There is a careful line between remaining professional and allowing your personal life to shine through on your business page. Determining how to post something genuine that is also aligned with your brand can be challenging, but it’s an effort worth making to really connect with your followers. Social media is the perfect outlet for adding a personal touch, and your authenticity on social media is more likely to increase your followers than any other marketing strategy. Why? Because consumers – B2C and B2B – are no longer interested solely in your product or service. They want to know that you’re human.
Authenticity creates space for open conversation and feedback.
In the past, if a consumer disliked an organization’s product or service, they would simply never return or do business with that company again. They may have even shared their bad experience with their friends through word of mouth, impacting the business in immeasurable ways. Today, customers take to social media to share their displeasures, garnering themselves a bigger audience than might a complaint to a friend. But this also gives businesses a big opportunity to discover what went wrong and also to demonstrate that they’re listening and capable of making things right.
A single tweet can destroy a brand, but a single tweet also has the potential to spark a substantial following and promote brand loyalty. If you have an authentic presence on social media, users will feel comfortable alerting you to problems or even offering suggestions for improvement. You can respond almost instantaneously and resolve conflicts with good publicity.
Quality is more valuable than quantity.
We talk about the importance of quality over quantity when discussing content, and the same is true of social media. While each platform has different strategies, mass quantities of tweets that are clearly automated and inauthentic can be harmful to your ability to engage. Just as you would with your own blog, share valuable content on social media that is directed to your target audience, for more meaningful results. It’s much better to have one post that garners the attention of hundreds than ten posts that people ignore.
Share real-life photos.
One of the easiest ways to be authentic is to post candid photos – of yourself, your team, your office, and even your pet. Ditch the poses and offer your target audience a glimpse into your life. Walking through Central Park on the way to a meeting with a client and see a gorgeous sunrise? Share it! Taking a few days away with your family to celebrate something special? Tell your clients about it and share a photo. Participate in a community fundraiser, personally or as a business sponsor? Talk about it, and invite others to support the effort. This authentic, sometimes messy, glimpse into your personal life is great for business, because it demonstrates to your followers that you are a real person, and they’ll love your brand for it.
Authenticity is the key component that your social media marketing strategy relies on for success. If you would like help optimizing your social media platforms, contact us for an authentic approach.