Many of the highlights of social media marketing have disappeared. Consumers are increasingly using social media to get information about products and services, but they quickly lose trust in what they find there. The 2018 Edelman trust barometer reports that trust in social media is declining, especially in the United States. This is due to what the authors call a “crisis of trust”, a loss of confidence in institutions ranging from business to government to nongovernmental . One major contributor, they argue, is the lack of objective facts and rational discourse on social media.
Here are 7 ways to Earn the Trust of your Website Audience.
1, Focus on content marketing
62% of millennials responded that online content drives trust and loyalty to a brand. (Source insights.newscred.com)
Credibility and competence are two important elements when it comes to building trust and gaining the loyalty of your audience. Your website is your calling card and allows you to share details about your company in the most effective way.
Make sure, you thoroughly share information about your company, your products, services and what sets you apart from your competition.
Create content in the form of blog posts, articles, infographics that is of high value to your audience so that they remain engaged with your brand for the longest time.
Users are more likely to come back to your brand if you provide them with relevant and engaging content pieces consistently. The aim of the content should not be only to educate them but play a significant role in solving their problems.
When consumers will feel rewarded for visiting your website they will certainly come back again. Through continuous content marketing efforts, you can build trust and also foster loyalty. There are so many brands who have used content marketing to foster loyalty.
2. Leverage the power of social media
Whether you are running a b2b website or an e-commerce portal, an active social media presence helps in gaining visibility and building trust among your audience.
Users before making any purchase decision, always make it a point to check the company’s social media channels attached to their website. To promote your online brand is it important that your social media and website works seamlessly together.
The kind of content you share on your social channels, no. of followers you enjoy, an overall graphic design of your page and posts you share, and the engagement you have on your social page plays a significant role in building brand image and trust. Your social page adds up to the trust you have already build from the other key activities.
Linking your website to your social media networks such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, is an effective website design practice. Social media integration on your website, shows transparency, reflects your brand’s voice, and simply provides visitors an opportunity to trust you more.
3. Display awards and certifications
Showcasing your awards, achievements, certifications, and credentials on the website is a proven way to inspire trust among the visitors. It is considered impressive as it shows your great work and competency.
Website footer is the best place to showcase these awards, certifications, security shields, authorized badges and is a proven way to add credibility to every page of your website.
Certifications come with logos and the awards you win also has a logo, so the ideal way is putting all these logos together in the website footer. The purpose of putting them in the website footer is, they are highly visible.
As per a study by Chartbeat, they analyzed 25 million websites, and found visitors scroll down thousands of pixels to check the footer. Thus, adding your credentials in the footer surely has a positive impact on your site’s credibility.
4. Use of statistics and case studies
In order to build trust, you need to demonstrate your competency by showing real numbers and case studies.
Creating a case study is a brilliant way to give concrete examples of your work and its results. It also helps your potential customers to understand better how your products and services can be utilized.
Metrics don’t lie! Showing quantifying results, and presenting real numbers shows that you are a core professional company and serious about producing outcomes.
HubSpot is a great example of how to showcase studies effectively on your website. The page features thumbnails featuring their client logos and main outcome that they gained from Hubspot’s service. Moreover, these case studies can be filtered based on company size, industry, location etc. This encourages the users to continue exploring.
5. Put the audience in the center of stories you tell.
When you write content, or have someone write your content for you, make sure to use the word “you.” It works as a placeholder for the reader’s name, which helps to disarm people and help them be more receptive to your message.
Research suggests that some people were more likely to marry someone with the same initials as them — that’s how powerful your name is. On the other hand, using a person’s name too much comes off as creepy, so you have to be careful with it. “You” places the reader in your content as if you are speaking directly to them and involving them, without the risks of using their name too much.
This principle extends well beyond word choice. Instead of turning people off by making your content all about your company and its solutions, publish stories of empowerment where the audience is the hero.
6.Use authentic images.
Horribly generic and formulaic stock photos are everywhere. While there’s nothing wrong with using carefully curated stock imagery in the right places, it’s much better to favor website visuals that look like they were actually taken of you and your team in real situations.
Stock photos can get expensive, too. To truly maximize your site’s visual authenticity, you may want to consider hiring a professional photographer to take photos of your staff, products, and office. This way, you still get quality that will display well on your website and work well for other content assets, but authenticity will shine through to your audience.
7. Include microcopy that sets expectations intuitively.
Behind all mistrust is fear of the unknown. Make it abundantly clear to your site visitors what’s going to happen when they click on your site’s various tabs, CTA buttons, and links. And make sure your navigation labels are extremely intuitive.
Quick disclaimers and labels below buttons are useful, too. If a prospect chooses to opt in to your email list, how often should they expect to hear from you? Will you sell them out to a telemarketing agency, or will you keep their contact information under wraps?
When the experience of interfacing with your business matches what you say it’ll be — a button takes people where you said it would and you email them only as often as you pledged to, for example — people will allow themselves to trust what you have to say.
Ben, Jacobson. “How to Build Trust Online: 7 Little Ways to Create a Trustworthy Website.” Hutspot, Jun 3, 2016. Retrieved from https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/more-trustworthy-website
Campbell, Jof. “6 ways to Earn the Trust of your Website Audience.” WebAlive. September 4, 2017. Retrieved from https://www.webalive.com.au/ways-to-earn-the-trust-of-your-website-audience/