3 Tips (Plus Two Bonus Suggestions) for Maximizing Social Proof

Social media is a terrific tool for sharing your message, engaging with your audience, and improving customer service performance. As many integrated marketers have discovered, though, it is also a tremendously useful platform for boosting your credibility, as Social Media Examiner has outlined in its recent article providing three tips for using social proof in your marketing efforts.

Social proof supplies an emotional trigger to your customers, influencing their actions in response to your brand. It can help them decide about working with your business, inspire confidence, and validate claims made about your product or service.

Tip #1: Highlight Customer Reviews/Testimonials

Potential customers are often influenced by the reviews or testimonials of others who share positive experiences of working with your business. Don't be afraid to solicit reviews from your customers and to shine a spotlight on their responses on your social accounts and website. You should also regularly review forums and review sites (such as Yelp and Google) to see what people are saying about your business, especially those reviews or testimonials that indicate how your product or service delivers on your value proposition.

Tip #2: Promote Your Associations

Similar to how positive testimonials can boost your credibility in the eyes of consumers, receiving a similar stamp of approval from significant industry partners will do the same. Be sure to tout any awards, associations, recognitions, and collaborations on your social platforms-use images, logos, and graphics, as available. Sharing any mentions that your organization has garnered in the media is also a useful feather in the cap of your business. The tacit approval or affiliation with industry leading associations adds another layer of credibility to your business.

Tip #3: Make the Most of Brand Ambassadors & Influencers

Influencers such as bloggers, pundits, journalists and the like often boast large and loyal followings. Celebrities and media darlings that endorse your product or service can significantly boost your profile within their own network, prompting their devotees to seriously consider your business. Integrated marketers don't need a blockbuster-level budget to tap into this type of exposure, either. It simply requires brand ambassadors in your industry to enhance your visibility to their audience, bringing new eyes (and potential buyers) to your site and services.

Additional Exposure Opportunities

Your social proof also gets exponential coverage if you can become verified on your active social media platforms-ranking your website higher on each channel's search engine-and when you celebrate user/follower milestones. These lift your brand's standing within your target audience, making your business appear more enticing, and trustworthy to your potential audience.

The regular addition of customer reviews and/or testimonials with links to your site provides new content for search engines when indexing your site. Backlinks on various platforms also underscore your credibility ranking, helping to boost your SEO. Your brand's authority will receive a boost as visitors spend more time on your affiliated pages as a result of taking the time to review your content when driven there from review sites or partner pages.