Authenticity

“Your brand needs to be authentic.”

It has turned into a ubiquitous phrase for marketing professionals. What does “authentic” mean, really?

Authentic to who? Your brand? To your target audience?

Well, think about your brand from the consumer’s point of view. It’s hard for me to turn off the marketer’s brain in my personal life, so I am analyzing the “voice” of nearly everywhere I go. My personal Instagram is a tour guide of local Bay Area breweries and my interest in their beer leads me to scope out their social platforms.

When you walk into a business, there is no way to avoid a certain vibe or attitude. It is your first impression of a place. The longer you are there, the better you understand who the business is.

Their social platforms should also reflect this. The images, videos, verbiage, hashtags… they all tell a story.

One that tells a story very well is Drake’s Brewing Company.

When you walk into their brewery in San Leandro, you immediately get a blast of energy. The bar is the first thing you see, with a list of over 15 beers on tap. The list of beers above the bar each have their own placard with a unique and fun design tied to its name.

Their merchandise is on display to the right and one of the more noticeable items is their t-shirt with a version of the cover of the classic video game, “Duck Hunt.”

They are trying to have fun. Their social media reflects that.

Not only do the posts exude fun, they also reflect the East Bay’s unique personality.

Another that does a great job of being authentic in its social is Russian River Brewing Company. The company best known for Pliny the Younger and Pliny the Elder is headquartered in Santa Rosa, which is a small city of nearly 175,000.

Like many Bay Area suburbs, the city is very community oriented. You walk into the restaurant in downtown Santa Rosa and there is a warm and inviting feeling. What makes their social account unique is it is in the first person from co-owner Natalie Cilurzo.

Very rarely do you see a company have a single identified person being the voice on social media. It connects them back to the community. These are real things happening to real people. This strategy makes its social media presence unique and authentic.

Finding that authenticity is not easy and there isn’t a right way to find it. Here are some tricks to at least help you along the way:

• Immerse yourself in your organization’s mission statement, vision statement, and values.
• Talk to your consumers, find out what they care about
• What is the purpose of your social media?
• Narrow down what tone you are comfortable creating and maintaining
• Narrow down what tone is appropriate for your brand (Can you be funny/snarky? Should you be serious all the time?)
• Learn from accounts you like. How/why are they successful?
• Write some test posts. Do they feel right? Are they within your brand?

Authenticity isn’t uniform. You just have to find what works best for you.