How can a B2B company build social proof?

When talking about B2B social proof-building process, it’s essential to understand that business does not make emotional or impulsive decisions. Business waits for facts. Since numerous companies digitalized and the competitiveness went up, the techniques that used to work a couple of years before, continue losing their relevance. When you understand that any text feedback can be faked and video reviews can be custom-made, these are the only facts that remain.

Case study

I believe a case study to be the most effective social proof. It can contain information on results, letters with recommendations, screenshots, and links to your clients’ social media.

The question is what to pay attention to in such case studies. Believe that we should build them relying on problems. For social proof, it’s better to show the cases that reflect the most common problems of the target audience. Or instance, if in my niche the most up-to-date problem is wasted marketing budget, it’s wise to draw the case with the same initial problem when your team managed to cope with it using particular hypotheses and tools, relying on specific data, and here are the results. Metrics must also be selected according to the problem described.

Showreel

The second effective social proof is showreel or detailed presentation of projects in dynamic. We live in the era of an omnichannel approach, therefore, we are to provide different types of content consumption to meet all clients’ requirements. Presentations must contain pictures, charts, videos, etc.

Awards

The third place is given to awards. They do not take first place since the category award does not imply high results, it only shows the high evaluation of the jury. For business, it is not the other people’s opinions that matter, but actual results. However, if we are talking about industry rewards that show you as a specialist, the situation is different. There are plenty of prestigious awards in every segment.

Networking

Another essential social proof is social networking. It means participation in different events and involvement in a particular social environment.

I would grant the lowest positions to clients’ logos, letters of recommendation, feedback, and team photos, as they can be easily faked.

Conclusion

To sum up, the key element working for B2B is the result. If you work with a business, you are to do it in a target rational way. The last but not the least recommendation: in order to make social proof work, you are to clearly understand the image of your target audience. Anyway, when dealing with such a delicate field, it is always better to address a specialist.