🤓 How The Head of Instagram Builds Trust

Good morning.

I’ve been disenchanted by Facebook and Instagram (Meta) for years for more reasons than I can count.

But recently, that’s changing.

Let’s get into it.

— Gordon

Everyday Insights 👀
Keeping you in the know

• 100 Email Subject Lines That Guarantee Opens and Clicks [beehiiv]

• 26 Predictions for Social Media Marketing in 2025 [Social Media Today]

• How to Lead When the Future Feels Unpredictable [Harvard Business Review]

🤓 How The Head of Instagram Builds Trust

CEOs don’t have the best reputations these days.

Most don’t have a solid social media presence, either. They miss a massive opportunity to tell their story and connect with customers and the world in an approachable and meaningful way.

It seems odd that people in a role that is so growth-focused and centered around finding every upside possible to appease shareholders would overlook the proven fact that personal brands are far more powerful than (company) brands.

People buy from other people, not companies.

Consumers didn’t buy basketball shoes from Nike until Michael Jordan became the face and personal brand of Nike Basketball.

“Just Do It” became Nike’s tagline after the company’s growth exploded due to its partnership with Michael Jordan.

In early 2020, Adam Mosseri, the head of Instagram, quietly demonstrated a masterclass on how to build a personal brand through his personal IG account.

His personal brand has grown to facilitate the organization's goals while giving customers (users) a friendly face that educates and dispels widely held myths.

HERE’S HOW HE’S DOING IT:

1. Show You Care

2. Be The Chief Evangelist

3. Educate Your Customers

4. Eliminate Confusion and Myths

5. Listen and Act on Customer Feedback

Founders can make their company more human, trustworthy, and likable.

Step 1: Show You Care

mosseri

View more on Instagram

Adam’s first Reel speaking directly to Instagram users was three weeks into the global pandemic.

Sitting in his garage, his remote office at the time, Adam spoke to his audience in a relaxed and approachable way, as if he were speaking with a close friend.

He also authentically connected with viewers, less focused on business and more on what he and his organization could do to help others during an uncertain time.

When creating content, show up as the real you. If you’re all business all the time, people’s perception of your company will reflect that. Your audience will feel the warmth when you pause to be there for them when they need you the most.

People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.

Step 2: Be The Chief Evangelist

Nothing is more powerful than the founder or head of a company regularly using their product.

Using your product or service as a founder puts you in your customers' shoes, giving you first-person insights into its benefits, the problems it solves, and its limitations.

The best example I’ve seen is Tyler Denk, the co-founder and CEO of beehiiv. beehiiv is the newsletter platform I use for Onward Everyday. Tyler launched his own newsletter on beehiiv in January 2024, Big Desk Energy.

By modeling how to use his platform and executing newsletter best practices, Tyler has grown his newsletter to 60,000 readers and enjoys a nice additional income stream of sponsorship revenue.

As the beehiiv CEO, he also experiences the platform as his customers do. When he finds roadblocks, he can address them faster with his product team rather than relying only on support tickets and hearsay. He sees what customers see.

Adam does this, too. By using Instagram daily and reading Threads and Instagram comments, he can quickly identify and address the challenges creators face head-on. Check out the example above. 👆

Step 3: Educate Your Customers

Educate your customers to empower them.

People have more access than ever to information. There’s so much that it’s hard to know what it all means and what’s real. They want to learn straight from the source.

Adam posts a weekly Reel he calls “Hidden Gems.” The goal is to educate Instagram users on features they may not know about that can help them create or communicate with their community. Here’s a great example of a response to a creator's question.

My biggest advice to real estate agents over the past seven years is to create more educational content.

No one cares about their latest listing or the property they just sold. People want to learn more about the buying and selling process before hiring a great agent. They want to see video home tours. There’s a reason HGTV exists, and agents have the opportunity to be the face of that in their local market.

Be the source of truth for your customers and potential customers. Educate them to build trust and reduce objections to hiring you before you even meet.

Step 4: Eliminate Confusion and Myths

The overwhelming amount of information available to consumers creates confusion and common myths.

In addition to educating your audience, leverage your personal brand, like Adam does, to dispel myths and clarify frequent questions.

In the clip below, Adam addresses a common misconception about watermarks in videos posted on Instagram. He clarifies that creators can use watermarks in their videos for branding. However, if they post their video on another platform first, such as TikTok, they should be sure to upload their video to Instagram without the TikTok watermark.

Think about how you interact with other businesses and the small things that have stopped you or caused you to hesitate to purchase from that business.

Potential customers may have similar concerns about your business that you can address in a simple and approachable way.

Step 5: Listen and Act on Customer Feedback

The best way to sell is to listen.

When you are lucky enough to receive honest feedback (positive or negative) from your customers, remove your ego from the equation and listen closely to what you hear.

Feedback is a gift. It can be hard to hear, and it’s the best way to continue to create a product-market fit. When you reach product-market fit, your product or service will sell itself.

Seek honest feedback often (I do in my simple poll below) and pray for something constructive you can act on.

When you are fortunate enough to receive feedback, ensure your customer feels seen and heard and share with them how you will act on it.

I hope Adam’s examples provide helpful insight into creating content that builds trust and grows your business by being approachable, helpful, and yourself.

See you next week.

ONWARD TOGETHER.

When You Are Ready 👇
Another way I can help you

I help service-based entrepreneurs build content-enabled businesses that can build trust at scale, dominate their local market, and create their best lives.

Grow your business using the ultimate leverage: Content strategy and digital distribution.

Does this sound like you?

• “I need more qualified clients to hit my goals this year.”

• “I want to start a podcast and have no idea where to start!”

• “I should be posting videos on Instagram and YouTube, but it’s all overwhelming and time-consuming.”

• “I don’t have a system to keep in touch with my clients and convert new leads into customers.”

Book a Discovery Call