Building Social Trust on Twitter

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So you’ve been on social media for a while now. You have a great group of friends that you often engage with and you enjoy those conversations. But do you have social trust? So many of us forget that being on social media is different from being successful on social media. To gain real ROI from your time on social media, you have to build social trust. What is it and why is it so important? We invited content conversion strategist, Deb Coman, to help us understand. Here’s a summary of our chat.

Guest: Deb Coman
Topic: Building social trust on Twitter
Format: Eight questions directed at the guest. Everyone’s welcome to share.

Q1: What is social trust?

When you engage with other people’s content on social media, you earn social trust. Think of it like currency that you can leverage to grow your brand further. The more you focus on building relationships with others and genuinely engaging with their content, the more social trust you’ll gain.

As Christine pointed out, know, like, and trust are the three pillars of building a brand on social media. When people who know and like you start talking about you because you bring value to them, that’s when you gain social trust.

Q2: Why is building trust important on Twitter?

It’s important because people buy from and refer people they trust. That’s why every time you open Twitter, you have a chance to earn people’s trust.

As Richard added, without social trust, you’ll only be adding to the white noise that’s prevalent on Twitter already.

Q3: What are some common misconceptions about trusting people on Twitter?

Most people naturally think that someone with a high follower count has a lot of trust. Not true. Neither is the idea that trust is relative to the time you spend on social media or the number of new articles you share every week. It’s about the quality of your engagements—not the quantity.

Our friends from GiveWP shared a few more common misconceptions about trusting people on Twitter. The biggest one is also the most prevalent among those new to social media: they think they can build trust overnight. Won’t happen. It’s also a bad idea to ignore negative comments or engagement thinking that they’ll go away automatically. Yet another common misconception is that trust is a one-way street. It’s not. If you want your audience to trust you, you have to be trusting, too.

Q4: What are some ways to build trust on Twitter?

Our guest shared a few great ways to prepare yourself before posting. Use the TRUST model: Take account of your current Twitter feed to find relevant ideas and people,
Reflect on what you’ve read and gather your thoughts, Unleash your creative element, Set up a plan to build connections, and Take action and start engaging with people.

Madalyn shared her best ways to build trust: engage often and engage genuinely.

Q5: What should you avoid doing when trying to build trust on Twitter?

The usual suspects all feature on the list of things you shouldn’t do when you’re trying to build trust. Don’t only post your own content, don’t over-schedule or disappear often, and don’t try and be someone else.

Another thing to avoid, as Laura pointed out, is to interfere in conversations when you don’t have anything valuable to add. That and being overly self-promotional.

Q6: Are collaborations and partnerships effective tools to build trust on Twitter?

They sure are! As our guest explained, when you collaborate with others, you share the trust you’ve both built. However, to get the most benefit from collaboration, make sure that you both share the same values and find something that’s mutually beneficial.

As Nathalie pointed out, collaboration is also a great way for you to rally your community into supporting you and the brand you’re partnering with. It actively involves your audience and that helps them like and trust you more.

Q7: How can you rebuild trust on Twitter after a negative incident?

If there’s been some form of conflict, always be willing to listen to what the other person has to say. Ask questions and try and understand their point of view. Don’t react instinctively.

To start rebuilding trust, firstly, acknowledge your mistake and take responsibility for any damages caused. Then, actively try and make amends while communicating with your audience—ask for the opportunity to make things right.

Q8: Name some brands that do a great job of building social trust.

Our guest gave a shout-out to many names familiar to the #TwitterSmarter community: Julia Bramble, Winnie Sun, Nathalie Gregg, Kate Bour, Madalyn Sklar, and Christina Garnett. Every one of them is a great example of a brand engaging with their audience genuinely and building lasting relationships—check them out.

Masooma named a few corporate brands. Grammarly, ClickUp, and Loom all do a great job of building social trust.

Well folks, that’s all from me this week. Thanks for reading through and for more great insights from our chat with Deb have a look at this Twitter Moment that Joana put together for us. If you like this summary, you’ll love the real-time chat. Join us next Thursday at 1 pm ET for #TwitterSmarter. We also have an after-chat on Twitter Spaces at 5 pm ET. See you there!


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About me, Narmadhaa:

I write all the things—marketing stuff to pay the bills; haiku and short stories so I feel wholesome. A social media enthusiast, I hang out with the #TwitterSmarter chat crew, and am always happy to take on writing gigs.

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