Andy Sernovitz

Andy’s Answers: Why trust is everything in social media

If you work in word of mouth and social media, you’re in the trust business.

It’s this trust that earns you the respect and recommendation of your fans — and it’s where all great word-of-mouth and social-media programs begin.

In my recent BlogWell presentation, I shared a few of the fundamentals on how to earn trust:

  • Never pay for love. When you pay for an endorsement, it tarnishes not only that referral — but every future one afterwards. When fans know you sometimes pay for love, it’s hard to trust any of your recommendations.
  • Use a real disclosure every time. It’s as simple and plain English as the phrase, “My name is ___ and I represent ______.” Make it clear and make it obvious.
  • Don’t lie to your mother. Whatever you’re doing, your intentions and your affiliations should be understandable to the average reader. If your own mother would be confused by what you’re doing, ask yourself, “Why are we lying to our moms?”

If you like this presentation, be sure to check out our upcoming BlogWell in Chicago on Aug. 11.

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Responses

  • Posted by Tweets that mention SmartBlog On Social Media » Andy’s Answers: Why trust is everything in social media -- Topsy.com on July 29th, 2010 at 4:46 am

    [...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Jason Murphy, youredgeonline and Vinoth Chandar, RT17. RT17 said: Andy's Answers: Why trust is everything in social media – If you work in word of mouth and social media, you're in t… http://ow.ly/18le0x [...]

  • Posted by Jethro Jean-Baptiste on July 30th, 2010 at 7:29 pm

    Andy, this is a great post. I think that it is definitely more difficult for defining a clear strategy when it comes to participating in social media. However, there are great sites like SalesFuel that integrates with LinkedIn, so that B2B marketers and sales reps can use social selling to make warmer sales calls. Try the free trial and connect to 32+ million companies with in-depth profiles.

  • Posted by Mark Allen Roberts on August 1st, 2010 at 7:07 pm

    Chances are, if you find yourself lying, you failed to do the upfront work prior to launch. I call the filter we must run through prior to lunch the "4 yes's" as I discuss in my blog http://nosmokeandmirrors.wordpress.com/2010/07/26…
    We must be authentic and tell the truth to build trust.

    Mark Allen Roberts

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  • Posted by @RobertDStrong on August 13th, 2010 at 10:11 am

    This is so true, I see so many people that are not transparent in what they do or who they are. If you are anetworkmarketer and offer opportunities for people – be up front and honest about it. This is why I have linked many of my different social media sites,blogs and other sites together. I am very transparent, also many of my sites all say<a hef="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Robert-David-Strong-Marketing/122123344488368/">RobertStrongMarketing, very , very transparent.