I’ve been exploring conversational marketing lately, both for some of the talks I give and to advise clients on appropriate and effective ways to not just engage our audiences in conversation, but also persuade them. If we, as social media marketers, are not using the engagement opportunity to motivate those audiences to do something, then there’s little business purpose in having the conversations in the first place.
At Social Media Plus last week, I talked about conversational marketing and came away from the presentation thinking a lot about trust. My theory around conversational marketing is that success occurs when our genuine participation (that without marketing as motivation) earns enough trust from our audience to share information that is driven by our business. But trust is earned in a variety of ways.
But trust is also something we randomly give away in certain circumstances. You trust strangers on the street to give you directions. You trust random people to watch your bag while you throw something away at the airport. You may even trust a product recommendation made in a conversation near you that you only overheard.
Why? Or more importantly, what is it that makes people trust us?
Without a great deal of discussion (that’s what the comments are for), here’s a list of 25 different ways you can earn trust, both on- and off-line:
25 Simple Ways To Earn Trust
- Be polite
- Dress neatly
- Smile
- Shake hands firmly
- Hug if appropriate
- Illustrate your knowledge
- Make eye contact
- Speak clearly
- Share ideas, content and praise
- Be positive
- Ask how they are doing
- Know when to shut up
- Use a clear and distinctive avatar
- Talk about everything but you most of the time
- Be confident your product or service is valuable
- Make it easy for people to buy, but also to return
- Say “please” “thank you” and “excuse me”
- Admit when you’re wrong
- Don’t gloat when you’re right
- Hold the door or elevator for someone else
- Pay attention to those talking to you
- Don’t gossip
- Be open minded
- Respect their right to not answer or agree
- Do all of that consistently
What more can you think of? The comments are yours.
IMAGE: By EDHAR on Shutterstock.com
