March 12, 2024 • 22 mins
In a world where customers have endless options, how can your business stand out? The secret lies in something called social proof. It's a powerful tool that builds trust and credibility with your audience. Today we’re diving into Social Proof, what it is, why you need it and how to maximize it.
From customer reviews to industry recommendations, you can make your business shine and attract more customers through effective use of social proof. Let's discover how social proof can take your business to the next level!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Carrie (00:01):
You may have heard of the term social proof and
wondered what it means.
Or maybe you've heard of it butwant to make sure you're fully
leveraging it.
As an online business owner andentrepreneur, you want to make
sure you're providing the trustpotential customers need when
buying from you.
That's where social proof comesin.
Join me as we dive into what itis, why you need it and how to
(00:23):
build it up.
Welcome to the eCommerce MadeEasy podcast.
I'm your host, k Saunders.
When we started this business,all I had was a couch, a laptop
and a nine month old my maingoal To help others.
Now, with over 20 years in theeCommerce building industry and
even more than that in webdevelopment, I have seen a lot.
I love breaking down the hardtech and to easily
(00:44):
understandable bits to helpothers be successful in their
online business.
Whether you're a seasonedeCommerce veteran or just
starting out, you've come to theright place.
So sit back, relax and let'sdive into the world of eCommerce
together.
Welcome back to the eCommerceMade Easy podcast.
Today we're diving into socialproof what it is, why you need
(01:05):
it and how to maximize it.
So let's imagine this You'reschooling your favorite social
media platform and some productthat you see in your feed sparks
your attention.
In fact, as you read a littlebit more about it, it solves a
particular problem that's beenbothering you.
You click on the comments ofthe advertisement and start to
(01:26):
read.
Next thing you know it's beenfive minutes.
Where did the time go?
You got lost in reading all thecomments of others who
purchased this product, as wellas any responses from the
company.
Does that sound familiar?
I know to me it totally soundsfamiliar.
I've totally done this myself.
But why do we do this and howcan we take advantage of it as
(01:49):
business owners?
For those new to the term,social proof is a psychological
concept that people areinfluenced in their decision
making by others and othersopinion.
When we're talking about onlinebusiness, it specifically
influences purchasing and reallycreates some great purchasing
power.
So, in simple terms, consumerslook at other consumers' reviews
(02:15):
, praises, comments, likes,shares, etc.
To determine if your product orservice is reliable, reputable
and worth purchasing.
It really greatly affects yourconversion rate.
So, now that we know what it isand why we need it, how do we
maximize our social proof?
What are the means that we cando this by?
(02:38):
So there are many places thatconsumers can consume and
provide social proof for yourproducts or services.
I'm going to break them downinto where you typically find
them and give you some examplesabout them.
Okay, first off is your website, and it's also the place that
you can control this the most.
It is a perfect place to haveyour social proof and I highly
(03:00):
recommend you have some form ofone of these on your website.
The first and most obvious oneis customer testimonials.
So if you have an applicationwhere you can either add on or
turn on a feature where you cancollect customer testimonials, I
highly recommend you doing thison your website.
And then you wanna make surethat you're displaying them on
your website too.
(03:20):
So I know that when I go to anew person, whether they sell
products or services, I want tolook at what other customers are
saying about them.
I want to get a good vibe forthe company and how other
consumers really like it.
So customer testimonials arevery vital, especially if you're
selling services.
(03:40):
Now, if you're selling productsthat are physical goods or
maybe even digital products youcould do this with, although
customer testimonials wouldapply for that too.
User ratings or reviews on thespecific product or service is
super important.
I know when I'm looking at anew product that I have never
(04:02):
considered before, or maybe I'veconsidered it I really want to
look at the ratings or reviews,and I particularly look at the
top ratings of five stars aswell as the one stars.
That kind of gives me a goodgauge for the product, because
you can kind of tell the type ofperson or the type of people
who are reviewing a product bylooking at the top ratings and
(04:22):
the lowest ratings and you canget a good feel as to whether
the product is a great fit foryou.
I also recommend case studies.
So let's say, you don't selldigital or physical goods or
services products.
You can do case studies instead.
So you're a service-basedbusiness only, so you can do
(04:42):
case studies on your clients andtalk about the befores and the
afters and how you transformedtheir business or whatever
you're transforming, whetherit's their life, their business,
their emotions, theirrelationship, health, their
physical health, their mentalhealth.
