Many people consider social proof to be the best form of marketing. After all, 92% of consumers are more likely to trust non-paid recommendations than any other type of advertising. It’s a way for you to show your customers that they are not alone in their decision-making process and that others have had success with what you’re offering. In this post, we’ll discuss how to build and measure social proof and why it’s so important.

 

The power of social proof

 

The power of social proof is seeing that there are others who have had success with what you’re offering, which will encourage your customers to make the purchase themselves. You need to collect and build social proof so that you can convince new customers to move down the purchase funnel and increase conversions. There’s no denying the power of social proof.

Social proof can be built through testimonials on your website or Facebook page, through reviews and ratings from customers on Amazon or Yelp, or when people who have purchased an item tell their friends about it via social media networks like Instagram and Facebook. Therefore, getting your current customers to share their story and experience with your product and brand is crucial to building social proof. And what better way to do it than authentic, user-generated content!

 

Here are some ways you can build and measure social proof for your brand using User Generated Content.

 

Positive reviews and feedback

 

Encourage customer reviews by providing incentives like discounts or points. Their review will help other customers decide if the product or service is of good quality and useful. You can collect feedback in the form of messages, video reviews, images and ratings.

 

Social media tags and mentions

 

If your customers are posting about the product and using your brand hashtag or tags, then you can amplify it on your social media. They may provide you with unique use cases, creative applications of the product or simply enjoy the packaging. Make sure to leverage your community to establish social proof for potential customers.

 

User-generated content contests

 

Engaging your community with UGC contests and campaigns will bring in a lot of authentic content from your most loyal customers. You can ask your community to get creative, make something special with your product and send in their contributions. You can feature these on your website and social media to convince potential customers of all the possibilities that your product offers while also inviting them into a community of fun, highly engaging and active people.

Boost your audience with a social media video contest

 

Customer case studies

 

If your product or service is more complex and customised for the user, you can curate videos, e-books and blogs that explain how you worked with your customer to suit their specific needs. This shows you’re up for collaborating and are capable of taking on that challenge. Make sure to end the case study on the positive result of the project and how it helped your client’s business succeed.

 

So now you know how important social proof is! Here are some tips for measuring it:

 

Track and analyze UGC

 

Keep a track of social media mentions and user-generated content. Based on the UGC contributions you receive or get tagged on, you can tell if your customers are happy to speak about and promote your brand or not. Hootsuite allows you to monitor the number of messages about a specific subject at any one time from all sources including social media platforms.

 

Net Promoter Score (NPS)

 

A net promoter score is based on one simple question – ‘How likely are you to recommend us to a friend or colleague?’

Only customers who choose 9 and 10 are considered a promoter as they strongly believe in the brand and functionality of the product or service. This group is happy to endorse your brand and you can encourage this promotion by giving them with discounts and referral codes to invite a friend.

Those who choose 7 or 8 are passives, they may be satisfied but are not enthusiastic enough. Any customer between 0-6 are considered detractors who are not happy. It’s important to understand their complaints and resolve them so they don’t post negative reviews online and damage your reputation, discouraging future customers.

 

User ratings

 

User ratings are indicative of a user’s assessment of the product and it’s functionality based on their expectations. It reaffirms to new customers if the product is as advertised and helps them set their expectations.

Now that you know how to build social proof for your brand, it’s time you harnessed the power of user-generated content to collect authentic feedback and engage your customers. There’s no social proof stronger than real people sharing their real experience.

5 easy ways to source your user-generated video content

 

If you are looking to try out a social proof video campaign today, learn more here