The 4 Ps of Social Proof
Most of the time, when someone finds your business online, the first place they’ll go — before they fill out a lead form, call you or shop with you — is social media. Some people even go straight to social media to look for new brands or local businesses.
When people check out your business on social media before they work with you, it’s called social proofing. The better your social proof, the more leads, customers and sales you’ll generate. Here are the four main things you need (the four Ps, if you will) to build strong social proof for your small business.
The 4 Ps of social proof
P #1. Professional
The first step to building strong social proof is to have a professional presence on social media. That starts with making sure you have business profiles set up on the social media platforms your customers are using — and that they look good.
That means that you need to complete all aspects of your profile with accurate, up-to-date information about your business. It’s also important to have professional, high-quality profile and banners images. Last but not least, keep your profile updated by posting consistently on your timeline.
More and more, your social media profiles are like mini-homepages for your business, and sometimes, prospective customers will form their first impressions of your business based on your social profile. Make that first impression count by making your social profiles professional.
P #2. Popular
Let’s pretend that you’re trying to figure out where you want to eat breakfast, and there are two restaurants to choose from. One restaurant is packed, while the other is empty. Which one do you choose?
Most people would choose the busy restaurant, because people will assume that the empty restaurant is empty because it’s bad — and that people are willing to wait and deal with the crowd in the busy restaurant because it’s worth it. The same concept applies to your social media profile.
If there’s nothing going on on your social profile — if no one is liking, commenting on or sharing your content — people are going to assume that there’s a reason for that. But, the opposite is also true, if your content is popular, people are going to be more willing to give you a chance.
Focus on building your following, and create social content that’s popular and engaging, rather than content that’s focused on driving sales.
P #3. Proactive
In addition to making sure that your social profile is professional and popular, it’s also important to make sure that you have a proactive social media presence. That means that you need to be proactive about responding to and engaging with your followers.
Social media is unique in that it’s not a one-way street. Effective social media marketing isn’t just about talking at your audience or passively listening to them — it’s a conversation where both sides are able to communicate and listen.
Whether one of your social followers wrote a review about your business, commented on one of your posts or sent you a question via a social post, it’s important to proactively respond and engage with them. This is how you build strong relationships on social media and create lifelong fans.
P #4. Promote
While creating content for your timeline is incredibly important, your job isn’t done after you create a post. To get more engagement — and make your brand more visible on social media — you also need to promote your social content.
One great way to promote your business and your social media content is to start promoting others on social media. For example, if you’re a local business, you can build your local presence by promoting local charities and nonprofits, sports teams, community events, etc.
When you promote others not only can you highlight people and organizations in your community that you value, but you also make your brand more visible to their followers as well as your own.
Social proof is a big part of what makes social media marketing such an impactful part of a small business’s digital marketing strategy, and by keeping the four Ps in mind, you can maximize your social media presence.
The Marketing 360® Social app is a social media scheduling tool that allows you to schedule out social media posts across Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and Google My Business from one place.
Create all of your social posts for the week or month at once, and get a sneak peek of what your social posts will look like on your timeline. Plus, compare clicks, engagement and impressions across your social accounts with social insight reports.