Talk about these case studies.
You can create these as blogposts.
(05:03):
We talk a lot on the podcastabout how new posts, at least
minimum once a month, is what Irecommend.
It's great for your websitefrom a search engine's
perspective as well as for yourconsumers, and something like
case studies is something youcan do on your website regularly
to help have that regularcontent that's going to boost
(05:24):
you both for search engines aswell as for consumer trust.
So case studies is somethingyou should look into if you
haven't yet.
Also, trust seals andcertifications.
Now, this is only gonna applyto a portion of you guys,
because not everybody or everyindustry has trust seals or
certificates.
But let's say you are abusiness coach and you have
(05:46):
taken specific courses to helpyou be a better business coach
and you have some certificationsfrom that.
Then for sure you want todisplay that on your website.
Maybe you are selling physicalproducts to people and you wanna
make sure that peopleunderstand that your website is
secure unless you're a reliablebusiness.
So you could put up the BetterBusiness Bureau.
(06:07):
If you're in America, thatwould be an appropriate one to
put up over here to show thatyou are a verified business, and
you could put up things likesecure certificates and PCI
compliance certificates oranything like that that you like
that you have, and I recommendputting those towards the bottom
of the website.
Those usually aren't needed upin front, unless you're talking
about professionalcertifications that would help
(06:31):
you sell your products orservices.
Okay, so those are some of thethings you can control on your
website, and I do wanna do alittle bit of a tangent here.
Let's say you don't have anycustomer testimonials or a way
to put customer testimonials orreceive them on your website.
Another thing you can do isscreenshot reviews and
testimonials that are off yourwebsite, say on social media or
(06:53):
another website.
You can take screenshots andput that on your website.
So, even if you don't have theway to collect them on your
website, that's another greatway to display social proof, and
I recommend screenshots becausewe recognize what Facebook
looks like, we recognize whatInstagram looks like and many of
(07:14):
the other external websites.
So when you do a screenshot itlooks more real.
It looks like you aren't justcopying or typing up some bogus
review or testimonial.
So doing the screenshots areally great way to build
further that social proof.
Okay, so now let's switch gearsto social media channels.
They also provide a place tohave social proof, and if you
(07:36):
hear some rustling in thebackground, the cats are going a
little nuts tonight as I'mrecording this, so you might see
them on the YouTube video.
All right, so back to where wewere Social media channels.
They are a great place to havesocial proof.
Obviously, it kind of seemslike that's where I was gonna go
originally, but our website canalso provide social proof.
So one of the things peoplereally look at with social proof
(07:59):
is the number of followers, sothe number of Instagram
followers, maybe the number ofFacebook followers, the number
of connections on LinkedIn, etcetera.
Now, some people think thatthis is really important, and I,
for one, tend to say that it issomewhat important, but it's
not the most important thing atall.
(08:20):
When you're on a socialplatform, just because somebody
has a bunch of followers, likes,et cetera for their profile
doesn't mean that they'reactually trustworthy, and a lot
of people already know thisintuitively.
So they're not only gonna lookat the number of followers.
They're also going to look athow people react to your posts
(08:42):
and whether they comment,whether they like them, whether
they heart them depending onwhich platform they are, as to
whether what reactions areappropriate and available.
They're also gonna look at thecomments on your social posts as
well as your responses to anyof those comments.
So one thing we wanna make surewe do on social and I mentioned
this on other episodes is wedon't wanna post in ghost.
(09:04):
Basically you don't wanna postsomething and if you get
comments, never comment, neverlike, never respond to that
consumer.
So you wanna make sure you arespending time every day or every
week, depending on how oftenyou get comments or reactions
and making sure that you'recoming back to those and
(09:25):
responding to them.
That makes it look like you'rea human and that you care about
what your consumers think about.
So remember that you need tomake sure you comment back to
any comments on your posts.
And then they're gonna lookalso to the reactions to social
posts so how many people likedit or how many people loved it,
or just generally, how manypeople are reacting to it and
(09:48):
they're engaging with it.
So not only comments, but alsojust simple reactions too.
Social media mentions is alsoanother way for social proof.
