[Podcast] MM019: Google+ is Back (But Probably Not the Way You Think)
April 15, 2019
[Podcast] MM020: How to Boost Your Affiliate Income — with Ilya Lyubimov from SEMrush
May 3, 2019
Imagine that you have been wanting to buy a refrigerator for months, but you haven’t been able to choose the right brand to go with. The next thing you’d do is talk to people who know about refrigerators or scout for reviews on the internet and choose the one which most people are buying.
Another example would be going to a restaurant. You find two restaurants on a street – One is completely empty and the other one has people waiting in queue to get served. Which one of the two would you go to? Obviously, the second one because of the crowd. In other words, you assume that the food in the empty restaurant is really bad because it has no customers.
Whenever we are uncertain of how to behave, especially in social situations, we tend to imitate others with a preconceived notion that what they’re doing is right. We, humans, share an innate desire to follow the crowd when we find ourselves in uncharted territory. This “herd behavior” explains exactly why we don’t wear bell bottom pants today and choose to go out with torn trousers instead.
You just came across the most important psychological aspect of marketing that has become a rage in recent years – SOCIAL PROOF!
How to Use Social Proof in Your Marketing
1. Positive Customer Reviews and Testimonials
What do you do when you come across a product or a business for the first time? You look for customer reviews and testimonials.
Similarly, positive reviews from your past and existing customers convey their approval of your brand and positively impacts potential customers to choose your business over others. Social proof is even more powerful when a person known to your potential customer, gives a positive review of your brand. This is why Instagram shows us when someone we follow likes a photo.
Protein supplement brand Olena has used social proof to its advantage by showcasing customer testimonials and reviews on the home page of their website.
Moreover, it’s a good practice to encourage people to use your brand hashtag on social media. Putting them up is proof that many people are happily using your product in their daily lives and this breeds trust among new people who come across your brand.
One more interesting thing Olena has managed to do is get detailed product reviews. A plain review like “Amazing product” doesn’t do any good except increase the number of ratings for your brand/ product (which is still good by the way.) A well-detailed review from an existing customer on how they’ve gained benefit from your product/ services, helps your potential customers to resolve their doubts and make a buying decision.
Also, by stressing on the fact that the brand is trusted by thousands of people and has garnered over a hundred five star ratings, OLENA has instantly grabbed their audience’s attention by using Social Proof.
2. Use the Incredible Power of Influencer Marketing
According to Social Media Today, 94% of marketers believe in influencer marketing and the ROI involved is 11X more than traditional marketing methods. Most importantly, this trend is not going to end soon.
Influencers are trustworthy figures in their niche and are revered by their audience. When they promote your brand, you gain the credibility and trust from their audience, which makes them inch closer towards making a buying decision. In other words, when a trustworthy figure promotes a brand, it is perceived to be trustworthy.
Also, Influencer marketing eliminates the two main challenges marketers face every day – Content creation and distribution. Creating great content can be expensive and making it reach your audience is a challenge on its own. When you get an influencer to promote our brand, you reach a large group of audience and increase engagement without having to create any content and distribution strategy. Also, this benefit comes at a much lesser cost and huge ROI.
If you already have a large audience, you can build a relationship with an influencer and cross promote each other’s posts, resulting in a win-win situation. If you’re fairly new and don’t have a considerable audience yet, micro-influencers charge anywhere between $250 to $500 for promotion. The amount charged varies for different social media channels depending on their reach.
Below is an example where Lakme India is promoting their brand by roping in blogger Aakriti Rana, thereby, promoting their brand to her 577,000 followers on Instagram.
3. Showcase Your Credibility
Many times we come across brands that have achieved considerable milestones but forget to talk about them. Your audience would love to share such wonderful moments with you and doing so cements their trust in you.
Did one of your articles get published on the New York Times or Business Wire? Mention it. Won an award recently? Mention it. Have you served some authoritative names in the industry? Mention it.
For example, if you take a look at our “about page”, you can go through our client testimonials, awards and recognition received and prominent clients we have served. Reaching such milestones takes hard work and conveys that your brand is a credible source in the industry.
Conclusion
Now that you know how to garner social proof, get ready to take action and boost engagement and conversions like never before. Choose one strategy and start implementing it right away. Stay up to date with the analytics and keep measuring your progress along the way.
Related Articles
