When trust is lacking, social proof is the answer

By Tom Ridges, CEO and Founder of Herdify

While digital marketers have been busy obsessing over things like programmatic buying, supply path optimisation, metrics and AI, a fundamental shift in consumer behaviour has been happening right under their noses. 

Right now, consumers are quietly checking out of online ads. Between the AI slop flooding social feeds and a massive drop in platform trust, audiences are increasingly sceptical of everything they see on screens. And the data backs this up: 67% of people claim they can spot misleading information online. Combine this with the growing structural shifts, such as the recently announced UK social media ban on under-16s, and it’s clear that our digital platforms are facing a huge credibility crisis. 

This poses a threat to brands, which now face a massive problem: how do you get your audience to believe in you when they no longer believe what they see online?

The answer isn’t to ditch digital or create an online-versus-offline war; both channels have an important role to play in building brand trust. Instead, it’s about understanding that the real source of competitive advantage is shifting towards something technology can’t replace, and that’s human behaviour.

Get real

The early internet gave brands access to cheap attention and rapid growth opportunities, but those advantages have disappeared as online channels have become commoditised and oversaturated. Today, brands compete on the same popular platforms, chase the same metrics, and optimise for the same algorithms, making meaningful differentiation increasingly difficult. Mature markets rarely reward sameness, and when everyone is running the same marketing strategy, meaningful differentiation becomes nearly impossible. That’s why understanding how to harness human behaviour is more important than ever. 

The truth is, people still trust people more than they trust brands. We as humans are and always have been a social species. We look to friends before buying products. We seek guidance from people who seem like us far more readily than we believe polished advertising, no matter how well-targeted it may be.

Behavioural science has demonstrated this repeatedly through the principle of social reinforcement. When people observe others adopting a behaviour or using a product, they’re increasingly more likely to do the same themselves. Decisions don’t happen in isolation. They’re shaped by visible signals from the people around us. Take, for example, a bunch of friends at the pub. When one person ordering a round chooses a particular beer, the rest of the group is likely to do the same, it’s an unconscious decision but it happens. That’s because they trust that person’s choice. 

In an era of synthetic AI content and declining digital trust, this real-life ‘social proof’ carries weight. Authentic offline experiences are becoming one of the most valuable assets in modern marketing. But while most marketing data tells you who bought your product, almost none of it tells you who’s actually choosing your beer down at the pub. 

This means thinking less about optimising click-through rates in isolation and more about how your brand appears in everyday, real-world interactions. 

Fields of influence

The online world makes it easy to forget that consumer decisions aren’t just shaped by clicks. They’re built on what’s happening around them in the communities where human influence actually takes hold. By identifying these pockets of advocacy, brands can reach new audiences and turn offline influence into measurable, sustained growth.

It’s possible to analyse how influence spreads naturally through these communities. When you map that human behaviour against your sales data, you can see exactly where your brand has momentum. For example, with our group of friends at the pub, data will show that a particular beer is popular in the area, but not driven by sales volume, but instead driven by social contagion. It might not be the most units sold, but this insight shows you where the biggest opportunity to sell more beer lie. The brand can then make the most of this insight by building a campaign that hones in on where that influence is spreading. There’s no guesswork involved, just a clear view of where to focus your efforts. 

The approach takes complex human behaviour and turns it into simple, actionable steps that brands can use to find customers and grow their market share.

Harnessing social proof 

In an era of media saturation and AI slop, brands need to build trust beyond the screen. While algorithms are designed to optimise engagement, they don’t build brand credibility and trust. Digital marketing isn’t going anywhere, but your long-term competitive advantage lies in combining it with real-life social proof. People copy each other because they trust that they are making the right decision. When you ground your strategy in genuine, offline influence, you make every marketing pound work harder. 

As digital channels evolve and become harder to trust, it’s essential to remember that human nature will always remain the same. The brands that truly succeed will be the ones that understand how people influence one another. By anchoring your brand in word-of-mouth and social reinforcement, you will build a brand that people don’t just see but actually trust.