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Imagine this…

You want to grow your social media following.

As an entrepreneur, you know building an audience will help build your business.

As you scroll through LinkedIn you come across a post with a compelling headline.

It reads, “9 dead simple tips to grow your LinkedIn followers”

The post is actually pretty good. These aren’t the same 9 tips you see everyone else regurgitating. There are a few gems that are new to you.

At the end of the post, the author plugs their online course, LinkedIn Audience Building.

You liked their tips so you click their profile to learn more about them.

“Hmm, that’s odd,” you think to yourself as you view their profile.

They only have 1,100 followers.

For the average person that’s a good number of followers, but it seems low for someone who claims they can teach YOU how to grow a LinkedIn following.

Are you still interested in buying their online course?

In today’s edition of Why We Buy 🧠 we’re exploring Credibility — how to get people to think of you as an expert in your field.

Let’s get into it.
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🧠 The Psychology of Credibility

When it comes to decision-making, credibility acts as a kind of mental shortcut.

People unconsciously seek direction from credible sources so they can bypass the mentally tiresome process of evaluating options themselves.

​Researchers saw this when they hooked participants up to a brain scanner.

First, they asked the participants to make a decision related to money. As they did, the part of their brain used for evaluation lit up.

Next, they asked the participants to make another decision, but only after they’d been given advice from an expert.

The option evaluation part of their brain didn’t light up.

What does that mean? It means that participants made their decision without evaluating it first—all because an expert had told them it was the right thing to do.

​

🧐 Inside Your Buyer’s Mind

People don’t want to think too hard when making decisions.

They’d rather hand over the mental labor to someone who knows what they’re doing.

There are 4 factors buyers use to evaluate credibility:

💡 Expertise: We are more likely to trust information from someone who is seen as an expert in their field.

🤝 Trustworthiness: We are more likely to trust information from someone who we believe is honest and reliable.

😍 Attraction: We are more likely to trust information from someone who we find likable or attractive (it’s unfair but true)

🤩 Homophily: We are more likely to trust information from someone who is similar to us in terms of their values, beliefs, or experiences.

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🤑 How To Apply This

Alright, so how can you apply this right now to sell more?
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Service Business​
Showcase your credibility in your social bio

What happens directly after somebody reads your tweet or LinkedIn post and finds it interesting?

They click on your profile. Why?

They want to size you up (it’s the harsh truth!)

It’s the digital equivalent of looking you up and down to make sure that you’re legit.

This means this is the *necessary* time to showcase your credibility.

Eric Partaker, an Un-ignorable alumni, has built an audience of 152,000 on LinkedIn since completing the challenge.

How does Eric convert profile visitors into followers, newsletter subscribers, and eventually into clients? With credibility.

• He shows the number of newsletter subscribers twice
• He shows his media mentions front and center
• He shares that he was CEO of the Year
• He mentions the companies he worked for in the past
• He plugs that he’s an author

​

Peppering credibility all over his LinkedIn profile makes people think, “This Eric guy is pretty legit.”

You don’t need to have big-name media mentions like Eric to showcase your credibility on your profile. You can share past wins, accreditations, or a compelling mission (which Eric does brilliantly).

E-commerce​
Show the expertise behind your product

You can convert more window-shoppers into buyers by showing them the behind-the-scenes work you’ve done to make your product better than the competition.

Seed, a DTC probiotics company, built an entire webpage dedicated to showcasing their credibility.

Here are just a few of the things they cover:

• Why they chose the specific strains of bacteria that are in Seed
• How they came up with the right dosage
• The contaminant testing they do on their probiotics
• The 19 scientific advisors working on the product

Every brand needs to find a competitive edge. Especially in super crowded markets where people are skeptical about quality claims.

​

Now some people may say this is a weakness compared to other folks who promise to help you “make $10K in 30 days.”

But I knew sharing a weakness upfront would make the free course seem more credible.

People who signed up for the free email course had an opportunity to enroll in the Un-ignorable Challenge early. It was a secret launch that we never shared publicly. (Unlike today’s 37 ½ hour flash sale)

We drove $37,100.50 in sales with:

• No social media promos
• No pushy emails
• No affiliates
• No DMs
• No ads

Pretty awesome stuff, right? Flaunting your flaws can help build trust and can make your message un-ignorable.
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💥 The Short of It

Credibility is the foundation of every thriving business.

You don’t want to buy from somebody who doesn’t know what they’re talking about.

And neither do your ideal buyers.

Use credibility to show them why you’re the right person to buy from.

​Until next time, happy selling!