Developing Brand Authenticity
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Why do you want to create brand authenticity?
Because an authentic presence further encourages audience loyalty and trust. When your audience feels that you are being authentic and not just saying things to try and get them to buy from you, they will feel a loyalty to your brand and coincidently, buy from you. So how does one go about being "authentic" you ask?
We will dive head first into this thought process, but first, lets BUST A MYTH: "Authentic" and "In The Moment" are two different things.
Authentic content is real, engaging and consistent with your brand story and identity.
In the moment content, while it has the potential to be real and engaging, is more often than not sloppy and underwhelming.
You can have a well created and preplanned social posting strategy while remaining authentic and consistent with your brand.
You might be thinking to yourself…
Why do you want to be so-called “authentic”? Why can’t you just post what you feel like posting? I’m a business, I need to sell my product or service, not all this frilly nonsense.
The top 2 reasons why you should develop brand authenticity are as follows:
1. Transparency builds brand loyalty
2. People know what to expect from you and people are creatures of habit
When you develop a consistent and authentic theme to your account, your audience knows what to expect from you and therefore develops a deeper sense of loyalty to you and what you represent.
Part of the trick to this is discovering 3-5 things that represent your brand. First, you need to establish whether your brand is personal or a business. For example, a brand that is personal, like Aly McClure Marketing, my brand is me, the parts of me that I have decided to share with my audience. They are:
1. Agriculture marketing
2. I love Cows
3. I am a cool mom
4. Coffee is life
5. Fine Steak and Adventure are always with me
When you go to my Instagram account or Facebook page, every single post is derived from one of these five things keeping me consistent with my theme and authentic with my message. Knowing exactly what my brand represents also gives me the forethought to capture the right images to share with you. I do not have to go through the whole “OH MY GOSH what am I going to post today, it’s already 3:00 and I haven’t shared ANYTHING.” Drama.
Authenticity also drives the relationship and community of loyal followers. It allows you to develop a common bond past what they originally began following your account for.
*BONUS TIP* Your 3-5 things should also be what is in your account description on ALL social media accounts. They may be worded differently based on that platforms specific audience, but your brand, is your brand, is your brand, no matter what account you are on. OWN IT.
So your action plan after reading this post is to decipher what things represent your brand and develope a posting strategy around those things.
