How You Can Strengthen Customer Trust Through Social Media in 3 Easy Steps

Maybe you’ve interacted with them online or maybe you’ve simply stumbled across their posts in some random corner of the internet and they stuck in your mind. Or maybe you’ve only ever subconsciously experienced the brand.

In this article, we’ll explain 3 easy steps to strengthening customer trust through social media.

1. Listen > Speak

First up, listening is paramount for many things in business, not just establishing and building trust. But, if your audience doesn’t trust you, the rest becomes kind of meaningless, does it?

So you’ve got to listen.

And not just when your customers reach out directly to you. Listen all the time. You can practice a tactic called “Social Listening” where you act as a fly on the wall and simply observe what your customers (or non-customers) are saying about you online.

Look beyond the hashtags for honest conversations about your brand’s wins and shortcomings, and then make it your business’s mission to improve upon what you hear.

Large companies have whole teams of social media specialists who are dedicated to finding mentions of the brand online and either engaging with the content in a positive manner or observing and creating actionable next steps to improve.

2. Consistency is Key

Keeping a consistent brand voice is hard. And many do not succeed at this because they haven’t taken the time to create a brand guide.

A brand guide doesn’t just cover what colours and fonts are used in your logo or communications. It covers the style and tone in which you address your audience in person and online.

Many brand guides will include the personality of the brand, which will dictate how to interact with the brand’s audience. Not only is this super helpful for the next social media or communications team to be able to follow along and craft thoughtful replies and messaging, but it is helpful for your audience to understand what type of company you are.

People will want to follow your company online if they align with the tone and messaging of the brand, so keeping it consistent will help you retain followers and ultimately, improve on the conversions of these followers to loyal customers because they trust you. 

3. Under Promise and Over Deliver

This title definitely sounds a bit sales-y, but that’s what you’re doing when you convey messaging online!

Even if you’re not promoting a product or service directly, every message you send online that your audience sees counts as a touchpoint and could convert into a sale.

By following through on your promises, your audience will see that your brand is indeed trustworthy, and will be more likely to make a purchase.

If you promise too much or speak before confirming all the details/what’s possible, you may not be able to deliver on said promises. This will leave audiences disappointed and let down and makes your brand seem untrustworthy, even if you had the best intentions in mind.

So instead, don’t be scared to tell customers you’ll get back to them or you need to check the answer. People will always appreciate an honest response (even if you don’t know right that second) more than a shot in the dark that isn’t true.

These are just a few of the many ways you can use social media to interact with your audience and build trust online. Remember to stay authentic, practice social listening, provide consistent messaging, and deliver on your promises to foster a sense of trust and community amongst your audience.

This includes being online regularly and available to answer messages as well as sharing examples and interactions from other customers, to help build credibility.

All of these activities will not only boost engagement, they will surely increase sales!

Building trust doesn’t happen overnight though, so the sooner you establish your profiles and begin posting online, the sooner you’ll be growing an audience that will follow your brand anywhere.

It will be a lot of work at first, with many one-on-one conversations when customers have “slid into your DMs”, but that means you’re doing something right and your audience wants to talk to you. So mark that one in the WIN column.

It’s worth noting that who you engage with and who you follow as a brand will also help build your credibility. If other trustworthy accounts are sharing your content and engaging with your page and you’re in the same space, reach out to them for a collab or simply say “hi”. Those accounts can help you grow using their audience since they already have established a sense of trust and a strong following.

There are many other strategies you can use to build trust through social media but start with these three, and once you’re an expert here, start adding a few more to continue your growth!

How do you establish a sense of trust amongst your audience? Let us know in the comments below!