98: The Power of Social Proof

See the show notes for this Episode here.

This transcript has been automatically generated.

Bonnie Christine [00:00:00]:

The goal of instant social proof is really letting someone know that it's safe. to come purchase with youI'm Bonnie Christine, and this is where all things creativity, design, business, and marketing unite. I'm a mama living in a tiny town tucked right inside the Smoky Mountains running a multi seven figure business doing the most creative and impactful work of my life. But when I first set out to become an entrepreneur, I was struggling to make ends meet and wrestling with how to accomplish my biggest dream of becoming a fabric designer. Fast forward to today, I'm not only licensing my artwork all over the world, but also teaching others how to design their creative life and experience the same success. I'm here to help you spend your life doing something that lights you up. I'll help you build a creative business that also creates an impact, changes people's lives, gives you all of the freedom you want, and is wildly profitable. Welcome to The Professional Creative Podcast.

Bonnie Christine [00:01:25]:

In today's episode, I'm so excited to talk about one of the things that can be so incredibly powerful, but oftentimes we're not sure how to use it or we don't use it at all. Today, we're talking about the power of social proof. So let's start off with what is social proof. Social proof is a psychological and social phenomenon where people copy the actions of others in an attempt to undertake behavior in a given situation. The term was coined by Robert Cialdini in his 1984 book, influence science and practice. And the concept is also known as informational social influence. So to sum this up, if you are driving down and you're hungry and you see 2 different restaurants and they're both open, but one has a parking lot that's filled with cars, and the other one only has 1 car in it. You're going to immediately assume that the one filled with cars is better.

Bonnie Christine [00:02:28]:

And that's because it's filled with people, which is our social proof. Now another example of this is something like Amazon reviews. So you might be looking at how many people have reviewed something and what the star rating is. And you're gonna assume that the more people and the higher the rating, the more authentic and better the the product is. Right? So why are we talking about it today? Well, we can use this in our business no matter what we're selling, an offer, a service, an experience, or a product to really give others the gift of going second. This is a beautiful thing. It feels vulnerable and maybe risky to go first. You know, if you're buying something that has no reviews or you're testing out something that no one's ever tested out before, well, it's all up to you to decide if it's good or not.

Bonnie Christine [00:03:19]:

And so when we're able to share social proof from people who have gone before others, we're giving others the gift of going second. It also shows that we can be trusted. It's a beautiful way to celebrate people and to encourage others, and it's also a great motivational tool. Meaning, if you can do it, I can do it too. I wanna create a culture of sharing wins, of normalizing the excess of creatives and giving cause for celebrating. It starts with us, and that's what inspires others to share. Reviews and social proof can also be a really beautiful way of building trust. You know, when someone is reading through reviews, they're always asking 2 questions.

Bonnie Christine [00:04:02]:

They're looking for security. You know, is this person a scam? And, unfortunately, we've got to remember that when someone meets us, they're wondering that in the back of their mind. And that's sadly because there are scammers out there and people who are just trying to make a quick buck. And so it makes it harder and harder for us to build trust in the online atmosphere. And the other question they're thinking subconsciously is has someone like me done this before and been happy? So, again, those 2 questions are, is this person a scam? And has someone like me done this before and been happy? One of the things that you wanna do is help people see sells in your social proof. You know, I can tell you a story about how this should feel to you from my own personal experience. So some of you might know that I'm plant based. I've been eating a vegan diet since 2009.

Bonnie Christine [00:05:03]:

And David and I made this decision for health reasons. And so, you know, we're always trying to find restaurants when we go out to eat that are, you know, plant based friendly or sometimes we find restaurants that are entirely vegan, which makes it really hard to decide what I'm eating for dinner. But I can't tell you how impactful it is. When I go to a restaurant that's not vegan, maybe someone else is planning the night. And I'm just along for the ride because I very much like to be an easy vegan. Like, I wanna go with the flow. I wanna be really easy, and I can always find something to eat. Right? And then I look up at the menu, and I see, like, a little v or the word vegan.

Bonnie Christine [00:05:45]:

And all of the sudden I'm like, oh my goodness. They know what that means. They've thought about people like me. They're gonna take care of me. Like, I can't imagine what this feels like to someone who has to eat gluten free as well. Like, the moment you see that word, you feel so seen and so cared for. And that's kind of a similar concept as to what we're doing in social proof. We want to help our people see themselves in our social proof.

Bonnie Christine [00:06:16]:

So your social proof, so stories and testimonials, should reflect as many different levels of success, stages of business, ages, races, genders, and locations as possible. Meaning if you think about your ICA, right, it should encompass all these different things. Like, I serve people who are young and older and people who are just getting started and people who are way more successful and across all of these different aspects. And so I want someone when they come to my page of success stories or reviews, I want them to be able to see themselves because I am truly there to serve people just like them. So let's talk about a couple of different types of social proof. One is instant social proof. So let's say you make a post on Instagram and say, if you've used this product or taken my course, what would you say to someone who is considering it as well? And instantly, you've got comments coming in from people who have taken it, and they're giving advice to someone who's considering it. That's instant social proof.

