Authenticity in marketing can be a struggle. Because of the fact that there is so much false information out there, people are not as trusting as they once were. Kendyl Young talked about this problem on the BombCast, saying that consumers are starting to get suspicious of the truthfulness in ads and videos – especially overly produced videos. What’s real anymore?
On top of that, there’s another problem. People are struggling to be authentic. Kendyl says people can be scared to be authentic because they’re scared of offending someone. Well guess what? That’s unavoidable. We’ll never please everyone. But when we are truly authentic, we’ll connect with the people that matter and that’s what’s important. Why should your social media be different from who you really are?
Here are a few tips on being authentic when it comes to social media and video!
Create Real, Raw Videos
Kendyl says, “If someone can find a way to create good, raw, live videos, they’re going to be winners.” What does she mean? You don’t have to create crazy produced videos or have the fanciest camera equipment. People love seeing real people doing real things.
Here at BombBomb we like to utilize Instagram Story Ads and we recently did a test that had interesting results. We A/B tested two graphics promoting a downloadable checklist. One was a professional looking graphic. The other was a simple selfie video taken on an iphone. The simple iphone video performed way better. Plus it was quicker and easier to make.
Start creating simple videos. Start taking videos on the fly. Take videos in the car or in your kitchen while making coffee. People want to see you living life because that makes you more relatable.
Don’t Try to Appeal to Everyone
There’s a reason why people who find a niche often are successful. You know you can’t please everyone, so work to better your relationships with the people you can. Start putting out content that you personally would want to see. Send out a video you would like to receive. Because then you will appeal to people who can relate with you and when they can relate with you they will trust you. Once they trust you, they will be way more likely to do business with you.
Figure Out What Your Customers Will Resonate With
We said it’s important to find your niche and to go with it but you also need to pay attention to what your customers talk about or are interested in. Kendyl says, “The only thing that matters is the market. What is the market telling you? What are consumers telling you?” If your target audience is interested in community events, start posting about community events. This doesn’t mean you just choose a random event and share it on your page. Figure out what community events interest you personally. That’s how you appeal to your audience while still staying authentic and honest.
You may have to experiment to see what resonates but ultimately, people want truthfulness. People are super tired of stuff that doesn’t seem authentic.