So once you get your name outthere as a company in this
business whether you sellproducts or services many people
are going to want to mentionyou when they think about you,
so say you really love this oneperson's product and they sell a
(10:12):
bunch of your, let's say, catissues.
They entertain your cats whenyou're recording your podcast.
Right, and you wanna tell yourother podcasting friends?
Hey, this great tool helpsentertain your animals whenever
you're wanting to be busy and doa podcast, for example, if
we're to mouth, like that issuper important for social proof
(10:32):
and if you're on the YouTubevideo.
We got Bre over here, hi,actually, no, that's Mac, that's
not Bre.
I didn't look at him longenough.
So, if you're listening on ourpodcast, jump on our YouTube
video when you're done with itso you can see our beautiful
orange kitties that we have inour office.
Anyway, let's get back to wherewe were.
So social media mentions isvery important and this is
(10:54):
something you should reciprocateto.
You know we get what we give.
So when you're out there onyour social, don't just be
selfish.
I feel like a lot of you arenot selfish, but I just want to
put this out there Consciously.
Think about where can you sharesome of your favorite people or
products while you're alreadythere on social.
(11:16):
You know, maybe you want tomention your favorite, I don't
know toothpaste.
That was the first thing thatcame to mind.
Maybe you have a favoritetoothpaste you love because it
doesn't have certain things init.
For me, I have to havetoothpaste that's gluten-free
and celiac, as well aspolyethylene glycol we think I'm
allergic to.
That's kind of an importantthing to me.
I would recommend a specifictoothpaste, say if it's on my
(11:39):
mind.
Somebody's got a question.
You know, hey, I'm looking fora good gluten-free toothpaste.
I would have a recommendationfor it, right?
So, naturally, recommending theproducts and services you
already use is going to bringthat karma back to you and bring
people you know doing the samething back for you too.
So not only will you want tohope for your own social media
(11:59):
mentions, but go ahead and dothat for some other people too.
It'll come back to you tenfold.
Also, reviews directly on thesocial platforms are very
important.
So I know Facebook provides away to review business pages,
for example, so you might wantto encourage your customers to
do reviews there.
(12:19):
There's other places you cancollect reviews just, such as
Google.
You can do Google businessreviews and have people post
there Yelp, if that applies toyou as well, and you can, even
we can go back to our website.
You can screenshot thosereviews because they're public
already.
They're on a public website.
You can screenshot them and putthem on your website for an
(12:42):
additional social proof.
That's right there on yourwebsite.
Okay, so we've covered many ofthe basic places and ways you
can have social proof.
So let's next go over some moreadvanced ways to create social
proof and keep in mind, as wewent through the ones we just
talked about and then these moreadvanced ones, don't feel like
you need to do them all.
Pick what is easy for you to doright now.
(13:06):
Okay, so affiliate programs isa great way to provide a bit
more advanced social proof.
So once you get going in yourbusiness even more let's say
you're new and you're not quiteready for this yet but once you
get going even more, you canhave affiliate programs.
For us at BCC, we had back whenone of the softwares that we
(13:29):
worked for worked with notreally worked for was super
popular, when Xcar was superpopular, we had other agencies
that were doing similar thingsto us and we actually would
refer each other to each otherfor our products and services
when they weren't a good fit,when the client needed wasn't a
good fit, we would refer them tothese other ones.
(13:51):
And affiliate programs is agreat way to bring in some
income.
That is not necessarily.
There's called passive income,so it's not active income, where
you're working to create theproduct or the service and
you're getting in a bit morepassive.
Obviously you've got to do alittle bit of work with
affiliate marketing to get theinformation out there to the
(14:12):
consumer, but it's a bit morepassive income.
So affiliate programs can be agreat way you can be a part of
somebody else's and somebody canbe a part of your affiliate
program.
Also, user generated contentthis is a brilliant way.
Once you're really good atsocial media, this is a
brilliant way to really maximizethe social proof on social
media.
So what do I mean by usergenerated content?
(14:35):
This is where and this works,especially if you have products
or services that other peopleare using and talking about.
So let's say, you sell you knowdog treats and you have a
special diet dog treats for,let's say, diabetic dogs that
need to be green free let's getreally specific here and you're
(14:56):
selling treats for this and youhave you encourage and have your
consumers tag you on socialmedia with their puppies, with
their treats and how happy theyare and things like that.
