Hey! Karl here from Clockwork Moggy. I started this series before but I have decided to start it again with 2020 changing things up a bit. I am here to enlighten/bore you for 26 days of your wonderful existence. So buckle in, put you big boy pants on as I am about to get stuck in.
Authenticity doesn’t mean you need to cry on camera over the latest sad story on the BBC news site. Authenticity, to me, is the ability to be the real you, extend your personality onto your social pages and not back down and do what everyone else is doing. Be a star in a world of squares.
Your personality comes across in a number ways on social. Obvious ones are videos and photos but your tone of voice (as the pros call it) is the same. Tone of voice is how your personality comes across through text. As you can tell from my tone of voice I am pretty chilled, I write exactly how I speak and don’t put any big words in for the sake of it to make myself look more cleverer. I create websites and run social media for clients though and I have to write in a different tone of choice depending on the client I am working with. Some clients use a very professional tone and that requires me to provide high end content, whereas, other companies use a more relaxed tone of voice which I can slide into also. In my personal social media, I like to have a little fun with my tone of voice, videos and pictures.
When you first start a business there are two things that jump up and kick you in the nuts/lady parts that can get in the way of you being authentic.
The first is thinking you’re a tiny business so you need to make yourself look big. I think everyone is guilty of this but this often consists of saying “we” when there is only you in the company sitting in your pants at home. This is a great way of getting people to think you’re a proper company until they meet you or ask to talk to the finance department (awks). People often want to work with a smaller business they can trust. You being yourself and talking about what you are up to, the difficulties of being a mum in business, or giving thought leadership posts may be the thing that wins you the contract. People really do buy people.
The second thing that hits you right where it hurts is often imposter syndrome. Thinking you don’t know as much as the pros in the office next door. Well… You probably do. Getting out there and putting your opinion across is important, even if sometimes it isn’t the popular opinion.
There are loads of great ways of producing authentic content and some formats are better suited than others. Video is a great way to be more authentic and show the real you. Using stories on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn and even WhatsApp is a great way of creating less highly polished content that you can put out on the fly. Stories don’t need the same level of production as other video and can be a great way of showing a behind the scenes of your business. TikTok has also opened an avenue for funny content. You don’t need to sell on social media to make sales and brand awareness is where it is at. People will get to know you over time and be more likely to pick you over your competitors when they are looking to purchase.
All in All, people want to see what YOU are about. They want to see content that you enjoy making as this content is the stuff that will be the best.
Not great in front of a camera? Don’t worry we will cover that in V in 22 weeks time. Can’t wait ’til then? Message us on Linkedin, Facebook or Twitter
