9 Nov 2023 · 20 min
In this solo podcast episode, Bonnie Christine explains social proof—a psychological phenomenon where people look to others’ actions to decide their own—and why it’s essential for creative businesses. She outlines how social proof builds trust, reduces perceived risk, and motivates prospects by showing that “people like you” have succeeded. Bonnie walks through a spectrum of social‑proof formats: instant proof (live comments, name‑wall, pop‑up purchase notifications), screenshots, one‑liners, full testimonials, milestone shout‑outs, multi‑paragraph transformation stories, and video case studies. For each, she gives concrete examples from her own multi‑seven‑figure creative business, shares collection tactics (social‑media prompts, DMs, stickers, forms, personal outreach), and details where to display the proof (websites, landing pages, checkout, emails, ads, social posts, printed materials). She stresses inclusive representation—showing diverse ages, races, genders, and experience levels—so prospects see themselves in the stories. Legal and ethical best practices are covered: always obtain explicit permission before publishing names, images, or videos; avoid fake identities; keep organized records; and consider incentives to encourage sharing. The episode also promotes Bonnie’s free “Start Simple” mini‑class on pattern design, linking to the download of story‑and‑case‑study question templates in the show notes. The overall message is to celebrate customer wins, make it easy for them to share, and use that social proof to give future customers the confidence to go second.
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The goal of instant social proof is really letting someone know that it's safe to come purchase with you. I'm Bonnie Christine and this is where all things creativity, design, business and marketing unite. I'm a mama living in a tiny town tucked right inside the Smoky Mountains, running a multi seven figure business, doing the most creative and impactful work of my life. But when I first set out to become an entrepreneur, I was struggling to make ends meet and wrestling with how to accomplish my biggest dream of becoming a fabric designer. Fast forward to today. I'm not only licensing my artwork all over the world, but also teaching others how to design their creative life and experience the same success. Success. I'm here to help you spend your life doing something that lights you up. I'll help you build a creative business that also creates an impact, changes people's lives, gives you all of the freedom you want, and is wildly profitable. Welcome to the Professional Creative Podcast. In today's episode, I'm so excited to talk about one of the things that can be so incredibly powerful. But oftentimes we're not sure how to use it or we don't use it at all. Today we're talking about the power of social proof. So let's start off with what is social proof. Social proof is a psychological and social phenomenon where people copy the actions of others and in an attempt to undertake behavior in a given situation. The term was coined by Robert cialdini in his 1984 book Influence, Science and Practice. And the concept is also known as informational social influence. So to sum this up, if you are driving down and you're hungry and you see two different restaurants and they're both open, but one has a parking lot that's filled, filled with cars, and the other one only has one car in it, you're going to immediately assume that the one filled with cars is better. And that's because it's filled with people, which is our social proof. Now, another example of this is something like Amazon reviews. So you might be looking at how many people have reviewed something and what the star rating is. And you're going to assume that the more people and the higher the rating, the more authentic and better the product is, Right? So why are we we talking about it today? Well, we can use this in our business no matter what we're selling an offer, a service, an experience or a product to really give others the gift of going second. This is a beautiful thing. It feels vulnerable and maybe risky to go first. You know, if you're buying something that has no reviews, or you're testing out something that no one's ever tested out before, well, it's all up to you to decide if it's good or not. And so when we're able to share social proof from people who have gone before others, we're giving others the gift of going second. It also shows that we can be trusted. It's a beautiful way to celebrate people and to encourage others. And it's also a great motivational tool, meaning if you can do it, I can do it too. I want to create a culture of sharing wins, of normalizing the success of creatives and giving cause for celebrating. It starts with us, and that's what inspires others to share reviews. And social proof can also be a really beautiful way of building trust. You know, when someone is reading through reviews, they're always asking two questions. They're looking for security. You know, is this person a scam? And unfortunately, we've got to remember that when someone meets us, they're wondering that in the back of their mind. And that's sadly because there are scammers out there and people who are just trying to make a quick buck. And so it makes it harder and harder for us to build trust and the online atmosphere. And the other question they're thinking subconsciously is, has someone like me done this before and been happy? So again, those two questions are, is this person a scam? And has someone like me done this before and been happy? One of the things that you want to do is help people see themselves in your social proof. You know, I can tell you a story about how this should feel to you from my own personal experience. So some of you might know that I'm plant based. I've been eating a vegan diet since 2009 and David and I made this decision for health reasons. And so, you know, we're always trying to find restaurants when we go out to eat that are, you know, plant based friendly. Or sometimes we find restaurants that are entirely vegan, which makes it really hard to decide what I'm eating for dinner. But I can't tell you how impactful it is. When I go to a restaurant that's not vegan. Maybe someone else is planning the night and I'm just along for the ride because I very much like to be an easy vegan. Like, I want to go with the flow. I want to be really easy and I can always find something to eat, right? And then I look up at the menu and I see like a little V or the word vegan. And all of the sudden I'm like, oh my goodness, they know what that means. They've