We sometimes go through LIFE without paying attention to what we communicate and the role “communication” plays in promoting TRUST. Every word, gesture, tone and voice inflection, body language, and even how fast or slow we respond play a big role in the way we are being perceived and thus TRUSTED.According to Wikipedia “In sociology and psychology the degree to which one party trusts another is a measure of belief in the honesty, fairness, or benevolence of another party. The term “confidence” is more appropriate for a belief in the competence of the other party. Based on the most recent research, a failure in trust may be forgiven more easily if it is interpreted as a failure of competence rather than a lack of benevolence or honesty.”
In the Social Media Era, TRUST is very important for both personal and corporate BRANDS as they develop LOYALTY and promote GROWTH (in the form of friends, followers, fans, customers, sales, etc). Because in Social Networks and any other digital communication we lack many of the most visible aspects of communication (body language, gestures, tone, etc.) it is important that you pay attention to the following:
- How fast do you RESPOND to other people’s messages? When you respond fast, people tend to feel that you care and that they can rely on you. If you have multiple email accounts and you have profiles in Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc. make your life easier by using aggregators, readers and/or brand monitoring tools.
- Are you CONSISTENT in the way you communicate? Believe it or not people intuitively pay attention to this. Just like with personal relationships we tend to trust those who seem to be constant and unchanging as they seem more reliable and dependable. So, decide WHO you ARE, HOW you would like to come across and PROJECT just that. For your digital communication this includes the language you use, the tone, the length of your message and even typography. Make sure your emails look and feel respectful, clean and especially CONSISTENT.
- Are you LISTENING? Before you respond to your messages be sure to read everything carefully and respond to all questions asked. Fulfilling your recipient’s expectations also promotes trust.
Digital communication can be easily misinterpreted and you could loose valuable relationships in the process, therefore be mindful, practice RESPONSIVENESS, CONSISTENCY and LISTEN.
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