So you can then use those usergenerated photos, memes and
videos etc and repost them on toyour social platforms.
(15:17):
So that then gives a bit more,even more in-depth social proof,
because a consumer created thepost and then you're sharing it
on your social content.
So you didn't generate thatcontent, somebody else gave you
the good word for you.
So that really magnifies yoursocial proof using user
generated content.
(15:40):
Also, industry expertrecommendations.
So let's say you are a businesscoach and one of the, say,
bigger or higher up than youbusiness coaches or a peer
really recommends you as aspecific type of business coach.
But that person's very industryrecognized and industry expert.
That's going to really boostyou and bring you up even more
(16:04):
when another industry expert isrecommending you.
So working your networking as abusiness owner and making sure
you're creating these greatbusiness connections that are
genuine so that you can getreferrals from other industry
experts.
Also, social media mentions onother big websites.
So we want to and we've got acat in the window, cat in the
(16:28):
view again we want to make surethat we are putting ourselves on
other people's websites and wewant to make sure we're getting
media mentions and even socialmedia mentions.
It's kind of two differentthings Somebody else's website
or somebody else's social outthere and having those point
them back to you is a great wayto provide social proof.
(16:51):
Let's say you get it to post anarticle on entrepreneurcom.
It's a very popular magazinefor entrepreneurs.
I'm sure you probably alreadyheard of it, but for you to have
an article on there is greatand having it link back to you,
that's a great way of doingsocial proof.
And then you can post on yourother website Check out our
(17:11):
article on entrepreneurcom andthat's going to boost your
reputation and worthinessbecause you're now on this
external large website as well.
Let's say you have some bigclients that you work for.
Having those client logos ornot, you don't even have to be
big websites, it could be justclient logos.
(17:33):
Having those displayed on yourwebsite as social proof is also
really great.
It really boosts other people'sconfidence and lets them see
that you're just not hot air andyou actually work for some
other people.
So that's very important.
Also, the number of customersor clients you've served over
(17:53):
the past, however many yearsyou've been in business,
especially if you're a serviceprovider or a coach or something
along those lines can reallyhelp boost your potential
customer's confidence on you.
Now you can also do if this isappropriate to your industry, a
before and after.
So, for example, for us wecould do a before and after on a
(18:15):
rebranding or a redesign of awebsite or a replatforming of a
website.
We could do a before and afterand describe the things that we
help the client do and achieveand things like that.
You can also do a before andafter.
If you are a coach and you arehelping somebody learn how to
(18:39):
speak better, you can do abefore and after, say on how
they were speaking before andhow comfortable they felt.
They can use their words andgive you some feedback that you
can use for a before and after,and then they can describe how
do they feel now that they'vehad your coaching services on
speaking publicly, and how muchbetter they feel and how more
(19:00):
confident they are, and thingslike that.
So before and afters are alsogreat.
Okay, so, as you can see, thereare many ways to get and display
social proof.
If you're just starting out,like I said a little bit ago, I
recommend you start with a fewof the ways that are easy for
you and that you like best,really want to make sure you
pick things that you enjoykeeping track of and doing
(19:24):
because you're going to be moresuccessful that way and just
pick three to five and run withit and just do your best with it
.
Progress is much more importantthan perfection here and I'm
saying this to myself as well asto you guys, because I need to
hear it too.
I'm a recovering perfectionistand I will definitely admit that
.
Also, create a task to comeback to this list in about six
(19:46):
months time and add another oneor two more and repeat that
until you're happy with avariety of social proof
mechanisms you have.
Again, I encourage you not to doall at once or you'll feel
overwhelmed.
They likely all won't apply toyou as well.
So all the ones that elicit youprobably won't apply to you.
That's why we want to just pickthe ones that you think apply
(20:07):
to you and that you think aredoable for you and you think
will be fun, all right.
So we want to hear from you whatis your favorite social proof
mechanism as a consumer yourself?
Do you look at reviews, mostlySocial media posts and
interactions?
Drop us an email at podcast atbcsengineeringcom and let us
(20:28):
know.
All right, so that's it forthis week's episode of the
eCommerce Made Easy podcast.
If you're watching on YouTube,be sure to hit that subscribe
button and I hope you enjoyedthe few views of the kitty cats
on this episode and if you'relistening on the podcast, be
sure to subscribe so you don'tmiss out when we release new
episodes.
