70% of Estella’s Instagram posts were client testimonials, so I unfollowed her. 

Am I being a jerk? Well…you decide:

Imagine hearing from your favorite person, “YOU are simply fantastic. You’re a gift to this world!”

^^That feels good, right? 

When said directly to you, these words feel NICE (if you can receive them ;)  

But imagine you are your audience member, 

seeing post after post “Megan is amazing!” & “Sarah is an absolute GIFT.”

OVER AND OVER AND OVER>

That’s what Estella’s feed is like. Now, before you come at me, please know: I’m not being all sour grapes over here! 

It’s lovely that her clients love her, but these sorts of testimonials don’t provide ME any value as a consumer of her content.

After months of clicking off her stuff, I finally just unfollowed!

Remember, our audience is always wondering, “What’s in this for meeeee?”

They can tolerate a few 📣 Rah 📣 Rah YOU-centric reviews, but mostly it’s tiresome for them.

Our audience is savvy at scanning only for information that’s valuable, entertaining, uplifting, etc.

Endless “You are INCREDIBLE” + 💫 ♥️ 💓💞 testimonials will wear ‘em down  & 🙄 is BORING for them. 

This is true whether they’re reading about it on LinkedIn with a “I’m so excited to announce…” posts…

Or they’re seeing you on a webinar that’s testimonial after testimonial about how GREAT you are. 

It’s doesn’t help them connect to you!

So what are we supposed to do - given that social proof is 1000% necessary to earn trust and grow that business of yours?

Well, boom shaka laka! Here you go: 

3 steps for EFFECTIVE testimonials -

1. Instead of it being “all about you” or your process, system, service, or product, focus on social proof that talks about the:

• outcomes you help people achieve
• type of person your product/service is a good fit for
• problem you helped someone overcome
• feelings generated by your product/service/solution

MORE THIS:

2. Make time to gather feedback, reviews, & testimonials

Day-to-day business can suck the life right outta you. Who’s got time for extra tasks?

None of us, that’s who. We make time for what’s important. 

And effective social proof IS IMPORTANT. It doesn’t have to be daily, but carve this task into your schedule weekly or monthly 

because…

3. You’ve got to weave it into your content plan.

You already have lots to say with the stories, educating, & sharing you do in your content.

Now you have to weave social proof into your content with nuance, intention, & planning so it’s relevant to what you’re focused on teaching or selling!

Again, we don’t “find” space for it in our content plans. We CREATE space!

To make it even EASIER, I’ve created a cheat sheet for you: 

DOWNLOAD the Social Proof Guide

It’ll take you step-by-step get more USEFUL reviews!

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No matter what platforms you prefer, GREAT social proof is non-negotiable! 

To get & use ‘em requires new habits on your end.

A good place to start: examine your month - where will you carve out the time to implement your Social Proof habit?

Once you have a system & build the habit, carving out a couple hours over the course of the month make it a HELL of a lot easier!

It’s time to get testimonials that show your audience the VALUE you bring - no matter what platforms you like to publish your content on…

And talk about the achievements & outcomes of your clients…so your audience can start to envision themselves on that side of their problem!

MORE THIS:

Grab the Social Proof Guide here

Xo, Jen

PS: I’d love to know - what’s the best compliment your clients can give you? For me, it’s “You made this so easy to learn & do.” 💫 ♥️💞💓