In his book, Emotional Branding, Marc Gobe talks about taking a brand from honesty to trust. Even though a bit dated, his book is a must read for anyone in the marketing and branding sectors. This is especially true for the individual trying to enhance their personal brands. In the book he has a section that explains the top 10 rules for branding. Honesty to trust is one of the rules that hit it home for me.
From Marc:
“Honesty is expected. Trust is engaging and intimate. It needs to be earned…Trust is something else altogether. It is one of the most important values of a brand and it requires real effort from corporations. It is what you would expect from a friend.”
Honesty is expected? Absolutely it is expected! This is not only a moral and ethical obligation for a company but YOU (the corp) are going to be found out anyway. With millions of bytes of content being produced on a daily basis it is important to remember to be honest with all the content being developed surrounding your plan. But the more important element of all of this is… engagement.
Engagement and relationship building
Social media allows you to ENGAGE with your clients or employers. It creates multiple tools that allow you to build a relationship and interact with the people that will spread your message to their friends and eventually the masses.
Trust can be built in an online environment. It can be built by using the tools available to you through Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
When you build trust with content, you are creating a communication vehicle that will enhance your online and offline relationships in a world where trust matters.
