Trust Is The New Black
Yesterday, we posted some data from Cone regarding the degree to which social media friends and fans used such media to make contributions. By and large, they do not. And the study we cited pointed to the issue of trust as the essential basis of both giving and online relationships.
Here is a post titled Trust Is the New Black from Online Spin by David Morgan, a very successful online entrepreneur and blogger, that focuses in on the issue of trust. Here’s the crux:
"Today, more people can have more relationships — personal, business, casual, formal, fleeting, long-term — with more people more often than ever before in history. And, with the rise of social media, the possibilities for more relationships are growing fast and exponentially. This phenomenon is particularly challenging for media, entertainment and information companies to deal with, and it is turning marketers’ and advertisers’ worlds absolutely upside-down.
When consumers have so many different kinds of relationships with so many different people and companies and products and services and ideas, how can any, or many, of them stand out? How can media companies or marketers establish meaningful visibility, let alone usage loyalty, in this ever-entangling clutter? There is only one answer now: trust.
Trust is the new black. It is too hard for most people to truly distinguish the complex and too-subtle differences of so many tangible and intangible products and services. Consumers need something else. That something else is trust. Trust is finite. Trust is generally based on experience and time. Trust is quite personal. A person’s trust is something that he or she controls. While it can be won and lost, it cannot be forced or taken or imposed by recipients."
Boy does he nail the issue!
How does your nonprofit build trust with your constituency? I’ll offer one suggestion tomorrow.
Tom
P.S. David attributes the phrase "trust is the new black" to Craig Newmark, founder of the phenomenally successful Craigslist. There’s proof in the pudding!
One response to “Trust Is The New Black”
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Excellent post. Trust is the foundation, but it’s not sufficient. If social media does not meet a person’s needs/desires/priorities,even trustworthy sources won’t get traction.