Celebrities are posting that they’ve never had cereal before. We connect most with content that is real, and people are catching on to content that isn’t authentic. This is definitely what you should be trying for on social. Brands have an entirely different challenge keeping it real online because they’re not people. So, how should brands keep things authentic on social and connect with their audience in real, long-lasting ways? Go behind the scenes and humanize your brand with your social media content. Case in point: mere minutes later Kylie was called out on several blogs and in tweets for posting an instagram of cereal with “probably milk” in 2015. But it’s really easy to get caught up trying to turn every online interaction into a quick sale or a conversion by tossing a “Buy Now” call to action on everything. Do what you can to fix the issue, and make sure your audience knows what you’ll do in the future to make sure it doesn’t happen again. Take the time to put together a well-planned social media content calendar, and make sure all your posts will resonate with your audience.
As the internet continues to get stuffed full of content, brands need to work harder than ever to break through the clutter and connect with people online. You know how to get your message into news feeds through methods like targeting, paid campaigns, boosted posts, or working with influencers. But once you get in front of people, is your message actually having an impact, and creating connections with your audience like you hope?
Influencers and brands alike are getting caught trying too hard online. Influencers are crying in posts and then getting called out for “like-fishing. Celebrities are posting that they’ve never had cereal before. Brands are posting overly photoshopped bodies…
Your followers can spot inauthenticity from a mile away.
We connect most with content that is real, and people are catching on to content that isn’t authentic.
Now, authentic is a word that the kids are throwing around a lot these days. But it’s not just a trendy phrase to use at your next networking event. By definition, authenticity is being real, or genuine. This is definitely what you should be trying for on social.
Even though everyone plays the whole keeping-up-appearances game on social media, authenticity comes naturally to a lot of people on their personal profiles—even if they aren’t being entirely authentic.
That authenticity comes because they’re sharing content that is real life, and even though we curate our feeds, contrive our captions, and share only our best moments, we’re still sharing our real lives.
Brands have an entirely different challenge keeping it real online because they’re not people. They can’t just post a 37-part instagram story of a concert and bam—make you feel like you’re a part of their life.
So, how should brands keep things authentic on social and connect with their audience in real, long-lasting ways? Here are a few tips.
1. Be honest and transparent
This should go without saying, but let’s be honest… (See what I did there? Sorry, I’ll let myself out.) We’ve all come across some pretty phony stuff online. Fake news, photoshopped images, stories that just seem too good to be true…
Fluffed up content is everywhere. People catch on to online trash like this pretty quickly. And although a skim through your own news feed may lead you to believe otherwise, people are smarter than ever. We can all easily spot a brand being fake, and it’s not a good look.
As brands, we need to stay as far away from dishonest content as possible, but this isn’t any sort of groundbreaking advice. So take the honesty and transparency a step further. Get honest and real about your product or service whenever you can. Go behind the scenes and humanize your brand with your social media content.
If you sell a product, share stories about how you make it. Tell people where the materials come from, how you manufacture, or how you design the things you want them to buy.
If you’re a service, share the work that goes into creating your customer experience.
If you’re an influencer, post an unedited photo from your actual phone once in a while.
If you’re looking for a quick lesson in what not to do, look no further than our favorite unfamous famous person, Kylie Jenner. In September 2018, she tweeted that she “had cereal with milk for the first time” and that it was “life changing.”
Come on Kylie… you live in the United States of America…
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