Building trust on social media
- ahou0006
- Nov 8, 2021
- 2 min read
Updated: Nov 15, 2021
With 20.50 million active social media users who, on average, spend 106 minutes a day using up to 7 different accounts, how do you choose a social media strategy to capitalise on this trend and build your brand?

..dialogue leads to connection, which leads to trust which leads to engagement - Seth Godin
Thinking about the personal relationships that you value, generally, they are built on these three qualities. So, how do we replicate connection, trust, and engagement on social media? Let’s look at three approaches for interacting with existing and new customers in any industry.
1. Build the right relationships
Understanding and engaging with your target audience is fundamental to building trust. Ensure you are building customer relationships that will have the right impact on your marketing objectives. It’s also important to listen. Social listening may take time and effort, but it is valuable if you want to nurture the right interactions. Take time to explore free social media management tools to simplify this task.
2. Encourage conversations
50% of social media users believe that trust is created through positive interactions between brands and consumers. Taking a customer-centric focus and embracing user-generated content (USG) will increase brand awareness. Being prepared to give up some control and encourage users to share unpaid and unsponsored posts will lead to customer loyalty.
Asking your customer for reviews and taking time to respond to each one, especially the negative ones, will cultivate transparency. Customers will feel valued, and your search engine optimisation will improve. Lexus incorporated reviews in their overall marketing strategy, resulting in an average customer rating of 4.7 out of 5 – that’s a rating with credibility.
3. Create great content
If you want customers to know your brand, share content in a way that demonstrates authentic leadership. Informative, entertaining, and conversational posts will create brand visibility and lead to conversions. The 80/20 rule applies here: 80% of posts must provide value to customers, leaving 20% for branded content.
54% of social media users believe trust is created by engaging and relevant content. A consistent brand voice will achieve a strong following on your social platforms, and integrated with other promotional tools, will maximise return on investment (ROI).
Do you have more tips on building brand trust with social media marketing? Please share your comments below.
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All of those points are a good reminder, it's easy to just post what you want, but you really need to know what the customer wants.
Great read, Amanda! Food for thought.