Scraping for Social Proof: Why Social Proof Marketing Matters
Social proof is one of the most powerful marketing elements for boosting sales. What your consumers say about your products and services can significantly impact how prospective clients view you and make or break your possibilities of closing new deals. Up to 77% of consumers rely heavily on online reviews to make purchasing decisions. We live in an era where we trust the reports of random strangers online as much as we do personal recommendations — or more!
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No feedback is bad feedback. Gathering data on both negative and positive opinions of your brand is essential to take timely action. If you want to improve customer perception as soon as possible, web scraping is the solution you’re looking for. It provides you with a solid first step into a more efficient marketing strategy that will allow you to better position your offer.
If you want to learn more about what social proof is and how you can use it in your favor, read on. We’ll give you some pointers on how to make the most of it with the right web scraping tools. Feel free to use the table of contents to skip to the information that’s the most relevant to you.
Social Proof Definition
You must be wondering, “What is social proof?” In a marketing context, it is evidence that people have purchased and found good value in your products or services. Nowadays, people are more likely than ever to purchase something that others have already bought and loved. That’s why social proof is a highly coveted element to increase conversions. It will show your customers how popular your brand really is.
Types of social proof
Social proof can come from many different places. Some contribute to your brand credibility more than others. The main sources of social proof you should aspire to have are:
- Expert — which comes from knowledgeable and trusted personalities in the industry. Expert recommendations and shoutouts will prove your brand is reliable.
- Celebrity — this type of social proof comes from famous people endorsing your brand. It’s likely to make you visible to a wider audience and demonstrate even those who often look for luxury want to be associated with your products.
- User — the average folk’s thoughts on your products and services is way more valuable than you think. Having your current users recommend your brand based on their experience will further let you prove your popularity.
- Friends — and we’re not talking about yours, but your customer’s. When a person sees someone in their inner circle approve of your products and services, they feel more comfortable giving you a shot.
Where to find social proof
Social proof can take many forms depending on your industry and clientele. These are the most common:
- Case studies — Let the numbers have your back. Providing data-driven analysis will offer palpable proof of the popularity of your brand.
- Testimonials — Your happy customers are your best source of social proof. Use their shoutouts, good reviews, and social media mentions in your favor.
- Trust icons —Being featured in a trustworthy publication is a good way to display expert social proof or certification. You can add logos to your website to show which publications trust you.
- Activity — Another way to use numbers is by displaying them across platforms. Post about the milestones that show how many people have used your product or service.
Importance of Social Proof in Marketing
Social proof is an effective marketing tactic for numerous reasons. It’s the cornerstone of the bandwagon effect — a known social psychology concept that states that people are likely to follow what others are doing. Social proof marketing involves showing how many regular customers, experts, celebrities, and authoritative figures love your brand and can’t get enough of it. Using this data in your marketing plan will increase your chances of boosting your sales.
Moreover, social proof is an excellent way to convey trust within your existing client base and your prospective customers. This element shouldn’t be overlooked, as it’s a key factor in converting customers. Showing your potential online clientele that they’re likely to be satisfied with your product is a no-brainer. It’ll let you establish that your brand is legitimate and that you offer high-quality.
If you want to display your authority within your industry, having enough social proof is a fast route to get there. If the world’s top experts are using your brand, it’s got to be effective. Right?
How to Create Social Proof
Social proof works by appealing to the basic human instinct to follow the actions of those around us. It builds trust and credibility, making your brand more attractive and inviting customers to make a purchase. Using social proof in your social media profiles and your landing pages is an effective way to make it reach the right eyes.
To generate social proof for your brand, you need to get creative. If you need some ideas, check out the list below:
Reach out to the experts
Tap into the top industry expert’s influence by inviting them to take over your social media. Collaborate with experts by creating a podcast or a webinar in which they can guest star with you. Alternatively, have them appear in your Twitter chats or Facebook Live videos. The positive association will push your followers to imitate what the experts are doing. To find the right people to help you out, scrape the web to learn more about their following and credibility.
Show appreciation
Whenever a big publisher or an influencer mentions you, especially if they do it for free, you need to show your appreciation. This is an excellent form of social proof, and you shouldn’t take it for granted. Use your social media to reply to these mentions and expand their reach. Use web scraping to stay on top of your comments in real-time so that you don’t miss out on these mentions.
Turn your followers into micro-influencers
Influencer marketing is a great element to add to your digital strategy. Unfortunately, it can get pretty costly, especially if you gravitate towards celebrities to increase your social proof. A budget-friendly way to use this type of marketing is by turning regular people with a strong social media influence in your niche into your best allies. Web scraping can help you identify if a micro-influencer is right for your brand by revealing the type of people that follows them and what they’re interested in.
Seek brand ambassadors
This is another form of social proof you shouldn’t ignore these days. Brand ambassadors can organically include your products or mention your services in their posts or create sponsored content designed just for you. These users typically have a strong bond with their audience and convey additional credibility. They can help you reach a wider audience by including branded hashtags in their posts. Much like you would do with experts and influencers, you can also scrape your ambassadors’ platforms in search of information on their type of following and reach.
Handpick user-generated content
As mentioned above, your brand’s own users are your best allies to hype others to purchase your products and services. User-generated content is a reliable tool to increase your following and engagement. It permeates to your customer’s inner circle and helps your reach a brand new audience you might have previously overlooked. Encouraging your customers to interact with you on social media and reposting their content is an excellent form of organic social proof. Web scraping can help you gather the most compelling mentions and use them in your favor.
Social Proof Scraping
Scraping social proof can help you in many more ways than you can imagine. It can give you a sneak peek into the consumer sentiment your brand generates and allow you to take timely action to improve your products and services. A real-time social proof scrape will additionally let you stay on top of your reviews and comments and stay active and responsive online.
Using your own social proof in your favor is imperative, but have you thought about what you could do with your competitor’s data? Scraping high-quality reviews and social media posts will give you an edge by providing you with valuable information on how other brands are perceived among the public and what they’re doing about it.
A good review or social media scraper like our Scraping Robot API is your strongest weapon to extract data on social proof from the web. It will make the process a lot easier than programming your own bot or relying on third parties to perform your research. After all, who’ll have your brand’s best interests in mind if not you?
Final Remarks
If you haven’t jumped on the bandwagon of using social proof to refine your strategies and boost your sales, you should. This marketing tactic will position you as a strong contender regardless of your industry. Finding social proof online doesn’t have to be a tedious, time-consuming task. You can always resort to web scraping to expedite the process.
The Scraping Robot API has the right modules to streamline your social proof search. Besides, it will give you peace of mind by offering you benefits like JavaScript rendering, proxy rotation, and management to avoid the most common web scraping challenges. Try out our demos and see for yourself. Check out the best scraping tool you can find online today.
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