Social proof is the best way to earn attention and build trust. And you must have trust to win customers. Luckily email and social media are your secret weapons for doing this online!
If 10 friends recommend a restaurant, then you’re likely to make a reservation without any further consideration. After all, if it’s good enough for your friends, it’s good enough for you. Let’s have a look at how you can apply the same logic on the web.
1. Add Facebook comments
If you add Facebook comments to the bottom of your Product Pages, then you’re allowing real people to leave their thoughts. This is so much better than publishing testimonials which you could cynically argue are made up. The more genuine comments you get the more social proof you are providing your potential buyers.
2. Add tweet, Facebook, Google +1 and LinkedIn share buttons
By adding these buttons to your website and blog you are making it easy for people to share your content with their friends. 78% of trust recommendations from other people, so what an effective way for the word to spread and to built trust without you doing anything extra! A high number of tweets or facebook likes is social validation that you are legit and your products are good quality.
3. Forward to a friend
On all the emails you send out, you should always include a “forward to a friend” button. This simple call to action reminds readers that their friends may also find the content valuable and provides an easy way for them to do so.
4. Share this email on social media
If you’ve put plenty of effort into your email newsletter, it’s a pretty cool to think that it could be read by way more people than just your subscribers! If you post a copy of the email on your website, you can encourage your readers to tweet it, like it, +1 it or share it. If your newsletter is remarkable it is very possible that your “open rate” could be greater than 100%.
5. Send follow up emails to customers who’ve just bought from you
It’s customary to send an automated confirmation and thank you email after a customer has bought from you. But why don’t you go one step further and send another email one week later? You can see how happy they are with their purchase and request a Facebook comment or a tweet if they liked it!
6. Tell three friends to receive a gift or discount on your next purchase
The key here is to offer the gift or discount on their next purchase. You must earn their trust first. If a customer is forced to recommend a product to their friend, sight unseen, they are essentially opening themselves up to the risk of embarrassment if the product is no good.
What you need to do is let them buy the product, try it out and then if they like it, offer them a gift or discount with their next purchase. You can follow up via email or social media to make this offer to them.
Email and social media are your secret weapons to nurture genuine trust, build your community and win more customers!
