As consumers, we all have trusted brands for our personal and business needs. But, when there are endless marketers and opportunities on social media for these products and services, how do you know who or what to trust?
Lately, my trust in brands and pages advertised on social media has been declining. I have found that a lot of the ads I receive on my Instagram feed are dominated by influencers who have sponsored posts, forged content, and sometimes are endorsed by fake followers. It is hard to always trust sponsored posts, because not everyone is giving their honest opinion about a product since they are getting paid to do the post.
When it comes to a brand (product or service), what I look for is authenticity. The problem is,
a lot of folks have been adopting niches that are trendy or getting side tracked into deceptive qualities rather than showing the real side of their brand or business. This makes it hard to develop trust and I am usually left feeling a bit cynical.
Niche (read as nich or nesh or nish), is defined as “a place, employment, status, or activity for which a person or thing is best fitted” by the Merriam-Webster dictionary.
So, the question remains – how can one be authentic on social media while capturing and balancing consumers’ moral, social, and political beliefs? Simple.
Channeling authenticity through your social media presence is an exhausting process but essential to increase your recognition as a brand and a business. It opens doors to growing sales and your ROI. The more you engage with your audience on social media through honest, genuine and humane photos and videos, you will find that you get more prospective clients that will more likely recommend your brand, purchase a product or endorse it through reviews, social media shares, and other similar displays.
Be mindful and transparent about your successes and failures through your contents. Let’s be real – not every day is a sunny day. Don’t overshare and drive your prospective clients away by sounding whiny, also. Just make sure you share your progress and ask for advice through your stories and comments section when things aren’t going the way you want them to. Being vulnerable doesn’t have to be a gamble, if done right.
Make sure you are genuine. All the guides, the step-by-step make-up tutorials you post on IG TV or YouTube, the blog posts -- should be sincere. Focus on how your brand or business will help solve consumers’ problems and help them achieve their goals. Avoid the hard selling, the gimmicks! They are annoying and honestly, just disrespectful.
And last, but not least, be relatable. This trick only works when you know your audience. You can’t have everyone be part of your squad. So, make sure you study your audience and give your content some life. Curate a post and tailor it specifically to what they want to see, and hear. And, always be yourself.
Tip: While you are being authentic, also remember to maintain consistency to increase reliability. No one is going to want to endorse your brand or business if you are inconsistent with your content. Trust me, I learned this the hard way.
Authenticity should be part of your manifesto and a standard you should follow.
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