In this post, we’re diving into week seven of the eight-week series to help all business owners sharpen their copywriting skills. Throughout this series, I’m so excited to be sharing my best tips on effective copywriting. My ultimate goal from the series is to make sure that you’re equipped with the knowledge and tools that you need to write your copy effortlessly and with the confidence that you’re going in the right direction.

This week, I’m covering a topic that can seem a little mystifying: social proof. It’s a common business term that gets thrown around a lot, but as a business owner, do you know what it means? And, more importantly, do you have a clear understanding of how to use it effectively to drive sales? I’m answering those questions below for a full run-down on this important business tool.

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What is Social Proof?

Back to basics first! What is social proof? If you don’t have a clear understanding of this, you’re not alone. And that understanding brings with it the ability to use this tool effectively.

Social proof refers to a third-party lending you their credibility so you can borrow any trust that the other person or organization has and bring it to your business. 

For example,  let’s say that someone famous or influential enlisted in your services and had a great experience. For the sake of this example, we’ll say that person is Reese Witherspoon. She is trusted as an influencer, actress, entrepreneur, director, and so on. 

If Reese is a client who had a great experience, you can use her rave review and trust in you as a strong sense of social proof. The mindset is,  “Reese trusts my business, and you trust her, so that means you trust my business too!” See how that works?

Influencers and celebrities provide social proof for products and services all the time through endorsements, so it’s definitely not something foreign. Since people admire, trust, and look up to these people, it has a positive impact on whoever they’re endorsing, making people want to work with them too.

Client testimonials and reviews, your business, service, or product being mentioned on a podcast or in a publication, or the ability to work with a well-known platform are all other examples of social proof. 

For platforms, an example of this would be a freelance writer listing their services on a well-known platform, like Fiverr. The platform is trusted by consumers, so they’ll have an innate trust for the individuals they hire from that platform. 

In short, social proof builds trust and credibility with your target audience.

How to Bring Social Proof Into Your Copywriting

Now that you have a better understanding of what social proof is, let’s talk about bringing it into your copywriting. There are two approaches to doing this. 

The first is to use social proof in your copy and sales messaging directly. This can be by sharing customer testimonials on your site or adding an “as seen in” media banner to exemplify publication attention you’ve received. It could also be by displaying clients you’re proud to work with on your site.

The second approach to doing this is to infuse language from social proof you have into your copy. This will make for stronger copy and will help you connect with your reader better. To do this, you want to reflect your client’s natural language in your copy. 

Infuse this language successfully into your copy by going through customer reviews and paying attention to what words are being used to describe their experience that will naturally attract clients and customers that are like the people who wrote these testimonials. 

For this reason, I discourage you from writing testimonials on your client’s behalf. Instead, have them write their own testimonials as a window into their thoughts that can enhance your ability to use social proof strategically.

Effective Social Proof Tactics 

So you’re wondering now – how do I get all this beefy content that I can use to infuse my copy with amazing social proof?! I have some tips for that:

• Professional Engagements – Reach out to podcasts or publications to see if you can partner with them. 
• Use Trusted Company Logos on Your Site – Ask brands you’ve worked with if you can use their logo on your site to build credibility.
• Collect Social Proof from Clients – Ask for feedback from your clients with questions like, what was life like before working with me? What did you enjoy about the project and the process?
• Automated Review Requests – Further collect client feedback through automated review requests. 

Using Social Proof Strategically

So, knowing all of this is great, but what really elevates it to the next level and helps drive sales is when you use social proof strategically. If you’ve used my templates before, you’ll know that I don’t have templates for sales pages. That’s because each sales page has different and specific needs. Well, the same goes for when you add in social proof in a meaningful way.

Instead, I will point to the specific “types” of social proof to add in different sections. For instance, maybe adding a client testimonial makes sense in one section whereas pointing out media coverage is better suited for a different area. 

You need to be intentional about the examples you’re picking and where you’re adding them in for this to work well, so this piece of the puzzle is SO important.

Today’s Copy Break

Okay, now onto today’s copy break. I want you to pull up your sales page. Look at what social proof the page contains. If it doesn’t have any, add some in. If it does have it, look at how you can move it around to best support the reader’s journey, answer their questions, and bust through objections they may have to your business or service. 

I hope that this post has helped you understand that while it’s so important to have social proof in the first place, it’s even more important to leverage it where it matters most. 

Thank you for reading! If you love what you learned, be sure to connect with me over on Instagram and share your biggest takeaways. I’d love to hear from you! 

And don’t forget – The Copy Template Shop Black Friday 2021 Sale is coming soon! Don’t forget to add your name to the waitlist so you can be the first to receive ALL the juicy details.

See you back here in the next post — and remember, I’m rooting for you, always.