How B2B Suppliers Can Use Social Proof to Generate Leads

70% of B2B buyers cite company reputation as the most influential factor when choosing which company to do business with, according to recent research by Chicago-based marketing firm LoSasso. But if you market for a B2B supplier, you can not simply rely on word-of-mouth to spread your reputation. One of your most fundamental tasks as a marketer is to collect and help generate social proof from your key market segments and ensure your prospective clients see proof of your reputability whenever they search for the types of solutions you offer.

Today’s blog post covers the most important types of social proof B2B suppliers should be using, from the easy-to-implement basics to the types of social proof that take more effort but can go a long way towards warming up your prospects.

Stats

If you are a B2B supplier that has been in business for any length of time, you should publish statistics demonstrating your company’s track record on your website’s homepage. In which countries are your products used? How many customers do you serve? How many years of experience do you have?

And you should do the same with your company’s presence on third-party platforms. Add stats demonstrating your company’s experience to the homepage of your XPRT storefront here.

Customer Lists

The great thing about customer lists is that you can publish them on your website homepage starting with your very first customer. If your business has many years of experience, you can be more selective and publish the most representative and recognizable customers from each of your most important market segments.

Buyers finding you on third party platforms also want to know who your customers are before contacting you. Add your customer list to your XPRT storefront here.

Project References

If your B2B equipment or technology can be used in a variety of settings, you should also add a page to your website with a list of project references. This is a good opportunity to mention the client, location, field of application, relevant tech specs, and photos. When you serve a variety of industries, it is important to ensure your prospective buyers understand what your business can do specifically for them.

We also recommend you to add your project references on your XPRT storefront by adding fields of application and mentioning some of your work for each application on those pages.

Product Videos & Photos

Product videos & photos are rarely mentioned as a form of social proof, but for buyers of B2B equipment, seeing products in action can be very convincing. While it is fine to use crisp, beautiful pics of your products on a white background as the featured images on your product pages, make sure those pages also include photos and videos of your products being used for their most common applications.

You can add videos & photos to the product pages of your XPRT storefront here.

Social Media Posts

This post has mentioned a few ways you can add social proof to both your website and XPRT storefront on your own with relatively little effort, but by far the best form of social proof is generated directly by your customers. One of the most basic forms of customer-generated social proof is when a customer mentions your company or products on social media. When you are marketing for a B2B supplier, you don’t have much control over what customers say about your business (you simply have to trust that your business offers quality products & service), but you can influence how often customers mention your business.

The easiest way to encourage your customers to share on social media is to add social sharing icons to sharable pages of your company website, especially product pages, company news, blog posts & videos. As a B2B supplier, you will almost certainly want to include a sharing icon for LinkedIn. According to the Content Marketing Institute’s 2022 Content Marketing Report, the next most important social networks for B2B marketing are Facebook, YouTube, Instagram & Twitter, so consider adding sharing icons for those as well.

All the content you add to your XPRT storefront automatically includes social sharing icons for LinkedIn, Facebook & Twitter.

Testimonials

Customer testimonials are positive statements about your business from satisfied customers you should definitely publish on the homepage and product pages of your own website and integrate into marketing & sales email communications. We recommend asking for a testimonial any time you find out that a customer is satisfied. Make it as easy as possible for them by asking for just a sentence or two. If they are truly impressed with you, they will typically provide more than you ask for.

We also recommend adding testimonials to your XPRT storefront homepage and product pages as a way to generate more leads. If it’s a video testimonial, even better!

Customer Reviews & Ratings

While testimonials are powerful, they are also biased because you, the supplier, are in total control of which testimonials get published on your website and other properties. But customer reviews & ratings on third party sites are a whole different ballgame. Scary because you are not in full control and the dreaded negative review is bound to happen from time to time, but buyers trust them more.

By default, all the product pages you publish on your XPRT storefront contain a customer review section and a short form where customers can publish a review at the bottom of the page. We urge you to send your customers a link to the product pages on your XPRT storefront and ask them to publish their reviews there.

Case Studies

Case studies have been a common form of social proof published on B2B supplier websites for a long time. While this form of detailed social proof is not directly generated by your customers, the meat of a good case study should rely on your customers’ feedback about how your solutions have helped solve their problems. Case studies should also contain at least one quote from customers. Again, you should try to publish case studies for your products’ most common applications.

You may publish unlimited case studies on your XPRT storefront (add them as new articles then select “case study” when you are asked what type of article you are adding). All case studies you publish will automatically contain a contact form to make it easier for interested buyers to get in touch with you. Your case studies will also be considered for inclusion in our dozens of niche-specific weekly newsletters.

Awards

While your business may get an award recognition out of the blue, you usually have to identify the awards that are most relevant to your business and apply for them. And if you are fortunate enough to win an award, make sure you tell your prospects about it on your website and social media.

You may also publish a story about your award on your XPRT storefront and it will be considered for inclusion in our dozens of niche-specific weekly newsletters.

Take 5 minutes to publish your free company profile on the XPRT B2B platform and expand the reach of your social proof!