Trust. It’s part of the “know, like, trust” factor that moves a customer closer to buying your offer. It’s the most important guideline that Google’s algorithm follows when rating a website’s page quality. It’s safe to say that getting your audience to trust you is a big effin’ deal.
A study by Adobe even found that seven in ten customers will buy more from brands they trust and abandon ones they don’t. Ouch. Luckily, building trust with your audience doesn’t have to be complicated or expensive. You can build trust by sharing great content.
Why building trust with your audience matters
We just talked about how trust will lead to more sales or referrals, but the benefits go beyond that.
Trust is a key component of customer loyalty. You want your customers to come back to you again and again, right? And your customers want to buy from a brand they can count on to deliver what they’re looking for — not reconsider all their options every time they’re looking to buy.
Customer loyalty doesn’t just mean buying what you sell. It also means having a loyal following that engages with your content and refers you to other people. Someone who really likes your brand and will shout it from the rooftops is better than a passive audience that just scrolls by your content on their feed.
An example of (unconventional) customer loyalty
In case you’ve been living under a rock, Duolingo is a language lessons app that has a cute green owl as its mascot.
Look at the branding on their website and you’d assume it’s a traditional, educational, kid-friendly app, right? But scroll through its content on TikTok, Instagram, and Twitter, and you get an entirely different brand that makes weird, awkwardly funny and sometimes sexual content. Like…what?
But horrifyingly enough, it works. Duolingo has millions of followers that laugh at and marvel over their content. And they can’t get enough.
We’ll dive deeper into strange content strategy choices in a future blog post, but my point is, great content can generate positive word-of-mouth, site traffic, sales, and a loyal following. But you have to build trust with your audience first.
Share valuable content
Valuable content meets your audience’s needs. It makes your audience’s job easier, solves a problem they have, or helps them achieve certain goals or results. The opposite of valuable content is fluff — content that doesn’t really do anything for your followers.
(See, this is where we have problems with Duolingo’s strategy. It’s entertaining but rarely valuable. A good example of a brand that shares hilarious yet still valuable content? Milwaukee Public Library.)
This doesn’t mean you always have to share the same type of helpful content.
In fact, sharing content that varies in purpose and form is how you keep your content interesting. You want to inform, entertain, encourage action, start conversations, or bond with your audience. And yes, occasionally promote your offers, but keep your salesy talk to a minimum.
Fluff content — like this blog post about our pets — is okay once in a while because it’s fun. It helps you connect with your audience. And, of course, it builds trust.
Show up consistently
You can create the perfect blend of content and write topics that fall perfectly under your content pillars…but if you’re not sharing said content consistently, then you’re wasting your time.
Your audience does not want to be surprised with your newsletters in your inbox every other month. They don’t want to see you post “I’m back!” on social media because honestly, they probably forgot all about you.
And they definitely do not want to watch you pitch a new offer and scrounge for sales after you’ve been MIA.
I’m not trying to be a Negative Nancy telling you that existence doesn’t matter here, because it does. You have to show up for your audience consistently in order for them to remember and care about you! Be predictable with your content schedule and you’ll gain their trust more easily.
Be a human
Last but definitely not least, be a human.
Be honest with your audience. This goes beyond sharing fun behind-the-scenes content. I’m talking about being vulnerable about yourself, standing up for yourself or another, or holding true to your values.
Is running your biz and navigating life impacting your mental health? You’re not alone, sister. Do you question what you’re doing with your content strategy every time you post a silly TikTok video? Oh yeah, been there.
Running a business isn’t always sunshine and glitter and unicorns. It’s hard. It can be lonely. Sometimes it straight-up sucks. And it’s okay to talk about it with your audience if that’s what you want to do!
Trust goes a long way
Let’s recap how you can build trust with your audience through your content:
- Share valuable, entertaining, relevant content that your audience wants and needs.
- Consistently share that content to stay top of mind and build a loyal following.
- Be authentic and honest to connect with your audience (and remind them that you’re a real person).
The more trust you gain from your audience, the stronger your bond, and the closer you get them to making a purchase. Use every opportunity you come across with your content to build trust. It’ll go a long way for your brand and biz.
Want help building trust with your content? We can help with that.