thought about people like me. They're going to take care of me. Like, I can't imagine what this feels to someone who has to eat gluten free as well. Like the moment you see that word, you feel so seen and so cared for. And that's kind of a similar concept as to what we're doing in social proof. We want to help our people see themselves in our social proof. So your social proof. So stories and testimonials should reflect as many different levels of success, stages of business, ages, races, genders and locations as possible. Meaning if you think about your ica, right, it should encompass all these different things. Like I serve people who are young and older and people who are just getting started and people who are way more successful and across all of these different aspects. And so I want someone, when they come to my page of success stories or reviews, I want them to be able to see themselves because I don't am truly there to serve people just like them. So let's talk about a couple of different types of social proof. One is instant social proof. So let's say you make a post on Instagram and say if you've used this product or taken my course, what would you say to someone who is considering it as well? And instantly you've got comments coming in from people who have taken it and they're giving advice to someone who's considering it. That's instant social proof. You can also use things like screenshots, one liners, testimonials, milestones, stories and case studies. So let's go through those one by one. So the goal of instant Social proof is really letting someone know that it's safe to come purchase with you. A couple of different ways that I've done this is my name wall. Every year during the immersion course, I print every student's name on seed paper and I pin it to a wall and I show the wall throughout my enrollment period so that people can find their names and know that they're not alone. And then if you know me, I plant this wild seed paper in my garden at the end of the course and we all watch our names grow together. Another great way of using instant Social proof would be to do something like go live with new enrollees or people who have just purchased your product and get real time feedback and talk to them about it. You've likely also seen that little pop up on some websites that say like so and so just purchased in this city, like 32 minutes ago. That's a version of instant social proof. I want you to just imagine what it would feel like to hold your very own custom fabric for the first time. Or maybe it's wallpaper or stationery or gift wrap. Perhaps you use it to wrap gifts with or sew projects with, like blankets or pajamas. If that sounds exc, I'm so excited to tell you about my new free mini class. It's called Start Simple. In pattern design, it's called Start simple because, well, we're going to do just that. In just five lessons that are under 20 minutes each, you'll learn how to take a simple sketch or painting or picture and turn it into vectors using Adobe Illustrator. Now, don't worry, even if you've never used this program, I'll teach you everything you need to know to get up and running simply. I'll even show you how to take pictures of found objects like leaves and petals so you don't even have to draw if you don't want to. I'll show you how to create a custom color palette, design your very own repeating pattern, and order as little as 1 yard of fabric or some wallpaper or maybe some gift wrap. Today, once you learn how to design fabric, that's the magic. You'll be able to design just about anything you want. So do you have an hour to learn an entirely new skill for free? If so, let's get started. Head on over to bonniechristine.com startsimple Once you register, you'll gain immediate access to all of the lessons and begin learning right away. Again. That's bonniecristine.com startsimple Come on, I'll meet you there. Now, the next one is something like screenshots. And so these would be like natural responses or comments or DMs that people have sent you that are positive and be reviewing or just gushing over, you know, whatever you have that you're selling. These could be, like I said, DMs, they could be email replies, they could be Instagram DMs, or comments. They could be comments on a Facebook post. And then they could also be comments maybe inside your community. And so we use these all the time. And we'll talk about some best practices and some legal things to keep in mind as we get through the episode as well. So just hang on to that and I'll come back to it. The next type of social proof is something that I call a one liner. Now, a one liner is basically like one sentence that I'VE taken out of a longer story or a longer submission. Some examples of this are before the course was even over, I signed my first fabric licensing deal and another one taking the immersion course literally changed my life. Right. So these are one liners taken out from a bigger submission or a bigger story, but I pull those one liners out to share really everywhere. Now the next type of social proof is more of a proper testimonial. I would say this is something like two to five sentences where someone has really properly written a testimonial. So an example of this would be something like this has been the single best thing I've done for my creative life in over a decade. The camaraderie, encouragement and transparent sharing of knowledge and skills has been incredible. This has been a wonderful experience for me and even a year after immersion, I'm still benefiting from it and so many ways. So all of these are real examples of different things that we've used in our business. Now the next one is something that I call milestones and these are things that I love to share after very specific milestones. So let's say at the end of a module, inside a course, or at the end of a lesson, or at the end of behaviors that you're hoping people will accomplish and they are there to show growth and to celebrate wins along the way and really encourage people. So maybe, maybe at the end of your first module you could share big takeaways and wins from students at the same place in your course this time last year. One way that we do this during the immersion course is to include these shout outs and a win of the week inside our module email. So it's just a really nice way of bringing like everyone together. We're all in this together and look at the progress that we're making alongside each other. The next type of social proof that I like to think about are really big stories. And so sometimes we'll just find a student or a customer who have really just used your product or