Do NOT Market your Business online until you have Social Proof

Do NOT Market your Business online until you have Social Proof Social proof is continuing to play an ever increasing role in determining how web pages are ranking in the major search engines like Google, Bing, and Yahoo.

Social proof is when the actions of others influence people to believe that those actions reflect correct behavior. This is especially apparent on the internet where social proof influences people to do all kinds of things.

This subconscious act of the mind is what media companies use to control us. Half naked girls in most homes and businesses on a daily, it becomes more acceptable. The music we listen to, not just rap, but all genres influence how we view our behaviour. How celebrities act, on & off screen gives us an idea of not just what’s acceptable, but what we should be aiming for as a person.

A child is more likely to learn a new skill (such as swimming) if he observes a child of similar age that engages in the activity. Before this happens, one-on-one parental instruction will likely fail to influence a reluctant child. As children become teenagers, the importance of peer behavior and approval needs no elaboration. Likewise, adults are more likely to ethically act in concert with those they feel to be of a similar education level, income bracket and social status.

Another example of social proof in action is putting a counter on your website to reflect the number of newsletter sign ups which you’ve gotten. The larger the number, the more likely that subsequent visitors to your site will sign up after seeing that number. The assumption is that you have a great newsletter, otherwise why would so many people have signed up for it? The larger and stronger the social proof, the greater the motivation to continue that trend.

Do NOT Market your Business online until you have Social Proof

So, why should you care about the concept of social proof?

Look at your online presence – what do people see when they Google your name? Human nature dictates they will make initial assumptions about you and your skills based on the social proof provided to them via their most convenient reference tool – that first search result page.

Technology can and will be used both to your advantage and disadvantage, so it’s important to stay abreast of what people find when they search for you. High-authority sites, such as LinkedIn, Twitter and Google +, will show up high on that first results page. If you have any negative or non-positive results, create some content and publish it on a higher-authority site, such as a high-traffic blog, in order to push the other material down under the fold.

It’s true – Google never forgets, but, with a little effort, you can leverage what appears in search results, improve your overall online presence and increase your social proof of expertise.

Do NOT Market your Business online until you have Social Proof

in a social experiment, one or more researchers looked up at the sky, causing bystanders to stop and look up to see what the first person was looking at. At one point in the experiment, so many people paused to look up that they stopped traffic and the researchers were forced to stop the experiment.

Do NOT Market your Business online until you have Social Proof - http://verenettawarner.com/do-not-market-your-business-online-until-you-have-social-proof/

As it applies to everyday life, an example of social proof is when a man who walks into a party with several friends and/or a beautiful woman. He attracts more people—especially more women—to him throughout the evening. This is because he has provided social proof that he’s cool, intriguing, or engaging enough to have already attracted the people with whom he’s currently engaged. He has effectively proven he has value—higher value, in fact, than the man who walks in alone and stands silently in the corner or the guy at the bar delivering a pick-up line to an unknown woman.

Social proof has influence on search engines as well. Google and other search engines use a large number of factors in their algorithms which they use to rank a web page in the SERPs. One of these factors is social proof which is continuing to play a more decisive role in determining how a page ranks.

The reasoning behind this makes sense. Google believes that the more “Likes” which a page has for example, then the better the quality of that page must be because people are unlikely to share information unless it is of high quality. Google is essentially letting internet users do its job for them in part as people are given the task to rate the content which they come across. Google looks at this rating and factors it in with the rest of its algorithm, then ranks that page accordingly.

Story: Google Page Rank tips and tricks on how to rank High with Google

Search engines also use Social Search to rank sites. Social Search works like this… your friend Jane likes the page of a Mexican restaurant.. if you’re searching for a Mexican Restaurant that one will come up first. It’s like a personal recommendation without your even having to consult your friend first, it’s right there for you.

This means that whether you have an online or offline business, you need to get on the major social networks and establish a page for your website or business so people can like it. It’s not only another outlet for the exposure of your site or business, but as you can tell, social searching continue to play a stronger role in the traditional realm of SEO. With this move to put social proof more in the driver’s seat, Google is almost saying to its users: “you want better content in the search results, you be the judge”.

Story: Alexa Rank going UP not Down?

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This includes:

Facebook Shares
Numbers of Blog or RSS subscribers
Facebook Likes or Fans
Number of ReTweets
Quantity of Email Subscribers
Awards or Rankings
Total of LinkedIn Shares
The Number of Google +1′s
The Number of Page views per Month
Twitter Follower Count

Do NOT Market your Business online until you have Social Proof

Social proof is ultimately the most powerful force involved in growing a successful business, blog, network, or the like. It helps you sell products or services. The quality of your content is still the most important element, but other subtle influences may well dictate whether you turn a new visitor into a subscription, bookmark or Business Partner.

Story: Super Brandtastic™

Do NOT Market your Business online until you have Social Proof