You’re walking down the street, and you see a newly opened restaurant with a line that stretches all the way around the block. And you think, “The food there must be good… maybe I’ll try it.” It’s the same thing with other online and fashion trends, people see others using it then all of a sudden they want to give it a go. This psychological phenomenon is called “social proof,” and marketers use this tactic a lot to influence our actions.

Businesses use social proof to convince people of a product’s quality, especially if what they’re selling is relatively new or they’re an unknown brand. About 70% of online shoppers look at product reviews before making a purchase, according to a study from Mintel. That’s why Amazon and individual sellers on Etsy display product reviews and star rankings.

But reviews aren’t the only form of social proof. In this article, I’ll show you how to establish your brand’s credibility and authority online through different types of social proof.

How to Display Social Proof That’s Not a Testimonial or Case Study

1. Embed Social Media Posts

Monitor different social media networks for positive mentions of your brand, product, or services. Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter posts that include a picture of your product or a positive mention of your brand can be used as social proof. While these social media mentions hardly qualify as a review, it can still validate your brand’s products or services in the eyes of consumers.

2. “As Seen In” or “Featured On”

Let’s say you’re interested in learning how to manage your money and maybe invest a little each month. Which website are you more inclined to trust:

• A site that featured on a popular business and finance publications, such as Wise Bread or NerdWallet
• Or a website that hasn’t been?

If you’re wary of listening to “just anyone,” you’ll likely choose the website that’s already been featured on a well-known website or publication.

You can use this type of social proof by compiling logos of websites and publications where you have been featured or interviewed. These logos tell users that those brands trusted you enough to feature you on their site, and by extension, they can trust you as well.  Be warned though, only use an official logo intended for this purpose, which is usually found in the publication’s media page to avoid copyright troubles.

Below is an example from Mr. Money Mustache, a personal finance blog.

Here are different ways to get featured in popular websites in your niche:

• Guest blogging
• Becoming a guest on a podcast
• Press releases

3. Certifications

Industry licenses, certifications, and accreditations are forms of social proof. It shows your consumers that you are legally allowed to conduct business in your chosen profession and that you have passed the strict standards outlined in your industry.

Using a trust badge can increase your website’s conversion rates up to 30%, so go ahead and display the badges for your certifications. If you don’t have them, contact your certifying institution to get one. Most of them will give you a badge that you can either embed or upload on your site for free.

But what if you don’t have any certifications because they’re not a requirement for your line of work? Just search for a certification course or industry association for your job. For instance, you can find certifications in social media marketing if you search “social media marketing” + “certifications.” Then all you have to do is take the test or training to get certified.  If you find an association or organization, just fill out the requirements for membership.

Include your certification and association badges in essential parts of your website, such as your landing page and about page. In the example below, Michelle Riklan, a Certified Job Search Strategist, and Certified Professional Resume Writer displayed her certification badges at the right side of her about page.

4. Number of Users or Downloads

Show website visitors how many people have used or downloaded your products. Here’s an example from Habitica, a website that allows users to gamify their productivity.

Of course, if you can show a more detailed breakdown of your numbers, that’s even better. Here’s an example from Shopify, a SaaS that allows users to create their own online stores.

This also works for newsletter sign-ups and the free e-book or report you’re offering in exchange for registering their email. Here’s an example from Bakadesuyo, a fascinating website about personal development and psychology.

You may want to wait until you have a decent number to brag about. But it doesn’t have to be in the millions range.

5. Social Shares

Want to convince new blog readers to give your content a shot? Show them how many times people have shared your article on social media, preferably near the blog post’s headline. The number of shares shows how many readers found your article informative or entertaining, so the higher the number, the better.

Below is an example from personal finance website, Investmentzen. The article got 139 shares from different social networks.

What About You?

How do you use social proof on your website? If your landing page’s conversion is poor, lack of social proof may be the culprit. Start collecting and adding social proof to your site now, so the next person who visits your website will know that you’re an authority in your niche.

