Hungry for truth: 73% of U.S. adults only trust content backed by data

In the regular course of our workday, Chris and I will read any number of articles featuring statistics about business and marketing. Occasionally, one of them will stand out.

We recently came across an article by the Content Marketing Institute from October 2018. It covered a survey run by Survey Monkey that asked respondents to rate how much they trusted content backed by data when compared to content that wasn’t.

The results were clear. 73% of U.S. adults find content backed by data trustworthy, and 82% prefer to read an article based on data rather than one based on the writer’s opinion (interestingly, 5% of respondents said data-backed content was less trustworthy).

This got us thinking about the significance of data, not just in relation to content marketing, but also in relation to people’s trust of content, in general.

“The Battle for Truth”

The fact is, people just don’t trust businesses as much as they used to.

According to the 2019 Edelman Trust Barometer, a report by the communications and marketing firm Edelman, trust in businesses has decreased by 10% compared to a year ago. People’s trust in the government, the media, and other institutions are at all-time lows, as well.

Instead, people are choosing to trust their peers and those relationships in their direct control, such as those with their own employers:

Richard Edelman (President and CEO, Edelman) presents the global findings of the 2019 Edelman Trust Barometer at the World Economic Forum, Davos. (Source: YouTube)

After a cascade of high-profile data breaches and business scandals over the past few years, this isn’t very surprising. Companies that once carried our hopes for a better future now find their executives testifying before Congress.

Additionally, most people are getting their information only from a handful of sources, not all of which are trustworthy. It’s becoming difficult for many to parse between reliable and unreliable sources of information, between hearsay and empirical fact.

Most informed people won’t take a piece of content at face value (which is a good thing), but this erosion of trust is creating an atmosphere of cynicism that’s difficult to overcome even with the most well-written content.

So, what does this mean for your business and your content efforts?

It means you’re going to have to work extra hard to earn your audience’s trust. Solid writing is a good start, but both qualitative and quantitative data will be essential if you want your audience to take your business seriously.

Developing Your Content as a Source of Truth

Your objective should be to establish your business as a reliable source of useful information, so much so that your readers trust you implicitly. This is no easy task. However, there are a few things you can do to build trust in your content.

Focus on quality

The cliché “quality over quantity” may ring hollow at this point, but it’s still worth emphasizing. We’ve read hundreds of industry and business blogs, and we’re still struck every day by how many of them sound the same.

New and emerging businesses often fall into the trap of producing content for content’s sake. There’s nothing inherently wrong with that, and if you can post a blog post every week, that’s great. But most educated readers will be able to spot hollow content the moment they lay their eyes on it.

The fact is, the only content that performs well is unique. It offers actionable insights your readers can’t find anywhere else, and it doesn’t look like the same content they can find on a hundred other business websites.

Instead of churning out tons of content, focus on creating a few excellent pieces of content at a time. It may require a bigger time and monetary investment, but the results will be worth it if your readers trust you as a reliable source of truth.

Solve your readers’ problems

Everyone wants to rank #1 on Google for key search terms. There are plenty of ways to optimize your content and give it a better chance of ranking. But if your content exists for the sole purpose of getting to the top of Google search results, it probably won’t rank, nor will it win your audience’s approval.

Above all else, your content should educate and inform your readers and help them solve problems. This is the type of content that gets shared, linked to, and commented on — the type of content that ranks in search results.

There are 200 Google ranking factors. You can’t game them all. Instead, start with your readers and their needs, then worry about SEO.

Stay consistent

If you want to establish your company as a source of truth, you need to publish content regularly.

In a perfect world, you’d be able to publish as much as the most popular news sources. But even if you’re just releasing a quarterly research report, your audience will know they can count on you for helpful information on a regular basis.

Back up your content with data

Lastly, we highly recommend backing up your content with data – if not with proprietary data, then with third-party data from a legitimate source. Even a single citation can add legitimacy to an article.

If you don’t trust us, trust the Content Marketing Institute. They’ve been a leader in educating the business world about content marketing since 2011.

Original, proprietary research is typically more effective than third-party research. A single survey can provide you with data enough for months’ worth of trustworthy, data-backed content.

Talk to an analyst today to learn how your business can become a source of truth.