The Trust Equation: A secret weapon for social media success in 2025
In an era of information overload, social media users are increasingly discerning. So how can businesses ensure their messages aren’t falling on deaf ears? Charles H. Green’s Trust Equation states that the key elements of trust are underpinned by levels of “self-orientation”.
In a business context, this can refer to how much a brand tailors its external communications to the interests of its audience.
As a Social Media Consultant supporting clients across the built environment, life sciences and technology sectors, building trust with their audiences is key. While this is a long game rather than a quick fix, it can have a big impact on a bottom line, increasing loyalty and making the customer journey from awareness to conversion significantly smoother.
So how should a business go about building brand trust? Well, consumers are becoming increasingly selective about the content they choose to engage with, so all posts should aim to provide value in the form of entertainment, education or inspiration. Sitting firmly in the ‘entertainment’ category, Monzo has revolutionised the boring banking aesthetic by creating a daring social media personality which is all about connecting with its customers. They’ve even torn up the rule book on platforms like LinkedIn by sharing short, text-only posts which drive impressive levels of engagement. Recent examples of our value-driven approach here at Perceptive Communicators include an inspirational video reel of a completed construction project for engineering client Will Rudd, and an engaging carousel post about a novel biofilm prevention technology for life sciences client, Remora. Armed with an understanding of existing, and target audiences – their interests, pain points, online behaviors, and preferred platforms – we’re able to tailor content to resonate with them on a deeper level. This leads to increased engagement, higher conversion rates, and ultimately greater brand trust.
Monzo’s pivotal ‘money never felt like monzo’ campaign
But if we are to truly align with the interests of our audiences, insights are paramount. At Perceptive, we invest in sophisticated software tools to gain valuable information about audience behaviours for our clients: What are the audience demographics? Which content themes are they most responsive to? Which post formats are delivering the highest levels of engagement? Regular reporting and subsequent discussions with our clients allow us to feed our strategies with these invaluable insights.
Another way a brand can build trust is to tap into the power of its team with an employee advocacy programme. On LinkedIn, employees have social networks ten times larger than corporate brands. Not only this, employee shares on LinkedIn have double the click-through-rate of corporate shares. For over a decade, we’ve been training clients on how to make the most of this exciting opportunity, outlining the benefits for both employee and employer, and sharing clear guidelines and expectations to help individuals become influential industry voices.
An example of employee advocacy on Perceptive Communicator’s social media channels
One built environment client saw a 73% increase in employee reposts and a 567% increase in post comments in the eight weeks following our employee advocacy training.
Businesses can build brand trust even further in 2025 by doubling down on raw, unfiltered content, sharing powerful third-party endorsements and telling their stories in an authentic and relatable way. Those that are spontaneous, candid and embrace the imperfect can expect to gain an edge on their competition this year.
Brand trust is not something that can be switched on or off. It’s a long-term relationship-driven strategy that should underpin everything a business does on its social media channels. Amongst the countless platform updates, algorithm changes and viral trends, if there’s one thing that businesses should be focusing on in 2025 it should be forging stronger connections with their audiences. Get this right and set the stage for a successful 2025.
Mike Christoforou is a Social Media Consultant at Perceptive Communicators, a multi-award-winning communications consultancy that supports clients in science, technology and the built environment who are improving lives and transforming futures.
