How to Encourage Social Proof on Instagram: Tactics that Work Best for Small Businesses

With over ten years of social media expertise, freelance social media consultant Val Razo often hears from small businesses that they lack social proof. In this article, Val explains the importance of social proof and shares tips on how small businesses can encourage social proof on Instagram.

At the beginning of my social media marketing career, when I worked in a digital marketing agency and we helped global supplier of cat and dog food Royal Canin establish and maintain an Instagram presence, my team lead asked me to seek customer reviews people wrote about Royal Canin and repurpose them for Instagram.

I knew that people would pay attention to peer recommendations, but I couldn’t have predicted that those posts would get 6x higher user engagement than usual.

Yes, in the era of social media paid ads and partner collaborations, social proof plays a key role in business growth.

As specified in the recent Local Consumer Review Survey, 75% of consumers always read customer reviews, 59% expect a business to have between 20 to 99 reviews, and Instagram is the second most popular platform for finding customer reviews after local news.

A few years later, when I started providing SMM consulting for small businesses, I emphasized the importance of social proof for several clients who wanted to prove their brands were trustworthy and could solve customer pain points.

The phenomenon of social proof and its common types 

Social proof (also known as informational social influence) is a psychological and social phenomenon that occurs when people don’t know how to act in a given situation and copy the actions of others. In other words, social proof is what helps uncertain people learn from others and make their decisions based on what other people would do.

People crave social proof, and when it comes to Instagram, they also use the platform to read what other customers think. Damian Grabarczyk, the co-founder and growth marketer of PetLab Co., says: 

"At PetLab Co., social media is our primary growth channel, and we heavily invest in it to raise awareness, engage our target audience, and cultivate a loyal customer base. One of our most effective strategies is leveraging social proof on Instagram. By sharing authentic customer reviews and real-life feedback, we build a community where potential buyers can see the positive experiences of others. This approach enhances our credibility and gives new customers the confidence to make informed purchasing decisions. The result has been a notable increase in sales and customer loyalty, demonstrating the power of social proof in driving sustainable growth."

The company often shares customer reviews on its Instagram feed, but its followers use the comment section to read more real-life feedback from others, just like in the example below:

Social proof includes customer reviews, but it’s not limited to this content type. Here is the list of the common social proof types:

• customer reviews
• user-generated content
• influencer endorsements
• case studies
• customer testimonials

Why should small businesses bother with social proof on Instagram?

During the first stages of the customer journey, when people become mindful of your brand or seek out options, they pay close attention to peer recommendations as they help them make the right purchase decision. Thus, it's important to post social proof on your profile. Moreover, it can encourage other customers to share their experiences.

According to the social proof statistics, 82% of customers search for friend recommendations before making a purchase, 77% of small businesses use social media to reach their customers, and testimonials can increase conversions by 34%.

Social proof is the secret weapon that makes you any different from other businesses that hope for the attention of the same audience. Here are some reasons to bother about social proof:

• It creates a strong brand image
• It boosts brand awareness
• It increases business trust
• It reduces purchase anxiety

Instagram is one of the most popular sources for social proof, with its user base of 2 billion people and diverse ways of sharing brand-related information. 

For small businesses, Instagram isn’t the most obvious place to encourage social proof: its customer base is small, and there is a lack of samples. But when you know actionable ways to get social proof on Instagram correctly, you can get wonderful results. 

Case in point: 

When one of my SMM clients, My Bright Journal, decided to encourage social proof on Instagram in 2017, we selected several niche Instagram influencers who could be interested in reviewing the parent-child journal in exchange for branded freebies. 

Below is an example of social proof from My Bright Journal.

After collaborating with three influencers, we started receiving feedback from other users. They were ready to allow us to post their images on the profile,, and other followers made orders directly on Instagram. 

Obviously, there's no one-size-fits-all solution to encouraging social proof, so you must find out what works best for your business. Thus, it's important to analyze data, and this research by Coupler.io claims that 92% of marketers find data analytics valuable, and 45% of them recommend doing a marketing strategy review quarterly. It can help you experiment with ways to encourage social proof and get results.

Now that you see the potential of Instagram for collecting social proof let’s walk through the process step-by-step.

1. Set a good example for potential contributors

According to the chameleon effect, it's in human nature to imitate each other's behavior unconsciously, which means people make behavioral changes to match the behavior of others. When it comes to social proof, people are more likely to share their experiences with others when they see other customers' feedback. Thus, it's important to set an example for Instagram followers if you want to encourage social proof for your small business. 

Here are several ways to do it right.

Publish a mix of branded content and social proof

Most people who run small businesses without understanding how social media works want to use Instagram as a channel to post branded content and promote their products or services. 

Although it may seem logical to businesses, I teach my SMM clients to publish a mix of branded content and social proof. This not only promotes their products in a natural way but also sets an example for other followers to create social proof.

Take a look at this strategy in action from Along Story. The company publishes reviews on its profile as posts and Instagram Story highlights.

What I would recommend for this business is to make a better Instagram feed. Instagram is all about visual content, so your feed has to be cohesive and eye-catching. To plan your feed and make sure published posts look good, you can rely on Buffer and therefore keep your content organized.

Here's why using Buffer helps to organize a mix of branded content and social proof:

• It helps to edit your images right in your account: It's no secret that some visuals require a few tweaks to match your brand identity, especially when you use content made by your customers. Buffer's integrations and editing tools make it easy to make stunning visuals within the same composer.
• It allows you to preview your posts and make sure your feed is appealing: Buffer helps to visually plan your feed and schedule different content types (posts, Reels, Stories) to stay organized with a mix of content.

Collaborate with Instagram content creators

As a small business owner, you may have trouble obtaining social proof from existing customers. However, working with Instagram content creators—users who are focused on creating content for businesses in need—offers more opportunities for small businesses to get a trove of customer feedback to use on their Instagram.

Reach out to content creators who could create Instagram collab posts and therefore promote your business among their followers while creating social proof for your Instagram profile.

But connecting with the right content creators who can deliver wonderful results is important.

Case in point:

When Giuliana Prosecco decided to find new, fresh ways to gain content to repurpose, they launched a brief on content creator asset-sourcing platform Popular Pays to connect with relevant content creators and manage collaborations in one place.

With the help of Popular Pays, Giuliana Prosecco had 13 influencer partnerships, and this campaign resulted in 4.2M paid and organic impressions, as well as 40 assets to repurpose. Promoting these assets helped Giuliana Prosecco build brand awareness in a manner framed by endorsements from influencers, helping to build social proof in the minds of audience members.

Below is one of the examples of this campaign:

Repurpose old social proof for Instagram

Apart from the fact that social proof encourages potential clients to make a purchase decision, it doesn't take much effort to create, as you just repurpose fan-made content for Instagram.

For example, if your business receives Google reviews from visitors or clients, you can repurpose these reviews for your Instagram feed. Gemma Ferrar, a certificated sleep consultant, is a great example to draw inspiration: