Winning your audience's trust in an untrustworthy digital landscape
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When it comes to digital content, trust is in short supply. After all, almost anyone can upload anything they want to the internet using a social media platform, a message board, or their own website.
Even if you have an authoritative, secure business website full of elements of social proof, such as testimonials and certifications, most people who read it for the first time will do so through a lens of skepticism. As a company, you need to work extra hard to win your audience’s trust, and even harder to earn their business.
The Fate of Online Trust
In an attempt to gauge the nature of people’s trust of online content and interactions over the course of the next decade, the Pew Research Center conducted a survey. Over 1,200 people responded.
In an article about the survey, the Pew Research Center writes, “The rise of the internet and social media has enabled entirely new kinds of relationships and communities in which trust must be negotiated with others whom users do not see, with faraway enterprises, under circumstances that are not wholly familiar, in a world exploding with information of uncertain provenance used by actors employing ever-proliferating strategies to capture users’ attention.”
The results were mixed. Twenty-eight percent of respondents believed trust would stay the same in the next decade. Meanwhile, 24% said it would diminish.
Most interestingly, 48% of respondents said trust would be strengthened, in part due to changes being implemented to enhance the environment of online trust, such as regulations (including the GDPR) and the proliferation of decentralized security technologies like blockchain. These results can be reconciled with other studies, such as a 2017 study of U.S. adults that revealed only 53% of them trust what they see on the internet.
“Remember, just because you have someone’s attention doesn’t mean you have their trust.”
Nonetheless, the Pew Research study revealed several themes which could emerge in the coming years. One theme indicated that the online trust situation is currently less than satisfactory and will not change. Another indicated that trust would diminish because of the inherent insecurity of the internet.
Establishing Trust in Your Business
What does this mean for businesses?
If your business is well-established and already has a good reputation, it’s likely that more people will trust your staff’s opinions. You may even be considered an expert in your industry, which means other companies may seek you out for your insights.
But if you’re still building your business’ content base and working on your online reputation, you’ll need to take steps with your content to establish people’s trust. It may take time, but the benefits of content are many. According to the Content Marketing Institute, content marketing gets three times as many leads per dollar spent than paid search advertising.
Trust Factors You Can Use in Content
While there’s nothing wrong with producing your own content based on your own insights and experiences, you can’t always expect your readers to take your writing at face value. There are a few things you can do in your writing to build trust. Good grammar, spelling, and content structure are all factors that contribute to your readers’ experience.
But there are other steps you can take to ensure your audience views your content as trustworthy.
Give away your content for free
Free content is the cornerstone of any content marketing strategy. According to an article by The Marketing Helpline, 70% of marketers are actively investing in content marketing and 24% of marketers are planning on increasing their investment in content in 2020.
At most, only ask for a small amount of contact information in exchange for your content. This is usually only a good idea if your content has a great deal of value.
White papers, eBooks, and original research reports are all types of content that most people are willing to give their information for. Once you have data on those prospects, you can begin to nurture them as leads.
Elicit expert testimony
You may be an expert in your field, but if you haven’t done an extensive number of webinars and speaking engagements, or if you are as yet unpublished under your or your company’s name, your audience may have little reason to heed what you say.
One great way to earn people’s trust is to interview experts in their industry. A single interview can help you create an entire suite of trustworthy content.
If you can’t do interviews, you can also use quotes from available sources. Just be sure you cite those sources and use the quotes in good faith.
Come from a place of help
Readers will know immediately if you’re trying to sell them something. Granted, you do want to sell them something eventually, but that shouldn’t be apparent in your marketing content.
Instead, focus on the issues and challenges that matter most to your audience. Provide them with information they don’t already have, answers to their questions, and solutions to their most common problems.
Teach them something new and your content will be miles ahead of anything else online.
Conduct original research
Original research is perhaps the most persuasive asset you can use when developing content. If you don’t have your own proprietary research, you should always refer to expert third-party sources to back up your claims.
When you present original research, you’re accomplishing two things:
You’re entering new information into the lexicon and presenting your audience with something they’ve never seen before.
You’re showing your audience that you aren’t just creating content for the sake of it — you’re trying to help people like them gain a better understanding of their industry.
According to a research study by SaaS company BuzzSumo, 47% of marketers were publishing original research in 2018. Among those marketers who had published original research, 89% said the results of doing so met or exceeded at least some of their expectations. Among the 53% who hadn’t published original research, 68% said they planned to do so in the future.
(Source: BuzzSumo)
Build Trust with Your Content
Remember, just because you have someone’s attention doesn’t mean you have their trust. Creating catchy headlines for your blog posts are important, but if the posts themselves don’t have enough substance, there’s no reason for your audience to give you their trust, much less their business.
Strong writing, helpful insights, and claims backed by original research are the most powerful tools in your content arsenal. If you’re ready to start building trustworthy content, contact us at rand&rand to talk about your next research project.
