By Dylan Duke
Building brand trust is critical. It’s what customers connect with, relate to and gravitate toward. But what exactly is brand trust? How do you establish it as a business owner or marketer?
First, let’s define precisely what brand trust and credibility are: They are the degrees to which customers view a brand as an authoritative, reliable and safe source of information, products or services. Simply put, brand trust is a company’s reputation online and offline.
With increased customer trust in the brand, companies can build positive customer relationships and harness the loyalty that these relationships generate to retain, upsell and cross-sell satisfied customers.
Loyalty is built over time through a series of positive interactions. Every touchpoint counts, from the ad or recommendation that might start the relationship to the second or third purchase. It’s here that marketers can begin to measure loyalty.
Content marketing is one of the most effective ways thought leaders share their ideas and opinions. They recognize what makes them unique and where their expertise resides and share their insight and expertise via several publication types.
While LinkedIn is the forerunner or thought leadership on social media, there are a lot of other places to publish thought leadership content. For example, digital trade publications, print publications, blogs (your own brand and guest posts on others), speeches, presentations, podcasts, social media and news sites are a few places to showcase thought leadership content.
The most accessible place to publish unique thought leadership is to become a regular contributor on industry and news websites as well as industry blogs. When looking at outlets to contribute to, it’s vital that you always keep the outlet’s audience front and center. If you keep the outlet’s readers in mind, you can create content for them.
The most important thing is ensuring that your thought leadership makes sense if someone could lay all the pieces out. They should be able to see a clear pattern or point of view. It can change over time but should make sense when put together.
Remember, thought leadership is about quality over quantity.
Examples of thought leaders
Along the way, internal thought leaders and external influencers can influence the purchase funnel. When a prospect or customer associates a brand with a trusted thought leader or influencer, say Oprah, they are more likely to purchase products that the thought leader recommends. Look no further than Oprah’s Book Club to see the impact of her recommendations.
Thought leaders come in all shapes and sizes, from the C-suite to frontline workers to paid spokespeople. Thought leaders share their advice with others seeking knowledge. There are several examples of leaders who are brands themselves.
Take, for instance, renowned entrepreneur, public speaker and author Seth Godin. With his vast understanding of what it takes to be successful in the modern business landscape, he has built a strong following of inspirational leaders who strive to positively impact their fields of interest.
Or there’s Harvard-educated technology executive, best-selling author and philanthropist Sheryl Sandberg. Sandberg is known for her time at Google and as Facebook’s COO. She has spoken for the company brands she represented at various times (e.g., Google and Facebook), but she has also created a highly trusted personal brand. When Sandberg speaks, people (especially women) listen.
Basketball great Stephen Curry has also become a brand unto himself. Curry has shared his thoughts on other pro athletes, interviewed Bill Gates and ignited social change.
Thought leaders and social media
Social media provides an accessible platform for thought leadership. Social media networks allow everyday people to voice their ideas and opinions to a broad audience. Thought leaders with informative or inspiring opinions and thoughts grow their social media audience followings and increase their authority on topics they are knowledgeable about.
Successful thought leaders find their niche and take the time to fully understand their target audience’s wants and needs. They become a go-to resource for their sphere of influence. Social media is a logical place for thought leadership due to its ease of access to foster meaningful conversations between like-minded individuals in the same niche.
Are social media influencers thought leaders?
There is a lot of debate about whether social media influencers are bona-fide thought leaders. While social media influencers can (and do) increase a brand’s credibility and trust, not all influencers are perceived as experts in a particular niche. Plus, it has been said that creativity is far easier to claim than influence for some. Another significant distinction is that not all thought leaders monetize their followings.
All that said, there is no denying that influencers and thought leaders do overlap to some degree. Influencers have a powerful platform to share their thoughts and opinions. They are both fantastic content creators and exhibit some level of authority. Both use social media to influence others, audiences trust them, and both can bolster a brand’s reputation, credibility and loyalty. Significantly, they can influence purchase decisions.
Influencers and thought leaders both live and breathe authentic, high-quality content.
So, which one should a brand choose to work with? Why not both? At the end of the day, using as many people and strategies with influence as possible to broaden your brand’s target audience reach and develop customer loyalty is a win-win.
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