“How many of you have scrolled past something and thought… is this even real?”
That’s the question I asked at our Business Growth Session this week.
Every single person in the room knew exactly what I meant. And that, right there, is the trust recession.
What Is the Trust Recession?
Nicoline put it perfectly when she said it’s the problem of people questioning everything they see online. They don’t know if it’s right, if it’s true, if it’s a genuine person, or if it’s been entirely generated by AI.
And the research* backs it up. 81% of consumers say they don’t trust social media content. 98% say real images and videos are key to building trust. And yet most of us are still trying to out-produce the algorithm rather than out-human it.
*source – iStock VisualGPS Research 2025
AI is flooding our feeds. It’s hijacking phrases that used to feel personal and human. I had a conversation recently about the phrase “you’re not broken,” and Nicoline said, “But I’ve been saying that for years; that’s my phrase.” And they were right. But AI has made it feel generic, overused, hollow.
We are also living in a world where Facebook and other platforms are actively downgrading AI-generated content. We switched from AI-generated event posters to real photos from previous events and went from around five or six people seeing posts to two or three hundred. Real images. Real women. Real reach.
What AI Can Never Have
This is where our conversation got really interesting.
When I asked the group what AI simply cannot replicate, the answers came quickly. Emotions. Physical feeling. Energy. Embodiment. Soul.
Gabi da Gama talked beautifully about the difference between the analytical, breaking-things-apart “male” energy (which AI is very good at) and the connective, whole-picture feminine energy that brings everything back together into something meaningful. AI can dissect, but it cannot integrate.
Reme Mancera made the point that in coaching and consulting, we hear the question behind the question. AI is largely literal. It doesn’t yet go into the nuance of what isn’t said. That gap (the space between the words) is where real trust is built.
And Ali Farmer reminded us that AI simply cannot know everything. It cannot know what you know from lived experience, from the specific books you’ve read, from the particular Clients you’ve worked with over years. Every business is different. Every voice is unique. That is not a weakness, this is our competitive advantage.
The Social Proof Session: What the Breakout Rooms Discovered
We split into 3 groups to talk different aspects to the trust recession and how we can practically make changes in our own businesses. Highlights are…
Tracey’s story: the review that took patience and heart
Tracey Baxter shared that she had written a review for someone just last week. The trust was already there. This person had been patient, incredibly professional, gone the extra mile even when Tracey had what she called “silly questions.” The review wasn’t just a five-star rating, it captured the humanity and warmth of the experience. And the reason it was useful? Tracey made it useful. She has actually developed a template to help people write meaningful reviews which she has shared with our Business Growth Memebrs.
One thing that came up: the person did ask for the review, on both Google and LinkedIn. They made it easy. And that matters enormously.
Tracey said “I’ll say it plainly. I would rather take an ice bath in January than learn the dark art of SEO. But I know that a genuine, specific review does more for someone’s search visibility than almost anything else. So when we write them, we make them count.”
Sarah’s story: the unsolicited LinkedIn post
Sarah Houldcroft received a review she hadn’t asked for at all. Someone wrote a post on LinkedIn, tagged her in it, and talked about the progress they’d made, the support from other authors in the Idea to Author Club, and all the things that Sarah brings to her work. It was a post, not a Google review. And Sarah is now using it across her social media.
She also mentioned that she tries to do the same for others when she has the time. That reciprocity matters. When excellent service genuinely exceeds your expectations, say so publicly.
One question came out of this conversation that I think every single one of us should be using with our clients:
“Who would you recommend my work to, and why?”
That question, shared by Emma Thorne Lees, does something clever. It doesn’t just ask for a review. It invites the person to think about who else might benefit, which means the language they use is automatically specific, targeted, and referral-ready. Use it.
Anella’s story: the thank-you from the physio
Anella Hansen gave a review to her physio recently. It was specific (not just “she was great”) but what the physio helped with, what the result was, what had shifted. The physio sent a thank-you message saying it was so clear and specific that she could see exactly what it would mean to other potential clients.
