Increasing Your Social Proof is a MUST!
What is social proof?
Social proof in business is the influence others play in our buying decisions. People are influenced by their friends, experts, celebrities and your customers. You can spend a great deal of money on advertising but if you don't have social proof your target buyers might just back out before making the purchase. Converting your leads into paying customers in the final stages of the sales funnel can be dependent on the amount of social proof you have.
Social media has made it easily possible for us all to obtain and give social proof. If we like something we have bought it is easy to review it positively. Equally, if we are disappointed with a product we can give a negative review.
If you are looking for a new engine for your boat and there are two dealers selling the same engine for the same price near you, which would you choose? You would probably ask your mates who are boat owners and you would probably look to see what others are saying online about both dealers. What is their aftercare like? How easy are they to get hold of? Do they involve their customers in installation decisions? If engine dealer A has 3 excellent reviews and dealer B has 200 excellent reviews, which one would you choose? Company A could provide a much better service than B but if no one knows about it they are likely to lose out to company B.
A few facts
84% of people trust recommendations
68% trust what other consumers are saying
48% trust social media ads
Tips to Increase your social proof
Brand Ambassadors
Someone like a celebrity who is paid to endorse your products or services. This can be a hard one but they don't have to be celebrities, they can be experts in your market. On Instagram for example you can look for people who have large numbers of followers and ask them to endorse your business. If you have sold an engine to the RNLI for example, an organisation that needs reliable engines this would be worth shouting about. Obviously you would need to gain approval from your experts.
Cross Marketing
This is probably the cheapest way to gain social proof. Find other companies with a similar target audience but a different product and agree a reciprocal arrangement for promoting each others products. At SPC Marine Marketing we use our client base to cross promote products and services for all our clients.
Use numbers
You must know how many people bought your products last month. How many customers gave you a 5 star review last year? What percentage of your customers are repeat customers? How many followers do you have on Twitter (only boast about this if you have thousands)? How much money do people save by buying your products? Take the time to look at your numbers and decide which ones to display on your website and social channels.
Show your products in action
Saying your engine is in production is nowhere near as strong a message as showing it in action. Saying you have happy sailing students is nowhere near as effective as showing pictures of your students sailing and having fun. Even better is to get your customers to upload their own images and videos to your social channels.
Encourage reviews
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Have as many options as possible for your customers to leave reviews. Make sure the ability to leave reviews on Facebook is available. Facebook is the top platform for positive reviews.
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Make it easy for customers to leave reviews
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Respond to reviews
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Encourage people to upload photos or send you photos when they take the time to write a review.
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Offer incentives for reviews. This can be asking them to 'help others' Most people like to help people. If you feel your customers need an extra incentive then 'tell us what you think and get 10% of your next charter holiday' might work better.
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Ask for reviews
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Make sure all your staff know the importance of gaining reviews
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Share your customer testimonials on your website and on your social channels
Public relations and press mentions
If someone in your organisation regularly writes features for a respected magazine, shout about it!
If you have a press release or are mentioned positively in the press, shout about it!
If you are speaking at an industry conference, shout about it!
Display your client list
This is particularly useful if you sell products or services to other businesses. If you have approval from those clients or customers then make sure to show these clients on your website and mention them in social media posts. Particularly Linkedin.
Social Media
It goes without saying that social media plays a big part in social proof.
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Google ranks your social media posts and the more you have the higher you are likely to rank.
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If your content is shared by others on social media, it will bring you more website traffic and followers.
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The more people who like your pages, engage with your content and share your content is social proof.
Gaining social proof does take time and effort but without a doubt, it is worth the investment. If you are a marine company and would benefit from some help with your online marketing efforts then please get in touch with heidi@spcmarinemarketing.com for a FREE initial consultation.
