A short introduction to Social Proofing, and the six categories of social proofing. We also cover some real world examples of Social Proof and some interesting statistics about the types of Social Proof consumers trust most.

1. Social Proof
Dr. Ravi Singh

2. WHAT WE WILL COVER
• WHAT IS SOCIAL PROOF
• THE SIX TYPES OS SOCIAL PROOF
• REAL WORLD EXAMPLES
• WHAT SOCIAL PROOFING TYPE WORKS BEST

3. WHAT IS SOCIAL PROOF
• Social proof, a term coined by Robert Cialdini in his 1984
book, Influence, is the idea that consumers will adapt their behavior
according to what others are doing around them.
• Social proof is considered prominent in social situations where people
are unable to determine the appropriate mode of behavior.
• This is driven by the assumption that the people around you, engaged in
the same situation, know more about what’s going on than you.

4. THE SIX TYPES OF SOCIAL PROOF
• Expert: when an expert in your industry recommends your products or services or is
associated with your brand.
• Celebrity: when a celebrity endorses your products or brand.
• User: when your current users recommend your products and services based on their
experiences with your brand.
• The wisdom of the crowd: when a large group of people is seen to be endorsing your brand.
• The wisdom of your friends: when people see their friends approve your product.
• Certification: when you are given a stamp of approval by an authoritative figure in your
industry.

5. REAL WORLD EXAMPLES
Now that we've defined what social proof is, and its types, let's dive
into some real-world examples of each type of social proof.

6. EXPERT - Trident Gum and their “4 out of 5
Dentists”
• Trident has been touting since the 1970’s that “4 out of 5 dentists
recommend sugarless gum(like Trident) to their patients who chew
gum.” and still are today as seem in this YouTube screen grab below.
• Here, Trident is claiming the dentists are the
experts, and by them saying they recommend
Trident, it is therefore giving Trident a experts
seal of approval.

7. CELEBRITY – WeWork and Kode with Klossy
• WeWork hosts a coding camp with supermodel Karly Kloss.
• The non-profit founded in 2015 after Kloss herself began to learn
code, “Kode with Klossy” encourages young women to pursue their
passions in todays tech-focused world hoping to close the gender
gap in the industry.
• “We are so thrilled to partner with WeWork again this summer as
we scale our program and reach nearly a thousand young women
across the country,” - Kloss.

8. USER - Yelp
• Yelp generates over 140 million visitors each month
• Yelp relies on user reviews to rate restaurants, bars,
and business, and they utilize social proof as a
beneficial money maker for their company and for its
users searching for real customer reviews.
• Utilize the ability to comment on reviews posted
about your products or services. A small apology can
go a long way – as shown in this review.
• Monster Mini Golf, in Coral Springs, FL has a rating of
4.5, but when a negative comment is left the General
Manager is quick to provide an apology and
explanation as to keep future customers interested.

9. THE WISDOM OF THE CROWD - TOMS
• TOMS shoes has 942K followers on their Instagram account and 1.9
MILLION on their Twitter account.
• When you visit either platform you see an outpour of compliments,
and reviews on products. Over one million people cant be wrong!

10. THE WISDOM OF YOUR FRIENDS - Facebook
• Facebook suggests Pages and articles for users
based on how their friends are interacting within
the SMP.
• This is a screen grab of some of my own Page
suggestions.
• As you can see it is widely based off other Pages my
friends have joined and other things I may be
interested in.
• Facebook also supports The Wisdom of Your
Friends by allowing users to post whatever they so
wish – including product reviews or testimonials.

11. CERTIFICATION - Morningstar Farms
• Morningstar Farms has recently adopted a new ”Certified
Plant-Based” logo on their packaging.
• This certificate is backed by PlantBasedFoods.org and the
Public Health and Safety Organization.

12. WHAT SOCIAL PROOFING TYPE WORKS BEST
• 88% of consumers trust user reviews as much as personal recommendations.
• Putting the logos of business customers on a company website can increase conversions by as much as 400%.
• Influencer marketing is currently considered the fastest-growing consumer-acquisition channel.
• The average consumer will read a total of 10 online reviews before making a purchase decision.
• 57% of consumers will onl;y purchase an item or service if it is rated at a 4-star or above.
• 50% of consumers say that after reading a positive review for an item or service, they head straight to the
website.
Although there is no definitive answer, as it should differ per product/target audience -
research has provided the following statistics:

13. THANK YOU
Dr Ravi Singh
#DrRavi
#DrSocialMedia