How Does Social Proof Strengthen Your SEO Campaign?
Social proof is the endeavor that builds trust and credibility for your brand. It directly reveals what kind of image people have in their mind about your business, and you showcase it to promote your products or services. Usually, promotion is done through celebrities, experts, or regular customers in new markets to expand the customer base.
Research by Nielsen has revealed that 92% of buyers rely on recommendations from someone they know. 70% of buyers look at online reviews posted by other consumers. Social proof comes in various forms, and it can be implemented in a variety of ways depending on the target audience, the industry, the goals, or the set expectations.
The different types of social proof:
As it is mentioned before, social proof comes in many forms, and a range of factors can influence your social proof. To fully understand what social proof really is, you need to know the different forms of it. Let us discuss few of them.
Customer reviews
Most customers prefer to read reviews before deciding on a product or service. Based on the reviews, the potential customer assesses the product and decides if it would be the best fit for their needs. That is why e-commerce websites like Amazon, Flipkart, Yelp, etc. make sure that their customers have enough reviews to go through to decide on a product confidently.
Negative reviews are also provided so that customers have a balanced view of the product. Customers can weigh the pros and cons and make their decisions. Since these reviews are offered by customers who have already used the product, the opinions are deemed as genuine and helpful to the users. Many websites reveal the positive reviews alone can be considered as a good example of social proof used as an approval of the product in question.
Expert opinion
Using the opinion of an expert in the field, in favor of your product is nothing new. This strategy has always been used and has also been helpful in creating a positive environment for the product. People feel reassured when they see expert recommendations and trust is generated towards the product. Approval from an expert encourages customers to put their faith in the product as well. More than 10K brands and advertising agencies rely on actual reviews offered by experts. This definitely puts the product in strong footing with massive social approval. That is why more and more companies are willing to use this strategy.
Influencer endorsements
Influencers are kind of social stars who enjoy a great deal of following on social media platforms. They can increase the acceptance of a product they endorse positively. People tend to follow them and may change their purchasing decisions based on the reviews provided by influencers. Pets can be great influencers as well with thousands of followers. For example, BarBox featured two reviews provided by dog celebrities who had used its products.
ASOS is another name that gives a lot of importance to influencers to create social acceptance and a positive environment for its products. It has a team of insiders that promotes its products through Instagram. This team is also represented on a social page where it endorses the product and makes a statement when the product is actually used and reviewed by actual people. Being influencers, this works as a great promotion among the masses.
Logos represent a brand, and with their visual appeal, they capture the attention of the people. A brand is easily recognized by the masses. These can be a badge representing a popular collaboration, an application used by the brand, logo of the brand itself, etc.
Subscribers Count
The number of people who subscribe to your newsletter also helps. While they receive information about your products, services and offers, the mention of the number of digital marketers who also receive the newsletter creates credibility and raises its importance in the eyes of the customers. Customers tend to believe that the information contained is valuable and can be relevant to their purposes.
Social proof can be used in a tactical way by dedicating a prominent place to your clients. If some of these clients happen to be popular and are readily recognized through their logos, the visitors will immediately develop trust towards your company because of the sense of familiarity developed by the presence of well-known people or companies as your existing clients.
Media mentions
Your e-commerce website can gain credibility easily, if it is referred by big media houses in their articles, programs, etc. Links to such mentions are featured on the website, especially when such media houses are easily recognizable by their logos.
Mixing Social proof and SEO:
If you want your SEO campaign to be a booming success, you have to make social media and search engine optimization work together to complement each other. The one way to do that is to use social proof as a boost for your SEO efforts.
Fresh content
Reviews and recommendations are always welcome and encouraged by every company, and if these reviews are frequent, your website will get a higher ranking from search engines. Such fresh content and reviews establish the fact that your website is relevant and useful to several people. Comments and reviews from experts as well as actual buyers are always useful because they help in SEO efforts.
Authority
Those brands or companies that are mentioned frequently on social media get a huge authority in the market. For example, as more and more people discuss a product on social media platforms and share the link of the brand’s social media page or website, more and more people become aware of a new launch or the existing products or services.
The number of mentions grows exponentially and ensures extended reach. The awareness and excitement leads to people visiting the website and taking note of the offerings. With media and influencers backing your product, there is deeper trust and credibility. Thus, social signals contribute towards increasing your authority in the market. This also increases the number of searches made by people and consequently improved ranking.
Improving rankings
With all the above happening, your website is definitely relevant and popular. This improves the position of your website in SERPs. Hence, it is up to a company to use reviews coming from customers and experts for its benefit and as an opportunity for improving SEO.
Moreover, when social proof comes directly from actual customers, it offers an honest overview of your page which will increase the faith of potential customers, and they will feel more confident to invest in the products and services offered by you. This will boost sales by several times.
