When you’re planning your social media strategy, you want to consider the different kinds of content that will raise brand awareness and engage your ideal customer. One key component of your content strategy ought to be social proof.

Social proof is important for building relatability and trust as it’s an opportunity to showcase that other people who may have started in a similar situation to a new prospective customer received value from your offer. If the social proof comes from an established authority in your industry, it can raise the perception of your status as well. Plus, social proof is an opportunity to add variety into your messaging by incorporating different voices from the different previous customers who have experienced success with your brand.

Here are 5 different kinds of social proof you might want to use to boost your social media marketing efforts:

1. Customer Testimonials

Has your company received a significant number of 4- or 5-star reviews? Do you have any previous customers willing to share even just a few sentences on why they would recommend your company to others?

A good testimonial doesn’t need to be long, but it is often best if it mentions a specific challenge, problem, or objection the customer had before using your product or service and why in the end they were happy to have purchased from you.

2. Case Studies

Case studies provide an in-depth story that showcases exactly how your business can make a difference in solving the problems of your ideal customer. Case studies are useful to have in the middle of your social media marketing funnel to help answer questions and guide a warm lead to excitedly, and confidently buy.

You might want to hook your audience with a quote from the case study or share the numbers / impressive outcome that your client was able to generate. For example, “Check out Mike’s story of how he saved $3,557 dollars with our XYZ service.” Then link to the detailed presentation of his story. You might even want to capture the story in the form of a video or audio interview, as that can build an even deeper sense of human connection.

3. User-Generated Content (UGC)

Social proof doesn’t have to come in just written or spoken form. Sometimes a quick picture truly is worth more than thousands of words.

Especially if a prospective customer is having difficulty visualizing how your product might work for them, seeing a photo or even a 7-second video can allay their concerns. You can ask current/previous customers to tag you online in any images or videos they create that include your products – this is user-generated content.

Best of all, if you re-share their content, that kind of engagement can help strengthen the relationship and increase their sense of loyalty to your brand.

4. Customer Milestones

Does your company have 1,000 satisfied customers? 10,000? McDonald’s stopped keeping count sometime around 1994 when their tagline famously became “billions and billions served” – and though your company might not yet have reached that milestone, you too might want to advertise your company’s history of customer success.

After all, if your product or service has already been valuable to 1000, there’s a strong possibility it will work for many more.

5. Awards & Honors

Social proof doesn’t necessarily have to come from past customers. Has your business won any industry awards or been recognized by a news outlet or non-profit organization?

An official, trusted source that provides you with accolades or honors can provide powerful social proof that can influence your prospective customer far beyond the recommendation of strangers on the internet.

Are you looking for more ways to improve your social media marketing strategy? If your company would benefit from expert guidance in managing your online marketing, be sure to explore all the ways our team here at JXT Group can help with both organic and paid social advertising.

Give us a call today at 718-690-7302 or fill out our online form to find out if we’re a good fit for your social media marketing needs.