Benefits and types of social proof for your brand, product or service

What is social proof?

Social proof is a term used to refer to the fact that people assume the behaviours, decisions and opinions of others are correct. This, in the end, influences them, especially in unfamiliar situations.

A very common example of social proof is when travelling to another country or region that you’ve never visited before. When it comes to deciding where to eat, normally you’ll go to the restaurant with the longest queue or go to the one with the best score and comments on Google or Foursquare.

You don’t know the restaurant and you’ve never heard of it. However, you trust the decisions, actions and opinions of others, because if so many people are waiting to go in or take the time to share their experience online, it must be good, right? This is what social proof is.

So, you now know exactly what you have to do to make the most of social proof, don’t you?

Sure you do! Make sure that your products or services make some noise, that they don’t fly under the radar and that people talk about them.

But how can you do it?

Here are 5 tips for social proof and how you can use them in your digital marketing campaigns so that you don’t go unseen in the expansive world of the internet.

1. Expert social proof: Collaborate with experts on the topic related to your product or service, have them try it out, talk about it and give more confidence to potential customers. Who better to recommend a treatment that relieves eye fatigue from contact lenses than an ophthalmologist?
2. Celebrity social proof: Work with well-known personality with a lot of influence, due to the sheer amount of people that follow their posts. Get them to try it, recommend it and share their experience with your product or service with their followers.
3. User social proof: When your current customers are so satisfied with your product or service that they willingly share their positive feedback and experience publicly. To achieve this, in addition to being aware of the quality and the use of your product or service, it is important to carry out different customer loyalty strategies.
4. Certification: When an authorised, credible institution in a specific industry gives a seal of approval to a product, service, company or brand, that testifies to its quality in that field. For example, the Socially Responsible Company (ESR) award and the Inclusive Company (DEI) award.
5. Testimonials: Select several success stories from your product or service and show them to your potential clients. If you have worked well with other companies or well-known figures, use their stories in particular.

One more tip for social proof…

We recommend you focus on receiving the type of social proof most related to your target audience or your product and in turn, through the channels you’ll share it too.

For example, products like medicines, orthopaedic devices will benefit more from expert social proof, testimonials and certification published on the official web page. This way, you promote a serious image of your product or service that is related to relevant issues like health.

On the other hand, if the product is more to do with lifestyle or fashion and targeted towards young people, it’s probably better to use celebrity social proof with personalities and known channels for your target audience.

As it often is in the digital marketing world, it’s all about knowing your target. Put yourself in their shoes, analyse options to offer them something that grabs their attention, and convince them to give your product or service an opportunity through smart use of social proof.