As always, we appreciate yourfeedback and ideas.
(20:50):
You're welcome again to drop usan email at podcast at
bcsengineeringcom.
We would love to hear from youand we will see you next week.
You may have heard of the term social proof and
wondered what it means.
Or maybe you've heard of it butwant to make sure you're fully
leveraging it.
As an online business owner andentrepreneur, you want to make
sure you're providing the trustpotential customers need when
buying from you.
That's where social proof comesin.
Join me as we dive into what itis, why you need it and how to
(00:23):
build it up.
Welcome to the eCommerce MadeEasy podcast.
I'm your host, k Saunders.
When we started this business,all I had was a couch, a laptop
and a nine month old my maingoal To help others.
Now, with over 20 years in theeCommerce building industry and
even more than that in webdevelopment, I have seen a lot.
I love breaking down the hardtech and to easily
(00:44):
understandable bits to helpothers be successful in their
online business.
Whether you're a seasonedeCommerce veteran or just
starting out, you've come to theright place.
So sit back, relax and let'sdive into the world of eCommerce
together.
Welcome back to the eCommerceMade Easy podcast.
Today we're diving into socialproof what it is, why you need
(01:05):
it and how to maximize it.
So let's imagine this You'reschooling your favorite social
media platform and some productthat you see in your feed sparks
your attention.
In fact, as you read a littlebit more about it, it solves a
particular problem that's beenbothering you.
You click on the comments ofthe advertisement and start to
(01:26):
read.
Next thing you know it's beenfive minutes.
Where did the time go?
You got lost in reading all thecomments of others who
purchased this product, as wellas any responses from the
company.
Does that sound familiar?
I know to me it totally soundsfamiliar.
I've totally done this myself.
But why do we do this and howcan we take advantage of it as
(01:49):
business owners?
For those new to the term,social proof is a psychological
concept that people areinfluenced in their decision
making by others and othersopinion.
When we're talking about onlinebusiness, it specifically
influences purchasing and reallycreates some great purchasing
power.
So, in simple terms, consumerslook at other consumers' reviews
(02:15):
, praises, comments, likes,shares, etc.
To determine if your product orservice is reliable, reputable
and worth purchasing.
It really greatly affects yourconversion rate.
So, now that we know what it isand why we need it, how do we
maximize our social proof?
What are the means that we cando this by?
(02:38):
So there are many places thatconsumers can consume and
provide social proof for yourproducts or services.
I'm going to break them downinto where you typically find
them and give you some examplesabout them.
Okay, first off is your website, and it's also the place that
you can control this the most.
It is a perfect place to haveyour social proof and I highly
(03:00):
recommend you have some form ofone of these on your website.
The first and most obvious oneis customer testimonials.
So if you have an applicationwhere you can either add on or
turn on a feature where you cancollect customer testimonials, I
highly recommend you doing thison your website.
And then you wanna make surethat you're displaying them on
your website too.
(03:20):
So I know that when I go to anew person, whether they sell
products or services, I want tolook at what other customers are
saying about them.
I want to get a good vibe forthe company and how other
consumers really like it.
So customer testimonials arevery vital, especially if you're
selling services.
(03:40):
Now, if you're selling productsthat are physical goods or
maybe even digital products youcould do this with, although
customer testimonials wouldapply for that too.
User ratings or reviews on thespecific product or service is
super important.
I know when I'm looking at anew product that I have never
(04:02):
considered before, or maybe I'veconsidered it I really want to
look at the ratings or reviews,and I particularly look at the
top ratings of five stars aswell as the one stars.
That kind of gives me a goodgauge for the product, because
you can kind of tell the type ofperson or the type of people
who are reviewing a product bylooking at the top ratings and
(04:22):
the lowest ratings and you canget a good feel as to whether
the product is a great fit foryou.
I also recommend case studies.
So let's say, you don't selldigital or physical goods or
services products.
You can do case studies instead.
So you're a service-basedbusiness only, so you can do
(04:42):
case studies on your clients andtalk about the befores and the
afters and how you transformedtheir business or whatever
you're transforming, whetherit's their life, their business,
their emotions, theirrelationship, health, their
physical health, their mentalhealth.
Talk about these case studies.
You can create these as blogposts.
