One of the most powerful weapons in sales and marketing

We see in this area of ​​online business that there are different people who manage to organically sell any product or service, regardless of the price they set.

And how do they accomplish this?

There are several factors behind this success, and one of the most important is: social proof.

Well, you may have already heard that you need “social proof” and that this is a main element of persuasion.

But I want to go a little deeper in explaining this basic principle in marketing and sales.

First, let’s better define what this social proof is:

Social proof refers to the tendency of people to make decisions or adopt behaviors based on social influence. Essentially, people look at other people’s actions and choices to decide for themselves how to act.

Basically, this principle works very well for people who are easily influenced. That is, those people who are not masters of their own life decisions, people who do not think and decide entirely for themselves. It sounds harsh, but this is the reality: society teaches us from a young age to conform to certain rules and standards.

Children and young people (for example), who have not yet fully formed their personality and are still in the process of growing up, are among the easiest to influence (and the elderly we could say, it depends on the case).

How does social influence work?

If we analyze a little how society works in general, especially in the era of capitalism and consumerism, where we are increasingly influenced by what we see around us, you start to cross your mind :)).

Influences come from social groups (for example, in high school you are influenced by what your “gang” does). These influences can be quite toxic/harmful if we don’t learn to deal with them by controlling our own decisions (ex: if everyone in your circle does drugs, you tend to do the same to be “cool”).

Influences come from what we see on TV, news or shows.

Influences come from what we see in movies and series.

The influences come from what we see on the internet of different people very much in control of their own ideas/thoughts/principles.

Influences come from what we see in people we admire: celebrities, successful people, etc.

These influences happen because of social proof. We wouldn’t trust a person as much if we didn’t know that person didn’t have a certain status and if we didn’t know that person didn’t have thousands or hundreds of thousands of followers.

It’s one thing when “X-guy” (who has over 1 million followers on Youtube) tells you what to invest in, and it’s another when George, with 100 followers on Instagram, tells you.

The problem arises when “X-guy” (who has nothing to do with investments) wants to use this influence to get rich and do unethical things. Or when George is one of the best investors on Wall-Street, who actually gives you valuable information, he is not listened to because he is not as influential.

Unfortunately, social proof is also often used for selfish purposes in marketing, where the end justifies the means.

Well, the topic is even more complex than that, but I won’t bore you now with details that may not interest you.

The fact is that this basic principle of persuasion, social proof, helps us in sales and more.

An influencer (a person with many followers/followers/fans/recommendations/social status) can very easily use social proof to attract money.

How can you use social proof in marketing?

• Increase your followers on social media accounts
• Show people reviews and testimonials from your customers
• Show the numbers behind it: how many people bought your product; how many people you have in the community; how many people recommend your offer
• Increase reactions to your posts and ads
• Get other influencers to talk about your product/service (ex: influencer marketing)
• Collaborate with influencers (ex: try appearing on podcasts/webinars with other celebrities/influencers in a certain field)
• Appear in newspapers/news (ex: pay online newspapers or various specialized websites to write an article about you/your offer)
• Attend events and take pictures with influencers and publish them on your accounts
• Go live with influencers
• Go to places where influencers go and show yourself there (ex: people going to Maldives/Dubai)
• Use material things that influential people use (eg: influential people dress in corporate clothes/have certain types of cars and use certain brands in their daily work)
• Raise your status in society: get a recognized position (ex: become mayor/prefect/chief of police etc.)
• Raise your status in your environment (ex: become a manager at your job, become a team leader, become an admin in a large Facebook group, etc.)

All of the above + more, are part of “social proof”. All of these things will help you be influential and get the results you want.

If you’re just starting out, focus your efforts and energy on getting as much social proof as possible so people can trust you and follow you.

Thus, you can have the dirtiest product on the market and you will still be able to sell it, because you will have influence.

Of course, it’s good to be careful not to let this influence get to our head either, because we can ruin our reputation very quickly and lose our credibility very easily.

Here we are already talking about ethics, respect, self-esteem and other life principles and values ​​that each of us adopts and uses as we see fit.

What are the negative effects of using social proof?

Unfortunately, there are also many dark sides to the use of this principle. I’ll just state them, without giving explanations (we all know them too well):

• gambling influencers
• influential people in leadership in government/parliament
• the influential people who make scams to get rich by fooling other people
• the influential people who destroy the environment to make profit with their companies
• influential people exploiting employees

And so on.

Social proof is extremely powerful and can be incorporated into everything we do. For example, in marketing, if you want a sales ad to be successful, you must also boost it to attract as many reactions and comments as possible.

Thus, people will see that the ad has a lot of reactions and will be influenced to click to see more about what it is about or to buy directly.

The examples can go on.

Think about all the individual things you do at the business/marketing level and I guarantee you that you can integrate social proof into almost anything to sway a potential customer’s decision in your favor.

So much for social proof.

If you need marketing services, consulting or marketing resources, you know where to find me.

Have a nice weekend and stay strong!

Andrei