Boost Your Instagram Brand Presence with These Forms of Social Proof

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If you are trying to enhance your digital marketing strategy for Instagram, consider how best to build social proof on the platform. Instagram, after all, is a primarily social networking platform used for both personal and professional purposes. To make an impact on this site, you must consider what effects, influences, and directs audience behavior the most here. If you can ace the critical methods of channeling herd psychology to your brand’s advantage, you are sure to find success on the platform. However, this is easier said than done.

Instagram has billions of active users, and convincing your target consumer pool in this sea of users will require some serious research and planning on your end. A step stool to creating a great marketing strategy would be organizing your POA according to a series of micro-goals. Often, IG users attempt to hasten the process of establishing brand presence by leveraging social proof and investing in paid followers, views and likes from companies like FollowersId. Such investments can assist in leveraging the site’s algorithms to your favor for a short period, which can help you set in motion the exercise of building social proof for your brand. Nonetheless, such investments should be backed by a focus on creating a solid organic social presence. It will not only enable you to retain existing followers and grow their numbers, but it will also assist in generating opportunities for increased active engagement on your handle. All of this will only help to strengthen your social proof on the platform.

What Defines Social Proof?

So, what exactly is social proof, and how do you work to achieve this on a platform like Instagram? Social proof is a socio-psychological term coined by Robert Cialdini in the 1980s. Since then, it has found extensive usage in the field of marketing. According to Cialdini, human beings tend to modify their behavior, likes, and interests based on what they see others do. There is a kind of psychological persuasion that happens when one is gathering information from others. This influential factor is social proof. For instance, consider your own online shopping experience. Let us say you want to try out a new product. You are likely to browse through details like customer rating stars and reviews when you look for it. Suppose the product has poor ratings and reviews. In that case, you are likely to assume that the product is not up to standard, and you will continue looking through similar products until you find something that has favorable ratings and reviews. Notice that you are building your opinion solely on what others are saying about the item in question.

Similarly, if a product has been given 5 stars by 4 users and 2 stars by 8, you are likely to believe the majority’s opinion. In other words, you are making your purchase based on the social proof the product already has online. Not only are you considering impressions left by others, but you are also inclined to side with the overall mass impression. It is why social proof is said to be a primary factor in inducing herd behavior.

Some Additional Suggestions to Keep in Mind

When brands use endorsers, do you feel inclined to try their products? If so, which type of endorser’s word do you tend to side with? You may find yourself getting more willing to try out a toothpaste recommended by your favorite star than one supported by a hygienist you haven’t heard of. In this case, your preference for the star influenced you rather than the knowledgeability of the endorser. This is why social proof is used synonymously with social influence at times.

Instagram, like other social media platforms, runs on the premise of user engagement and influence. Brands and professionals use social proof to draw their target audience into conducting online behavior in a manner that is suitable for their business. It includes encouraging them to follow CTA, click on embedded links, make direct purchases, and in general, build preferences for them over competitors in the niche.

How Can Social Proof Benefit Your Instagram Marketing?

Immensely, brand building is all about convincing your target audience to believe in you. So, it would help if you worked towards strengthening your social proof. You must be careful with your marketing and content planning, as social proof can positively and negatively affect your business. If you can ace the technique of strengthening your social proof, you will notice:

• Organic boosts in business sales and conversions.
• Growth in active follower count.
• Increased trust in your brand from target audience members as well as industry experts from your niche.
• Better ability to build professional networking bonds.

What are the Different Ways to Build Social Proof on Instagram?

You can use the following types of formal social proof building verifications in Instagram marketing:

• Verification from industry experts – Get recommended or positively reviewed by who’s who in your industries and its allied niche.
• Verification from celebrities – Endorsements by famous and influential members of society can bring you a vast clientele consisting of their fans.
• Verification from actual users of your products – A positive impression left by a satisfied client is sure to bring you more clients.
• Verification from mass opinion – If your brand is trending, your products are sure to draw in more interested clients.
• Verification from accreditation – Earn certification from established industry evaluators to gain favorable public opinion. What’s more, you can also apply for a verification certificate from Instagram for your business.

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How Can You Get These Forms of Social Proof to Work for You?

Getting your Instagram social proof to work for your business is all about how you plan and execute your marketing strategy. The great idea is to have micro-goals in place. Once you have done that, consider the following ways of utilizing social proof to boost your business presence:

While collaborating with other IG users

Posts created in collaboration on Instagram have their reach widened to include the active follower circle of all collaborators involved. Intelligent content creation and audience interaction strategies can further help you tap into this circle to broaden your group of enthusiastic and loyal followers. Some of the IG users you connect with in this manner might even conduct direct purchases from you if your account has that option enabled. This effect of growing social proof through partnership content creation is best noticed when your posts feature:

• Information presented by industry experts.
• Influencers who already have a great credibility quotient.
• Direct or indirect celebrity endorsements of your business.
• Social event sponsorship and fundraising.
• Live events with local celebrities, thought leaders, and experts.
• Tutorials, how-to and DIY videos.

