How to Build Trust on Instagram

April 21, 2021

“Trust” is a funny word in the online world. You can’t be entirely sure who’s behind the keyboard when you’re online, making it harder to connect with and trust others. 

That doesn’t mean that you can’t build trust. It just means you need to put a little extra work into it.

When it comes to building trust on Instagram, you have to keep both the platform and audience in mind. Instagram assigns trust scores to accounts. The trust score is used to determine if the account is spammy, trustworthy, or somewhere in between. You can’t see your account’s score, but if it goes down, you’ll notice that your posts don’t have as much reach. That’s a good reason to build trust. 

You also need to think about your audience. You want your followers to trust you, so they’ll stick around and buy products.

Fortunately, when you build trust with Instagram, you also build trust with your audience, and vice versa. Let’s dig in and see what you need to do to show humans and technology that your account is trustworthy.
 

Increase Your Engagement Levels

Social proof goes a long way in building trust on Instagram and other social networks. If your posts get lots of likes, people will view that as proof that you are trustworthy. They will be more likely to follow your account, like your posts, and buy your products, if applicable.

Unfortunately, Instagram creates a bit of a Catch-22 situation regarding engagement. You need to have high levels of engagement to expand your reach. However, you need to reach lots of people to get high levels of engagement.

That hardly seems fair, does it?

Fortunately, there is a way around this. You can use a like sharing system. Then, you will like other people’s posts, and they’ll do the same for you. The extra likes will help you earn some trust, and Instagram will notice that your account is popular. Then, the site will expand your reach. Once that happens, you can get likes organically. 
 

Add Value 

People use Instagram to connect with others and follow brands that they love. It’s no secret that brands and entrepreneurs use the site to engage with customers and increase their revenue. That’s absolutely fine. However, these page owners can quickly lose trust if they spend all their time marketing without adding any value. 

When you post on Instagram, think about your followers instead of yourself. What do they want to see? What will bring them value?

If you only try to sell to them, they won’t trust you. They will view you as a capitalist that’s trying to take their money. However, if you show them what they want to see, they will feel connected and trust you. Then, they won’t mind parting with their likes or their money. 
 

Be Transparent

Transparency and trust go hand in hand. When you are transparent, you will immediately earn trust from your followers. While there are different ways to go about this, giving a behind-the-scenes look is the easiest and most effective.

Pull back the curtain and show your followers what goes on behind the scenes. They will see the human side of your brand and instantly connect with you. That connection will immediately manifest into trust that you can use to build your Instagram presence.
 

Spend Time on Your Bio

When you started your Instagram account, you were probably so excited to dive in that you didn’t spend much time on your bio. Sure, you added your name and might have even included a profile photo, but did you go beyond that? 

If you just threw your bio together or skipped it entirely, it will be hard to build trust. Go back and fill it in. Use the full 150 characters in the bio section to showcase yourself and your personality. Add a website and contact information, as well. 

This might seem basic, but it gives people a window into who you are and what you represent. Instead of just being another Instagram user, you’ll be a real person when you create your bio. That will put you on the road to earning some serious trust.
 

Post User-Generated Content

You can also build trust by posting user-generated content. People are more likely to trust your page if they see posts from other followers on it. You can start a hashtag campaign and encourage your followers to share content. When you find a post that you like, ask the original user if you can share it on your page. Then, add it to your feed. Your page will look authentic and earn instant trust points.
 

Don’t Shy Away from Negative Feedback

Ignoring negative feedback will cause you to lose all the trust you’ve already built. If you don’t address the feedback, people will assume that you don’t care about your customers or followers. They will also assume that the negative feedback was warranted.

That’s not what you want when running an Instagram page.

Keep the negative feedback up on your page and respond to it. Do your best to resolve the problem. If you can’t resolve it, at least let your followers know that you are working to ensure that it doesn’t happen in the future.

There’s one exception to this rule. If the feedback is abusive, delete it. You don’t need to keep feedback with offensive language on your page. 
 

And Then Repeat

Building trust is an ongoing process on Instagram. You must repeat the process, so you can continue to bring people into your network. Then, of course, once you build trust, you have to work to maintain it. These strategies will also help you hold onto the trust that you’ve built.

Start by increasing your engagement levels and then move through the additional strategies. It won’t be long before you’re sending trust signals all over Instagram. At that point, you’ll be at the top of your Instagram game.

⟵ Back to blog