Why Social Proofing Is Crucial in Scaling a Business

Asim Rais Siddiqui January 28, 2021

There’s no denying the fact, we humans are social animals.

For instance, do you recall buying a product or service because someone like your close friend recommended you? So, you bought the product or service not because of being persuaded by the brand’s promotional copies but the word of the mouth of your close friend.

That’s the power of social proof!

That’s why people live certain types of lifestyle and mingle with a specific group of people, and indulge in certain activities. These are all mostly influenced by savvy marketers who utilize tactics of acceptance of their brand, thus, persuading you to make the purchase.

This is because people have clearly told the marketers that they’re interested in their ads. This is why marketers leverage social proofing to make you buy their product or service.

Major brands know the importance of social proofing in scaling their business. That’s why when your close friend or a famous celebrity recommends that brand, you’re more likely to enter the next phase of the sales funnel.

To make you fully leverage this dynamic marketing tool, we’ve covered what social proof is, why you need it, how you can leverage it in your marketing strategy and scale your business. In the end, you’ll have in-depth knowledge to utilize social proof marketing.

So, without further ado, let’s find out…

What is Social Proof?

The simplest social proof definition is the follow the herd or crowd. Do what most people do or follow, and adopt, based on the philosophy that if most people are doing the same thing, it must be right.

Let’s break this concept down with a real-life example:

For instance, you’re walking down the street and found two coffee shops, one is fully packed with a crowd, and the other is empty. Which one would you go for? Your choice would most certainly be the fully packed one. Why? This is because you assume that if everyone is going to the same coffee shop, they must have served better coffee or service than the one that’s empty. Even if the empty serves the same or better coffee or service. It’s the herd mentality that made your mind up.

Leveraging Social Proofing To Scale Your Business

As we explained in the coffee shop example above, that a greater number of people will positively impact your buying behavior as a potential customer. Now, let’s find out how to leverage this marketing tactic into your marketing strategy to scale your business.

1. Use Positive Customer Reviews

Customers reviews serve a great purpose in making the buying decision of potential customers. As a matter of fact, 77% of customers read reviews online prior to making a purchase. There are two main reasons why customer reviews are important: it assures the potential customers that the business is legit and provides a genuine product or service.

Customer reviews play a key role in uplifting your brand image in the eyes of your potential customers. If you’re a startup, it’s crucial for your business to positive customer reviews to gain a competitive edge. Moreover, it’s also important to give responses to those reviews. This is because 89% of customers also read responses of brands on the reviews.

When a potential customer views all the positive aspects of your product and service, including timely delivery, quality product, how to use your product, and other relevant information. It will certainly leave a lasting impression of your brand in their minds.

Besides incorporating positive reviews on your website and platforms, it’s also deemed important that you sell high-quality products or services to your customers. When customers buy products from your store, they are most likely to share their experiences in their inner circle. Supposedly, if you offer your product or service at a reasonable price with top-notch quality. Your business will start to build positive online reviews on their platforms. Thus, it helps in building your brand’s social proof organically.

And if you want to boost your positive reviews and increase your social proof, then ensure to get in touch with your customers. If they’re not satisfied with your product, then assure them, satisfy them, and finally ask them to share their reviews. That will certainly give your brand a leg in the eyes of your prospects when they see that you will go to any length to satisfy your customer.

Moreover, you can also ask your consumer to post pictures of your product when they receive it. This is because potential customers don’t trust the seller but those who already made the purchase and are completely satisfied with your product.

To boost positive reviews, you can also entice your consumers with discounts and giveaways.

2. Start Blogging To Showcase Your Expertise

Blogging is another marketing tool that you utilize for social proofing. If you’re an expert in any niche, you need to showcase your online community’s expertise. Why? This is because you have developed a reputation for providing valuable and in-depth information relevant to your niche. It will help to gain traffic to your website of potential leads that could hopefully turn into sales.

Establishing yourself as a thought leader will enable you to boost social proofing. For instance, if you sell cosmetics, you can blog about make-up tips and tricks to develop trust and confidence in your brand.

When you blog in your niche and address the potential customers’ pain points and provide the solution to their problem, it will positively impact customers. A brand’s positive impact is crucial for scaling business, as it will help retain your customers and boost your social proof.