Thousands of social media accounts are created daily, many of which are from business owners who joined the social media bandwagon after repeatedly hearing stories of how it’s an excellent way to generate awareness and attract more customers for their business.

Sadly, many of these new account owners seem to be going nowhere with their social media marketing strategy. They thought they could build a profile, post a couple of messages and videos and that will be enough to attract visitors to their page, who will eventually buy their products. The “If you build it, they will come” mindset just isn’t enough in a competitive market.

If you’ve been at it for a while and haven’t seen results, see if you can identify with the reasons below.

Culprits of a Failed Social Media Marketing Strategy

1. Wrong Expectations

Social media tends to drive less traffic to websites and capture people at an earlier stage of the buying cycle than SEO or PPC. That does not necessarily make it less effective but you may be happier using social to build your brand, engage customers and get them to sign up for your email list rather than expecting the exact same amount of bottom of the funnel leads you are getting from SEO, PPC or email marketing.

Like SEO and content marketing, it will take time for you to notice the results of your social media marketing strategy. Two to three months of posting status updates aren’t enough to grow a following and generate sales. You need to be consistent in posting great content and interacting with your followers to increase the engagement in your accounts.

If you try one strategy and it doesn’t work, don’t just abandon it and declare your efforts a waste. For instance, posting a tweet multiple times is a well-known strategy to increase the shares and re-tweets for a post. If that approach doesn’t work for you, try moving the posting time one hour ahead to see if that would make a difference. If it still doesn’t work, try re-writing the tweet. There’s no such thing as a one-size fits all social media strategy, so a little experimentation goes a long way.

2. Wrong Channels

You’ve heard of Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube, but are you familiar with StumbleUpon, Digg, Reddit, Quora, Snapchat, and Delicious? Dozens of social media networks exist, so it’s easy to get overwhelmed if you’re not sure which platform is right for your business.

Opening an account on every social media website available is a waste of time, as it would be impossible to maintain all of them and not all of them will bring you good leads anyway. It’s better to focus your limited time and resources on the social network your customers visit. For instance, B2B companies might do well on LinkedIn and SildeShare but not on Snapchat and Pinterest.

3. You Hired the Wrong Person

Thousands of social media analysts, strategists, and managers exist today because companies big and small are hiring them to grow their brand’s social media following. Marketing and creative agencies also hire them to outsource work for their clients. Unfortunately, many of these social media managers know next to nothing about your industry, much less the ins and outs of your products and services. Some of them also work with three or more clients simultaneously, so it’s impossible for them to dedicate as much time to your needs.

Social media management services don’t come cheap, so you might as well hire someone with experience working with other products or services similar to yours. If you can’t find someone with that knowledge, at least spend some time training your social media manager on the different aspects of your business, so they know how to represent your brand online.

The money and time you invest in a knowledgeable social media manager will pay off, especially if you take the time to work with them in brainstorming the posts and marketing strategies for your social accounts.

4. You’re Just a Sounding Board

If you think sharing what a popular writer in your industry tweeted on your social feed is enough, think again. It’s not enough to be a curator of articles and interesting studies, you need to add your thoughts on these articles as well. That’s how you become a useful resource for your audience, and how you get the attention of influencers or thought leaders in your industry.

In order to thrive, says @michaelport, we should let go of self-imposed #limitations and have a try: @Forbes https://t.co/Go6fVW6J91

— Dorie Clark (@dorieclark) July 20, 2017

In the example above, Dorie Clark could’ve just shared the Forbes article with the advice from Michael Port but instead, she took the time to highlight which part of the article resonated with her.

