Do you look at reviews before you buy a product? Have you ever got into a long line outside a club or restaurant because you thought it must be good? This is social proof at play – and you can use it to your advantage.
There’ll be many reasons your prospects want to buy from you – good product, service or price. But ultimately what convinces them to make the final decision is the reassurance that you are reliable and trustworthy. And there is no better reassurance than a peer-to-peer recommendation.
Case studies can demonstrate more effectively than anything else how your product or service can help prospects achieve their goals. Having someone impartial tell their story about your business and how it has helped them, will have so much more influence on a prospect’s decision to buy, than your words alone ever could.
Social Proof is the reason why funny cat videos go viral, why we check out reviews of products before we buy something online, and why we ‘like’ on Facebook, ‘Tweet’ on Twitter and ‘pin’ on Pinterest. Social proof is the reason for the ‘first follower’ – the reason why, once one person does something or follows something, others will follow suit because it feels like a safe choice. We trust other individuals like us and are influenced by them, and we will adapt their behavior according to what other people are doing.
‘User’ social proof is just one of many different types of social proof (including Expert, Celebrity, User, Wisdom of the Crowd and Wisdom of friends, all of which rely on others to influence us to take action). User social proof is particularly beneficial for your business because it is offering positive feedback from actual users of your products.
BUT there is an even more convincing type of social proof. This is where your ‘user’ is telling his story using video. Through the medium of film, your customer is actually engaging directly with the viewer, bringing their story to life with real emotion and enthusiasm, and making their experience so much more real. This has the effect of building trust in your business and authenticity in your brand because video adds gravitas and authenticity to the story being told.
And the demand for video is increasing. Research has shown that 43% of people want to see more video content from marketers? and 51.9% of marketing professionals worldwide name video as the type of content with the best ROI?
Social proof is a very powerful psychological motivator that businesses can utilise in order to influence potentials. But the business that uses video to capture its customers experience, where they can demonstrate their authenticity and leave viewers in no doubt as to the quality of the product or service they are endorsing, is a very savvy one indeed.
This case study video shows Communion Architects revealing how Rather Inventive has helped them.
With video case studies, you don’t need to blow your own horn, your happy customers will do it for you, on film. How’s that for an endorsement!
—
Image Credit: Karunakar Rayker, Life On The Wire
