The Psychology Behind Social Proof And Why It Matters

As a marker, content creator, and storyteller I’ve long been fascinated by the concept of social proof.

That is, how can one increase their chances of influence in an especially crowded world?

It goes without saying, if you have strong social proof, you’re significantly more likely to be successful in any endeavor you choose.

Social proof affects everyone and everything.

• It affects the food truck in Austin.

A long line is a good indicator that the food there is tasty.

• It affects the up and coming online marketer.

Tons of raving fans makes it a good bet they know what they are talking about.

• It affects your favorite author.

5 amazon reviews? That’s nothing. Must not have been a good book.

• It affects your ability to rise the ranks in your career.

Endorsed by Jack and Sally for a promotion? Boom.

But what exactly is social proof? And how can you increase yours?

What is social proof?

According to Wikipedia,

"Social proof, also known as informational social influence, is a psychological phenomenon where people assume the actions of others in an attempt to reflect correct behavior for a given situation."

What does this mean?

Because we as humans have limited cognitive willpower, we use a variety of mental models, or heuristics, to help us make decisions in the most effective manner possible.

If we had to spend hours on each decision we made throughout the day, not only would we be physically and emotionally exhausted, we’d also never decide on anything!

Understanding social proof at it’s core, allows us to make the best decision we can with limited information.

Say you just took a trip to Portland Oregon and you’re looking for a nice Thai place to have lunch.

What do you do? If you’re feeling adventurous you might walk up and down the block to see if anything catches your eye. Or you might send out a tweet and ask some of your close friends.

But more than likely, you’ll open your phone and pull up Yelp.

“Oh! The place two blocks away has some killer reviews, but several guests have noticed it takes a while to get your food. Damn. We have a play to catch at 3pm.”

So on to the next restaurant.

“Wow! Not only does this place have great food reviews, many have said they loved the fast and excellent service.”

Decision made.

Yelp is popular and effective because it allows us to see what hundreds and even thousands of others before us thought!

Of course, our tastes might not perfectly match with the masses, but this data gives us the best chance to make the best possible decision.

But social proof goes beyond affecting where we eat while on vacation.

Say, you’re relatively new to online marketing and you’re trying to take your yoga studio to the next level.

You do some basic research on Google to find an online course on how to use Facebook ads to grow your business.

As you dive down the rabbit hole you find a guy promising to make you a FB ads expert virtually overnight.

While you’re excited at the possibility of learning FB ads so quickly, you get a weird feeling in your stomach. Is it legit? Is it a scam?

You take a look at his brands FB profile and you immediately notice something is off. Further confirming the feeling in the pit of your stomach.

For someone who is such a FB expert, it’s rather suspicious that his latest FB post only has a handful of likes and comments! Why, your post about yoga on Tuesday got nearly double the engagement rate.

No social proof. You decide to pass.

On and on you’ll see countless examples of how “social proof” affects the decisions you make.

When I first started blogging in 2008, one of the key social proof indicators was a small widget that everyone put on their blog.

It was a ticker that demonstrating how many “RSS Subscribers” the blog had.

Before email marketing was mainstream, you could subscribe to a blog you enjoyed and read their content through an RSS reader.

If you stumbled upon a blog with “10K" RSS subscribers, odds are good that the blog had some valuable content.

Consequently, if you found a blog with only "12" RSS subscribers you might be hesitant to trust what he or she had to say. Of course, everyone has to start somewhere, so that 12 RSS number might be misleading.

That’s why many of the blogging experts back in the day suggested you don’t show the widget until you had at least 100 RSS subscribers. Social proof for the win.

Not An Exact Science

While we all use social proof to help influence our decisions, it’s not an exact science. It doesn’t always work in your favor.

After hearing several of your friends and family rave about an “awesome new financial opportunity” you might decide to join.

Many hundreds of dollars later, you learn it was a legitimate Ponzi scheme. Your money never to be seen again.

Ever wonder why so many prominent online marketers and influencers display the publications they’ve been featured in on their homepage?

Huffington post! CNN! Inc! Forbes! Our brains often associate these brands with legitimacy.

While, these publications do indeed provide value to many, the publications angle is often abused.

