5 Ways to use social proof to influence others

September 7th, 2008 • Related • Filed Under

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Many people like to follow others leads before making a decision to do something and businesses, schools, advertisers, and bloggers are using it to their advantage. Many of us are oblivious to the effects of social proof.

Let me give you an example. At the right hand side of this blog post there is a chicklet which tells you how many people have subscribed to this blog, to date there are about 2500 subscribers. This is a form of social proof, it is a statement saying ‘Look, there are already 2500 people who have subscribed to this blog; it must be worth subscribing to’. Little do we know it but we are being influenced every day by different forms of social proof.

This is why celebrities get paid millions to advertise products as the advertising company know that with a celebrity endorsement it could potentially bring in millions of pounds in extra sales. When you see the likes of Nicole Kidman advertising Channel No 5 and then learn that it boasted sales by 30%, according to Euromonitor, you’ll realise the power of social proof.

Okay how can you use social proof in your everyday life to influence others with the use of social proof? Here are 5 ways to do just that.

5 Ways to use social proof to influence others

1. Use others behaviours – When trying to influence people to do something for you at work, for example get them to sign a sponsor sheet for you, you could say ‘Will you sign my sponsor sheet..’ and show them a list of people who the person already likes who have signed.

What if there is someone who everyone despises who has signed your sponsor sheet, then you simply make separate sponsor sheets. This is quite simplistic but I think you get what I mean.

Another example could be if you are trying to get your child to do something they don’t really want to you could mention one of their friends who are already doing the activity you want your child to do. This might sound like manipulation, and you’re right it is, but we all unconsciously use it everyday without realising it.

2. Link yourself – Linking yourself simply means making yourself known and be seen with another person who is considered popular, intelligent, cool, important or influential. Think about the most popular person at school and think about their friends, did you think their friends must have something for the popular person to hang around with them? This is linking yourself. For some, it happens by accident and the influential person wants to know you and you suddenly have better standing in your community whether you like it or not.

3. Testimonials – For those of you who have websites you’ll know the power a testimonial from someone in your field can have on your website sales or sign ups. Using a testimonial is crucial if you are looking to sell anything on your website. It is telling your visitors that others are using your product so it is worth buying. When someone is trying to decide if they should buy something or not, using a testimonial cuts down the decision making time if an influential person is already endorsing the product.

4. Socialising to attract others – If you are trying to attract a member of the opposite sex, using social proof can help your chances of attracting the person you desire. For example if your dream date is a beautiful blonde, then talking to other beautiful blondes will up the chances of you getting to talk to the beautiful blonde you’re trying to attract. How do you get to talk to beautiful women in the first place? Simple, hang out with people your workplace who know you well and you get on reasonably well with. When you are seen with other beautiful people it will increase your chances of other beautiful people being attracted to you. Sad but true.

5. Socially brave – A lot of people are scared of one thing or another. If you want to overcome a certain fear observe someone similar to yourself who is also afraid but manages to overcome it. This will help you bypass some of the doubt you have and give you the courage to go for it. For example if you are afraid of speaking in public, attend a toastmaster’s session and observe someone similar in age and status to you and watch them. By doing this you start to realise that there is noting to be afraid of. You have to be careful with this one also, as observing someone who is younger, smarter and more confident than you might make you even more scared.

Social proof is a powerful force in our lives and if we learn to recognise it we can use it to our advantage.

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There Are 21 Responses So Far. »

Comment by Subramanian on 8 September 2008:

Beautiful post! it’s describing beautifully how we are affected by external factors! We always want to follow somebody and want to be safe!

Comment by Stress management courses on 8 September 2008:

Hi Steven, That’s a great list. It’s interesting that you almost hint at this process being quite manipulative, but yet it seems to be important information to really help people raise their profile. Interesting stuff - if you want to be successful, surround yourself with successful people.

Cheers, Dan

Comment by janelle on 8 September 2008:

Great post, Steven…it seems like we need to have an extraordinary amount of confidence and then use that to our advantage in order to make a name for ourselves among others…

Comment by Cath Lawson on 8 September 2008:

Hi Steve - these are great tips. It’s amazing how folk can perceive you as popular just because of the people you socialize with. But it definitely seems to be true.

I’m thinking of joining toastmasters, as I do think it will give me more confidence.

Comment by Depression Cure on 12 September 2008:

Thanks, Very interesting read, you should be proud of your blog.
Your website is very nicely designed, I have already bookmarked it.

Comment by search engine optimization on 13 September 2008:

Thanks for the information you’ve mentioned here, I’ve been really enjoying checking up your posts from time to time. Looking forward to see your future posts

Comment by BK on 18 September 2008:

I totally agree about displaying the feedburner chicklet when you have a good number of subscribers. My questions is, how many is enough to motivate vs turn off. At what level of subscribers did you have before you went public?

Comment by Life of Justin on 18 September 2008:

Very informative. I think confidence is by far the biggest thing when it comes to social proof. People with social proof always have a strong sense of confidence that rubs off on others.

Comment by car on 5 October 2008:

Thanks nice picture

Comment by Fun Adult on 6 October 2008:

Nice post! Social proof applies to everything. For example, slap an expensive price tag on a wine bottle and people will think it’s good.

Comment by norfolk broads boating holidays on 9 October 2008:

This article is truly a good read for me! Informative and very interesting! I’m looking forward to see your future posts. Cheers !!
norfolk broads boating holidays

Comment by Rajkumar on 3 November 2008:

Hi,

It is really a good start, there are some misconception to be removed from our mind, ie., to socialise I must be intelligent, attractive, etc…

Thanks,
Raj

Comment by Webmaster Services on 7 November 2008:

I totally agree about displaying the feedburner chicklet when you have a good number of subscribers.I just couldnt leave your website before saying that I really enjoyed the quality information you offer to your visitors… Will be back often to check up on new stuff you post here!

Comment by Web Jobs on 11 November 2008:

The tips you have given are fair enough. But i guess they will only work if the person confidently executes them. And when you mean socially brave, then ask people to carry themselves with such attitude that others get attracted to them. One shouldn’t make a fool of themselves by acting overconfident or over-smart. Because people generally dislike people who are too full of themselves.

Comment by Search Engine Ranking on 19 November 2008:

Thanks Steven, very informative and I totally agree with you about users being influenced by the information you place on a web site.

Comment by Richard Wilson on Influence on 23 November 2008:

Mind if I copy paste this post with a link back to your site as the post? This is great, I’m trying to create daily content on my site focussed excusively oninfluence here - http://influenceguru.com.

Thanks for the work.

- Richard
Richard wilson

Comment by Flood Damage on 2 December 2008:

I for one have always been a little overly skeptical about people who tend to exude too much confidence. It always makes me wonder if they really know what they are about or not. Sure, some people are exactly what they seem and know what they say they do, but it is always best to be prepared to back yourself up in the event that you have to.

Comment by SEO New York on 14 January 2009:

2500 members is impressive. This looks like a very informative blog - in fact, this post was fantastic. Social proof was actually very useful - I will look at how I can add a feature like this on my site - I think letting people know how many members I have is a good thing, because it does imply popularity but also, and most importantly, social proof specifies that you are trustworthy.

Comment by SEO New York on 14 January 2009:

So many experts have said that Eestor is riduculous and that the concept is impossible. Like you, I wish it were true - but if the CEO - who by the way is also a co-inventor (Richard Weir) - isn’t responding, I think it’s high time we give up on their patented technology and focus on something more green. At least that’s just my opinion. SEO in New York

Comment by voyant on 2 March 2009:

this very interesting article I have a regal read all this, I’m looking forward to reading your future posts, thank you very much