Social Proof: intangible proof that you rock!
What are your thoughts when you see a Facebook page with 20,000 likes in a town that only has 5,000 people living in it or a twitter account that has 135,000 followers but is following 134,999 other people?
Does it seem a bit sketchy?
Heck yes it is!
On the flip side though, what about a Facebook business page that only has 32 likes and has been around for 30 years? Also seems a bit sketchy.
The problem is in their “Social Proof.” We build assumptions based off of these numbers that sometimes don’t make sense. People use these numbers to figure out how credible your business is. If you have too many then its fake. If you have too few, then no one likes your business.
So why do you want good numbers?
- Makes you look credible
- Makes others more interested in your business
- Potential Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
- Advertising is more effective
How to build it:
There are two ways to build up your Twitter followers, Facebook fans, etc. One is sketchy and the other is legitimate.
- Buy your followers and likes
- Create good quality content and advertise it
Honestly, you will spend just as much money and time doing either one. But the potential backlash is huge. Buying “likes,” is cheating and is definitely seen by most as cheating. It can also reflect poorly on your social proof when people look at you. Remember the Facebook page with 20,000 likes in a town that only has 5,000 people living in it? Those are most likely purchased “likes.” Unless of course your a world famous location like the Space Needle. The Space Needle has almost 107,000 likes at time of writing. Those are all legitimate and the town size makes sense.
Creating good quality content for your customers needs three elements:
- Inspiring to others
- Has something others want
- Offers something of interest
Those may seem like the same but they are very different. You want something that inspires because it will have a higher likelihood of being shared. It has to have something people want, but then you have to offer that something. It is one thing to show people the latest gadget, it’s another to tell them, “it could be yours.”
As always, if you want to talk more about this and or schedule a consulting meeting to make a social media marketing plan, feel free to call 509-240-9735.