5 Ways To Show Social Proof – and compel people to buy from you

“People don’t buy what you do; people buy WHY you do it” says Simon Sinek

We may talk ourselves into something and rationalize it, but the REAL reason why your customers buy from you (or don’t buy from you) is because of an emotion.

They buy because they know, like and trust you.

They buy because they have a “gut feeling” this is the right decision for them.

I saw Dr. Robert Cialdini speak at the Art of Sales conference in Toronto where he outlined the 6 Pillars of Social Commerce:

1: Social Proof  (see below)

2: Authority

3: Scarcity

4: Liking 

5: Consistency

6: Reciprocity 

For the next 6 weeks, I’m going to go through these 6 pillars and expand upon them a bit further.

Let’s start with “Social Proof”:

Wikipedia outlines it as follows…

“People will do things that they see other people are doing. For example, in one experiment, one or more confederates would look up into the sky; bystanders would then look up into the sky to see what they were seeing. At one point this experiment aborted, as so many people were looking up that they stopped traffic”

I’ve seen this myself, when I a bar owner I knew kept the VERY posh and swanky new “hot spot” almost empty inside while there was a huge line-up out the front. He was giving the impression that the place was so jam-packed inside and that people were clamouring to get in.

We look to others for proof that something is worthy of our attention.

How can your business to show “Social Proof”?

1. Do you have a lot of Facebook fans or Twitter followers?
   (These number mean a LOT more if they are quality connections because people won’t trust you if they think you’re “gaming the system)
   You may want to think about using Social Media widgets/plugins to show how active your online community is.
2. Can you get a high profile person (celebrity or expert) to endorse you or give you a testimonial? 
   Ok, so you probably won’t get the Bieber to give you kudos but if you know someone who can give you “cred” – it goes a long way.
3. Can you get your regular, satisfied customers to provide a testimonial?
   Ideally the image/video closest to your ideal target audience, the better.
4. Have you won any awards?
   If so, share that you’re a winner!
5. Case Studies: Tell your audience how you’ve made a HUGE difference for one of your customers. How did your company solve their problems?

TAKE ACTION!

First: Write down at least 3 different things you can add to your website, blog, marketing material that will help showcase your Social Proof.

Second: Share one of your Social Proof solutions below (even better if you link to your website or blog to show us what you’ve done!)

Third: If you’re not signed up for the newsletter already, enter your email.

And finally, if you like this post – be sure to use the Social tools below (tweet it, share it on Facebook or LinkedIn)

Be sure you stay tuned to next week….all about the power of Authority.

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