When building an online persona and brand usually we start with the most basic aspects including over arching brand, logo, colors, core messages etc. All of these are foundational to success. We develop our plan, develop our platform, create and launch our brand presence, integrate social with our business goals and start the social media engagement. However, after a few months goes by we realize nobody is buying from us. Nobody is opting in to our email lists. What has happened? Why don’t they want to further engage with our brand? Do they not trust us? Do they not think that we could bring them value?
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http://themarketingnutz.com/2012/11/social-trust-factor-10-tips-to-establish-credibility/
Social Trust Factor: 10 Tips to Establish
Credibility
When building an online persona and brand usually we start with the most basic aspects including over arching brand, logo, colors, core messages etc All of these are foundational to success We develop our plan, develop our platform, create and launch our brand presence, integrate social with our business goals and start the social media engagement However, after a few months goes by we realize nobody is buying from us Nobody is opting in to our email lists What has
happened? Why don’t they want to further engage with our brand? Do they not trust us? Do they not think that we could bring them value?
Do you lack the trust factor?
There could be many different reasons why your communities are reluctant to engage with you One of the most common reasons is that they don’t trust you You have all the pretty colors, bells and whistles for your online presence but you lack credibility You lack the trust factor
In real life and offline relationships, trust is built via word of mouth, client and partner referrals One person talks to another person who knows good and bad about you You earn a reputation for being who you are and the quality and service you deliver You may have a solid reputation and trust factor offline but are finding it difficult to establish such online
If this is the case for you, don’t you fret! This could be for many reasons It could be you are
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colleagues and friends are not yet online, then yes you are starting over to some degree However, you can also leverage your relationships offline to bring credibility online
Building trust doesn’t happen overnight However, there are some simple things you can do even if you are just starting out to increase credibility and the trust factor
10 Tips to Establish Credibility and Trust
1 Establish authority.
First and foremost you must establish authority Your must know your stuff Faking it online will not get you far Social media is far different than handing someone a business card In the social realm it’s easy to validate who you are, where you have worked, what references you have, who your clients are, who your contacts are within only a few clicks Your content on all social
platforms must scream results It must be obvious you know your stuff We need more than one bullet and short paragraph that tells readers you are an expert at whatever it is you do Give credit
to your sources and never take other people’s work as your own Back up your claims with social proof such as blog content, references, client testimonials, client logos, guest blog posts and more
2 Social proof.
Yes, even though you may have spent far too
much money on that beautiful Twitter
background, custom Facebook page and blogsite,
you still need to prove to me who and what you
are This isn’t as hard as what it sounds Don’t
ignore this step Instead make this one of the first
things you do when you hop online Take time to
update this content at least once a month Good
examples of social proof include testimonials,
customer references, partner references, kudos
from other thought leaders, examples of work
completed, links to work completed, guest blogs you have contributed to, links to blogs where you and your content has been cited, white papers, ebooks, and the list goes on Social proof should
be instantly available within one or less clicks on your site I should not have to dig, double and triple click to find it Make it pop out at me from the front page please!
However, be careful here You must have the work experience and proven results to back it up 10,000 purchased Twitter followers is not real social proof I’d rather see 500 that were earned by providing relevant and valuable content
3 Walk the walk.
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and social profiles must not only talk the talk but
your actions must walk the walk of whatever you say
you do If you claim to be the best social media and
advertising agency this side of Texas and know how
to deliver results, then your own website and online
persona should not look like a fifth grader developed
it Fix the fonts, fix the colors, fix the content
Take the time to do what you say you are so good
at doing! It’s like a dietician that is 150 lbs overweight telling you that they don’t worry about being healthy themselves that they focus only on you Any good agency, agent, salesrep, blogger,
copywriter, consultant, business services provider should be doing themselves what they say they can do for you “Eat your own dogfood” is what we use to say in the big iron corporate days of the dot bomb era in high tech
Delete the jargon and talk in real words that establish you as a walking testimonial of what you can
do for clients! If you don’t take time to fix your own identity, online persona, brand, website,
content, sales processes, business process why should anyone else believe you can do it for them? You are your own best social proof and will be amazed at the number of clients you will get
if you start doing this!