Bonnie Christine [00:07:24]:

You can also use things like screenshots, one liners, testimonials, milestones, stories, and case studies. So let's go through those 1 by 1. So the goal of instant social proof is really letting someone know that it's safe to come purchase with you. A couple of different ways that I've done this is my name wall. Every year during the immersion course, I print every student's name on seed paper, and I pin it to a wall. And I show the wall throughout my enrollment period so that people can find their names and know that they're not alone. And then if you know me, I plant this wild seed paper in my garden at the end of the course, and we all watch our names grow together. Another great way of using instant social proof would be to do something like go live with new enrollees or people who have just purchased your product and get real time feedback and talk to them about it.

Bonnie Christine [00:08:21]:

You've likely also seen that little pop up on some websites that say, like, so and so just purchased in this city, like, 32 minutes ago. That's a version of instant social proof. I want you to just imagine what would it feel like to hold your very own custom fabric for the first time, or maybe it's wallpaper or stationery or gift wrap. Perhaps you use it to wrap gifts with or sew projects with, like blankets or pajamas. If that sounds exciting, I'm so excited to tell you about my new free mini class. It's called start simple in pattern design. It's called start simple because, well, we're going to do just that. In just 5 lessons that are under 20 minutes each, you'll learn how to take a simple sketch or painting or picture and turn it into vectors using Adobe Illustrator.

Bonnie Christine [00:09:15]:

Now don't worry. Even if you've never used this program, I'll teach you everything you need to know to get up and running simply. I'll even show you how to take pictures of found objects like leaves and petals, so you don't even have to draw if you don't want to. I'll show you how to create a custom color palette, design your very own repeating pattern, and order as little as 1 yard of fabric or some wallpaper or maybe some gift wrap today. Once you learn how to design fabric, that's the magic. You'll be able to design just about anything you want. Soap. Do you have an hour to learn an entirely new skill for free? If so, let's get started.

Bonnie Christine [00:09:52]:

Head on over to bonnie christine.comforward/ start simple. Once you register, you'll gain immediate access to all of the lessons and begin learning right away. Again, that's bonnie christine.comforward slash start simple. Come on. I'll meet you there. Now the next one is something like screenshots. And so these would be, like, natural responses or comments or DMs that people have sent you that are positive, and they might be reviewing or just gushing over, you know, whatever you have that you're selling. These could be, like I said, DMs.

Bonnie Christine [00:10:28]:

They could be email replies. They could be Instagram DMs or comments. They could be comments on a Facebook post, and then they could also be comments maybe inside your community. And so we use these all the time. And we'll talk about some best practices and some legal things to keep in mind as we get through the episode as well. So just hang on to that, and I'll come back to it. The next type of social proof is something that I call a one liner. Now a one liner is basically like 1 sentence that I've taken out of a longer story or a longer submission.

Bonnie Christine [00:11:03]:

Some examples of this are before the course was even over. I signed my 1st fabric licensing deal. And another one, taking the immersion course literally changed my life. Right, so these are 1 liners taken out from a bigger submission or a bigger story, but I pull those 1 liners out to share really everywhere. Now the next type of social proof is more of a proper testimonial. I would say this is something like 2 to 5 sentences where someone has really properly written a testimonial. So an example of this would be something like, this has been the single best thing I've done for my creative life in over a decade. The camaraderie, encouragement, and transparent sharing of knowledge and skills has been incredible.

Bonnie Christine [00:11:48]:

This has been a wonderful experience for me. And even a year after immersion, I'm still benefiting from it in so many ways. So all of these are real examples of different things that we've used in our business. Now the next one is something that I call milestones, and these are things that I love to share after very specific milestones. So let's say at the end of a module inside a course or at the end of a lesson or at the end of behaviors that you're hoping people will accomplish. And they are there to show growth and to celebrate wins along the way and really encourage people. So maybe at the end of your 1st module, you could share big takeaways and wins from students at the same place in your course this time last year. One way that we do this during the immersion course is to include these shout outs and a win of the week inside our module email.

Bonnie Christine [00:12:45]:

So it's just a really nice way of bringing, like, everyone together, we're all in this together, and look at the progress that we're making alongside each other. The next type of social proof that I like to think about are really big stories. And so sometimes we'll just find a student or an a customer who have really just used your product or your service or your offer exactly how you dreamt someone would. And they'll have this story of transformation that they wanna share. And so these are more like paragraph form, like, multi paragraph, stories that are told in a way that really pulls you in and gives you the full picture of someone's transformation. Now not all stories are created equal. And what I mean by that is that a lot of times people don't really know how to write a story. And so there are some things that you can do to kind of guide them through telling you where they were when they started and what obstacles they were against, and what action did they take to overcome those hurdles, and where are they today.

