Content serves many important purposes.
Not only does it help you spread your brand’s message, but it also builds your company voice, establishes you as an authority in your industry, and gives your SEO a massive boost.
One of the most important things content does, though, is build trust.
By providing value to your readers, answering their questions, and giving them smart solutions to common problems, content development is a fantastic way to strengthen relationships with your customers and break down trust barriers.
You just have to know how to do it right.
5 Smart Ways to Build Trust Through Content Development
Whether you’re a new brand just getting started or an established company looking to overhaul your existing content strategy, these five tips will help you build trust with your readers.
1. Stop Promoting Yourself
One of the worst things you can do when creating content is to rely too heavily on self-promotion. If you’re thinking “But, every brand does this!” you’re right. Unfortunately, it’s a terrible practice.
If a reader has found their way to your content, you can almost guarantee the last thing they want to hear is how legendary your brand is. Not only is this annoying, but it also makes your brand come off like a used-car salesman, which burns trust at a rapid pace.
With this in mind, stop promoting yourself in your online content. While it may feel like a funny adjustment at first, it’ll do wonders to earn your customers’ trust. A great strategy to follow is the 80/20 rule of thumb: 80% “third party” content (non self-promotional), and 20% branded content (self-promotional).
2. Make Value Your Primary Goal
Any time you create content, you should be aiming to share value. If you wouldn’t want to read the content you’re writing, your readers won’t want to interact with it, either. With this in mind, work hard to provide value and educate your readers. Instead of touting your services and offerings, focus on sharing new ideas and helping your customers understand how to solve their biggest pain points and difficulties.
There are two reasons doing this is so important. On the one hand, providing value to your customers sets you apart as a leader, which readers want to trust. Secondly, providing value and educating customers is a gracious gesture, and positions you as a company customers want to work with.
3. Be Consistent
Consistency is a huge deal for your readers. When you post consistently, it proves that you’re committed not only to updating your content offerings frequently, but also that you care about your customers enough to ensure they always have something new to read.
While the definition of “consistency” will vary slightly depending on your brand, you want to aim to publish at least once a week to your blog page, although more frequently would be even better. We generally recommend posting or sharing something at least 5 days per week to social media channels.
Any time you slack off your content for weeks at a time, not only do they begin to forget about you, but you also damage your relationships with your customers. This makes it harder for them to trust you and feel they can rely on you going forward. At the end of the day, consistency is one of the most important and simplest things you can do to build trust and develop brand loyalty via your online material.
4. Give Your Readers What They Want
When it comes to your content, are you addressing the issues your readers care about? If not, you’re not giving your readers something to trust and love. Instead of just writing on the topics you see around the web, commit to getting down and gritty with your customers.
What are their pain points and what do they want to get out of your writing? What are they struggling to figure out? How can you use your content to help them?
The more you can use your online content to address real issues, the more trustworthy it will be when you share it with your readers.
If you’re having trouble defining your readers’ pain points, use a site like Quora to find out what your target audience is talking about, or reach out directly to your actual readers and ask them. When you get a few leads, apply them to your content strategy and find a way to weave them into your content.
5. Use the Right Channels
The last step in creating trustworthy content is to distribute it through the right channels. While many marketers don’t consider distribution as they think about what makes for trustworthy content, it’s clear that distribution is inseparable from trust. Here’s why: no matter how good your content is, it won’t matter much if nobody sees it.
What’s more, distributing your content through the channels your readers love proves you’re paying attention to them. This, in turn, makes your brand more trustworthy and gives your readers an incentive to interact with your brand in the future.
Consider posting on niche publications or sites, using social media intelligently, and asking your customers where they’d like to see more of your content. If you take the latter tip, be sure to listen to them when they offer their input!
Trustworthy Content Begins Here
If you’re looking to find ways to improve the trust saturation of your content, these five tips are a great way to start. While virtually every marketer wants to create high-quality, trustworthy online material, lots of people aren’t sure where to begin. This leaves them confused and frustrated, wondering why their online material isn’t performing the way they had expected.
Luckily, it doesn’t have to be that difficult.
To create trustworthy content, though, you must first understand what makes up trustworthy content. This involves looking around at brands with high levels of consumer trust (think Apple, for example…or Google’s own blogs), and observing what they’re doing differently with their content.
Once you’ve done that, you can get to work overhauling your own content.
Remember: it’s important to have a trust-building strategy, and following the five tips in this post is a great introduction to the process.
To learn more about how to weave trust into your content, or to partner with a company who can guide you down the road, contact Thrive Internet Marketing today!
