The increasing number of businesses rising everyday tightens the competition across industries. With the abundance of rivals nowadays, it is tough to identify what makes your product different from others. And, the only tiebreaker for the competition between brands is the way they market their product. The use of marketing social proof has become popular nowadays because of its obvious positive effect. Unfortunately, many businesses doesn’t realize how to use it effectively.
Marketing social proof is one of the most potent ways of convincing possible customers to buy from your website. Because social proof serves as validation, it helps them feel confident in their decision to do business with you. It refers to potential customers who assume others’ actions are correct, based on the recurrence of others’ actions towards the product. In this article, we have listed essential guides that will help you understand the marketing social proof’s power.
Understanding What Social Proof Marketing is
Robert Cialdini, who studied the principle of social proof in his book, “Influence: The book of Persuasion” said, “Often, in situations where we are uncertain about what to do, we would assume that the people around us have more knowledge about what’s going on.” Cialdini’s statement justifies the psychological phenomenon that we often make judgments based on the impression of others.
- People often think that what experts use is great because they are much more familiar than us in the specific area.
- Customers buy the products that celebrities have endorsed because we want to be like them.
- Public trust user reviews because they already have the experience with the brand, unlike us.
Types of Social Proof
There are six major types of social proof that are proven to influence individuals’ decisions towards the product. These are the most widely used marketing social proof tactics by successful businesses from different industries. The following are proven to be effective in the physical and digital market.
1. Expert – this is when an expert in your industry recommends your products or services with your brand.
2. Celebrity – It is when a celebrity endorses your products on social media.
3. User- It is when they recommend your products based on their experience with your brand.
4. Wisdom of Crowd- A large group of people is endorsing or patronizing your brand.
5. Friends – When a friend or loved one approves of your brand.
6. Certifications and Awards – It is when the authorities give you a stamp of approval in the industry. This can originate from government and industry organization.
Effective Marketing Social Proof Techniques
Knowing the social proof that your business holds is not enough to beat your competitors. In addition, you must know how to utilize these proofs as an edge to win more customers and to boost your sales. Here are the elaborated social proof marketing techniques you can adopt to satisfy your customers’ varying preferences. Moreover, you can incorporate these techniques in your website through social proof notifications.
1. Inviting experts
Let experts take over your social media sites. It is an excellent tap into their influence, and positive association with their followers has anything to do. The best part about this is, it is often a win-win situation. The experts will benefit by gaining a reach to your audience.
2. Mention your potential customers
You might receive a mention from other brands, press, or an influencer related to your industry, which is an excellent social proof form. Show your gratitude with simple phrases like “Appreciated your mention” or “Grateful for your mention.”
3. Have Brand Ambassadors
Brand ambassadors usually hold the influence in social media. They are a mix of experts, celebrities, and influencers, depending on what brand ambassador you want to select. Since they hold the influence, most of the time, they include branded hashtags in social media posts.
4. Share your customer’s feedback
Posting your customer’s feedback can have a significant impact on others. A smart way to engage the user in the social proof is to share your customer’s feedback about your product. Make your customers invisible reviews visible to the website visitors.
5. Displaying testimonials
Use expert user proof. Just like feedback, posting the customer’s testimonials has a significant effect. The only difference between testimonials and feedback is the construction of it. Testimonials often include the user experience from the brand as a whole. Businesses in the health and beauty industry are the ones who widely use this marketing technique.
6. Use social media advertisements
Reach out to your potential customers through social media advertisements. This advertisement has a unique feature where they analyze the market demographics to know to whom to show your advertisements. With that, you can ensure that the target market will be notified of your brand’s promotion. If you have a budget, this is a perfect way to identify valuable leads.
7. Get verified
Social media like; Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram have a verifying option. Receiving a blue checkmark on your bio after applying for one is a form of certification social proof. This will immediately give a hint to customers that your company is legitimate.
As an authoritative figure, the social media platform is deemed famous, influential, or interesting enough to be awarded the checkmark — usually reserved for celebrities and top brands.
8. Encouraging customers to leave a review
A study by G/O Digital found that eighty percent said they’d be more likely to purchase if they saw positive user reviews on the company’s Facebook page. Forty-one percent said the most critical factor in engaging with a local business’ Facebook page is seeing customer reviews or ratings.
You can incorporate engaging posts on your social media pages to encourage interaction. For instance, you can conduct surveys and contests where customers can comment about the things they love about the brand.
9. Statistics and Raw Data
Simply presenting raw data or statistics can act as a powerful social proof mechanism. One of the most common techniques here highlights the total number of users or customers or your brand. Any business statistics that convey a positive outlook can be used as social proof.
10. Partnership and Customer Logos
Successful organizations with high-profile customers love to highlight their partnerships with major brands as a social proof marketing technique. It can be enough to convince your prospective customers that your product or service is the real deal with a prestigious partnership.
11. Be responsive
There are different ways of being responsive through social media. On your Facebook Page, you can choose to state how responsive you are by Messenger. If you provide customer support on Twitter, you can display the period when you are most responsive. It can help to encourage people to message you. And assure them that they would quickly get a response from you.
12. Sharing your milestone
Another fast way to create social proof is showing your gratitude for your follower milestones. Reaching milestones should be an occasion to celebrate because it’s your opportunity to thank the people who have helped you achieve your brand success.
13. Do social media events
Inviting experts as guests for your social media events can allow you to tap into the experts’ positive influence. It could also let your social media audiences hear and learn from experts in the industry.
14. Display share account
Showing the specific number of a social share count is a form of crowd social proof’s wisdom. People will be engaged to read and think highly of an article that thousands have shared.
But, having a lower social share count can have the opposite effect. They might think that the article is not good enough, even if it’s well written. Using a tool like Social Warfare displays share buttons but hides the count until the article received a certain number of shares.
Spruce up your Marketing Strategies with SocialPop
Social proof is one of the most powerful ways to give your customers an impression of your brand’s quality and legitimacy. It allows you to open opportunities, not only on your brand but for others as well. Having bad reviews is inevitable. But, to have constant negative thoughts about your brand is no longer healthy.
It could be hard to choose the right social proof for you, but there are tons of them. That’s why it is still possible for your brand to rise. Choosing the right one could be confusing. That’s why SocialPOP is here to guide you properly on how you can attract potential customers. With enough valuable expertise in marketing, they will surely know what you exactly need to boost your marketing strategies. SocialPOP offers affordable services that will help your next marketing strategy neat and healthy. Check out our website at socialpop.app!
