In the world of the internet and social media, if you want to promote your brand, it is important to be authentic or genuine. A genuine person is being who they sincerely are and avoids practicing things that they don’t value or bring them real joy. Nothing drives me more bonkers than meeting someone online and then in person and they are totally two different people.
The fact is, if your audience doesn’t think you are truthful about how you project yourself, likely, they will not stay around. Learn how authentic self-expression can increases success on social media by following these five tips below:
Be Honest
Don’t lie and manipulate your audience. For example, don’t edit photos to make your audience believe you were at a venue when you did not attend. If you’re not a million-dollar blogger, don’t say that you are. Don’t fake it till you make it. It won’t work on social media.
It actually drives me crazy this part – sure we all want to make money and live a good live but for some of us it isn’t tbe be and do all. It’s more about the experiences. So the part where I go camping for a few days and share snippets or work in my art space for the day – that’s what I like to share.
Own Up to Your Mistakes
“To err is human” is an all too common phrase, but it is so true. We are human, and it is only natural for us to make mistakes. Honestly, you will inevitably make one, one day. It’s not if, it’s when.
What is most important is how we react to these mistakes. If you do make a mistake or when you will make a mistake own up to it and apologize. Don’t put the blame on others and avoid taking responsibility as this will only come off as rude and insensitive and as dishonest.
As someone who grew up in victimhood it took a long time to own my actions but when you heal those parts of you, you actually can’t deal with it when other people do it.
Create Meaningful Content
Avoid clickbait titles and creating content with no clear focus or reason for being. Content that is made just for the views, clicks, and likes isn’t going to perform that well anyway if it has no point of existing. There is room for every type of person out there. It’s only natural to take inspiration from others, but pure copycat is not the right way to do it.
If your content and the information you provide, is loaded with contradictory information, eventually, your followers will catch on and seek information from another source. For example, if you told your audience, you don’t believe in essential oils but then promoted it the next day, your audience will surely be confused.
In addition, it’s not authentic to your character because you clearly stated you don’t believe in essential oils. The authentic move would to be to decline the sponsorship and maybe use this as a teaching opportunity to your audience about why you believe you are right about this choice.
Know, Relate, And Interact with Your Audience
There is a reason that you have a following in the first place. Dive deep into your audience. Understand their interests and passions and see where they align with yours. Use this to interact and be relatable.
For example, maybe you notice your audience loves cats, and so do you. This would be a great thing to share with your audience if you can relate it to your offers in some way, and they will surely appreciate it too and feel closer to you.
Be Who and What You Say You Are
In more familiar words, “practice what you preach” comes to mind. For example, don’t tell the world you practice veganism, but then secretly go and eat chicken every night and just don’t show it.
This will lead your audience to believe something that’s not really what you support. As you become more popular, you won’t be able to hide it. Eventually, it will be hard for you to keep up with the facade, and due to this, you will ultimately produce subpar content that you don’t even believe in.
Ultimately, if you stay true to yourself and block any negative distractions, there is no way you can’t be authentic on social media. It’s all about honesty, transparency, and finding your voice based on your values, morals, and principles.
