Building a meaningful relationship with consumers is a HUGE part of your content marketing efforts. Yes, you want to get your name, service, or business out there and into the thought process of current and potential clients. Just like in real life, people will block you out if your communication is overwhelmingly self-involved. Don’t be a brand that suffers from a serious case of chronic vanity.
A recent Content Marketing Survey by Kentico Software shows that customer trust in content marketing is high, but it declines rapidly as a brand moves in for a sale.
The survey of 325 US residents found that 74% of the general public trusts educational content from businesses on a particular topic. But placing a sales pitch even at the close of an objective piece of content caused that credibility level to dive down by 29%.
Other content marketing offenses that hurt customer trust include information that:
· Can’t be corroborated with other non-company sources: 46% (Remember, consumers don’t exist in a vacuum. They are more than willing to fact-check.)
· Doesn’t address other perspectives or viewpoints: 17%
· Isn’t clear that it’s coming from a particular company: 15%
· Talks down to the reader: 12%
With those points in mind, here are some things to keep in mind when crafting content:
1) When producing content, make sure it adds value to the lives of your audience. It may be a neat infographic that hits upon their particular set of interests or something serious that makes them ponder, whatever it is… make sure it’s relevent to your fan niche.
2) Climb down from your Ivory Tower. You may be deemed an expert in your field, which is wonderful. Just don’t act like you have nothing more to learn. Be authentic. Share helpful insights from other sources and experts in your field. Don’t talk above your audience in a demeaning fashion, create content that is easily digestible and educational.
3) Yes, you can talk about yourself, your service, your business etc., but proceed carefully. Don’t make it every single shred of material generated about YOU. Keep an eye on your content mix and pay attention to how you present/ word your content. Are you pushing a sale? Or are you sharing useful findings and your ‘lessons learned’ without a pitch? Is your purpose to assist your audience or get them to open up their wallets? You wouldn’t want to dash your credibility with an ill-timed plug.
Keep in mind: You want your content shared and consumers are not going to share content from a source that has not earned their trust.
What is Social Rank?
SocialRank is a proprietary algorithm built on top of the our content platform that gives a holistic view of all social engagement (such as likes, comments, and shares) for published content across the web.