Customer service expert Ron Kaufman once said, “Delighted customers are the only advertisement everyone believes.” No one’s going to believe you or care when you toot your own horn. But when someone who’s not compensated by your jewelry brand tells other people how much she loves your jewelry, that means something.

One way to boost your marketing efforts is to focus your time and attention on social proof. If you’ve never heard the term, it’s when a person in a new situation or environment assumes that the people around her know more than she does. How does social proof relate to selling jewelry? People who aren’t sure what to wear or who want to buy the best-of-the-best will look to influencers or experts for jewelry purchasing advice. Jewelry brands with social proof will get the most attention from those customers.

According to articles from TechCrunch and OptinMonster, there are six types of social proof. They include expert social proof, celebrity social proof, customer social proof, crowd social proof, friend social proof, and certification as social proof. Continue reading to find out how your jewelry brand can gain social proof in each one of these areas.

Expert Social Proof

One way to gain expert social proof is to be recognized by an industry expert. For example, you can try to get your jewelry featured by one or more of the most influential jewelry bloggers, like Gem Gossip, Katerina Perez, or Diamonds in the Library. In addition, you can also try to get your jewelry examined by gemologists, who can provide you with quotes about your top-quality materials, or by design experts, who can comment on your innovative design.

Celebrity Social Proof

The most valuable celebrity social proof is when a celebrity simply chooses to wear your jewelry without being gifted it. However, you may also find value in the social proof you get from gifting your jewelry to a celebrity, especially is she chooses to wear it while she’s out and about, being photographed by paparazzi – and not just when she’s styled for a photoshoot.

Customer Social Proof

Your customers are your best advocates, and you should treat them like gold. Are you encouraging your happy customers to leave reviews on Yelp or Facebook? Are you asking them to write testimonials? Are you sharing their user-generated content on your social media platforms? Consider offering incentives in exchange for this content, like a special coupon or other reward. If you’re not doing these things, you could be missing opportunities to boost your brand with some of the most valuable social proof.

Crowd Social Proof

The crowd is a powerful form of social proof, and today the crowd usually means a hefty social media following. We don’t recommend you buy social media followers, simply to provide the illusion of crowd social proof. But you should be doing everything you can to boost your social media following, since the crowd is clout.

Friend Social Proof

People trust recommendations from their friends and loved ones the most. Do you have a referral program in place? If you incentivize referrals, then you’ll likely inspire your happy customers to tell their close friends about your jewelry. Another way to boost friend social proof is to run a social media contest that requires all entrants to tag one or more of their friends.

Certification

First, you’ll want to make sure you obtain any sort of certificates and accolades relevant to your brand. For example, if you sell jewelry with GIA-certified diamonds, make sure your customers are aware – and that they know what the certification means. In addition, entering – and winning – jewelry design contests is a great way to “certify” that your brand is worth the attention.

Once you have the social proof, you’ll need to share it and make sure that your prospective customers can see it. When appropriate, pull quotes from your social proof. Then, repost these quotes on your social media platforms, feature them on your blog and in your press materials, and include them in an email marketing campaign. If you have testimonials, put them on your website, and if you have video/audio social proof, be sure to include it wherever it’s appropriate, whether on your website, YouTube channel, or other platform. Also, consider using social proof in your ad copy.

Your supporters are worth more than what they buy from you. Their true value is in what they say about you, and you need to do everything in your power to ensure they’re delighted.