Today we can access and consume content anywhere, anytime, and on any device.

We consume more content today than at anytime in history, as a result, and in particular pre-Covid we we're exposed to circa 4k - 10k intrusive adverts every, single, day, as a result we simply struggle to avoid all forms of digital intrusion!

Without Zuck we wouldn't really have had the huge take up on social media, without LinkedIn morphing into a business network site, it would simply be a place to connect with people who can (fingers crossed) help us get a job.

What have brands chosen to do with this exciting new medium, yes they have simply missed the whole point and moved the 'advertise, promote, and talk about me, me, me', mindset into what is a social environment.

Trust has always been the basis on which we make decisions. 

It's the currency for sales and marketing today and will no doubt be no different in the post Covid future.

I came across this article on the BBC news website (link below) that said that during this crisis only 38% of people said they trusted the news most of the time. Less than half - 46% - said they trusted their favoured news source.

Every process and every interaction you have with a customer (and an employee) in today's socially savvy internet empowered world will either create trust or destroy it.

Every interaction you have in the sales, marketing, human resources process will create or destroy trust.

In the digital economy the customer has the right to opt-in as they do the right to opt-out.

We’re now living in an accelerated Covid-19 state of “digital disruption.” 

This means technology has transformed work and business as we know it and consumers are looking to evidence a brand to help build trust. 

Consumer behavior and expectations have changed, and organisations must evolve to meet the changing needs of their customers. Those that don't adjust the business mindset are now paying a hefty price for 'business as usual'.

Today's socially savvy prospects and customers are checking out your 'social proof' as part of the 'trust' building process, not your website.

If your a company that spews out promotion after promotion messages, with 'paid advert' after another it seems that today's consumer is sending you a huge signal. 

Today they've been empowered to switch you off with their own tactics such as ad skipping, ad blocking, and good old GDPR.

With 3.8bn+ people on one social platform or another around the world simply handing social media to the guy with the beard, or the girl with the tattoo in marketing doesn't really cut it today. Social media requires a strategy that sits across the entire business enterprise - WHY?

Because that's how today's social savvy consumer 'experiences' what you say you do which in turn is a significant factor in building and earning trust.