How to Use Social Proof to Grow Your Business

Here are some amazing findings about why online social proof matters for growing your business:

• According to Dimensions Research, 90% of customers say that positive reviews influence their buying habits.
• According to Search Engine Land, 72% of people trust online reviews from people they do not know as much as they do personal recommendations.
• According to Vocus, 68% of customers go to social media to read reviews.

What does this mean for small business owners that are selling their products and service online?

Interview with Shawn Hill on Social Proof for Your Business

On The Small Business Radio Show this week, Shawn Hill, who is the Community Director for NiceJob Inc.  discusses how to get more powerful reviews for your business. With more than fifteen years of experience across North America, Shawn is an expert in reputation marketing, community engagement and is passionate about customer driven growth – connecting people and establishing, building, and protecting reputations.

Shawn believes that people are savvier about marketing copy so it reduces its effectiveness. But he adds that customers like “the personal connections that reviews give them to companies; (when purchasing) they are looking for things that are real and genuine that they identify with themselves.”

Shawn thinks small business owners need to be collecting reviews on their website and also showing them in key “first points of contact” on other platforms. He adds that “exposing them early in the buying process to reviews and throughout the cycle will boost sales.”

To get more reviews, Shawn suggests sometimes it’s as simple as asking; “tell customers that you are looking for feedback along the entire customer journey- if possible ask at the peak level of happiness. But have an automated system for following up and asking for it multiple times since they may be distracted when you ask. This will increase your chances of success. “

Listen to the entire interview on The Small Business Radio Show this week.

Image: Shawny Hill

This article, "How to Use Social Proof to Grow Your Business" was first published on Small Business Trends