It’s no secret, it’s becoming easier and easier to become a contributor to many of these reputable publications. Many times, it’s as easy as sending a few cold pitches. Sure, you still have write and put in the work. But I believe anyone can become an influencer on these publications with a little bit of smart effort.

There’s nothing wrong with this of course. Building your brand is hard work!

But at the same time, these logos are slowly losing their power. What once was difficult to do, is now becoming easier by the day — and our social proof map will soon update.

Being a ‘featured’ in Forbes isn’t nearly as valuable as it was several years ago.

Again, that’s not to suggest you shouldn’t look to be featured or contribute to top tier publications. Just keep in mind how social proof is being used to influence you.

How To Increase Your Social Proof On Steemit.

For starters, I covered some of the basics in my post 14 Tips For Steemit Newbies.

That being said, the reason so many newcomers to Steemit struggle at first, isn’t necessarily because they produce shit content. That may be the case for some, but there’s usually something deeper going on behind the scenes.

People don’t see success at first because they have yet to give people a reason to TRUST what they have to say.

In short, they have no social proof.

When you join a new platform, you won’t have a big following at first. Unless of course you already have a well established brand.

For example, if you’re a whale, you naturally have social proof on your side (amongst other things.)

While many hate on whales, they did SOMETHING to get where they are right now and consequently many will give them the benefit of the doubt.

The amount of followers you have on Steemit, might seem inconsequential, but the truth is the number gives a brief insight on how reputable you are.

So if you’re struggling to gain traction here on Steemit, I suggest you focus on increasing your social proof.

How?

1. Produce Valuable Content

I’ll say it again and again.

If you’re known as someone who is constantly producing valuable content your social proof will increase. Period.

Valuable content, over a long period of time, will attract upvotes and comments. The higher number of comments and upvotes you have, the more people will think you’re producing value.

Our tribal nature looks for indicators that you’re a success — that you’re someone we should pay attention to.

And when starting out, you have to establish a strong brand over time. Anyone can get lucky. But if I view your profile and see engagement day after day it’s likely I’ll hold you in high regard.

The good thing is, you are in full control of the content you create. No one can hold you back.

You might not know what good content is at first — that’s perfectly okay, — but if you keep putting in the work, overtime it’s likely you’ll see some success.

Strong social proof takes time, value, and luck.

2. Spend Time Building Relationships

Relationships are essential in everything you do. A lot of people here complain that shit content is being upvoted because they are “friends” with the whales.

It this fair? Yes and no.

Of course, shit content should not be rewarded, but that’s only viewing it with limited information. The relationships behind the scenes also matter.

How did they get to become friends with whales? They were in the right place at the right time. They took action.

Instead of complaining that you missed the boat. Ask yourself, what can I do to put myself in the best position to succeed? Focus on that.

Is it fair, that a graffiti artist mades tens of millions of dollars by doing some murals for the FB office?

How did he do that? He networked his way to get in front of Mark Zuckerberg. He was in the right place at the right time. He took action.

Life isn’t fair.

Relationships alone won’t bring you success. But the more you invest in GENUINE relationships the better chance you have of connecting with the right person.

As one of my mentors Gary Vaynerchuk once, said one is better than zero.

Meaning, just putting in the work to make ONE relationship could literally change your life.

Of course, there will be many times you in invest in relationships that don’t pay off. But meeting just the right person at the right time can be a game changer.

Don't underestimate this.

Sure, you might not become a whale ever! But you sure as hell can become a dolphin by connecting with others and sharing your work.

3. Encourage people to follow you.

This is more a tactic than anything. The quickest way to get followers here on Steemit besides doing the above is to go in for the ask!

If someone just finds your work, they might not know about your past content! So tell them about it!

After each post, I like to put a snippet asking people to follow me if they like what I have to say. I also share a few links of popular posts in the past.

Since implementing this tactic just a week ago, I’ve seen my followers number skyrocket! It's the simple things that make all the difference.

Social Proof is fascinating concept. While it's only a small part of the equation of success, use your knowledge to your advantage. If you understand it, you will go far.

Always do your homework. Looks can be deceiving.

I genuinely hope this article gave you a little more insight on what social proof is and how you can apply it to your own life. I wish you the best of luck!

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If you like what I wrote be sure to join the other 90 good looking followers who love my work. ;) I write about self improvement, Steemit tips and tricks, and travel.

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