3. Optimize Your Blogs To Reach Out To Wider Audience

If you’re writing terrific blogs and have a decent following, then it’s high time to jack those numbers up with optimization. The best way to optimize your textual content is to incorporate social share options for your followers to share them on social media and other platforms.

Or you could also include a compelling call-to-action that will encourage your loyal followers to share your content on their inner circle. The number of shares of your content indicates the popularity of your blog.

Moreover, you can try incorporating a mailing list on your blog. That will help you email addresses of your provide you potential leads. You can send out newsletters and notifications of your latest blogs, which will help gain more traffic to your website and create a loyal following.

4. Collaborate With Influencers

Influencers are known to have a strong presence and have a loyal following. The followers regard their opinions on a pedestal. So, if your brand needs a boost in terms of awareness, create social proof, and sales, it’s best to partner up with an influencer related to your niche.

Influencer marketing is a tremendous marketing tool that helps you create social proof. This is mainly because most followers buy their influencers’ recommended product or service without giving a second thought.

You can collaborate with influencers in two ways: paying them upfront for each post or video content or you share a percentage of your revenue.

5. Interact With Your Loyal Followers

The loyal followers of your brand love to talk about it on every platform. Whether maybe online or spreading word of mouth to their close friends and family. So, when they share their experience with your brand, they tend to tag on social media as well. Their love creates a massive impact on building social proof, and their love shouldn’t be ignored.

You can reciprocate their love for your brand by responding to their posts on social media, emails, and letters. In this way, you will develop a more personal connection with your audience.

Sometimes, your followers may share their grievances, which shouldn’t be ignored either. When your dissatisfied customers feel left out and ignored, they will probably go to your competitors and start to defame your brand. So, it’s more than important to interact with them and listen to their concerns and resolve them on an immediate basis. This will help you win back your customers and build strong social proof.

6. Partner Up With Brand Ambassadors

It’s always a good idea to collaborate with brand ambassadors. They develop a deeper connection with your brand with your potential customers. The ambassadors leverage various platforms in boosting social proof of your brand. That includes promoting your brand on its official social media account, their website, emails, and other channels.

Many major brands such as Nike, Redbull, and Rolex have brand ambassadors spreading the word of their unique value proposition and sharing them on their social media. These interactions have helped tremendously boost brand awareness, authority, and social proofing that created a loyal following.

You can also collaborate with a brand ambassador to create a loyal following and social proofing of your brand.

7. Promote User Created Content

User-created content (UCC) is a type of content created by users. This generated content is shared on various online platforms such as social media, emails, and others. It’s a great marketing tactic where potential customers get reliable information. Thus, helping in their buying decision.

Since the rise of TikTok and Instagram Stories, there is much user-generated content that can leverage your brand’s advantage for social proofing.

8. Embed Testimonials on Your Website

Embedding testimonials are one of the best strategies to leverage for social proofing. This is because those people greatly impact potential customers who don’t fall into your payroll.

Since 88% of buyers have claimed that testimonials have helped them in buying decisions. Thus, making it crucial to embed on the homepage of your website or landing page. It will tremendously help in boosting social proofing of your brand

However, you need to encourage your consumers to share their positive experiences with the world. It will provide a platform where their voice is heard, and it would be a wonderful opportunity for you to build trust and confidence in your brand. So, it’s a win-win situation for both your brand and your customers.

9. Share Your Awards And Achievements

Sharing awards and achievements is one of the easiest methods of boosting social proof. If you have achieved a milestone or have worked with a well-known company, include it on your website.

One such example is McDonald’s achieving a milestone.

Image Source: Pinterest

They hit the milestone of serving over 99 billion people, and they’re not afraid to show it off by leveraging one of the best places for traditional marketing, billboards!

Like awards in films and movies such as Academy Awards, it validates the authenticity of a particular movie, actor, director, or background score. These awards work the same way for the social proofing of your brand.

For instance, the “blue tick” of Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and Twitter is highly crucial as it authenticates the social proofing of brand, celebrity, organization, or more. Your potential customers will most likely get in touch after viewing the tick on the top right of your brand’s name.

Conclusion

Well, there you have it, these are some of the ways why it’s crucial to include social proofing in scaling your business.

Work on incorporating all of these marketing tactics into your marketing strategy, and watch your business scale to new heights!

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