5. Posting about Dogs, Tacos, and Sunsets too Often

You’ve seen pictures of cute dogs, tacos, and mesmerizing sunsets with tons of likes on social media. And you wonder, maybe you should start posting dog pictures and sunsets, too? I know I’ve seen a couple of social accounts fall into this trap. Yes, you will get lots of likes if you post cute dog pictures. But those likes won’t amount to anything in the long run because the people who liked or shared those pictures are most likely not interested in your business. As a lawyer, you might get fewer likes posting about divorce trivia or some other topic related to your practice, but the people who engage with those posts are more likely to be your clients in the long run. Spend a few hours thinking about your business and personal interests, and then list the interests of your target audience. Compare the two lists to see what they have in common then focus your efforts on publishing content that meets the criteria.

6. Your Profile Has no ‘Voice’ or Identity

What’s your first reaction when you see a social profile with no picture and only one or two posts? I suspect you’ll think it’s a fake account or the owner is rarely active in maintaining their profile. Either way, I’m sure you won’t be eager to like or follow that profile. While social media is a good way to build a business, don’t forget it’s still a social platform. Users are expected to connect with others personally, and it’s impossible to do that hiding behind a default avatar picture or corporate logo. Besides, your customers want to connect with someone personable, not a chatbot. This is also the reason why social media accounts of brands where the social media manager has a sense of humor tend to go viral. Charmin, the toilet paper company, owns their brand with good bathroom humor in the post below.

That awkward moment when you use the work bathroom and the seat is warm. #shudder #tweetfromtheseat

— Charmin (@Charmin) October 7, 2015

7. Pay to Play

Facebook has drastically decreased the reach of organic posts since it went public. A study from Edgerank Checker showed that the organic reach decreased from 16.5% to a mere 6.5% for posts published on Facebook pages from 2012 to 2014. This means the number of people your post will reach has decreased, so the number of followers in your business page won’t matter much unless you spend for advertising.

Not a Popularity Contest

Despite what some people might think, social media isn’t a popularity contest. Your numbers mean nothing if your followers aren’t responding to your posts.

Since it’s almost the end of another year, I urge you to start reviewing your social media marketing strategy. Find out what’s working and what isn’t. Maybe the social media marketing strategy you’re using is already outdated, or perhaps you need to concentrate on a different social media platform to build real authority.

Facebook added new features and changed its news feed algorithm again. But that shouldn’t come as a surprise in light of competition from Snapchat and the way people are using their platform.

In this article, I will detail several new changes to Facebook implemented this year and how that affects your business’s online authority and online engagement efforts.

5 New Changes to Facebook that Affect Regular Users and Business Owners

1. Improved Tracking for Facebook Ads

Facebook’s analytics tool now gives advertisers the option to track page reactions and shares.

Advertisers can also track activity within their page. For instance, advertisers can verify what a visitor does after liking an item or URL on their page. New changes to Facebook’s omnichannel analytics will show them if said visitor views the same item on their linked website, or purchases it on the app connected to their Facebook page.

You can also filter where those clicks came from to learn more about your audience.

The results of boosted posts also got a design overhaul.

2. Dynamic Ads with Image Carousel

Facebook is also an advertising company, so it’s not surprising to see new changes to Facebook in terms of ad types and targeting.

Facebook has long had the power to track what users do outside of their website or app. Now they’re leveraging this power to help advertisers create re-marketing ads based on your previous clicks and website visits.

Let’s say you browsed an online clothing store for some polo shirts. Next time you visit Facebook, you could see an ad from the same clothing store with several pictures of the shirts you viewed in a photo carousel or gallery.

Because of this update, advertisers can now show up to 20 images for one item using the carousel ad format. This feature isn’t limited to clothing or tangible products; it can be used for tours, recipes, e-books, and more.

3. Pre-Approval Membership Request Questionnaire for Facebook Groups

Before, an interested member can just click the “Request to Join” link on a Facebook group, and then an admin or the group’s owner can approve or deny that request, not knowing anything about the applicant’s intention.

Group owners no have more power in filtering who they want to approve as members. New changes to Facebook Groups allow admins to ask up to three questions to every person who requests to join their group.

