Well, it’s been another week of truth-stretching, wriggling and slithering. Whether it’s evasion of truth in the UK parliament – or misinformation about Covid vaccinations on Spotify.
The line often trotted out now is that we live in post-truth world, where distrust of experts means people turn to social media as their main source of information and inspiration.
Yet social media is hardly a neutral place. Platforms happily accept content from state-funded troll farms and political consultancies. And that’s even before you get to unpaid trolls and tinfoil hat wearers – or indeed, algorithms that fan the flames of conspiracy theories.
Last year, the Edelman Trust Barometer reported: “…an epidemic of misinformation and widespread mistrust of societal institutions and leaders around the world.”
The annual report on trust in institutions around the world said institutions were operating in an environment of “information bankruptcy.”
So is there any point to organisations even trying to have relationships with audiences? Or should they just leave their products and services to do the talking for them?
Is trust dead?
The thing is, trust hasn’t evaporated. It’s simply not the case that we’ve collectively lost our ability to trust what an organisation or person is telling us. In fact trust is part of what allows us to function as human beings.
Social psychologist Roderick Kramer wrote in Harvard Business Review: “We’re born to be engaged and to engage others, which is what trust is largely about.
“…in many ways, trust is our default position; we trust routinely, reflexively, and somewhat mindlessly across a broad range of social situations.”
So our instinct to trust remains. It’s true that we’re not as inclined to trust some institutions anymore. But this doesn’t mean that there’s no point building relationships…
Feelings and beliefs drive trust
The Center for Food Integrity (CFI) is a not-for-profit organisation in the US. It was set up in 2007 to help the country’s food producers gain consumer trust – by providing accurate information about food production.
In partnership with Iowa State University, they carried out research into why consumers doubt accurate information about food.
They found that consumers distrust communication that’s purely about facts – but that they gravitate towards communication of shared values. The research came at a time when the food industry’s standard practice was to respond to consumer questions with reports and facts. But it showed that doing so diminishes trust even further.
The CFI research highlights three elements involved in earning trust:
- Recommendations from people consumers know
- Being able to do what you say you can do
- Demonstrating shared values
A CFI spokesperson said: “In fact, CFI research revealed that communicating shared values is three to five times more important than simply sharing information.
“Facts do not drive trust. Feelings and beliefs do. The research shows that people are only likely to consider your facts after you’ve established the values you both share.”
The opportunity – how to be trusted
In a world where politicians lie with impunity (and zero shame), and where truth-twisters seem to be rewarded (or at least unpunished) – there is a great opportunity for decent organisations.
Human beings are hardwired to trust. It makes us anxious if we feel we can’t trust. So the starting point for organisations is that their audiences want to trust them. Their job, then, is to validate trust by:
- Communicating their values clearly
- Building relationships based on these values
- Sharing facts (like product information) as a secondary measure
- Being competent
- Communicating clearly – so it doesn’t feel like they’re trying to pull the wool over anyone’s eyes
If you’d like to talk trust, we’d be happy to hop on a Zoom for a coffee and a chat.