Social Proof - This is Why Bloggers Need to Use It

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Social media has forever changed the way we interact with each other and will continue to play an important part in our lives going forward. Sure, there are negatives but in the most part, social media is a positive in my opinion. It is also a great way to spread word of your blog or business.

Social proof – the psychological phenomenon where people copy the actions of others in an attempt to fit in with ‘correct’ behaviour for a situation

One element of this has been the rise of social proof and whether you view it as a positive (get exposure for your business) or negative (turns us all into lemmings), it isn’t something that can be ignored. Nor is it just about social media – with the growth of review sites, for example, there are lots of ways to build social proof for your project.

Here’s a look at the phenomenon and why bloggers and small businesses need to use it.

Table of Contents

Cialdini’s six principles of influence

Let’s start with a look at one of the guys behind the concept of social proof – Robert Cialdini. His book, Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion looked at the fact that people are more likely to ‘view a behaviour as more correct in a given situation to the degree that we see others performing it’. In other words, if loads of people on social media say that reading a certain book is brilliant, we are more likely to do it.

In fact, there are actually six types of social proof that make up the complete social proof definition, according to Cialdini. He called them principles of influence:

The expert – this is when someone in the same industry recommends a product or service or becomes associated with a brand. This can be something as simple as a shoutout on Twitter or featuring the person in your Twitter chat
The celebrity – this is where someone who is classed as a celebrity endorses your product although this can also include influencers in the current definition
The user – this is someone who has used your product or service or read your blog and they tell others about their positive experience. Review sites can be a good source of this kind of social proof
The crowd wisdom – this is where the larger numbers of followers on social media sites manage to boost the presence of the brand or product simply by their numbers. This is why brands look at numbers of social media followers when considering working with a blogger
The friend wisdom – when your friend says this new blog is brilliant and you should read it, you are more likely to do just that than if some random person was to make the same recommendation
Certification – this is an official stamp of approval for your brand or blog and are instantly recognised. The blue check mark used on Twitter and Facebook is a great example.

Why is social proof effective?

The key with social proof is that different types can be most effective in different situations. For example, one study in the US found that 70% of Americans check product reviews before they make a purchase. So by having social proof in the form of product reviews from real people, the brand is instantly better placed to make that sale. Another showed that half of people will pull out their smartphone while in a shop to check the rating of a product before making a purchase.

In fact, the very presence of a ratings and review page on a company’s website increases the chance of purchasing by 63%, the same study found. On the turn side, a negative customer review can see a loss of some 70% of customers so it can be a negative as well as a positive.

One of the most important forms of social proof remains from friends and families with 82% saying that they trust these recommendations above all others. Interestingly, 86% of female shoppers said that they trusted the recommendations from real people such as those they knew or bloggers more than they do celebrity endorsements. This is why so many brands now seek to work with bloggers rather than big name celebrities to build their social proof.

How to generate social proof

So how can you generate social proof for your blog or business? Sure, you can ask your mum to give you a review or your friends to share your posts and talk about your blog but if they aren’t your ideal audience, this might not be the best approach. Here are a few ideas from Buffer as to how you can do this.

Use micro-influencers

Micro influencers are a smaller scale to normal influencers as they may have a smaller following or only work in a very specific niche. But working with them to have them retweet your tweets, comment on your Instagram posts or share your Facebook updates can help build social proof. And you may attract the attention of a ‘bigger’ influencer at the same time.

Brand ambassadors

Brand ambassadors aren’t a new idea but can be scaled down for small businesses and bloggers. The idea is that you work with someone who has a good social media following, has some expertise in your area and might even be something of a celebrity. This means you can get three types of social proof from a single connection.

User generated content

This one is if you have a product in particular – get customers to take photos of them using or wearing your item depending on what it is. Then use this across social media and tag them in it. This often prompts them to reshare the content to their own following – some of which might be bigger than the brand’s!

Make graphics from testimonials

Using a tool like Canva, you can easily take a customer review or testimonial and make it into a graphic. You can then post this on social media including the person in the comments and have the advantage of a graphic as well as social proof and a shoutout included at the same time.

Ask for a review

We may all feel a bit weird asking for a review or comments on a post but really there’s nothing wrong with it. People like to share their opinions and will often like being asked to do this. So simply use CTAs in your posts or social media updates that ask people to comment, to leave a review if they liked what you do or something similar.

Display your share count

Finally, as your numbers grow, showing those numbers is a form of social proof. If 2K other people follow you on Twitter, then I might have to because you must have something interesting to say. And if you have 10K followers on Facebook, then you must be an expert in your area and really need to hear what you think about this issue. Numbers = social proof.

Social proof marketing

Social proof marketing has become a kind of sub-discipline of content marketing. People understand the power of a positive endorsement, a good review or a share with a comment from someone. Of course, this can lead to a kind of stalking where people chase an influencer or celebrity, begging for that mention that acts as social proof! But for most of us, it is a case of using the odd tactic or two to encourage people to do what they would naturally do and help build that important psychological factor.

Do you leave reviews for products and comment on blog posts? And have you consciously worked on getting social proof for your blog or business? I’d love to hear how it worked out!

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