Advertising does not have a very good reputation, with advertisers being distrusted by 72% of the population. This is, for the most part, in relation to traditional advertising, but what about emerging forms?
According to a report from 2012, people trust social ads more, at a rate of 36%. So what can companies do to keep and increase this trust on social media?
Make use of consent
The great thing about having brands on social media is that consumers actively seek out and give consent for advertising, typically users are quick to publicly endorse products and brands online, especially in return for special offers, competitions or exclusives (https://plus.google.com/114542752454519869265/posts/41hCaU6cefe).
Social media puts us in contact with the companies we already use or are interested in. That puts those brands in a great position to gain new customers and retain old ones without being intrusive or unwarranted in the way that other forms of advertising can be.
Use consumer-made content and testimonials
Another aspect of social media to take advantage of is that it's easy to get consumer to engage with your brand. Not only will they comment and share the things you post, but you also have an endless supply of positive and genuine testimonials - something consumers trust very highly. It's not hard to encourage them either. Status updates offering simple but interesting open questions will prompt replies, while a little prize for the best one will bring in even more.
You can also get your customers to create custom content for you as well. Creating a competition where consumers are asked to create a video or image for you will not only give you lots of content for later use, but it will also increase publicity for your brand as your customers share their creations online and with their friends. Again, it's always fair to offer some prizes for this so it doesn't seem like you're using your consumers for free labour.
Use data to target adverts properly
Traditional advertising does allow some targeting, for example understanding what type of audience is watching a television programme with a commercial break. Other forms allow you to be even less accurate, such as with billboards and newspapers.
With social media advertising there are huge amounts of data available to target content narrowly. As it's much less costly, you can also customise the content to a greater degree. Using data about demographics and engagement can help advertisers to hone their campaigns to specific audiences.
It all means that advertising has to be seen by fewer uninterested people, making it less salesy and intrusive. More consensual. A good way to build trust between advertisers and consumers.