That specificity is everything. Vague praise helps no one. “She was amazing” could mean anything. “She helped me with chronic back pain that had been affecting my sleep for two years, and within six sessions I was back to normal” tells a story that a future client can see themselves in.
Why people don’t leave reviews even when they say they will
This came up several times and it’s worth talking about directly. People agree to leave a review and then they don’t. It’s not because they don’t mean it. It’s because they sit down to write it and they don’t know what to say. They freeze. They overthink. Sometimes there are confidentiality concerns, which is why anonymous testimonials still have a place.
Our job is to reduce that friction completely. Give people prompts. Make it easy. Tell them what to include. If you want a specific, useful review, you have to help them write it. Not write it for them, but guide them to it.
Emma’s experience: sending specific instructions
Emma wrote a testimonial for Reme and described how Reme had sent very specific instructions for how to do it, including asking Emma to share a short video (and she was clear it cannot be AI, it needed to be Emma, in her own words, with her own face). The result was a testimonial that exceeded what a written review alone could have done. Real face, real voice, real credibility.
Word of Mouth: The Original Trust Economy
Sarah said something that stood out. The majority of her book sales have come from word of mouth (or world of mouth in today’s linked world). Not from ads, not from viral content. From people telling other people.
Tracey said the same. But she also said something important; you have to be conscious that your pipeline of word-of-mouth referrals can run out if you’re not actively nurturing it.
Anella gave a brilliant example. At a Costa Women meeting this week, she shared a genuine, heartfelt recommendation from personal experience. And other women in the room were immediately interested in learning more. And that’s the whole strategy – a real person, in a real room, saying something they genuinely mean.
Sarah talked about a networking group in the UK where each person has a chance to share about their own business and also say who they’re looking for. That creates a structure for recommendation that works. When you are in a room (or on a Zoom) with people who already know, like and trust you, and you name who you want to meet or work with, those people are far more likely to refer you.
So when someone you know recommends something to you, you listen. Not because they are a celebrity or an influencer with a million followers, but because you know the person. You’ve been in the room with them. You’ve seen how they show up. You trust that they are being honest and that they wouldn’t put their name behind something unless they meant it.
That is what someone in this community called an honourable influencer. Not Gary Vee or some distant face on a reel. Someone who is in the same orbit as you. Someone whose recommendation carries weight because it comes from genuine experience and genuine relationship.
We already have that in Costa Women. The question is whether we’re using it and leaning in intentionally.
From a crisis of grievance to a crisis of insularity
The 2026 Edelman Trust Barometer reveals a world retreating towards insularity. As economic anxiety, geopolitical tension, and technological disruption intensify, people are narrowing their world to smaller, familiar circles that reflect their views, and this hinders economic and societal progress.
What You Can Do This Week
If you want to start building your own trust economy, here are three things from our session:
Ask for the review and make it easy.
Give prompts. Suggest platforms. If you want a video, ask for a video. Reduce every possible piece of friction between your client’s warm feelings and the written (or recorded) words you need.
Screenshot the real moments.
WhatsApp messages, DMs, voice notes from clients that are genuine, specific, and clearly human. These cannot be faked by AI and people know it. And create a brag bank, so you can use these in your social media.
Use the question.
“Who would you recommend my work to, and why?” Start asking it. You’ll be amazed what comes back.
The trust recession is real. But the antidote is also real, and it has been sitting inside all of us the whole time.
Be human, be specific and be willing to say what you actually think.
That’s not just good advice. That is the whole strategy.
This post is based on the Business Growth Trust Recession discussion session, May 2026. If you want to join us for more talks around current strategies which affect our businesses come and join us in the Costa Women Business Circle
Ali Meehan is the founder of Costa Women and a Business Growth and Future Self Coach based on the Costa del Sol.