When I was 10 years old, my brother told me that throughout their life, a person eats, on average, eight spiders while asleep.

As I got older, I heard this fact repeated by multiple people and saw it everywhere online. It seemed like it had become common knowledge among an entire generation.

It wasn’t until very recently that I found out it was complete nonsense, and spiders are very unlikely to crawl into your mouth while you’re sleeping.

This was my first experience of online misinformation.

According to Britannica, the myth is thought to have originated in a 1993 magazine article about how readily people accept information they read online. The spider-eating story was given as an outlandish example but, ironically, spread like wildfire on the internet and quickly became accepted as fact.

In the decades since, we’ve become more aware that not everything we read online is necessarily true (including the origins of the spider myth, which is contested by some).

Despite this, misinformation may be a bigger problem than ever, especially in the financial services profession.

71% of financial advice content on social media is misleading

The internet is a powerful tool that gives us access to a wealth of information. Unfortunately, managing where that information comes from and how reliable it is can be challenging.

Consequently, there is a sea of misleading content online.

The Alan Turing Institute reports that 94% of people in the UK have reported seeing misinformation online at some point in their lives.

What’s more, a study reported by FTAdviser found that 71% of financial advice content on social media is misleading. Some of this might come from unqualified influencers giving poor advice, while certain content could be deliberately fraudulent.

The problem is that it could be difficult for potential leads to know the difference between this misinformation and the legitimate content you share online. And if they don’t see your content as reliable, they may not trust you enough to make further enquiries and eventually become clients.

Fortunately, these three tips will help you create content that inspires trust in your readers.

1. Use specific statistics to back up your points

If you want readers to trust your content, you need to prove the points that you’re making. You’ll notice that I didn’t simply say that online misinformation is a problem. Instead, I cited specific studies about the percentage of people who had encountered unreliable content.

You can do the same in your own content by providing statistics and examples to back up your points.

For example, instead of talking generally about the benefits of financial advice, you might point to a 2024 Royal London study that found 66% of people who took advice reported “good” or “excellent” value for money.

By providing clear statistics and examples, you lend more legitimacy to your content. However, it’s important to consider where that information comes from.

2. Use reliable sources

As my earlier story about the spider demonstrated, anybody can post anything they want online and claim it as a fact. That’s why you need to be very careful about where you source the information you use in your content.

So far in this article, I’ve used information from:

• Britannica – An internationally recognised encyclopaedia company
• The Alan Turing Institute – The national institute for data science and Artificial Intelligence (AI)
• FTAdviser – A leading trade publication
• Royal London – A recognisable brand in the financial services sector.

I hope you’ll agree, these are all reputable organisations and so you can trust the information I’ve shared with you.

Yet, if I’d sourced information from a random social media account or an unknown online magazine, you might have been less inclined to continue reading.

3. Generate engagement from trusted sources

When others comment on or share the content you post, they’re essentially giving it their seal of approval. After all, most of us would only share a piece of content if we thought the information provided was accurate and useful.

That’s why generating engagement is so important. But to build trust, you need to connect with the right people.

For instance, if other respected members of the financial services community share an article you post on LinkedIn, that suggests it’s a reliable piece of content that has value. By extension, this tells potential clients that you are a trusted professional.

Conversely, if an old school friend with no qualifications shared investment advice on Facebook, you might be less inclined to trust it.

As such, combining a robust social media strategy with your content writing efforts could help you build stronger relationships with potential clients.

Get in touch

We can help you create well-researched, reliable content and share it in the right places to drive engagement.

Email hi@theyardstickagency.co.uk or call 0115 8965 300 to learn more.