Successful businesses – no matter what type, size, or industry – have one thing in common. They stand out amongst competitors.  Standing out is what makes people choose you, buy from you, donate to you. When you think about the ways you can set yourself apart, one factor becomes especially meaningful:  having a strong reputation.  But strong reputations don’t just materialize out of thin air.  We have to build them.  Today, we’re exploring the concept of social proof and five ways to use social proof to build your reputation.

What do I mean by social proof?  Social proof is a marketing term, but it’s one that makes sense when you think about it.  It’s the idea that people who support you visibly are evidence of how great you are.  Whenever you show that people are endorsing you, you raise your reputation by a notch.  In business, if other people care about you, it’s often deemed as proof that you’re worth caring about.

People who support you visibly are evidence of how great you are. #business #marketing #smb Share on X

I actually find it a fascinating topic, because when you look at psychology and behavior, it would seem we humans are most interested in the support itself and aren’t particularly discriminating about the nature of that support.  If we see a full restaurant, we assume the food is good.  If we see a ton of positive reviews on a hotel, we feel comforted in our choice to stay there.  If we see testimonials on a website, we sense that the service offered is legitimate.  And we never seem to ask who those “people” are, do we?

The expression “there’s strength in numbers” applies to social proof.  It could just be one voice advocating for you, or a faceless mass of “likes” on social media, but all of this social proof makes you seem worthy.

Social proof makes you seem worthy. #marketing #business #smallbusiness #smb #smallbiz Share on X

Your reputation is what everyone else perceives it to be, and that can be a scary thing.  But, if you embrace this idea, you can come out ahead.  Here are 5 ways for you to build social proof for your business and build your reputation at the same time:

  1. Create partnerships with other businesses. Pick a handful or more of businesses and form an alliance.  They could be contacts you know from networking, from social media, or even from list building and cold outreach (you have to get to know them first, though!).  Agree to support each other in spaces that are meaningful for your marketing.  Advocate for each other at networking events, engage with each other’s pages on social media, comment on each other’s blogs.  You can be steady, committed allies.  You can be that voice for each other that starts the ball rolling and generates positive momentum.
  2. Create guest posting opportunities on your blog. If you have a blog, a podcast, a show, or any of those other fun expressive tools that let you share your brand, open up opportunities for others to take part.  The fact that other people want to affiliate with you and share content or be interviewed means that they think you are legit.  Whether or not they say they are vouching for you, they are vouching for you by their mere collaboration with you.  Yes, it’s also great for you to get guest post and interview opportunities on other people’s sites, and you can work on that too.  This angle happens to be easier for you to control.
  3. Showcase testimonials and reviews. If there is an aspect of your business you are trying to build, be assertive in getting testimonials from the people who you’ve already worked with.  And don’t just ask someone for a testimonial and walk away.  Let them know what kind of material you are looking for.  It can still be authentically their words even if you tell them a bit about what kind of content would be helpful to you.  There are so many different ways to frame their experience, but there may be a particular aspect you want to highlight.  Perhaps you want them to share a little about the situation they were in before they worked with you, a tangible outcome they’ve had as a result of your input, how they were feeling before they met you and how they feel now, a positive anecdote of their progress, what you’re like to work with, etc.  All are good subjects, but one may be far more compelling for your audience.
  4. Arm yourself with stats. Find all the best ways to represent the volume of people who support you.  Show the number of subscribers/followers/attendees you have (this is built in for you on social media, but you can also find ways to celebrate impressive-looking numbers that they can’t see with their own two eyes).  Show the percentage of people of a certain demographic that support you.  If your audience is small in number, find stats that instead show how committed they are to you.  Perhaps they’re repeat donors, repeat customers, etc.  Even these faceless, nameless numbers will have an impact for you.
  5. Leverage the power of influencers. And influencers don’t have to be celebrities.  Influencers could be sponsors who have supported you, clients that have worked with you, vendors that have trusted you.  Find any ways they are willing to vouch for you.  If nothing else, tell them that you would love to provide them with a backlink from your website in return for their being so great.  Get a logo, a link, and perhaps even a little description about them and put it prominently on your website.  It’s a good thing for them (it helps improve the ranking of that page of their site – read here for more about SEO), and it automatically boosts the perception of your brand.

In order to succeed in business, you have to set yourself apart from the crowd.  Whether it makes sense or not, human behavior tells us that people will trust you more if they see that you are backed by others.  Even if those other people supporting you are strangers, their voices together with yours are stronger than your voice alone.

Voices together with yours are stronger than your voice alone. #marketing #business #smb #smallbiz Share on X

So, embrace this idea of social proof.  Think about all the ways you can harness it for your business.  Be proactive in your strategy.  Make it easy for others to back you up in a way that is truly meaningful for you.  And as you build social proof, you’ll build your reputation.

For more about how to develop partnerships to collaborate and build your social proof, read here!