Georgi Roberts | Thursday 21st February 2013
Whether you like it or not, social proof works. It’s part of our nature. If everyone else wants something, the majority of us will want it too. Even if we don’t know what ‘it’ is.
Social proof in social media marketing is exactly this. People assuming that other people’s behavior reflects knowledge and accuracy. Hey – if that Facebook page about beans has 300,000 likes, those beans MUST be good. If that Twitter user has 4.6k followers, they must know what they’re talking about.
Now, before our clients, raise an eyebrow, yes – we are often advising that the aim isn’t to get likes, the ultimate aim is to gain engagement. But – sure – I can understand the thinking – surely the more likes, the more chance of engagement?
We tend to not focus so much on this for small business. Small business can’t compete with the big guns in terms of followers or likes . But we do talk about negative social proof. How undesirable you can look with very few followers or likes. How many restaurants have you ‘chanced’ by being the first diners? (you’re not allowed to count that time when it was raining and your children were crazy hungry). Think of the perception that is negative social proof – “that Facebook page / brand must be pretty rubbish if it only has five followers.”
That said you do need to start somewhere; but don’t rush in and go publicising your Twitter account or your Facebook page, until you have some numbers to back you up. Your social media strategy should include bumping up this figure. We’ve come up with some great ways to do this with staff promotions, incentives and other fun campaigns.
So remember – you don’t have to be the most popular kid on the block – but make sure you’re not the owner of the restaurant with the best food yet all the empty tables.