(05:03):
We talk a lot on the podcastabout how new posts, at least
minimum once a month, is what Irecommend.
It's great for your websitefrom a search engine's
perspective as well as for yourconsumers, and something like
case studies is something youcan do on your website regularly
to help have that regularcontent that's going to boost
(05:24):
you both for search engines aswell as for consumer trust.
So case studies is somethingyou should look into if you
haven't yet.
Also, trust seals andcertifications.
Now, this is only gonna applyto a portion of you guys,
because not everybody or everyindustry has trust seals or
certificates.
But let's say you are abusiness coach and you have
(05:46):
taken specific courses to helpyou be a better business coach
and you have some certificationsfrom that.
Then for sure you want todisplay that on your website.
Maybe you are selling physicalproducts to people and you wanna
make sure that peopleunderstand that your website is
secure unless you're a reliablebusiness.
So you could put up the BetterBusiness Bureau.
(06:07):
If you're in America, thatwould be an appropriate one to
put up over here to show thatyou are a verified business, and
you could put up things likesecure certificates and PCI
compliance certificates oranything like that that you like
that you have, and I recommendputting those towards the bottom
of the website.
Those usually aren't needed upin front, unless you're talking
about professionalcertifications that would help
(06:31):
you sell your products orservices.
Okay, so those are some of thethings you can control on your
website, and I do wanna do alittle bit of a tangent here.
Let's say you don't have anycustomer testimonials or a way
to put customer testimonials orreceive them on your website.
Another thing you can do isscreenshot reviews and
testimonials that are off yourwebsite, say on social media or
(06:53):
another website.
You can take screenshots andput that on your website.
So, even if you don't have theway to collect them on your
website, that's another greatway to display social proof, and
I recommend screenshots becausewe recognize what Facebook
looks like, we recognize whatInstagram looks like and many of
(07:14):
the other external websites.
So when you do a screenshot itlooks more real.
It looks like you aren't justcopying or typing up some bogus
review or testimonial.
So doing the screenshots areally great way to build
further that social proof.
Okay, so now let's switch gearsto social media channels.
They also provide a place tohave social proof, and if you
(07:36):
hear some rustling in thebackground, the cats are going a
little nuts tonight as I'mrecording this, so you might see
them on the YouTube video.
All right, so back to where wewere Social media channels.
They are a great place to havesocial proof.
Obviously, it kind of seemslike that's where I was gonna go
originally, but our website canalso provide social proof.
So one of the things peoplereally look at with social proof
(07:59):
is the number of followers, sothe number of Instagram
followers, maybe the number ofFacebook followers, the number
of connections on LinkedIn, etcetera.
Now, some people think thatthis is really important, and I,
for one, tend to say that it issomewhat important, but it's
not the most important thing atall.
(08:20):
When you're on a socialplatform, just because somebody
has a bunch of followers, likes,et cetera for their profile
doesn't mean that they'reactually trustworthy, and a lot
of people already know thisintuitively.
So they're not only gonna lookat the number of followers.
They're also going to look athow people react to your posts
(08:42):
and whether they comment,whether they like them, whether
they heart them depending onwhich platform they are, as to
whether what reactions areappropriate and available.
They're also gonna look at thecomments on your social posts as
well as your responses to anyof those comments.
So one thing we wanna make surewe do on social and I mentioned
this on other episodes is wedon't wanna post in ghost.
(09:04):
Basically you don't wanna postsomething and if you get
comments, never comment, neverlike, never respond to that
consumer.
So you wanna make sure you arespending time every day or every
week, depending on how oftenyou get comments or reactions
and making sure that you'recoming back to those and
(09:25):
responding to them.
That makes it look like you'rea human and that you care about
what your consumers think about.
So remember that you need tomake sure you comment back to
any comments on your posts.
And then they're gonna lookalso to the reactions to social
posts so how many people likedit or how many people loved it,
or just generally, how manypeople are reacting to it and
(09:48):
they're engaging with it.
So not only comments, but alsojust simple reactions too.
Social media mentions is alsoanother way for social proof.
So once you get your name outthere as a company in this
business whether you sellproducts or services many people
are going to want to mentionyou when they think about you,
so say you really love this oneperson's product and they sell a
(10:12):
bunch of your, let's say, catissues.
They entertain your cats whenyou're recording your podcast.
Right, and you wanna tell yourother podcasting friends?
