I am sure most business owners recognise that social proof is probably the most powerful way of influencing people. Much of the effort that companies put into the process of marketing is directed at generating social proof. We have all heard of word of mouth as one example. I’ll suggest you have used it many times yourself.
The good news is, social proof isn’t just an abstract psychological concept for big marketers – it’s also one of only a handful of marketing methods that works for almost any kind of business. And here is the kicker that we all know is true – Social proof builds trust and increases conversions which ultimately increases revenue.
Of course the starting point is to deliver a quality product / service so you need to earn the benefits. Once earned as my example demonstrates, you can then embed the link into your website.
Today the very nature of the Internet, being such a social environment, has resulted in social proof becoming by far the greatest force when it comes to buying decisions.
One example of how I applied social proof
I have now started to see the true power of this technique when I launched the Knowing Your Business Show podcasts. I had already spent countless hours studying Twitter and it’s sharing capabilities.
I noticed that one technique, a type of social proof inducing mechanism, was especially powerful: The Case Study.
Case studies are social proof highlight reels, showing what other people are now experiencing as a result of making a decision to buy something that you have the option to buy too. If you see enough of these sorts of case studies you start to see the outcome as a forgone conclusion.
All of my podcast interview subjects are actually case studies for my product, at least in part. While I wasn’t specifically inviting these people to promote my products – I wanted to share their success story – they in fact went on and shared mine. Often known as the perfect win / win.
Naturally, I created a special Twitter newsfeed to show off this social proof in all it’s full glory. That sits on the Knowing Your Business Website under the page header – It works.
This is the feed.
Favorite Tweets by @YourBizOnRadio
As a B2B or B2C company, how do you go about getting people to talk about you or your product? And more importantly what do you do with that social proof once you get it?
Based in Banbury, Oxfordshire, Ian Gentles Digital Marketing can help you solve these problems – and many others. We offer on-location training in the UK and remote training for the rest of the world. Contact Ian Gentles Digital Marketing today by email or text message us on 07511 217 984 and we’ll call you back.
Thanks for reading. Any thoughts or comments you’d like to add? The comment box is open