You can use these questions to screen potential members to ensure they’re not spammers and that they’d be a good fit for your group’s mission and existing members. The questions can also be used to gather information about their interests and challenges, so you can use these as discussion topics later.

Of course, the applicant’s privacy is protected as only the group owner or admins can see their answers.

4. New Facebook Pages

Late last year, Facebook added new features for Pages that allows their visitors to set an appointment, buy an item, order food, get a quotation, or call their number.

Yes, these are minor features, but it’s a much awaited update for page owners, especially those of brick and mortar businesses who want to maximize their Facebook ROI. With these features, Facebook can cut the number of clicks it takes to complete a sale or set up an appointment—key functions businesses need to generate revenue.

Here’s an example from Bank of America’s Facebook page. See the appointments section? Their clients can now set up an appointment straight from their page.

Here’s what you’ll see if you click that link. Notice you’ll be redirected to another page within Facebook, specifically an app Bank of America created for their Facebook page.

 

5. Stringent Measures against Clickbait and Fake News

This started in 2014 when Facebook made it clear they don’t like clickbait articles with exaggerated headlines or missing information. They updated the algorithm in 2015 to reduce the visibility of publishers that pried on users with headlines like “You’ll Never Believe….”

Before, Facebook can only decrease the reach of specific pages or publishers that used clickbait headlines. Now they can down rank or decrease the news feed reach and referral traffic of individual posts deemed as clickbait.

In addition, Facebook can also detect clickbait headlines in multiple languages, including Arabic, German, French, Spanish, Thai, Portuguese, and Vietnamese.

Facebook is also aggressively fighting against fake news, after facing backlash from of users and several media outlets following the last election. So far, their security team has published a report on how several ‘actors’ have managed to spread misleading articles during the last election.

In terms of the platform changes, Facebook recently pinned a post atop everyone’s news feed. The topic? Tips on how to spot fake news. To avoid the spread of misinformation, they now warn users of “disputed” content before they share it with their friends.

A Powerful Platform for Good and Bad Information

It doesn’t matter if they deny it or accept it, Facebook is both an advertising company and media outlet now. That’s why they are getting stringent on what posts reaches a huge audience, and what dies down in the archives.

On the bright side, Facebook advertisers, business owners, and community managers have more tools to improve their engagement and conversion rates. It might take some time to get used to, but the new features are worth learning as you build your authority.

 

A few weeks ago I wrote about changes in Instagram’s algorithm, now I’ll show you the platform changes LinkedIn implemented earlier this year.

Your New LinkedIn Home Page

Does LinkedIn’s New Homepage look familiar to you?

The 3-column home page layout is similar to Facebook, albeit with some differences on what each column contains.

Because of the multiple LinkedIn updates, the first column of your home page now shows a thumbnail profile picture, including a snippet of your preview image. It also shows your professional headline, the number of your connections and recent profile views.

At the middle column is your feed, where you can see what other people have posted recently. It’s also where you can share an update, photo, or post an article.

The ‘post an article’ feature is a direct link to LinkedIn’s publishing platform, so you can write and publish a whole article directly from your home page. This new layout might confuse some people, especially those who haven’t tried the platform’s publisher feature.

Then below the post button is the news feed, which looks similar to the old platform.

The third column includes LinkedIn’s recommendation of people to follow.

Me Section: Everything about You in One Centralized Page

Now let’s explore the “Me” section, previously called the profile section. Click the “view profile” link to edit and view your profile.  You’ll also see the privacy, language settings, the company pages you manage, and help center, if you click the dropdown arrow.

This is what you’ll see if you click on your profile link. Notice that the background and photo image have different size specifications, and your profile photo is now circular. As per LinkedIn’s guidelines, the new specifications are:

• Profile photo: between 400 X 400 pixels, and 20,000 X 20,000 pixels
• Background photo: 1584 X 396 pixels

You can add new profile sections by clicking the dropdown arrow on the top right hand side of the screen, and you can edit your website and contact information on the right side of the screen as well.

