Social Proof: Why People Buy Twitter Followers from Devumi

I’m often asked through our blog why people buy Twitter followers from Devumi. Some see it as a waste of money, some see it as a waste of time, and others do not understand it at all.

The reason why people buy Twitter followers is similar to why they may patronise webinar platforms an old idea known as Social Proof. I’ll look at it in depth here so that you will better understand how it works in relation to your social signals.

Social Proof: The Psychology Behind Buying Twitter Followers

One of the earliest influences on early development is what we all call peer pressure. Most people can ignore peer pressure from one person, just like most people can ignore a Twitter account with just a few followers.

When peer pressure reaches group levels, say 20 people all around you and pressuring you, it tends to catch your attention. This is the same for a Twitter account with a large following – if you have 100s of Twitter followers, you’re more likely to be listened to.

You can think of social proof in an online context as a form of group peer pressure that has a positive effect. For every new Twitter follower that you have, every retweet that you receive, every favorite on your account, your trust level on Twitter goes up.

To illustrate why people are buying Twitter followers, look at two different Twitter accounts. One is three months old and has ten followers, mostly the close friends of the account holder. Another is also three months old but has thousands of followers.

Most Twitter users, they’re much more likely to be interested in an account with thousands of Twitter followers. This is social proof, and positive group peer pressure, in action.

Make social proof work for you once you have more Twitter followers

Once you have a high number of Twitter followers, you have to get to work on gaining new ones. Bought Twitter followers are just a social signal, a small piece of social proof via numbers. Now that you understand the concept of social proof, here are 5 tips for you to use to gain followers naturally:

1. Always use positive social proof: Negative social proof would be highlighting why people will suffer if they don’t follow you or visit your website. “You’d be a fool if you don’t follow this link!” Would be an example. You need to use positive social proof to gain trust and get people to pay attention to you.
2. Positive social proof is better than money: In relation to the post above, a study in the Washington Post illustrated how people are more likely to follow the advice gained from social proof than potentially saving money on products. To put it basically, “Your neighbors are doing it,” was a stronger positive social message than “you’ll save $54 per month” as positive influences on behavior!
3. Use pictures to make your social proof more powerful: Using a picture of a person, such as one of your Twitter followers with a positive comment, with a testimonial increases the chance that people will believe that it’s true. Doing something a simple as putting a positive comment by one of your Twitter followers on your website, with a link and a picture, can help capture those social followers on Twitter. Combining this with a high Twitter follower count keeps them listening to your brand story and keeps your name on their mind – all thanks to the power of a little bit of social proof.
4. Stories are important pieces of social proof: Do you know what causes 57% of people to ignore your content more than anything else. Statistics. Admit it, you skipped over that percentage, didn’t you? It was fake, but what isn’t fake is using stories as pieces of positive social proof. A compelling story, such as a simple piece of customer feedback, can rapidly increase engagement and trust.
5. Influencers are the positive bullies of the social media world: Nothing quite matches the positivity of having an important voice with your niche say positive about your products/services, or Twitter account. This can be a HUGE piece of positive social proof. Be prepared for this before it happens and have the backup social proof of a high Twitter follower number.

As you have read, buying Twitter followers, and other social signals such as retweets, likes, and subscribers, is about a lot more than boosting your self esteem. It’s about wanting to have a bit of numerical social proof on your side. Smart Twitter users will then use the added benefits of having a higher amount of social proof by using the five pieces of advice above.