack & Company an Office Designed for Creativity
Source: youtube.com
Practice Transparency and Stick to Your Values
If you look at the scientific research that deals with organizational credibility, you’ll find that researchers believe trust is made of three key elements: ability, integrity, and benevolence:
- The concept of ability refers to the organization’s competence/expertise.
- Integrity means that the trusted entity adheres to pre-determined principles or values.
- Benevolence requires that the trusted entity (in this case, a brand) has the trustor’s (the customer’s) best interests at heart.
Now, if you’re ready to invest in building brand trust on social media, be prepared to address every one of these elements.
Ultimately, you can get away with only covering one (most businesses are capable of showcasing their expertise, for example). But if you want to ensure your audience sees your business as 100% trustworthy, don’t stop there.
The good news is that if you followed tip #1 from this guide, you’ve already got ability covered. Now, it’s time to address integrity and benevolence.
Integrity
When creating social media content that’s supposed to prove your brand’s integrity, the best thing you can do is focus on your brand’s values.
According to PWC’s 2022 Global Consumer Survey, half of all global consumers choose what brands to support based on environmental, social, and governance concerns. So, knowing that people make purchasing decisions based on their values, it’s easy to conclude that being vocal about your brand’s values on social media provides a unique opportunity to connect with your audience over shared ideals.
For instance, a quick look at the Aarke Instagram page shows that this brand intends to build trust by highlighting its absolute dedication to product quality, longevity, and repairability. By pointing out that it uses screws instead of glue, it points out that its water carbonators can be disassembled and repaired, something that eco-conscious consumers will definitely appreciate about the products.
Source: instagram.com
Benevolence
As for benevolence, the best way to show that your organization is committed to benefiting its customers (even if it means not making a sale) is to adhere to transparent social media marketing practices.
For instance, in a recently published TikTok video, skincare brand Cocokind shared the findings of a research study that evaluated the impact of different types of SPF on marine life. Even though the report uncovered that there seem to be no SPF ingredients that are absolutely environmentally safe, the brand still chose to share the findings with its followers, knowing that its audience cares about having the best information regarding the skincare products it uses.
@cocokindskincare No such thing as reef safe SPF! Keep wearing your sunscreen, folks. #greenscreen #spf #reefsafe #sunscreen #skintok #environmentallyfriendly ♬ original sound – cocokind
Source: tiktok.com
Don’t Forget Consistency
Lastly, as you aim to build brand trust via proving ability, integrity, and benevolence, don’t forget that the only way for your hard work to pay off is for you to be consistent about the messages you send to your social followers.
If you want to build your brand’s reputation on its values, make sure that you address those values often enough. If your goal is to prove your expertise by providing your audience with valuable information, ensure you do it often, as done on the MarketBeat Twitter profile. And, if you’re looking to prove that you have your customers’ best interests at heart, don’t forget to use your social media channels as a place to solve customer pain points and provide an unmatched customer experience.
Source: twitter.com
Diversify with UGC
Did you know that most consumers are tired of sales-y branded messages on their social media feeds?
In its 2022 Index report, Sprout Social found that 81% of people will unfollow social media influencers who post sponsored content more than a few times per week. And the same can be said for brands whose only purpose on social media is to sell their products.
After all, today’s consumers are experts at understanding when they’re being sold to. And if they see your business as only being after their money (without, at least, providing some value), they won’t really be likely to see it as a trustworthy organization.
Fortunately, however, there’s a simple way to circumvent this: diversify your brand’s voice on social media by using UGC.
Considering the fact that consumers trust people who are like them, something as easy as asking your customers to tag you in their social media images/videos and reposting those on your timeline can show that your brand does, in fact, care about its customers’ experiences.
If you look at the GILI Sports Instagram page, you’ll see that it’s almost entirely made up of UGC. GILI is thus proving that it’s a customer-first company worthy of any watersport enthusiast’s trust.
Source: instagram.com
Embrace Live and Short-Form Video
Lastly, if you’re looking for an easy way to use social media to build brand trust, don’t forget that, in some cases, the best solution is the simplest one. For instance, live video can help you highlight your brand’s authenticity, which can make your organization more relatable to your audience and encourage your potential customers to see it as trustworthy.
So, if you’re looking for an easy way to boost customer trust, why not take the time to give them a sneak peek of what happens behind the scenes at your company?
Giving social media followers a glimpse into how your products are made can help them realize that your claims are genuine. So can introducing them to your team and talking about their work experience and credentials. Even something as simple as going online and taking the time to chat with your followers can help you build relationships with your followers.
Just check out how well Notion does it on TikTok, where it regularly takes the time to answer user questions and gives insightful tips on how its customers can get more out of the SaaS product.
@notionhq Replying to @allisonleemann You asked, we answered! How to use Notion with your team #notion #notionapp #notiontok #blocktok #collaboration #techtok ♬ original sound – Notion
Source: tiktok.com
Final Thoughts
Employing social media to grow your small business is a must if you want your brand to stay relevant in today’s competitive world. However, if you want to ensure the best possible results (and see the highest ROI from all that online activity), focus your energy on building brand trust.
By following the techniques from this guide, you’re sure to see some next-level outcomes. But remember: to get 100% out of any of these tactics, make sure you adapt them to your needs and the needs of your audience.
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by Natasha Lane