Clicking the pencil beside your picture allows you to edit your profile introduction, which includes your headline, current position, education, and location.

If you scroll down further, you’ll see the rest of your LinkedIn profile and it’s similar to the old platform.

LinkedIn’s New Search Function

This set of LinkedIn updates also came with an entirely revamped search function. It’s now prominently displayed at the top of the home page. Like Facebook’s search functions, the search results are organized into people, companies, groups, and posts, with the addition of categories unique to LinkedIn, such as jobs, companies, and schools.

You can narrow your search even further by using the different filters available:

• Connections
• Keywords: first name, last name, company, school, title, location, profile language, and non-profit interests.

LinkedIn Updates for “My Network”

A lot has changed in the “My Network” part of LinkedIn. The old platform gave users the option to:

• See their connections
• Invites
• Add contacts via email or name
• Add “People You May Know”
• Add “Alumni” as connections

The new interface, on the other hand, only shows your invitations and “People You May Know.”

You’ll have to click on “See all” to get a list of your connections, and even then your only options are to send them a message or remove them as a connection. The option to sort connections by tags was removed, but you can still add new contacts using their email address at the left side of the page.

Now if you click the “more options” link from the My Network page, you can add new contacts by importing contacts from your email accounts.

Work or “More” Options

Now you might be wondering, where are all your groups and SlideShare presentations?

They’re now grouped under the “Work” section, along with these functions:

• LinkedIn Learning
• Advertising
• Post a job
• Lookup: LinkedIn’s way to different employees from one company
• Profinder: LinkedIn’s tool to help recruiters and small businesses find talent
• LinkedIn’s paid business services
• Create a company page

All Your Notifications in One Place

The notifications page is probably the best part of all these LinkedIn updates. Now it’s easier to read and respond to all your notifications, so you can easily build authority and up your engagement rate.

You no longer have to click on endorsements to see who endorsed you, and check individual groups and profiles to see who has a new job, or a new post.

Like Facebook, LinkedIn’s new notification platform gives you the option to engage with your connections directly from the feed. You don’t have to go to individual profiles to congratulate people on their work anniversaries, or say happy birthday.

A Better Feed

LinkedIn also updated their feed. They claim to have improved the feed with a combination of human editors and algorithm updates, so you only see posts from connections and publishers you’re interested in.

The algorithm changes might mean you have to change your strategy for building authority on the platform, or it may just means spammy posts are a thing of the past.

Did these LinkedIn Updates made the Website Better?

What do you think of LinkedIn’s interface changes? A lot of people complained about LinkedIn’s clunky user interface before, but now that it’s changed, some people aren’t happy either.

What do you think?

A few weeks ago I wrote about the controversial ‘glitch’ (or algorithm update) that’s pestering Instagram users everywhere –the Shadow ban.

It’s hard to build your authority and reach out to new markets online if your marketing efforts are crippled by an update.

So now I’ll write about the different strategies Instagrammers use to avoid the Instagram shadow ban.

Escape Instagram Shadow Ban

1. Stop Using Apps that Automate Instagram Activity

Any app, website, or bot that automates posting, liking, commenting, and following is prohibited on Instagram. The social platform’s Developer’s Policy statement is clear on this. The restrictions are stated from points 18 to 23, and they’re pretty straightforward.

If you think you can get away with using these shady apps, you’re sorely mistaken. Instagram can easily track suspicious behavior, including fake accounts and follow-unfollow activities. Bots and automated posting apps also have recognizable patterns that can trigger a shadow ban.

Instagram shutdown third-party app Instagress last April to prove their resolve in shutting down suspicious activity and fake popularity. Instagress was a popular service where people could pay in exchange for followers and likes.

Why are they discouraging the use of third-party apps?

Instagram, like Facebook, is in the advertising business now. They now have ‘business accounts,’ which allows users to pay in exchange for getting more views and publishing ads. They want you to pay them, not a third-party app.

