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Building Social Proof on Facebook
Building Social Proof on Facebook:
Social proof, also known as informational social influence, is a psychological phenomenon that occurs in ambiguous social situations when people are unable to determine the appropriate mode of behavior. Making the assumption that surrounding people possess more knowledge about the situation, they will deem the behavior of others as appropriate or better informed. Since observation of others usually provides only inconclusive information about what behavior is most profitable, the term ‘informational social influence’ is superior. Social influence in general can lead to conformity of large groups of individuals in either correct or mistaken choices, a phenomenon sometimes referred to as herd behavior. Although informational social influence at least in part reflects a rational motive to take into account the information of others, formal analysis shows that it can cause people to converge too quickly upon a single choice, so that decisions of even large groups of individuals may reflect very little information. Wiki
To apply this to our situation as sellers and users of Social marketing, when there are people commenting others will follow. They are interested in what everyone is talking about. Think of a art show, whenever you see a booth with lots of people hanging around you wonder what is going on… the same applies with Facebook with comments. Facebook is great cause you can grab the attention of your fans with pictures, but when there are loads of comments if can be even more beneficial.
So let’s look at a few ways you can promote Social Proof on your Facebook pages.
Post content that will promote conversation:
1. Post a link to an item and ask your fan questions about that item. This can be like a critique. Make sure you always follow up when your fans are taking the time to post and answer your questions. Below you can see that I posted this on mt Fan page and my personal profile.
2. Just post a question to get a conversation started… Like- How are sales this month…. What are you doing to prepare for the Holiday shopping season…. and so on.
When you post questions on your wall… everyone that participates will get an update when anyone makes a comment. This is a great way for your fans to know if their questions were answered, or someone commented below them.
Discussions
Your Fan Page Discussions tab is like your very own forums. The only draw back is that they are not as visible as your main wall. Discussions are not posted in feeds and no one will get updated when someone comments. The fan has to check back and remember where they posted.
Great post! I’m always looking for ways to better engage my Facebook fans. I’ve tried using the discussion area some, but I agree that even on high profile fan pages it never seems to be very active, since it’s so hidden.
Thanks Mallory… It is tough to keep your discussions going… I like to promote the link to a discussion on twitter or even in a newsletter. This can help start conversation and keep it going.
Fantastic tip Tim! I’ve never had much luck getting comments on my post, just a lot of “Likes”. But then, I never directly asked for any feed back. I am pretty good at responding to comments when I get them though.
Thank you, this is a great idea, I am off to try it now.
Yeah give it try Lisa! You will get results!
Yet again, more great advice, Tim. Thanks so much for sharing – especially for including the screen shots as examples – very helpful!
Great advice! We’ve just started up a fan page an Etsy team, and frankly we have NO idea what to use it for! Some really useful ideas here
This is great advice. There really is power and energy embedded in social influence. Linking everything together can make a difference. I’m not there yet. . . but I really appreciate the reminder.