A small business owner in her cafe.
getty
Businesses have to fight hard to gain trust online. According to Statista, almost half of adults say they don’t trust information posted on social media platforms very much, and 16% say they don’t trust it at all. This is a problem for businesses trying to build a brand and attract customers.
What’s even more surprising is that AI stagnation may be making things even worse. Consumers are wary of AI. KPMG found that only 46% of people worldwide trust AI. Another study found that brands face a “trust penalty” if consumers learn that AI created their content.
In an environment where consumers are already skeptical of marketing messages, over-reliance on AI-generated content could further erode trust in businesses. Here are three practical ways you can strategically (and reliably) earn more trust from your marketing without relying on AI as your primary content generation method.
1. Focus on human-driven content
Recently, I noticed that local businesses have started posting 100% AI-generated videos on Instagram. The videos included AI-generated characters and narration, and all videos looked exactly the same. It was clear that the content was completely AI-generated and looked incredibly fake. Within a month, their follower count dropped by more than 20%.
Human-driven marketing can be counterproductive. Customers are more likely to trust and respond positively to content that feels personal and clearly connected to a real person. Additionally, according to Edelman’s Trust Barometer, 88% of consumers believe trust is as important as price and quality. Examples of human-driven content include:
- Verified customer testimonials and case studies
- Founder’s personal brand
- Employee-generated content
- video speaking to camera
- Expert commentary and digital PR stories
This is any content that features business owners, staff members, creators, or customers who are clearly visible or attributed to the content. Now, not all marketing needs to meet this standard. However, weaving human-driven content into your marketing strategy is an important way to increase trust in your business.
3. Create thought leadership content
Customers want to do business with someone they can trust to be an expert. There are many benefits to creating thought leadership content and building your personal brand as a business owner, including differentiating your business from others (you can’t be the only one) and building a trustworthy reputation as a go-to expert in your field.
Here are five practical and easy ways busy business owners can do this.
- Posts from your personal LinkedIn profile
- Long-form content, such as blogs or LinkedIn articles
- Monthly email magazine
- Appear as a guest speaker on a relevant industry podcast
- Contribute as a guest writer to relevant industry publications
If you have the bandwidth, use different options. These can help establish you as a thought leader and increase trust in your personal brand and, by extension, your business brand.
Remember that trust is paramount to business success. While AI is a great way to achieve efficiency, relying solely on it for your marketing content can be risky. So make sure there is human supervision. Employ these trust-building strategies to improve your business’s reputation and attract customers, not attract customers.
