'Social Proof' is one of the biggest key drivers in forming buying (or not) opinions with decision makers because they are looking to evidence what your shiny 'corporate' brochure and website is saying about you is being endorsed by real customers.

They want to know what other people that have engaged with, or bought from, or been a client of, are saying and guess what?

They are doing all of this whilst checking out you and your team - all on Social Media.

From what I can evidence there doesn't seem to be that many who truly understand how to unlock the 'Superpower' of selling your brand message in a social way?

As disruptions continue to occur at a faster pace, no one can afford to be fixed into one way of thinking. Leaders who have the ability to evaluate situations from multiple perspectives can help influence future success of their company. 

In fact, exceptional leaders understand that these “risks,” if identified early, can be used as levers for competitive advantage.

One of the most challenging sectors for 'social proof' (or lack of it) is the financial services sector, but even they are now recognising that the old way of doing things is no more, and the 90's way of relationship marketing is no longer fit for purpose.

"Financial services will be engaged in conversation beyond the products and services they’re selling. Instead, they will be focused on educating consumers on financial literacy and building a community of loyal followers. Posts like infographics and shareable content like tweets and memes are definitely going to take over the conversation this year.”

Companies that are looking to build a more authentic and engaging social media presence, as a key part of transformation must include the training , empowerment, and development an of internal 'employee advocacy' content strategy.

An employee advocacy strategy is simply a way of getting your employees (board included) to write about what they have knowledge about and feel comfortable enough writing about it.

The 2 biggest things to address is;

The initial concerns around sharing what could be classed as trade or business secrets. After all if your competitor is as active as your going to be on social it's probably not the best idea to let them get too close to things that make your business more competitive than they are. 

The second challenge is about is how to make storytelling from employees come across as real and authentic, and without them exposing too much of their personal life. After all as an employer you have a duty of care to make sure the process and involvement doesn't impact on mental health.

In summary I would strongly advise that you take a serious look at the positive gains from employees creating and publishing content that isn't the usual corporate diatribe and that no one ever really believes, or reads.

• Authenticity is essential for building trust with your audience and creating better content.
• You can be authentic without giving too much away – be relatable but you don’t have to get personal if you don’t want to.
• Put your audience first and the rest will follow.

The most effective way to catch people’s attention is to be where their attention is at: on their phones.

With depressed profits, branch banking closures, continued layoffs, and a tsunami of challenger banks it seem many in the finance sector have little choice but to be amping up their social media efforts.

How about you?