Newsflash, most people don't trust you.
It's not because you did anything wrong, or because of your values, beliefs, business, or anything else. This is due to the fact that we're constantly bombarded by information, messages, chances, ideas and opportunities on the daily. It's just a fact of our society. But how do you filter out the nonsense, or white noise, from the important stuff?
As a business or brand, your job is to build up trust and loyalty. You want consumers to feel comfortable buying from you. But today, that's hard to do. That's where social proof steps up to the bat.
Basics of Social Proof Marketing
While you can't just tell people things and have them immediately trust you, you can have other people say nice things, as we tend to trust what other people have to say. Face it, we trust reviews on the internet from perfect strangers more than we'll ever trust anything else-especially online! So here are a few tips and tricks to use Social Proof Marketing to your advantage. Don't do the work, let others do it for you!
Proof from your customers (and reviews)
Basically when your customers say things like:
- We just bought this - it's awesome!
- I attended this concert/conference/webinar and was there for the whole thing
- I downloaded this game/guide/document.
Proof from testimonials
You've seen these a million times before. Maybe an 'Influencer' posted about this new product you have just "got to try" because they "absolutely swear by it". When you use social proof from testimonials, you're basically building authority through associating yourself with someone else, hopefully, someone people innately trust Types of Testimonials:
- "This is the only product I trust enough to ever use on my skin"
- "I was really impressed with how easy this was to use"
- "Thank you so much to Company X for making my party absolutely amazing. We love Product X/Service Y so much!"
Here is a helpful how to add testimonials to Shopify and another post on how to add product reviews to Wix post
Add Verified Testimonials To Your Store Today!
Easily collect, show & grow customer reviews, photos & videos for your business.Authoritative Proof
Prove you're someone worth listening to. Show that other authority figures/brands are backing you, using your product or talking about you. Utilize these types of authoritative social proof:
- "Voted the #1 Product by Company X"
- New York Times Bestselling author
- Featured on Ellen
You could simply add a few logos of brands or people using your product if you can. It'll elevate you to a certain level of trust, even if you can't create long-term trust.
Proof from social media
Probably one of the most influential ways of gaining trust in today's market. Focus on how many followers you have, the like to comment ratio of your posts, and whether or not you're a 'verified' profile.
You're creating immediate, tangible results. You're proving a bunch of other people are interacting with your brand or business. They're liking, sharing and commenting and showing others why they're loyal or trusting to you!
These also tend to be harder to manipulate or fake, whereas, the others are easier to do so. It definitely helps up the trust factor if you can't fabricate these results
Case Study Proof
Leverage your actual customers here to provide these for you. You'll need more in-depth testimonials with data and quotes to back it up. These mean that someone likes your Product/Service enough to let you share their success with it and to attach their business/name/brand to yours.
That's huge and shows others that you're definitely worth it and that they should probably trust you too! Whatever you're trying to do, just remember the goal is to create trusting and loyal customers. You need to show them that you're worth it or they'll just find someone else who will.
Think of it like a relationship you need to love, nurture, and care for to make it grow. And the more you can do this the more people who'll come flocking to you. Help your customers' decision-making process and build up those sales!
