Social Proof
If you’re involved in marketing, you probably know the term ‘social proof’.
Essentially social proof is about ways of building trust in the message or offer you’re trying to communicate.
Copywriters love social proof – it can turn a strong message into a powerful one.
Research has shown that 92% of people would trust a friend’s recommendation, 70% would trust online reviews, but only 40% would trust a paid advertisement.
It goes without saying that any social proof you have should be prominently displayed.
Let’s look at some of the ways you can add social proof when you’re copywriting whether for promotions, websites, mail shots, social media or pay-per-click, online or print advertising.
Business credentials
By business credentials we mean facts that you already have to hand and that you can use to build trust.
For example:
- Your big name clients – a graphic of their logos provides instant verification that you’re a successful company
- The number of positive online reviews
- Industry awards – again logos work really well
- Government standards awards – again all you need is logos
Don’t write text about any of these, it will only divert readers from your main message.
This type of social proof is generally used more by established businesses, as they have been trading for longer and have had more time to build their reputations.
Business credentials are particularly important on the home page of a website as they can confirm your trustworthiness at a glance. Remember 50 per cent of website visitors leave after 8 seconds, so you have a very short time to make an impression.
User testimonials
User testimonials are an excellent way of building trust.
You can use:
- Testimonials obtained from satisfied customers and incorporated into your advertisement, website or promotion
- Review aggregator sites such as Trustpilot
- Social media comments
You should always try and encourage customers to leave reviews and testimonials wherever and whenever possible.
The better your reviews and the more you have, the more trust you build.
Expert testimonials
This type of social proof stems from the trust we place in experts and authority figures.
We’ve all seen books launched with testimonials from a book reviewer of a national newspaper.
You find the names of experts in your industry by reading trade magazines. Then try offering them free trials of your product. Check out their social media followings, and, if appropriate, offer them a free trial of your products. If the experts are impressed, they’ll could agree to you using their name in promotions.
Celebrity endorsements
This is similar to getting social proof from experts. You can contact celebrities and influencers who might be interested in your product or service, offer it to them for free, and if they like it, you should get an endorsement.
Video Testimonials
As well as being in writing, testimonials and endorsements can delivered by video.
More time and cost will be involved, or you could ask satisfied customers to send in video testimonials, making sure you tell them that they could be used in publicicity.
Video grabs more attention than text.
Around 60 per cent of senior executives claim that if both text and video about a specific topic are available, they’re more likely to choose video.
Viewers retain 95 per cent of a video’s message, compared to 10% if reading the message as text. Video conveys visual cues like body language, tone of voice and eye contact which are essential for drawing emotions and reactions, which play a significant role in retaining information.
- Users spend 88 per cent more time on a website that contains a video
- Short videos (under 2 minutes) get the most engagement
- Video content generates 1200 per cent more shares than images and text combined
Video also encourages people to take action. Research shows videos that include calls-to-action produce 380 per cent more clicks than alternative CTA options, like buttons or written text.
Our inboxes are oversaturated with plain text emails, so sending a video email helps you stand out from the crowd.
Other social proof terchniques
Gazing
Gazing is a social proof advertising tactic that’s becoming increasingly popular. Fort example a popular individual on instagram can be paid to be feature some of your products.
FOMO – The fear of missing out
You might have heard of FOMO, or the ‘fear of missing out’. When you can create the impression that many people are taking a certain action – such as buying your product – others are more likely to follow.
Here are some ways you can use FOMO in your promotions:
- Give examples of customers who acted quickly in the past and show how it benefitted them.
- Use limited time offers or deadlines. Look at the success of Black Friday, or Amazon Prime Day.
- Use a countdown clock to add urgency
- Use exit pop-ups. As a customer is about to leave your website without purchasing, an exit pop-up gives your customer a last minute offer or discount.