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Engagement, Expertise and Reliability Build Your Social Trust

Social trust is at the core of engagement and relationships on social media. Businesses depend on trust to attract and retain customers for the long term.


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James L Katzaman

2 years ago | 5 min read

Being considerate and courteous are good signs of your value

Photo by Joseph Chan on Unsplash

Social trust is at the core of engagement and relationships on social media. Businesses depend on trust to attract and retain customers for the long term.

“As a content conversion strategist, I help business owners build social trust through engagement and their own content creation, sharing and repurposing,” said Deb Coman, who hosts the weekly #SocialTrust chat on Twitter. She helps clients get more sales, referrals and collaborations.

“I love featuring experts,” Coman said. “The community support has been both unexpected and heart-warming. The thing about Twitter is that we get to create the feed we want to see. It’s by far my favorite platform filled with my favorite people.”

Build an audience by keeping it realEstablish rapport with others through know, like and trustblog.markgrowth.com

She talked with entrepreneur and marketing expert Madalyn Sklar about how to build social trust on Twitter. That begins with knowing the basics of the platform and what not to do.

“One of the most common Twitter mistakes is thinking you’ll build trust by dominating the feed with your own content,” Coman said. “It’s always about them, not us.”

Sklar has compiled common Twitter mistakes to avoid:

  • Not Completing Your Twitter Profile
  • Being Inconsistent With Posting
  • Over-Promoting Your Products and Services
  • Using Too Many Hashtags
  • Ignoring Replies From Your Community

Currency of Relationships

Taking cues from that will help build trust among communities.

“Social trust is a currency we earn by building relationships through engaging with content,” Coman said. “We cultivate it faster and more effectively when we shift our focus from posting our own content to engaging with other people’s content in a meaningful way.

“When we seek out people, brands, topics and conversations we want to engage with, we create new relationships and deepen existing ones,” she said. “We impact people in the conversation and all the people observing. It builds both our credibility and visibility.”

A little piece of yourself can help people trust youTap into your personal brand to build and expand your businessmedium.com

This lets engagement and relationships evolve naturally.

“Many times social trust centers on shared values,” Coman said. “The more we incorporate that into our social media, the easier it is for people to decide if they align with and trust us.

“Think of this as our social reputation,” she said. “With trustworthiness comes that decision that we’re worth paying attention to.”

People being attracted to your lead expands far beyond a local community.

“When I say audience, I mean more than my followers,” Coman said. “It’s always about expanding our connections and engaging with others outside our sometimes little world.

“Engage with people and conversations already happening first,” she said. “When we consistently engage with other people, we build connection and trust and often earn their interest in what we have when we share our content later.”

Altogether, those reaching out should follow a strategic approach.

“Social trust is all about building a trusting relationship with your community, particularly through social media and establishing connections,” Sklar said.

Trust Before Collaboration

Twitter in particular relies heavily on building trust.

“With over 237 million active daily users, our ideal clients, referral sources and collaborative partners are on Twitter,” Coman said. “They need to trust us before they’ll buy, refer or collaborate.

“Each time we open the platform, we have an opportunity to earn trust,” she said. “Trust comes first. Everyone should lead with the intention to earn it before moving to other goals.”

Crucial to earning trust is the quality of interactions.

“People will trust you not only because of your expertise, but because of how you share it and engage with people,” Coman said. “I love expanding my connections but not at the expense of the people I’m already connected with.”

Know, like and trust drive conversion and salesLike-minded people drive growth of their communitiesblog.markgrowth.com

That translates into mutual support.

“Building trust is an essential element of growing your Twitter community,” Sklar said. “When people trust you and see you as a reliable source of information, they’re more inclined to follow you and engage with you.”

People harbor common misconceptions about trusting others on Twitter. Coman pointed out that they mistakenly tie trust to these factors:

  • Follower count
  • Time on the platform
  • Amount of original content shared

“The best strategy on Twitter is to engage,” Coman said. “I don’t see all the negativity some complain about. That’s probably because I know I have the power to curate my own feed.

“Unfortunately, not everyone approaches the platform with integrity,” she said. “We have to trust our instincts, too, on how we perceive who’s trustworthy.”

Spidey Knows All

If in doubt, trust your instincts borne of experience.

“I use my handy dandy social-trust-seeking spidey sense before I leap,” Coman said. “Many people with few followers who haven’t quite perfected their profile still earn my trust with how they engage and show up.”

There is much to be said for being selective.

“Don’t blindly trust everyone you engage with on Twitter or every piece of content you come across,” Sklar said. “Do your research first by getting to know who someone is trustworthy.”

Your Personality Helps Attract People to Your BrandTalking naturally and free gives an aura of trust everyone likesmedium.datadriveninvestor.com

Coman has devised an easy-to-remember guide for building trust on Twitter:

  • T — Take account of the feed to find relevance.
  • R — Reflect to gather thoughts.
  • U — Unleash creativity and be yourself.
  • S — Set intention for connection.
  • T — Take action and engage.

“Create and share high-quality, valuable content and engage,” Coman said. “Sooooo many people don’t keep up with the engaging piece. That’s a missed opportunity for sure.”

That includes picking up on interactions that can use an expert’s help.

“Take the time to engage in genuine conversations with others on the platform,” Sklar said. “Allow them to get to know you better.”

Avoid doing anything to jeopardize trust. Coman gave a few pitfalls:

  • Only posting your own content
  • Posting and ghosting
  • Inconsistent presence
  • Overautomating
  • Not sharing what makes you you

“It’s critical to contribute to the conversation and share our perspective,” Coman said. “Retweets are nice, but quote tweets expand the conversation and trust.”

Business Comes Second

Keep the social aspect ahead of business.

“When building trust, don’t focus so much on pitching your paid offerings,” Sklar said. “Focus instead on providing value and making connections. And be likable.”

Gain Great Data from Each ConversationProfit by talking with people who you trust the mostmedium.datadriveninvestor.com

Collaborations and partnerships are effective tools to build trust on Twitter.

“When you team up with a trusted person or brand, some of their earned trust organically transfers to you, as does your earned trust to them,” Coman said, making sure to keep these elements in mind:

  • Alignment
  • Shared values
  • Mutual benefit

“Collaborations give you access to an engaged audience someone else has already built,” Sklar said. “If your collaborator’s audience trusts them, they likely value their recommendations. So, working together puts you in a great position.”

Bounce Back from Adversity

Negative incidents are tough to rebound from. Coman has these suggestions:

  • Own responsibility.
  • Acknowledge consequences and the impact.
  • Make amends.
  • Ask for the opportunity to earn back trust.

“If you have a negative incident, apologize right away,” Sklar said. “Own up to your mistake. Outline how you plan to do better in the future so these problems don’t arise again.”

Good storytelling is a matter of trustTelling tales is an integral part of social media strategyblog.markgrowth.com

Along those lines, many brands do well in building social trust.

Gary Vaynerchuk has done a great job building trust with his audience,” Sklar said. “He’s always showing up and providing high-value content. Plus, he takes the time to engage with his community.”

Coman has a list of people who are the face of their brands and “do a great job of building social trust because they engage in a meaningful way” and champion others:

About The Author

Jim Katzaman is a manager at Largo Financial Services and worked in public affairs for the Air Force and federal government. You can connect with him on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.

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James L Katzaman

Jim Katzaman is a charter member of the Tealfeed Creators' program, focusing on marketing and its benefits for companies and consumers. Connect with him on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn as well as subscribing here on Tealfeed.


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