One of the greatest benefits of Social Media Marketing for Irish businesses is that it allows them to develop social trust amongst hundreds or even thousands of people.

When people are sharing positive information about your brand it can create positive brand associations for current enthusiasts. Genuine brand compliments have also been proven to have a positive, rippling effect on brand followers and indeed others in the customer’s network: thus creating an increased rate of brand trust and popularity. Moreover, the people who have had such a positive experience and who have chosen to post and share their experience are twice as likely to become brand loyal.

In Ireland 15% of people on social media will post praise having had a positive experience with a brand. Attentive customer care, promise delivery, excellent service and free giveaways– these are all samples of brand actions that will yield positive feedback.

On the flip side it is also evident that 15% of people will also share a negative posts or complaints on social media having had a poor experience. i.e. charges for excess baggage, delayed service, surcharges, additional postage fees, poor customer service and the delivery of a wrong/damaged item – these are all samples of how companies can find themselves suffering from negative press.

In Ireland a surprising 67% of people are already researching options online, via social media before making a purchasing decision. Moreover 44% of people will seek the advice from others who have already purchased, admitting that both positive and negative customer reviews would influence their final purchasing decision.

In an era where social platforms have exponentially increased the rate and reach of our communications it has never been so important to deliver on your brand promise and capitalise on social trust.

REMEMBER – even if you have not created a social page or profile for your brand you are there! You are there through every social mention, every employee profile, every customer past and present.

There is no opt out, only a decision to be made – how could you use the power of social trust to build better relationships with your audiences?