Bonnie Christine [00:13:50]:

Right? I actually have a free download for you today that are the exact set of questions that we ask when we're looking for a story or a case study. So you can get those over at professionalcreative.com in the show notes for today's episode. And you'll just get a a really nice download of all the questions gins that we ask our audience when we're looking for stories or case studies. But oftentimes, when the story isn't necessarily something that we would chair word for word, we kind of take and pull from it to frame the story in a more, kind of quick way. So we'll frame the story with a quick intro, and then we'll include quotes from the original, you know, story. So we ourselves kind of ride in the transition from one part of the story to the next, and then we include another quote. And then we'll repeat that until we have a really powerful short story. And so we do this, of course, with the permission of the author, and we always let the person who wrote the original story see it and approve it before we take it to publish.

Bonnie Christine [00:14:55]:

But sometimes people, they might share some things in a story that are irrelevant or maybe something that they really wouldn't want to share super publicly. And so definitely permission to kind of tell the story and pull it together with quotes and then just have them approve it before you go live with it. And then the last type of social proof that I love is a case study. So case studies are typically really successful versions of stories inside your audience, and they're done on video. So this is typically an interview done by you, and everyone is on camera, and I usually just do them via Zoom. But then we make them public so that people can really get to know people who have had success in different ways inside our programs. And so you could do a case study for any product that you have that you're having people who really do have success. So, again, I'm giving you in today's download all the questions that we ask for the case study as well.

Bonnie Christine [00:15:59]:

You can get that over at professionalcreative.com. These case studies are typically about 15 minutes each. So they're a quick way for people to get to know people who have really had success, and they're deeply impactful. You know, other ways to just get some general social proof would be to ask your audience, like, what does x, y, z, your product, what does it mean to you? Can you describe this product in 1 word? Can you rate it from 1 to 5? What did you love most about it when you participated or used it? And then just for your own internal insight, you should also ask, what would you have loved to have seen differently, or what can I improve? And that's a great feedback loop for yourself in order to make it better as you go. So you're likely thinking, okay. How do I actually get all of this? And so we really just have to ask for it. You can ask for it on social media posts. You can ask for it in a DM.

Bonnie Christine [00:16:57]:

You can use an IG sticker that allows people to reply. You can do forms like a Google form submission. You can make a post inside your community and have people reply to it. You can reach out personally 1 to 1 to people who you know have enjoyed your product. You can ask people to submit their story for you, and you can easily ask people to submit their story to you via email. So now that you have them, where do you share them? Well, I share them everywhere. I share them on social media, on my, you know, course pages, on all of my landing pages, in my confirmation pages, on my checkout pages, in my newsletters, on my thank you pages, and all my ads and on YouTube and in the reels that I post, on educational content like blog posts and on Instagram stories and in my highlights in presentations or webinars. And even if I do printed materials, we're always trying to include as much social proof is possible.

Bonnie Christine [00:17:59]:

Now let's talk about, you know, some best practices. If you are sharing, like, a very specific story of someone and especially if you're including any photos or images or video or their name, you've gotta get permission. There are different legal considerations and maybe industry standards across the world that you've really gotta keep in mind. But a good rule of thumb is just to get permission to celebrate this person publicly. Let's cover some simple do's and don'ts. So let's start with don'ts. Don't credit someone else and use a fake name. And don't credit someone else and use a fake image either.

Bonnie Christine [00:18:37]:

Just don't. Don't share identifying information without the person's permission. And don't rely on customers to share spontaneously their wins, results, and stories, but do make it easy for people to share them with you. Do consider maybe incentivizing it. Like, we oftentimes just want people to do it out of the goodness of their heart, but they're busy. So maybe you could incentivize it, make it fun for people to give you feedback, and ask for a testimonial along the way. Do gather images and permission at the same time. So if you are getting someone's bioimage go ahead and get, like, a legal write up and permission for you to be able to share it and have them sign it at the same time.

Bonnie Christine [00:19:21]:

Do keep all of this organized. As you can imagine, it can get a little bit unruly if you don't have a system. So we use mixture of Google Docs and Google Sheets and Slack channel to keep all of our stories and testimonials and people that we wanna follow-up with kind of just organized in a sensible manner. And then do absolutely always, always, always celebrate with your customers who are having success from your product. This is really a beautiful way to not only celebrate your people, but also give other people, the gift of going second. So I hope that this was helpful. Again, go grab the questions that we use in our case studies in our story testimonials over in today's download at professional creative.com. And please keep creating the beauty that you want to see come alive in the world.

Bonnie Christine [00:20:15]:

We need you to do that. And remember, there's room for you.