Authenticity builds trust and that’s a win for your business
When it comes to building traction on your digital assets, it’s all about trust and authenticity.
Buy from a brand you trust. Buy from a company you trust.
But what is trust and how do you build authenticity as a business owner? Maybe through social proof? Reviews? Feedback? Going viral?
In a study from Dimensional Research, 90 percent of respondents said online reviews influence their purchasing decisions, and on average, these consumers read more than two reviews—often from more than one site—hoping to get an authentic look at your business before engaging with you.
If you have reviews all over the web… Amazon, Facebook, Yelp, Google, and more, how do you capitalize on it? How do you harness the power of social proof without taxing all of your resources and distracting you from other business challenges?
Traditionally, your approach may have looked like this:
- Get a great purchase on Amazon? Please leave us a 5-star review!
- Did we deliver awesome customer service? Tell your friends on Facebook!
- Love our product? Share a pic on Insta!
- Like how our product works? How about a video review on YouTube?
- And on and on and on…
But even when you get these reviews and influencers are dropping your name all over the web, how do you pull potential customers out of the digital giants’ hands over to your business?
Remember, the big guys like Google and Facebook steal your customers’ eyes and lure away your dollars. Nevertheless, you keep feeding them your data, dollars, and time, with little clarity on if it’s actually working for you.
You’ve got the attention, now put it to work for you
We live in an attention economy. Influencers, influencers everywhere. Heck, people are making millions of dollars by building personality brands on sites like YouTube and Instagram. So why is it so hard to make it work for your business?
The reality is customers are cynical and if something doesn’t feel authentic, they don’t bite. We live in a world of CGI, clickbait, and deep fakes so your customers are likely skeptical of inherent deception. That’s especially true for millennials who make up about 25 percent of the population and have an annual spending influence of about $200 billion.
In one study, 84% of millennials said they don’t like traditional marketing or trust it. Yikes! But on the upside, according to AdWeek, millennials will check out content if it’s from a personality they find authentic and if what’s being shared is useful and entertaining.
So how do you use all the digital tools out there to grow your business and build a foundation of trust and authenticity? It’s exhausting jumping all over the web to track customers down and pull them to where you do business.
Not all attention is authentic: Build Your Own Attention Economy
Meet Joe Nicchi. Joe is a co-founder of CVT Soft Serve in Los Angeles. Joe said no to influencing just for the sake of well, influencing what?
Joe got tired of influencers asking him for his product—ice cream which costs a mere $4—for free in exchange for a promo. His business caught media attention recently when it declared, “Influencers pay double.“
But wait. What?! Why would any business owner take that chance? Isn’t this what we’ve been dying for?
Joe says no. Why? Because it isn’t real. It isn’t authentic.
In a global study by Cohn & Wolf, consumers said they base perceptions of authenticity on personal brand experiences. The study also revealed that nine of 10 consumers will reward a brand for authenticity like recommending brand to others or pledging loyalty to that brand.
So how can you be a more authentic business?
- Consistency is key. By aggregating your social feed and related sites to your website, you give your customers a comprehensive look at what your business is, how great your product is, what problems you solve, and what your customers think about you. The Cohn & Wolf survey says consumers are looking for daily, real-life reminders they can count on brands. Unite all your channels in one place with the tools you need to build trust and consistency right on your website.
- Grow your audience. How frustrating is it to hear a customer say, “Oh, I knew you were on [this social], but I had no idea you were on [that one]”? Ugh, so much time and energy invested, and even the people who follow you don’t know where to follow. By pulling all your social sites into one place on your website, you have a unique—and fast—way to grow your audience across multiple platforms with far less work than you’d expect.
- Respond and engage. If you’re using multiple social sites and tools to connect with your customers, you’re probably exhausted by all the effort it takes to track notifications, engage, and provide timely feedback. Not only can your customers see what the public says about you, they can easily see how you respond, build trust, and provide service.
- Be relevant and align your message to your audience. Since 80 percent of consumers say content authenticity influences decisions to follow a brand, it’s important to stay up to date with what they’re interested in.
We know the thought of changing the way you do business with the giants feels daunting, but that’s why we’re here. Your success is our success. That’s not just vibrato. It’s how we do business and we will empower you to take control of yours. Aggregate all of the resources you’re investing in online and we’ll help you convert them to transactions so easily you’ll wonder why this hasn’t been done before.
We get it. It can be hard to read a long article like this, retain all the information, and then apply it to your business. If you find yourself in this situation, click here to hop on a call with us. We’ll be able to talk about the details of your business and give you some advice on where to take your content and more.
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