Hey, this great tool helpsentertain your animals whenever
you're wanting to be busy and doa podcast, for example, if
we're to mouth, like that issuper important for social proof
(10:32):
and if you're on the YouTubevideo.
We got Bre over here, hi,actually, no, that's Mac, that's
not Bre.
I didn't look at him longenough.
So, if you're listening on ourpodcast, jump on our YouTube
video when you're done with itso you can see our beautiful
orange kitties that we have inour office.
Anyway, let's get back to wherewe were.
So social media mentions isvery important and this is
(10:54):
something you should reciprocateto.
You know we get what we give.
So when you're out there onyour social, don't just be
selfish.
I feel like a lot of you arenot selfish, but I just want to
put this out there Consciously.
Think about where can you sharesome of your favorite people or
products while you're alreadythere on social.
(11:16):
You know, maybe you want tomention your favorite, I don't
know toothpaste.
That was the first thing thatcame to mind.
Maybe you have a favoritetoothpaste you love because it
doesn't have certain things init.
For me, I have to havetoothpaste that's gluten-free
and celiac, as well aspolyethylene glycol we think I'm
allergic to.
That's kind of an importantthing to me.
I would recommend a specifictoothpaste, say if it's on my
(11:39):
mind.
Somebody's got a question.
You know, hey, I'm looking fora good gluten-free toothpaste.
I would have a recommendationfor it, right?
So, naturally, recommending theproducts and services you
already use is going to bringthat karma back to you and bring
people you know doing the samething back for you too.
So not only will you want tohope for your own social media
(11:59):
mentions, but go ahead and dothat for some other people too.
It'll come back to you tenfold.
Also, reviews directly on thesocial platforms are very
important.
So I know Facebook provides away to review business pages,
for example, so you might wantto encourage your customers to
do reviews there.
(12:19):
There's other places you cancollect reviews just, such as
Google.
You can do Google businessreviews and have people post
there Yelp, if that applies toyou as well, and you can, even
we can go back to our website.
You can screenshot thosereviews because they're public
already.
They're on a public website.
You can screenshot them and putthem on your website for an
(12:42):
additional social proof.
That's right there on yourwebsite.
Okay, so we've covered many ofthe basic places and ways you
can have social proof.
So let's next go over some moreadvanced ways to create social
proof and keep in mind, as wewent through the ones we just
talked about and then these moreadvanced ones, don't feel like
you need to do them all.
Pick what is easy for you to doright now.
(13:06):
Okay, so affiliate programs isa great way to provide a bit
more advanced social proof.
So once you get going in yourbusiness even more let's say
you're new and you're not quiteready for this yet but once you
get going even more, you canhave affiliate programs.
For us at BCC, we had back whenone of the softwares that we
(13:29):
worked for worked with notreally worked for was super
popular, when Xcar was superpopular, we had other agencies
that were doing similar thingsto us and we actually would
refer each other to each otherfor our products and services
when they weren't a good fit,when the client needed wasn't a
good fit, we would refer them tothese other ones.
(13:51):
And affiliate programs is agreat way to bring in some
income.
That is not necessarily.
There's called passive income,so it's not active income, where
you're working to create theproduct or the service and
you're getting in a bit morepassive.
Obviously you've got to do alittle bit of work with
affiliate marketing to get theinformation out there to the
(14:12):
consumer, but it's a bit morepassive income.
So affiliate programs can be agreat way you can be a part of
somebody else's and somebody canbe a part of your affiliate
program.
Also, user generated contentthis is a brilliant way.
Once you're really good atsocial media, this is a
brilliant way to really maximizethe social proof on social
media.
So what do I mean by usergenerated content?
(14:35):
This is where and this works,especially if you have products
or services that other peopleare using and talking about.
So let's say, you sell you knowdog treats and you have a
special diet dog treats for,let's say, diabetic dogs that
need to be green free let's getreally specific here and you're
(14:56):
selling treats for this and youhave you encourage and have your
consumers tag you on socialmedia with their puppies, with
their treats and how happy theyare and things like that.
So you can then use those usergenerated photos, memes and
videos etc and repost them on toyour social platforms.
(15:17):
So that then gives a bit more,even more in-depth social proof,
because a consumer created thepost and then you're sharing it
on your social content.