While using interactive content

Interactive posts usually get more engagement and gain visibility quicker than average content on IG. To build social proof, consider using the following in your content creation:

• Story polls and surveys.
• CTA for engagement like tags, likes and saves, and shares.
• Product tags and shoppable posts.
• Contests and giveaways based on some engagement requirements.

While focusing on building relations rather than pushing sales

Of course, you need sales for your business, but hard selling is not the way to make brand value on a social networking site. Consider an approach that prioritizes soft selling by building consumer relations. Use the following for the purpose:

• Background stories about the business.
• Insider stories of your business.
• Content on workplace culture.
• Videos and live sessions that focus on knowledge-sharing.
• Gratitude and appreciation posts.

While celebrating milestones

Publicize your number of likes, posts, and other such parameters that can help create favorable public sentiments for your brand. Got your first 100 views? Crossed 1000 followers? Received 500 shares? So, make posts that highlight them every time you reach one. Likewise, celebrate community milestones and anniversaries of important Instagram events. Let your visitors know how old you are on the platform and in the industry, how widespread your audience reach, and how great your credit is already! Milestones are a great source of social proof.

When you get your authenticity certified

Platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram have their process of crediting your account authenticity. You will need to meet certain pre-qualifications to be eligible to apply for the verification. When approved, a blue checkmark will appear on your profile to show Instagram endorses your genuineness. Instagram usually provides this only to account holders like celebrities and major brands. So, getting this tick can bring your business immense brand value and respect. The blue tick also unlocks certain exclusive Instagram features and strengthens your in-platform visibility manifold.

When your friends endorse you

Word of mouth is a traditionally favored route of building social proof in known networks of friends and associates. It creates indirect advertising that lures more clients for your business. If you have satisfied clients in your follower list, do not hesitate to ask them to post on your brand and products. You can also ask for shares of content you create or a casual reference to you over a related topic. Create reciprocal posts to give back the honor and to strengthen your client relationships further online.

When you turn into a trendsetter

Experiment and create quality content in various forms. Incorporate fun and familiar elements into your posts. You never know what will catch your audience’s eye and become famous. If you create a trending or viral post, you will receive immediate fame, but the social proof won’t last long if you cannot create great content after that. Hence aim for consistency in the quality of whatever nature of post you make. Aim for posts that will build brand value and turn up among top search results. Such posts will automatically widen your reach and bring many first-time visitors to your account. Maintain audience interest in your account by creating posts that are based on well-researched target audience behavior. It will be early to create trends if you can skillfully weave in what your audience expects with what you want to present in your posts.

When your people’ skills are top-notch

Build an impeccable response rate. If you are always available for questions, customer services, guides and are highly responsive to tags and comments, you are sure to build favorable public opinion. Nothing humanizes your brand better than having a pleasant and courteous brand persona. So, use a kind and polite manner of interaction even when you program auto replying into your marketing strategy. Try to personalize responses with as much reliable and relevant information you can provide. Follow up if you have more to add.

When your brand gets excellent reviews

Work on your professional networking and get featured in reputed blogs and reviewer pages. This can up your social proof significantly. People trust the endorsement of those who have built great social proof, so they find mention and positive reviews from seasoned evaluators. Where you get written about and by whom is crucial here. Social proof earned thus help:

• Skeptical visitors to revisit their opinion building about you.
• Industry experts who are looking to forge new partnerships with companies, which they have only recently discovered.
• Serious potential clients and partners who are trying to find more detailed information about your brand and its services.

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Conclusion

Social proof is one of the most powerful methods of growing business credibility and awareness. Use the social proof you build on Instagram to strengthen your overall marketing both online and offline. Half your battle with creating an authentic brand presence is won when you can get your target audience to notice and believe in you. Use persuasion to gain the attention of IG users but continue to work on your content and product quality to retain and organically grow this pool of followers and possible clients. Social proof artfully keeps you in the visibility range of not only the existing and potential followers but also your peer circles and allied business communities. Once you can build social proof, you must work hard to maintain it and strengthen it further. Social proof is a marketing technique of grabbing the attention of the market. It’s not easy to do on a site like Instagram, where audience attention flies by literally at the scrolling speed of a thumb on the home feed. But the proper planning can help you achieve the desired social impact you want to create with your brand. Focus on building brand value and trust more than hard-selling your ware. How you organize your micro-goals can significantly determine how you fare in creating favorable social opinions for your brand.