Social Proof

Social proof is incredible from a behavioural science perspective

Conformity bias (people want to fit the tribe)

Uncertainty reduction (reduced decision fatigue)

Social learning theory (learning by observing others)

Herd behaviour (Crowds attract crowds)

Authority piggybacking (If lots of people like something, it feels endorsed)

Normative social influence (We follow what’s normal to gain approval)

Bandwagon Effect (Popularity is persuasive)

But one thing that’s underappreciated as social proof is sharing your ideas

This can help when explaining the results your clients get - so combining two types of social proof

‘I believe that the reason that most people struggle with X, is Y. That’s why I use my Z framework, and it helped Molly here lose/gain…’

However, sharing your ideas is powerful social proof on it’s own.

It shows you think long and hard about your topic, which makes you appear an authority.

You model how to think, which allows others to learn from you (SLT mentioned above)

Then more people share your stuff - which gains traction, and starts to snowball

Suddenly - people are weird if they’re not sharing your ideas or quoting your mental models

More powerful than explaining why discipline is key, don’tcha think?