Your brand is on Instagram, and you’re starting to generate healthy likes and followers. But if you’re like most brands on the platform, you know that learning how to build social proof for your brand on Instagram will:
Influence new customers to trust and buy from your brand or business
Allow your business to capture the unique voice of the customer
Maximize your brand’s social media and drive traffic to your site
Instagram might be choc-a-bloc full of cute animal videos and shirtless selfies, but it’s also an effective marketing tool that can generate explosive growth for your brand.
Instagram-social-proof
One of the most effective ways to capitalize on this pool of customers is to social-proof your brand on the site.
What is social proof?
Psychologists have proven that we humans like to fit in. And this can have a severe impact on our buying choices.
If you’re looking for a restaurant to eat in, do you pick one that is busy or empty? Of course, most of us would head into the busy one, as the number of people eating there proves that the company (and in this case, the food) is good. This is known as ‘social proof’ (aka following the crowd). On Instagram, users learn to trust your brand through evidence that others trust it too. This can come in the form of likes, comments, follows, and, most importantly, examples of other users that have successfully bought your products or services.
The goal is to create a perception of your brand that is positive. The power is in the numbers.
Here are some simple steps to guarantee your social proof on the social media.
One of the most immediate ways an Instagram user can judge your brand is by your number of followers and how much they engage with it.
Proving yourself as a successful brand and influencer on the site can be tricky. Still, building and growing your audience will show prospective customers that you’re offering something both trustworthy and valuable.
Repost other’s content, and effectively engaging with different brands and users
#2 Asking customers to share their photos
If you want to make your brand trustworthy, it’s important to encourage customers to share photos. This provides solid evidence of what your brand or business is doing in the real world.
In social media marketing, this is known as User Generated Content (UGC), and it’s important because of its authenticity. We’re not talking about paid advertisements here but genuine brand appreciation by happy customers.
Reaching out to customers with free cash or gift incentive could be a great way to encourage them to upload photos of them engaging with your products or services. While this isn’t an effective long-term strategy, it is a great way to get the ball rolling and could encourage others to share without prompting (as mentioned, people love to fit in).
When more and more customers see that others have shared their images, they will start tagging you in their posts when they receive their products. Be sure to comment on their post, repost the image (you can do this on Insta story if the quality is not good enough for your feed), and give them a follow. They are likely to follow you back.
If you’re still waiting for your first customer, reach out to influencers with a following of less than 5000. These are known as micro-influencers.
Although they have a smaller audience than many of the more well-known influencers, they will be looking to start monetizing their accounts. Micro-influencers will be willing to take pictures of your product at a much lower rate. You can even offer them an affiliate deal. This would mean that they make a commission on every item you sell with their referral code.
#4 Get an influencer endorsement
If working with a micro-influencer isn’t going to get you the coverage you need for your brand, you might consider calling in the big guns.
Influencers are a popular and fruitful resource for establishing your brand’s authority on Instagram. Is it any wonder when one study found that 49 percent of social media users rely on Influencers to make a purchase?
It cannot be easy to find the right influencer to work with. After all, they will be the face of your brand. So it’s essential to research and be vigilant to take the right steps to choose the best person for your business. To get more followers on Instagram, you should visit this link.
Some things to consider are:
Looking out for and avoiding working with people that have fake followings
Treating a potential influencer like a new employee and going through a vetting process
, Making sure when you pitch a big influencer, you make it authentic and avoid using generic messages
Ever received positive feedback from a happy customer? Sharing this with your followers is a great way to improve social proof on Instagram.
If you say your product is great, a customer might believe you. But they’re far more likely to believe another customer that has experienced buying your product or service.
Testimonials could be written. Perhaps an email or an online review sent to you could be turned into a meme.
You can use written testimonials, create aesthetically attractive Instagram story graphics, and share these with your followers.
Video testimonials are another way to encourage customers to buy into your brand. These are more difficult to come by but are a powerful way to grab your followers’ attention. Users can see the person who has tried the product and the customer testimonial; the brand and the product become much more authentic.
If you don’t have video testimonials, an alternative approach is to include a photograph of customers that have written a positive review. By giving happy customers a face, you can make the testimonial appear much more genuine.
Follow the above advice, and you will effectively grow social proof for your brand on Instagram. Remember that authentic reviews and high numbers of happy customers are the best ways to prove your brand is trustworthy.
