How (and how not) to use social proof in marketing campaigns

“Well, if they use it, it must be good”. That's social proof in a nutshell. And it's the reason why you should be using this phenomenon in your marketing campaigns.

On a personal level, social proof might not be the best way to make a decision. It can actually lead you to make choices that aren't great for you.

But when you use it correctly in your marketing campaigns, social proof can be just what you need to motivate people to buy from you. Here's how it works:

What is social proof?

Social proof is a social and psychological phenomenon where people tend to copy the actions of other people to decide what they'll do in a situation.

Simply put, given some options, most of us like to do the thing most other people have chosen to do before us.

The usefulness of this phenomenon in your marketing campaigns is pretty clear. If you can show that a whole bunch of people are already using your business, product, or services, other people are likely to use you too.

How to use social proof in marketing

1) Use reviews and testimonials

Perhaps the most common way to utilise the social proof phenomenon in any kind of marketing is through reviews and testimonials.

There's a reason why gathering reviews should be such a key part of your sales and marketing activities. They work. And social proof is the reason why.

Numerous studies have been done into the psychological effects of reviews. These tell us handy things like:

?? ? ? ? Nearly 9 out of 10 online shoppers will base at least part of their purchase judgment on reviews they've read.

?? ? ? ? On average, a shopper will read ten reviews before buying.

?? ? ? ? And they will spend almost a quarter of an hour doing so.

Needless to say, this means that featuring reviews and testimonials in your marketing materials – including landing pages and other key parts of your conversion process – is a very good idea indeed.

2) Use endorsements

When is one testimonial potentially better than a hundred in terms of social proof? When that one testimonial is an endorsement.

Obviously, there can be a cost involved in getting endorsements from people who are just generally famous. But a tactic that's proven to be even more effective is to seek endorsements from smaller-scale influencers – potentially bloggers or YouTubers who have a limited, but more relevant audience.

Again, the social proof that this relevant – or just generally well-thought-of – personality uses you is enough to motivate many people that doing so too might be a good idea.

3) Use case studies

For some marketing activities – email campaigns, for instance – a case study can make a good alternative or addition to a testimonial or endorsement as far as social proof is concerned.

The key is to make your audience feel like this is the experience that could be theirs by using your services.

4) Use client logos

Really taking advantage of the “well, they use it so it must be good” aspect of social proof, featuring client logos in your marketing is essentially the B2B version of endorsements.

Prominent placement of client brands works well on your website and almost any other kind of marketing campaign you care to mention.

Another kind of social proof that works in a similar way to client logos is signposting the awards your business has won. That's why you'll often see them in similar places on well-designed websites.

5) Use subscriber and social counters

Have you ever seen a “sign up” campaign with an “Over 200 000 subscribers!” or similar sign on it somewhere?

If so, you've already seen this use of social proof in action. Boost this number by making it easy for your audience to like, share, and interact with your content. “If that many people have already done it”, the social proof effect tells us, “it must be okay”.

You can also use the inverse of this effect to post “only this many remaining” counters. Obviously, the social proof implication is that this product is so good, it's already nearly sold out.

6) Use transparency

Consumers are becoming more and more switched on to brands that talk the talk but don't walk the walk. This makes focusing on authenticity a must in all of your marketing channels.

It's something we've found to be vital at Fantastic Services. Transparency has always been a core value for us as a franchisor and we're proud to say that we're always open and honest.

Usually, this means sharing the personal stories of our franchisees that motivate us every day. We're not talking success stories here – we're taking real, personal ones. At Fantastic Services, we’ve made sure to include franchisees’ reviews on almost every page of our franchise website.

Sometimes though, this also means sharing our mistakes when we know we've made them.

How NOT to use social proof in your marketing campaigns

Don't all of this fool you into thinking that using social proof in your marketing campaigns is essentially an easy win.

There are right ways and wrong ways to use social proof in your marketing campaigns. Here are some important things not to do:

1) Don't rely on negative social proof

Negative social proof is the reverse psychology version of social proof. It was once thought that this would be a great way to motivate people to act.

Unfortunately, the opposite seems to be true. What we can think of as standard positive social proof will always win out.

By saying that “10 000 people haven't yet bought/ used/ voted”, all you're encouraging your audience to do is be like those people and not do that thing.

2) Don't aim for perfection (it backfires)

Have you ever looked at some online reviews and thought they seemed a little too perfect?

So do lots of other people. Research has shown that while people are looking for social proof, there's something deep down in most of us that expects this proof not to be 100% positive.

That's why, kind of perversely, the occasional average or negative review can actually be good for the quality of social proof your reviews generate.

3) Don't be coy about your clients (or your team)

Being vague about the number of clients you have or who they are can backfire worse than not mentioning them at all.

Consciously or not, most consumers are on the lookout for social proof. If you provide only the impression of it, it will work against you.

You can also counter this perception by letting your team be open and honest about who they are. For example, at Fantastic Services, our founders are involved in every side of the business and regularly get interviewed.

This means you can easily find out what they have to say with a quick Google search. We're also not shy about sharing what we think in various publications and in the press.

4) Don't count on small numbers (or ignore exclusivity)

Have you noticed how new YouTuber accounts and other social profiles don't start displaying their follower counts until their numbers become more respectable?

As you might guess, the reason they do this is because low numbers of subscribers don't work when it comes to social proof.

On the flip side, if one of the USPs of your product is its exclusivity, be aware that showcasing the large numbers of people that have already bought it can work against you.

5) Don't fake followers (or testimonials)

One of the worst things you can do in the field of social proof is to be obviously faking it.

These days, people are increasingly suspicious of reviews and testimonials that are too good. They're much more likely to spot fakes. There are even tools out there that spot fake social media accounts.

Don't fall into the vanity trap of boosting your number of followers or writing fake reviews if you want to weaponize social proof in your marketing.

The ground rule when using social proof in marketing

The biggest takeaway when it comes to how to use social proof in your marketing campaigns is that done right, it's an incredibly powerful tool. But done wrong, it can quickly come back to bite you.

Be honest and genuine in your use of social proof while drawing attention to what makes you special and you'll be all set to benefit from this brilliant marketing tool.