Customers Don’t Trust Advertising, But Your Social Media Friends DO? | Driving Traffic

I’m not going to surprise many people with this fact, but it needs to be talked about.

FACT: About 100% of consumers don’t trust advertising, according to a report sponsored by marketing solutions provider Alterian.

The report also discovered that less than 8% of people trust what companies say about themselves and more than 58% say that companies aren’t always acting in the best interest of the customer.

Here’s the dagger in the heart… ONLY 17% percent of people believe that companies actually care what the consumer is saying.

OUCH!

FYI: This should really concern you and you’re brain should be thinking of ways to change this. Why?  Well, if you’re like me, none of these things are true about you and you actually care about the customers you provide for.

My favorite part of this report is that it concluded that customers who are “actively engaged in the use of social media tend to be more positive about companies in general.”  33% of these social media users believed that companies are genuinely interested in them.

Why? These people are interacting with the companies they patronize on a more personal level (social media), thus they are more trusting.

That’s a lot more than the 1% of people not using social media!

This just goes to show that there is always a way to break through barriers that prevent your customers from trusting you, and as good marketers we must find them and make the most of them.

There is great value in meeting your customers where they are.  In this case ‘where they are’ is Twitter and Facebook.  ‘Where they are’ gives you a real opportunity to show who YOU really are and gain their trust.

Question: How are you using social media to increase trust with your customers?  I know some of you are getting creative, so I’d love to hear some stories.

Learn More:

Want to learn how to connect with your customers even when your advertising to them?  Check out my personal strategy for Facebook called ‘Facebook AdPower’ and discover the real way to gain trust and advertise at the same time!

via drivingtraffic.com

Posted via email from moneytalks's posterous