What is Social Proof in Digital Marketing?
What is social proof in digital marketing? Social proof in digital marketing comes in many forms. Word of mouth, like a friend’s or influencer’s sharing a link to their favorite products.
Peer reviews, like testimonials or review websites like TripAdvisor or Yelp.Wine accolades, like getting 90-plus points from Wine Enthusiast or a gold medal from the Sonoma County Harvest Fair.
Press mentions in papers, TV, magazines or blogs.
These social proof attributes can play a role in social proof marketing. The more social proof an influencer has, the more likely they are to validate your brand and become social ambassadors for you; this is what social proof marketing looks like.
Using It For Selling Online
Social proof can also play a role in social commerce and social selling efforts, the social channel of the Customer Relationship Management (CRM) process. Again, social proof is one of many factors that influence social shopping and buying decisions: here’s what your social media audience says about you; here’s why social influencers follow, listen to or buy from you; here’s what social customers say about you or your products.
These social proof marketing examples are based on the social proof theory of social psychology. The more social proof you have, the more likely people are to want to emulate that behavior—the social proof phenomenon.
You See This All The Time
You’ve seen social proof in marketing before—friends sharing a link to their favorite products or movies, customer reviews on TripAdvisor, or social influencers following brands they believe in.
Social proof is one of the factors that influence social shopping and buying decisions: what does your social media audience say about you? What do social customers say about you or your products? How do peer reviews affect people’s purchasing decisions?
These social proof examples of what social media proof is in digital marketing.
How to Incorporate Social Proof
It’s social proof that social media is a great place to promote your brand and products. Use key social verification tools like QR codes, blogging and social networking sites like Twitter, Pinterest and Facebook in order to offer assurances of quality and service.
Your competitors may be doing it already!
Or you can also leverage what we call social shopping: when people want reassurance before buying something new or different from what they’re used to.
You can get this by having social sellers on-site who are more than happy to help out with any questions you have about the product after an individual makes a purchase decision. This is just one way that companies use social proof in digital marketing – there are many others!
Recap of This Article
Social proof is one way to attract social media followers and social influencers. It’s also why social shoppers check out social seller offers, or use social verification tools like QR codes and webcam videos.
Use social proof in digital marketing to increase your social credibility by being a validator of quality products and services –
Conclusion:
Social proof is one of many factors social media marketers use to attract social influencers and social shoppers.
It’s based on social psychology, which says social proof is one of the reasons people emulate behavior. They want to make their social media audiences say they like or follow them too.
Leverage social proof in your digital marketing by validating social proof social media credibility, social sellers on social shopping sites, social proof social media sharing and social proof social verification tools.
Editor’s Note: These are some of the key points, but the details are up to you! Define social proof in your own words or by referencing other research for full impact. You can also setup a free consult call with us here.