Also, any app or bot that artificially drives up followers and likes ruins the reputation of legitimate influencers on the platform, which in turn ruins Instagram’s reputation as a good social media network for connecting with businesses and consumers.

2. Check Your Hashtags

Innocent sounding hashtags have been banned and blocked because other users are abusing them. Hashtags like #Asia, #date, #shower, #beauty, #snapchat, and a whole lot more have been run over with racist posts, nudity, and other inappropriate images.

So check your hashtag list for banned hashtags and try to find new ones instead. Check this list for a compilation of banned hashtags.

Also, using these hashtags on any of your pictures means they won’t be searchable using the banned hashtags. What’s worse, your image won’t be searchable even on the legitimate hashtags because one wrong hashtag affects all the hashtags used in your image.

Of course, more hashtags are getting banned everyday so it’s still possible to get banned because you accidentally used the wrong one.

Avoid the Instagram Shadow ban with these hashtag tricks:

• Use combined-word hashtags such as:
  • #healthyslowcookrecipes
  • #throwbackthursday
  • #TravelResponsibly
• Be specific and avoid vague hashtags that could be construed to mean something else. If possible, use branded or location-specific hashtags:
  • #LegalMarketingPodcast
  • #TravelCebu
• Mix and match
  • Don’t use the same set of hashtags again and again. I get it, you want your pictures to appear on the hashtags most popular for your niche. But like keywords, I’m sure you can easily find similar hashtags to spice things up.
• Use only hashtags related to the image you’re posting.
• Avoid using too many high-traffic hashtags, as many of them are either already blocked or overrun with spam.

3. Don’t Follow to Unfollow

I’ve read about a lot of mom and fashion bloggers complain about this. One day they log-in to their accounts to find two new follows, so to build a relationship, they follow the user back. Next day, the same user unfollows them.

You might think it’s rude and such a waste of time. People don’t do it on Facebook and LinkedIn, right? But a lot of Instagrammers gunning for more followers do it.

Read this article if you want to learn how to increase your Instagram engagement rate naturally.

4. Obey the Usage Restrictions

Instagram, like other social media platforms, has usage and activity limits to prevent artificial engagement, spamming, and perhaps overloading the network.

The usage limits are a bit confusing because there are no one set of restrictions. Instead, the limits depend on a couple of factors, such as but not limited to:

• Number of followers
• Age of your account
• Ratio of active and inactive followers: having more inactive followers suggests you paid for them.
• Overall engagement rate

There is, however, a universal follow limit of 7500. Anyone who tries to follow more than 7500 users, regardless of their engagement rate and followers will receive a warning that they can’t follow any more people. But if you’ve already followed more than 7500 people before they implemented the restriction, that’s okay. You just can’t follow any more users until you hit the set limit.

On the flipside, there’s no limit with the followers you get according to Instagram user’s reports. To curb fake followers and engagement, many users report getting suspended after 20 follows or unfollows.

Just keep in mind that in general, the usage limits of new accounts are smaller compared to more tenured accounts that Instagram already ‘trusts.’

Users who exceed the usage limit will get a warning message that warns them to stop using the app for a set period of time.

5. Switch to a Personal Account

According to reports, it looks like business accounts are affected more compared to personal accounts. Again, that’s probably because Instagram wants them to use the platform’s own promotional services and not a third-party’s.

6. Delete Censored and Blocked Hashtags from Old Posts

You can still get shadow banned if some of your old image uploads contains hashtags that were just blocked or censored by Instagram.

Sift through all your posts and delete the banned hashtags by editing your post’s caption or deleting the comment.

The Wild West of Instagram

You have to remember that Instagram didn’t confirm the existence of a shadow ban. But it’s definitely happening according to many users’ complaints. Because of that, all the tips here are also based on other user’s experience so I can’t guarantee they will work for you like it did for them.

If you were a victim of the Instagram shadow ban, and successfully lifted your ban, please share what you did in the comments.