87. Social Proof: How to Use Herding to Boost Engagement and Sales

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Social proof was introduced by Robert Cialdini in his book Influence. It’s one of the six principles of persuasion (accompanied by reciprocity, scarcity, authority, consistency, and liking). I talked about social proof in last week's episode on Peloton. I talked about the infamous ad that made Peloton have a dramatic drop in market value, but I also talked about all of the things they were doing right and how they were using availability, priming, stacking and bundling offers, money back guarantees, reciprocity, choice architecture, herding and…of course…social proof. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">I’ve heard from many of you who are actually considering getting a Peloton after that episode. That wasn’t my intention, but something I love to hear because we have been so happy with ours (and it is an example of the third type of social proof - users). Herding and social proof are closely related. When social proof is present, we are more likely to herd. We also look for social proof because it helps us validate our decisions. I’ll talk about the six types of social proof which are expert, celebrity, user, wisdom of the crowd, wisdom of friends, and certification. I’ll show how our biased brains are susceptible to social proof, ways it shows up, and how easily it can be implemented in any business – and why it is important to incorporate it.</span></p> <p><strong>Show Notes:</strong></p> <ul> <li><span style="font-weight: 400;">[02:28] Social proof is closely related to herding.</span></li> <li><span style="font-weight: 400;">[02:39] The concept of social proof was first introduced by Robert Cialdini. Cialdini’s 1984 book</span> <em><span style="font-weight: 400;">Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion</span></em> <span style= "font-weight: 400;">introduced the concept of social proof as one of the six principles of persuasion (the others are reciprocity, scarcity, authority, consistency and liking).</span></li> <li><span style="font-weight: 400;">[03:34] Social pr