Upping Your Social Media Trust Factor (Who’s in your circle?)

(Reading time: 5 – 8 minutes)

Listen to this post:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Social media trust is an important topic, because, as more and more individuals and businesses invest in the social media space, there will come a crisis of trust. This crisis of trust will happen because there will be so much access to so many resources.

This increased access will (and maybe already is!) making it more difficult to decide 1. who to connect with, 2. who to trust, and, ultimately, 3. who to do business with.

As you know, we all want to do business with people we like and trust.  As the web becomes more and more crowded, we’re going to be asking ourselves, quite often:

The first answer to this question is easy. We are naturally going to first trust those people we know offline, or have met in person, and with whom we’ve built some kind of relationship.

First circle of trust

The people in this group may be clients, friends, business partners, colleagues- anyone we have a real-life connection with, as well as on online one. These people move to our first circle of trust.

In order to visualize the “circles of trust”, think of them as a series of concentric circles, gradually becoming larger and larger and moving further and further out from the center. You are the center of the innermost circle, and are surrounded by circles of trust.

So the first circle of trust is people you know or have met and have some kind of relationship with.

Second circle of trust

The second circle of trust is built by friends of friends: people who have been recommended or endorsed by those in our first circle. This is why it is powerful to get recommendations on a site like LinkedIn. This recommendation, essentially, becomes a badge of trust- letting others know that someone they know has found you trustworthy and worth doing business with.

Each time you have a successful outcome with a new client or business partner, ask for a recommendation on LinkedIn, and give one as well.

This is an efficient and effective strategy for building your second circle of trust.

Third circle of trust

The third circle of trust is made up of people you would be friends with, if you could connect with them. At this level, there are people in the online world who you would like and trust if you had a chance to connect with them.

They are, in essence, “future friends you haven’t met yet.”

A good example of this happened to me a few years ago. I was taking an online training program by phone which met for four months.

During that time, I only had occasion to speak with my classmates by phone. Eventually, we scheduled a real life meeting and met in person for the first time. We recognized each other by voice, and we quickly connected as friends and colleagues because we had been in training together.

In my model, I would count these people as my third circle of trust, initially, and most of them moved to first circle after I met them.

Fourth circle of trust

The fourth circle of trust is made up of people you would never connect with, even if you could. At this level, there are people in the online world with whom you have little or nothing in common, or with whom you somehow just wouldn’t click. These people are on the outermost reaches of your circles of trust, and are unlikely to move in any further to center.

So now that you understand the circles of trust in social media, let’s look at ways you can improve your social media trust factor.

Improve your trust factor

In order to generate the greatest reach in social media, it is important to cultivate contacts up to, and including, your third circle of trust. This will give you the greatest range of outreach for your expertise and your message. There is inherent value in building up your social network. Pierre Bourdieu, a French sociologist, studied this idea of creating broad and loose networks. He said there is value in having a large network, and termed this value “social capital.”

So in order to build your own social capital, let’s look at some strategies for building your social media trust factor:

1. Be consistent. The human brain responds to repetition. As I say, “Repetition is Reputation”- which means that what you continually repeat is what people will remember about you. Make sure the messages you send out are what you want to be known for.
2. Don’t participate in social media when you’re stressed, angry, or having a bad day. An ill-timed (or ill-considered) rant can undo all your relationship building efforts. Have your opinions, of course, but find other places to blow off idle steam.
3. Do what you say you will do. If you promise to assist someone with a resource or a lead, follow through. Don’t offer if you aren’t going to do it.
4. Be what people expect. If you have given some thought to how you want to be perceived, you should strive to be what people expect. You must carefully nurture your social media brand, just like in any other interaction.
5. Be congruent to your message offline as well. If you are presenting yourself as an expert with specialized knowledge- look the part in person, too. Never give people a chance to wonder if you are really what you say.

Building trust in social media takes time. But the more you repeat consistent, brand supporting messages, the more likely people will be to notice you. Getting attention is the first step to making anything happen.

Then you must consistently support your brand in order to build greater and greater trust.

What are ways you build trust in social media? Please leave a comment and share your strategies here.

And, if you’d like access my 21 lesson e-course on building influence in social media, get that here: Build Influence eCourse

Rachna Jain is the amazingly energetic entrepreneur driving Social Media Marketing Strategies, where you will find in-depth discussion of the latest technology and techniques in social media marketing.