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The Uncomfortable Truth about your BUZZ

June 26, 2008

ronmcThe uncomfortable truth about the buzz you have tonight is that it could lead to a headache in the morning.

I was just reviewing projects on a freelance job site and I was shocked at how many people are "Buying" unethical buzz.  You know, I will pay you one dollar per review to write great reviews about my restaurant on www.yelp.com - Not cool, man.

So if we cannot really trust these sites, what can we do to build trust?  People are only going to refer you if they understand you, appreciate what you are doing and have some trust that you will do what you say you will do.

The uncomfortable truth is that you have to invest in building solid visibility with a great foundation that cannot be faked.  Sure, you can get a lot of quick traffic from quick things, but if the traffic does not trust you, they will probably not do much in the end for you.

So how do you build a solid foundation that will help people trust you?

1. Blog - I know, I know….I am always suggesting a blog.  Look, if I told you to build a website, it would seem silly.  Everyone already has a website, right?  Blogs will be that common, and we are already seeing that many new businesses just start out with a blog and skip the whole website thing.

So how does a blog build trust?  Look at mine - 900+ articles.  All but a couple written by me.  (We have had some guest posts)  Sure, I could pay a writer to do it for me, and that would be fine as long as I am truly committed to putting out great information on my topic.  Trust me, at times I wish I could blame someone else for the writing.  The point is, even with my flaws I have built a trusted resource.

Does a blog work for a restaurant?  Sure.  There are all kinds of ways to create a real community around a blog/restaurant combo.

2. eNewsletter - When I started doing eNewsletters years ago we were blinded by the term Newsletter.  Don’t send people your news.  Send them special announcements that might be of value to them and send them great information they can use.  My autoresponder course runs with no effort on my part via aWeber and continues to generate clients every month.

3. Speak - Love it or hate it, even if you are speaking to a small local group, the very act of speaking puts gives you expert status (and trust) with the audience.

4. Social Networks - One way to participate in these communities is to set up an account, SPAM it and forget it.  The better (and harder but of higher value) way is to create an account, be clear and honest about who you are and use it actively to help people and occasionally promote yourself in a useful way.  You can become a trusted member of the community, but it takes time.

5. Blog commenting - by commenting on a blog with a quality, interesting comment you become a trusted member of the bloggers readership.  This can win you special recognition when they mention you or when other people click on your link and visit your site via the comment.  Just tell the truth about who you are and link back to a great resource for building additional trust (probably your blog.)

There are of course more ways to build and destroy trust.  These are fiv e that work well for me. 

Use the comments and let me know how you build trust with your audience.

- Thank You!

Posted by Ron McDaniel | Filed Under Blog, Buzz with Blogs, Small Business, Word of Mouth Marketing 

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Comments

4 Responses to “The Uncomfortable Truth about your BUZZ”

  1. John Gillett on June 26th, 2008 7:00 pm

    All good points which I have used with success to create and encourage trusting relationships with an audience — whether it is with clients, companies or communities.

    The best way to build trust is through honest communications. Keeping your audience informed of events, trends or reports they can use through newsletters and blogs is great.

    Sometimes a simple acknowledgement that you enjoy working with someone can lead to a million dollars worth of trust.

  2. Jeff on June 26th, 2008 7:05 pm

    Ron -

    I could not agree with you more.
    Last year I took an online course on Social Marketing, and while the premise of the program was how to get traffic to your blog and how to use Social Bookmarking techniques to raise it’s Google rating…the teacher kept stressing the fact that you want to make sure you are being ethical when you use Social Bookmarking.

    Personally, I think there is some grey matter here. I think as an author of teh blog you need to ask yourself if you care about being the Top Rated blog on Google (which is strictly about traffic and can change day to day) or if you want to be renown for your knowledge and your integrity (which creates a legacy for years).

    I’d rather have an untarnished reputation as an expert with a medium-rated blog then get high marks from Google that are temporary and transparent.

    Jeff Eskow
    http://www.FundsForUs.com

  3. Ron McDaniel on June 26th, 2008 8:30 pm

    Great points, thanks for commenting.

    The hard part is that there are shortcuts. They do work, even if temporily. It is hard not to give some of those a try.

    I have done some things that were automated, but never large scale spammy or hiding my identity.

    There is definitely a grey area and at times it is tempting to give it a try.

    For star wars junkies, it is something like giving into the dark side of the force.

    Exceptional stuff does always win though - I could not agree more Jeff.

  4. Martin Welch on June 26th, 2008 9:43 pm

    I agree with your ideas. Quality of conversations whether online or offline is still the best way to create or build trust. Thanks for sharing. :)

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