So you didn't generate thatcontent, somebody else gave you
the good word for you.
So that really magnifies yoursocial proof using user
generated content.
(15:40):
Also, industry expertrecommendations.
So let's say you are a businesscoach and one of the, say,
bigger or higher up than youbusiness coaches or a peer
really recommends you as aspecific type of business coach.
But that person's very industryrecognized and industry expert.
That's going to really boostyou and bring you up even more
(16:04):
when another industry expert isrecommending you.
So working your networking as abusiness owner and making sure
you're creating these greatbusiness connections that are
genuine so that you can getreferrals from other industry
experts.
Also, social media mentions onother big websites.
So we want to and we've got acat in the window, cat in the
(16:28):
view again we want to make surethat we are putting ourselves on
other people's websites and wewant to make sure we're getting
media mentions and even socialmedia mentions.
It's kind of two differentthings Somebody else's website
or somebody else's social outthere and having those point
them back to you is a great wayto provide social proof.
(16:51):
Let's say you get it to post anarticle on entrepreneurcom.
It's a very popular magazinefor entrepreneurs.
I'm sure you probably alreadyheard of it, but for you to have
an article on there is greatand having it link back to you,
that's a great way of doingsocial proof.
And then you can post on yourother website Check out our
(17:11):
article on entrepreneurcom andthat's going to boost your
reputation and worthinessbecause you're now on this
external large website as well.
Let's say you have some bigclients that you work for.
Having those client logos ornot, you don't even have to be
big websites, it could be justclient logos.
(17:33):
Having those displayed on yourwebsite as social proof is also
really great.
It really boosts other people'sconfidence and lets them see
that you're just not hot air andyou actually work for some
other people.
So that's very important.
Also, the number of customersor clients you've served over
(17:53):
the past, however many yearsyou've been in business,
especially if you're a serviceprovider or a coach or something
along those lines can reallyhelp boost your potential
customer's confidence on you.
Now you can also do if this isappropriate to your industry, a
before and after.
So, for example, for us wecould do a before and after on a
(18:15):
rebranding or a redesign of awebsite or a replatforming of a
website.
We could do a before and afterand describe the things that we
help the client do and achieveand things like that.
You can also do a before andafter.
If you are a coach and you arehelping somebody learn how to
(18:39):
speak better, you can do abefore and after, say on how
they were speaking before andhow comfortable they felt.
They can use their words andgive you some feedback that you
can use for a before and after,and then they can describe how
do they feel now that they'vehad your coaching services on
speaking publicly, and how muchbetter they feel and how more
(19:00):
confident they are, and thingslike that.
So before and afters are alsogreat.
Okay, so, as you can see, thereare many ways to get and display
social proof.
If you're just starting out,like I said a little bit ago, I
recommend you start with a fewof the ways that are easy for
you and that you like best,really want to make sure you
pick things that you enjoykeeping track of and doing
(19:24):
because you're going to be moresuccessful that way and just
pick three to five and run withit and just do your best with it
.
Progress is much more importantthan perfection here and I'm
saying this to myself as well asto you guys, because I need to
hear it too.
I'm a recovering perfectionistand I will definitely admit that
.
Also, create a task to comeback to this list in about six
(19:46):
months time and add another oneor two more and repeat that
until you're happy with avariety of social proof
mechanisms you have.
Again, I encourage you not to doall at once or you'll feel
overwhelmed.
They likely all won't apply toyou as well.
So all the ones that elicit youprobably won't apply to you.
That's why we want to just pickthe ones that you think apply
(20:07):
to you and that you think aredoable for you and you think
will be fun, all right.
So we want to hear from you whatis your favorite social proof
mechanism as a consumer yourself?
Do you look at reviews, mostlySocial media posts and
interactions?
Drop us an email at podcast atbcsengineeringcom and let us
(20:28):
know.
All right, so that's it forthis week's episode of the
eCommerce Made Easy podcast.
If you're watching on YouTube,be sure to hit that subscribe
button and I hope you enjoyedthe few views of the kitty cats
on this episode and if you'relistening on the podcast, be
sure to subscribe so you don'tmiss out when we release new
episodes.
As always, we appreciate yourfeedback and ideas.
(20:50):
You're welcome again to drop usan email at podcast at
bcsengineeringcom.
We would love to hear from youand we will see you next week.
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