How are you using social media? Is it to engage your target audience, build customer loyalty, or something else?
Want people to know, like, and trust your brand?
And is there ever a good reason to be dishonest when using social media? The answer to this one is, no, never! Honesty is always the best.
It can be tempting to create a fake persona for your social media campaign. You might even think it’s safer to pretend to be someone you’re not to protect yourself from customers’ complaints, gripes, and disagreements—but don’t do it! Going down that road can lead to disaster.
Here are three reasons why you need to be yourself when using social media for your business.
1. You are Building a Relationship Based on Trust
For a relationship to grow and last, trust must be established. Trust is something that can develop over time. Some people may even push the boundaries of that developing relationship to see how committed and sincere you really are. Your customers will care about what you’re selling if you show that you care about them first. Ultimately, your efforts will lead to sales. But you shouldn’t let the possibility of a sale get in the way of you doing what is best for your customers.
Building a relationship takes time and effort so take a genuine interest in what’s important to your customers. Trust is an important part of your relationship-building efforts. You’ll discover that trust and loyalty go hand in hand and more times than not, you’ll not have one without the other.
2. Honesty is the Best Policy
Doing the right thing even if it’s hard is a good habit to practice. You have the awesome responsibility to lead by setting a good example. Your customers, employees and even prospects are making decisions about you and your business based on what they’ve heard from others, and your everyday social media activities. They are trying to determine if you are worth their time and effort. Be honest. Be consistent. If your business is built on the principle of honesty, be that. It’ll yield positive outcomes for the long-term growth of your business. You’ll earn respect and will be rewarded with trust. Trust is what helps build and solidify your brand.
To remain top-of-mind when customers are considering purchasing what you offer, you must give them a good reason to consider you honest and trustworthy to buy from.
3. Social Media is Transparent
It’s like news traveling at the speed of type. Photos, videos, updates are being shared and commenting on constantly. People are reconnecting with old friends and new friendships are being forged. For me, it has been my passport to a world of growth, opportunity, and discovery that I don’t think I would have been able to explore otherwise. So if you’re going to engage with people through social media, make sure your intentions are good—be truthful about yourself with others. Don’t use a fake persona, remember, trust and honesty is an essential foundation on which to build a good relationship. People want to connect with real people online.
I’m not suggesting that you have to publicly tell all the details about your personal life. But if you are going to share something, don’t lie is what I’m saying. Otherwise, don’t share it at all. Try not to break the trust of your customers or audience.
Two-cent tip
“You will always harvest what you plant.” Want to harvest honesty, then be honest. Want people to trust you, then be trustworthy. It is that simple. No wise business owners want to build a reputation for being dishonest.
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