Have you ever looked at the number of page-likes a business has or read their product reviews before making a purchase? Most people have.

This is standard for today’s hyper-connected consumer. In fact, 81 percent of shoppers research online before they make a purchase.

Put simply, social proof isn’t optional for your eCommerce business. To convince digital-savvy consumers to buy from your online store, you need to make social proof part of your marketing strategy.

If you want to skyrocket your conversion rates and grow your online revenue, here is what you need to know about leveraging social proof.

What Is Social Proof?

In case you don’t know what social proof is, let’s go over it briefly. Social proof is a psychological phenomenon where people conform to the actions and behaviors of those around them because they assume that it is the correct behavior.

Put another way, social proof is reassurance that we are taking the correct action. If everyone is buying this product, it must be good, right?

Digital marketers use social proof to sell their brand and products for them. By leveraging different forms of social proof, you can drive more sales and grow your eCommerce business as well.

Why Your eCommerce Store Needs Social Proof

Online shopping is an emotional process. In a crowded market, shoppers are looking for reassurance that they are making the best choice when they purchase a product. It can be tricky to reassure them, but there’s where social proof can be a game changer.

Unfortunately, telling people how great your store is won’t persuade everyone to make a purchase. Often, they need an unbiased opinion to result in a conversion.

That’s where social proof comes in.  An online shopper may see how many likes and comments your Facebook posts have and give your business more credibility and weight. When shoppers are reading user-generated reviews, they can find answers to questions they had about your product and decide to purchase it, based on the opinions of others.

This social proof is extremely effective at removing those final barriers that can block the customer’s path to a purchase. To maximize your conversion rates and sales, leveraging this social proof should be incorporated into your digital marketing strategy.

How to Increase Likes, Comments, and Reviews

Want to leverage the power of social proof with more likes, comments, and reviews? Then you need to get serious about your social media strategy.

Getting three to four likes per post isn’t going to make your eCommerce store seem credible. Here are a few simple tips to step up your game.

Know Your Target Audience

To create engaging content, you need to know who your customers are. You can learn about your target audience’s interests, demographics, and purchase behavior by leveraging data from different social media platforms.

For example, Facebook Insights, Pinterest Analytics, and Twitter Analytics can uncover insight into your target market. If you are using a robust marketing tool, you can even get comprehensive reports on your customers that uncover their purchase behavior and demographics by channel.

Create Shareable Content

You’ve uncovered the data and know more about your customers. Now, utilize this data to create highly engaging content that resonates with your audience.

For more likes and comments, consider posting videos and captivating images. These types of posts generally achieve higher likes, comments, and click-through rates.

Don’t forget to track your social media posts and links with your marketing automation. This allows you to determine whether your posts are achieving the desired results.

Hold Social Media Contests

Hosting an Instagram or Facebook contest is an easy way to generate more reviews. All you need to do is have participants leave a review to take part in your contest.

Want to maximize your contest’s visibility on Facebook? Boost your post so that it appears higher up in your audience’s newsfeed. Strategically boosting your Facebook posts is an effective way to gain more likes and comments on posts that matter.

Leverage Your Social Proof to Boost Conversion Rates

You have your social proof in the form of likes, comments, and reviews, but are you making the most of it?

To maximize your conversion rates, here are some ideas to begin leveraging your social proof.

Feature User-Generated Reviews in Your Facebook Ads

Using social proof in your Facebook ads is an effective way to improve your ad campaign performance. In fact, a study by Kissmetrics found that Facebook ads with UGC had 300 percent higher click-throughs and 50 percent lower cost-per-clicks than ads without it.

Check out how Family Farm leverages its reviews to encourage others to play their game:

Try this: When someone visits your site, retarget them with Facebook ads that show your product with user-generated reviews. Or, you could feature a quote from a customer, with their permission, taken from a glowing review.

Share Shout-outs from Your Fans

Are people talking about your brand on social media? If they are singing your praises, then you should share the love!

When a customer mentions you positively in a tweet, give them some recognition by retweeting it. This not only makes the customer feel special, but it will also encourage others to engage with your brand.

If their shout-out is particularly good, you can feature it in a new Facebook or Instagram post to show others how much your fans love you. HaloTop Creamery is a pro at this.

Halo Top tags the user, and they clearly love engaging with their fans. This is a fantastic way to utilize user-generated content for social proof!

Celebrate Social Media Milestones

People want to buy from companies who have a sizable following on social media. If your follower count is thriving, then sharing your growth is a subtle way to leverage your social proof.

Shopify does this in their PPC ad by mentioning how they are trusted by over 400,000 stores.

A consumer in the market for an eCommerce platform might see this and feel reassured that so many eCommerce merchants trust Shopify for their online store.

If you hit 10,000 likes on your Facebook page, mention it in a post and thank your fans. Including them in your success will help you build loyalty and boost your sales.

Final Thoughts

As you can see, establishing social proof can be extremely powerful at driving conversions for your eCommerce store. The likes, comments, and reviews you generate on social media can boost brand awareness and sales, allowing your business to grow faster and become a beloved force in the online marketplace.