Are you authentic?

Let’s face it.

Businesses and organizations get on social media with one primary goal in mind – SELL.

You want to create quality leads, get higher conversions, increase sales. If you work for a nonprofit organization, this goal becomes a version of sell – reach potential donors and get them to donate (time, money, resources).

The point is – you are on social media because you want something.

You want, want, want and you sell, sell, sell. And the cycle repeats itself.

However, you may be finding this strategy is not getting you the results that you want.

You are confused, because for decades, good marketing and PR campaigns focused on the “megaphone effect” – billboards, radio/TV/print ads, mailers, websites. You post your stuff; people are supposed to respond. Right?

Not anymore. (Gulp.)

Social networking sites work in a much different way. They are NOT designed to be used as megaphones – they are conversations!

I know. We are all busy people. You may have just lost your “authentic” way. It’s time to get back on track.

Here are my tips for regaining that authenticity (or creating it if you never had it in the first place!):

• You should be using your social media presence to see what’s going on with your customers, to get the pulse of your industry and to build a community of brand ambassadors who like you enough to let you in to their private network and maybe even share your stuff within it. But not just because you have to do it – you need to want to do it. (Trust me, people can smell phony a mile away.)
• How about being personable? Let your fans and followers know there is a person behind the tweets and the posts. Go off topic once in a while – talk about the weather, sports, local events. Don’t just talk about your business in a dry, impersonal, formal way. (Behind the scenes posts are always very popular.)
• Are you asking for help and feedback? And if you are, are you doing it only because you think you have to? Are you aiming to “increase engagement” without having a plan about how to acknowledge and use that engagement? Do you follow up with and/or implement the suggestions and recognize the people who took the time to reply to your request?
• Respond to comments. There is nothing worse than a social media account that is not managed, but still up for some reason. Make it a point to at least monitor your accounts a few times a week to see if there are questions and comments, so your customers do not feel ignored or even worse, snubbed.

How do you remain authentic on your social media profiles? Please leave Comments in the section below or email me at julia@jcsocialmarketing.com – Thanks for reading!