What is social proof?

 

Social proof involves the act of turning to others to get their opinion on something (like making a purchase) before moving forward. Social proof works because humans are social creatures who are influenced by their peers.

Robert B. Cialdini, PhD, introduced the concept of social proof in his groundbreaking book, Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion.

Social proof is one of six principles of influence.

The others include:

Reciprocity: Feeling compelled to repay someone when they do something for us

Commitment/consistency: Staying true to the values your brand holds dear (even when it’s hard)

Liking: Agreeing with people we like

Authority: Being compelled by people who appear to have greater knowledge or experience than us

Read: Buy real Instagram likes UK

All of these principles of influence can impact how a brand is perceived on Instagram and you should aim to explore them all when creating any type of marketing strategy.

For example, if you like or comment on someone else’s post, you may engage the principle of reciprocity — getting a like or comment on your content in return.

If your brand was founded by a thought leader, their authority will help to attract more followers. You could also partner with another influence with a high amount of perceived authority in your industry to tap their expertise and help grow your following.

And if you have a high follower-to-following ratio (more on that in a moment), the concept of scarcity (your reduced willingness to follow other accounts) might help to grow your follower count. People will be compelled by the fact that so many other people want access to your content.

But let’s get back to social proof, which will be a large focus of the rest of this article.

A common form of social proof is the testimonial. When you see real customer reviews on a website or a person’s or brand’s social profiles, you are being influenced by social proof.

Here’s an example of how Glossier uses social proof on their website:

It works because you’re more likely to believe that something is worth buying when other customers (or publications in this case) like you or are raving about something versus a company tooting their own horn.

It’s a lot less effective for a brand to talk about how great they are without the support of these real customer testimonials.

To put this into context — if a brand is telling you how great they are, it’s awkward, right? Of course, they’re not going to discourage you from buying from them. They’re going to put their best foot forward when talking about themselves.

But social proof can take on other forms besides testimonials — like your Instagram follower count. Having a high Instagram follower count signals to other Instagram users that your account is worth following.

Even better? If you have a lot of followers and your follower-to-following ratio (how many people you’re following divided by how many people are following you) is high, that’s a strong social proof signal.

Let’s use celebrity Bella Thorne’s Instagram account as an example. She has ~23,300,000 followers and is following 3,038 accounts.

So… how do you effectively get real Instagram followers to boost social proof and as a result, conversions?

We’re so glad you asked.

How to get real Instagram followers

Essentially, there are two methods that you could use to get real Instagram followers: the easy way and the hard way.

Let’s start with the hard way:

Build and follow a complete Instagram strategy

Instagram was originally launched in 2010 and was eventually acquired by Facebook in 2012.

With over 500 million daily active users (as of January 2019), there’s a lot of competition on the platform. Getting started from scratch can feel overwhelming when competing with established accounts that already have tens of thousands of followers.

But if a picture of an egg can earn the status of “most-liked” Instagram post (plus 6.3 million followers, to boot), then you too can find success on this social media platform. But if a picture of an egg can earn the status of “most-liked” Instagram post (plus 6.3 million followers, to boot), then you too can find success on this social media platform. It’s all about preserving the great metrics you’re working so hard to achieve.

But consistency goes beyond posting times. It’s also an important facet of developing your brand’s unique Instagram aesthetic. Specifically, you want to create a look and feel that users can start to recognize as uniquely yours. This may involve posting photos with certain color tones or a specific (consistent) filter applied.