4 Be consistent in both life and business.
The days of separating online and offline personas are over and done You can’t be one person offline and a better, different person online You are one business, one team, one person
regardless if you are online or offline If you are a one man or one woman business consultant this
is even more important Who you are on Friday night at the bar is the same person you are on Monday morning Your offline behavior reflects your online success Be who you are as you are only one person However, my point is don’t fake it There is only one you so be that person
Hopefully that person is honest, sincere, real, open, and communicates well with people both online and offline
5 Hang with the right peeps.
If you hang out with 9 brokes, chances are you are going to be the 10th! Hang out with people you learn from, people who build you, empower you and make you a better person Avoid the people who kick you down, criticize you and overall envy your success Be sure you hang with the people who are going places Establish real relationships and work together Take time to know and
research the people you hang out with Don’t just trust everyone on first tweet Just as you need
to establish trust with your community, expect the same of those you bring into your inner circle
6 You had me at first tweet.”
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become our clients What you tweet matters Don’t be
negative Nelly all day Give your Twitter and Facebook
readers good nuggets of information that help them,
inspire them and enable them to get to know you better
We have numerous clients who we have met from one
single tweet that inspired or educated them Don’t minimize
the power of inspiring people to engage with you and your
brand and start the first stages of trusting you even in 140
character increments known as tweets!
7 Take time for relationships.
I see many businesses and consultants get too caught up in the science of social media that they forget the most important aspect, the art I am not talking about art as in brand and colors
Instead focus on the art as in relationships and conversation The tools of social media can be learned by almost anybody It’s the art of engagement that will differentiate you from the masses
If you are finding it hard to build real relationships online then chances are you are not taking the time to get to know someone Take time to truly connect with others Ask them questions
Comment on their blog posts Reach out to folks you feel comfortable with and build a
relationship
There are new pockets of peeps, partners, crowd sourced blog communities and potential real life friends popping up every day Get to know some of the folks in the communities Start your own communities
8 Build a platform that invites conversation.
If your platform reads like a billboard or corporate
collateral from the 1980′s then chances are you are
not going to inspire much conversation Ensure that
everything from your content to blog share buttons,
commenting systems, opt-in forms, contact forms,
colors, and lanugage are all inviting If you are not
getting the engagement you need, then ask a
trusted 3rd party to do an assessment for you Ask
them specific questions about how your content
makes them feel Ask them where and how they would engage with you on our social platforms Unless you invite folks to engage with you and your brand, chances are they won’t There is
definitely not a lack of other businesses successful at doing such that are going to steal their mindshare from you
9 It’s not about you!
Trang 5As much as you want to think that your Twitter profile, tweet stream, Facebook business page and blog are all about you, they aren’t Yes, you can use these platforms to establish authority, build community and trust, it is not a walking billboard of YOU Your online personas should
scream helpfulness, content that inspires, conversation that engages Talk to your communities in voices they like to communicate, not in web speak Ask them what they want if you don’t know Take time to know your audience, partners, clients and more The better you understand your audiences, the better you will be able to help them The more you help them, the more they will trust you via your actions
10 Author content
Chances are you are in business because you know
something You hopefully know something that is
going to help a business or individual otherwise you
probably won’t be in business long Make certain you
establish your own content I am a big believer in
sharing and curating awesome content I find across
the web with my communities However, I am also a
believer in creating my own content It is through your
own content that people get to know YOU! It’s
where you can establish trust, thought leadership,
expertise, relationships Businesses and individuals
that are not creating content are missing out on
incredible opportunities to connect with people in a way that brings them close to you and your brand
11 Be honest
I added this one as a bonus mostly because it should be common sense If you have an issue with
a product, service, software, network, Twitter feed, Facebook post, blog post or other just be honest and acknowledge the issue Hiding from it is not going to do anything that will bring benefit
to you or your business Don’t under estimate the power of your community and relationships They are much more resilient when the relationship is built on trust and credibility
Bottom line, if you lose my trust, you lose me
I could write a book on this topic and probably should However, a blog post has to end
somewhere There is no price tag we can put on trust It is simply invaluable Take the time to not only be a person people want to trust but ensure your online persona helps you establish such
Your Turn
Do you struggle with establishing trust in your markets or online? Did this article help you? Or are you a pro who has tips you can share with others? Let’s all help one another as feedback from
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35 Social Media Truths
This is part of a series on social business titled “35 Social Media Truths“ It is part of a keynote presentation I gave at Rochester Institute of Technology If you want to hear more, sign up for the 35 Social Media Truths Newsletter and you will receive all 35 of them over a period of time Included will be different mediums such as video, blog posts and more
Related Articles:
People Don’t Buy Things, They Join Things
Be Your Own Social Duck by Implementing with Results
46 Tips to Show Up at the Right Field in the Social Business Game
CEO Wants Klout: Days of Our Social Business
See original post from our CEO Pam Moore (aka Pam Marketing Nut) blog