By Lauren Wilkison

Building trust is still essential to growing a strong business. Take the company “Honest” for example who made a brand built solely on the basis of creating baby, home, and personal products with quality ingredients. Their name is a brand promise, and their actions as a company are driven by the goal of maintaining trust and honesty with their customers.

This strategy has worked tremendously well for the company, which has netted more than $1B in sales and has amassed a profit of over $200M for its founder, Jessica Alba. Becoming a trustworthy and authentic brand is not just reserved for Hollywood socialites turned entrepreneurs. Each and every brand can cultivate trust online through the following techniques.

Provide the Information Your Customers Want and Need

The best way to establish trust with your audience is to provide them with the information that positions you as an authority in the field. People trust people who demonstrate that they have knowledge and skill in a given industry. Take the time to cultivate your brand around providing useful information to your customers. Remember, every interaction with your customer doesn’t need to be a sales pitch. Sometimes providing simple tips and advice can go a long way in establishing a pipeline of trust and authority.

Stay Active on Your Social Media Profiles

Another great way to help establish trust is to make yourself available to answer customer queries on social media or through a live chat on your website. Making yourself available helps build trust in two ways: it shows you are a real person that cares enough about your customers to take the time to help them or answer questions and it also gives people a quick and easy way to contact you in the event that they do need something.

Being available on social media shows that you are confident enough in your product that you are willing to take it to the public and handle customer reviews, messages, and comments like a professional.

Be Consistent with Your Content

Creating fresh content for your company website and your social media channels is essential for establishing yourself as a trustworthy brand online. Think of times when you have wanted to learn more about a company and you visit their Facebook page only to see they haven’t posted on it in a year, or you check out their company blog only to see that there have only been 2 posts published. While it may seem like content marketing is optional, it is one of the most essential ways that you convey to your potential customers that your business is flourishing both on and offline. Businesses that are running smoothly take the time to invest in their online brand image by maintaining active social profiles and consistently updated blogs with fresh, insightful, and useful content that helps website visitors in some way.

Respond to Reviews, Comments, and Mentions Online

When you notice that you have received a review, comment, or mention online, take the opportunity to reach back out to the person that left it and let them know how much you appreciate the effort they put forth in reviewing your product or service online or recommending you to their friends and family.

If you receive negative feedback, handle it promptly and professionally by requesting that the customer contact you offline by phone so that you can help work towards a resolution that will keep you both happy. Once you have resolved the issue offline, make sure to leave a comment on their review indicating the steps that you took to resolve their issue, thank them for their feedback, and let them know that you would love to serve them again in the future. Many times they will update their review or comment to let people know that you took the time and effort to resolve their complaint, which goes a long way in building trust with potential clients that may find that review in the future.

These are just a few of the ways you can help your business look more trustworthy online. If you’d like to learn more about how you can build your website’s domain authority with the search engines, contact the Google Certified Experts at Organically!