How do you build and maintain trust with your users? | D’Ana Guiloff, Community Builder

Trust isn’t built on transactions; it’s built on presence.

In this episode of Straight to Voicemail, Rachel Elsts Downey taps D’Ana Guiloff, a seasoned community builder known for creating spaces where people feel seen, connected, and engaged. Whether she’s hosting live events, sparking conversations online, or simply showing up authentically, D’Ana has built a reputation for trust that drives real community impact.

You’ll learn:

• Why trust starts with showing up as a real person, not just a brand.
• How to create authentic, memorable experiences that users carry with them long after the event.
• The role of community and consistency in building trust that lasts for years.

Straight to Voicemail is for CMOs, CEOs, and Heads of Marketing in B2B tech who want insights from the people who’ve been there. Each episode centers on one big question answered like a voicemail you’ll want to play again.

Don’t miss this conversation! Follow Straight to Voicemail and explore Genius Cuts for more B2B content strategy insights.

What is Straight To Voicemail?

What are the best brands doing to stay relevant, build trust, and create content smarter?

At Share Your Genius, we have the same questions, so we're tapping the best in the space for their answers—one voicemail at a time.

Join us each week for quick hits of insights from b2b marketers and leaders.

Rachel Downey (00:00):
Rachel Downey, lemme be honest with you for a minute, building trust is something that I thought I understood. Building trust with your users is something I also thought I understood, which is so silly considering I run a services based organization. I thought it was simple, great products, clear messaging, helpful content, check, check, check. But lately, I've been wondering if we've made this idea of trust to transactional. What if it wasn't just built on value exchange, but on presence, really on showing up as a real person, not a representative of a brand. So I started paying attention to some people who I think do this well, and one name kept coming up, Deanna Goof. She had this way of building trust that's rooted in authenticity, had a chance to experience her and her vision at a conference, and it really came to life for me. It wasn't performative, it wasn't polished for perfection, it was just consistently human. Whether it was hosting a community event, dropping into a LinkedIn comment or sending a voice note, you can tell it's coming from a real place. So I asked her, how do you build and maintain trust with your users?

(01:32):
Your call has been forwarded to an automatic voice message system. At the tone, please record your message.

D'Ana Guiloff (01:39):
Hey Rachel, I've been thinking about your question. How to build trust with users, and that's something that I consider a lot and think about and bring into every experience that we have with our audience. For me, I spend a lot of time building community and thinking about how the brand can impact and give users an experience that's something that they want to do and want to interact with. So for me, when we're at an event in person or a virtual, it's about how I can give that experience to the user. What's that W2 F experience that they're looking for that I can give them in the moment? Is it showing up in crazy pink suits, or is it having an after party that people talk about for years to come? It's making sure that there's a way to connect. I do that a lot with the online communities that I'm in.

(02:33):
Building those connections and knowing the people and understanding what their needs and desires are, and being able to be part of that evolution and that journey with them. It's not just understand them, but understand what they're looking for. And that's just the underlying value of having those relationships and building that community. And trust comes from that place, being authentic and giving of yourself. People know who I am and they know what I stand for, and that gives them a layer of trust with me. And whenever I say, Hey, this is something you should try, there's already that layer of trust that's built in. So I don't have to do a lot of convincing or telling them that they should believe me. They already do, because I've worked to build that trust. And I think brands can really take and learn from that by giving their employees and giving their teams the ability to be authentic in their ecosystems and be able to say, Hey, this is how you can go ahead and start building these connections and links within your community. So when I'm thinking about building trust with users, it's about authenticity, it's about connection. It's about engaging in a way that is beneficial not just for them, but also for you because you're making connections with people that you'll probably being connected with for years and years to come. So Rachel, thank you for asking. I really appreciate it. Hopefully you'll understand what I mean. If you see me hanging around LinkedIn or any of the other ecosystems, definitely shout out.

Rachel Downey (04:06):
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