your service or your offer exactly how you dreamt someone would, and they'll have this story of transformation that they want to share. And so these are more like paragraph form, like multi paragraph stories that are told in a way that really pulls you in and gives you the full picture of someone's transformation. Now, not all stories are created equal. And what I mean by that is that a lot of times people don't really know how to write a story. And so there are some things that you can do to kind of guide them through telling you where they were when they started and what obstacles they were against, and what action did they take to overcome those hurdles, and where are they today? Right. I actually have a free download for you today that are the exact set of questions that we ask when we're looking for a story or a case study. So you can get those over@PropriationalCreative.com in the show notes for today's episode, and you'll just get a really nice download of all the questions that we ask our audience when we're looking for stories or case studies. But oftentimes when the story isn't necessarily something that we would share word for word, we kind of take and pull from it to frame the story in a more kind of quick way. So we'll frame the story with a quick intro, and then we'll include quotes from the original, you know, story. So we ourselves kind of write in the transition from one part of the story to the next, and then we include another quote, and then we'll repeat that until we have a really powerful short story. And so we do this, of course, with the permission of the author, and we always let the person who wrote the original story see it and approve it before we take it to publish. But sometimes people, they might share some things in a story that are irritated, relevant, or maybe something that they really wouldn't want to share super publicly. And so definitely permission to kind of tell the story and pull it together with quotes and then just have them approve it before you go live with it. And then the last type of social proof that I love is a case study. So case studies are typically really successful versions of stories inside your audience, and they're done on video. So this is typically an interview done by you, and everyone is on camera. And I usually just do them via Zoom, but then we make them public so that people can really get to know people who have had success in different ways inside our programs. And so you could do a case study for any product that you have that you're having, people who really do have success. So again, I'm giving you in today's download all the questions that we ask for the case study as well. You can get that over@PropriationalCreative.com these case studies are typically about 15 minutes each. So they're a quick way for people to get to know people who have really had success. And they're deeply impactful. You know, other ways to just get some general social proof would be to ask your audience, like, what does xyz, your product, what does it mean to you. Can you describe this product in one word? Can you rate it from 1 to 5? What did you love most about it when you participated or used it? And then just for your own internal insight, you should also ask, what would you have loved to have seen differently? Or what can I improve? And that's a great feedback loop for yourself in order to make it better as you go. So you're likely thinking, okay, how do I actually get all of this? And so we really just have to ask for it. You can ask for it on social media posts, you can ask for it in a dm. You can use an IG sticker that allows people to reply. You can do forms like a Google form submission. You can make a post inside your community and have people reply to it. You can reach out personally, one to one to people who you know have enjoyed your product. You can ask people to submit their story for you. And you can easily ask people to submit their story to you via email. So now that you have them, where do you share them? Well, I share them everywhere. I share them on social media, on my, you know, course pages, on all of my landing pages and my confirmation pages, on my checkout pages, in my newsletters, on my thank you pages and all my ads and on YouTube and in the reels that I post on educational content like blog posts and on Instagram stories and in my highlights and presentations or webinars. And even if I do printed materials, we're always trying to include as much social proof as possible. Now let's talk about, you know, some best practices. If you are sharing like a very specific story of someone, and especially if you're including any photos or images or video or their name, you've got to get permission. There are different legal considerations and maybe industry standards across the world that you've really got to keep in mind. But a good rule of thumb is just to get permission to celebrate this person publicly. Let's cover some simple do's and don'ts. So let's start with don'ts. Don't credit someone else and use a fake name. And don't credit someone else and use a fake image either. Just don't, don't share identifying information without the person's permission. And don't rely on customers to share spontaneously their wins, results and stories. But, but do make it easy for people to share them with. You do consider maybe incentivizing it. Like we oftentimes just want people to do it out of the goodness of their heart, but they're busy, so maybe you could incentivize it, make it fun for people to give you feedback and ask for a testimonial along the way. Do gather images and permission at the same time. So if you are getting someone's bio image, go ahead and get like a legal write up and permission for you to be able to share it and have them sign it at the same time. Do keep all of this organized. As you can imagine it can get a little bit unruly if you don't have a system. So we use mixture of Google Docs and Google Sheets and Slack Channel to keep all of our stories and testimonials and people that we want to follow up with kind of just organized in a sensible manner and then do absolutely always, always, always celebrate with your customers who are having success from your product. This is really a beautiful way to not only celebrate your people but also give other people the gift of going second. So I hope that this was helpful. Again, go grab the questions that we use in our case studies and our story testimonials over in today's download@profersonationalcreative.com and please keep creating the beauty that you want to see come alive in the world. We need you to do that. And remember there's room for you.