Why You Should Embrace Authenticity Over Perfection

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As an influencer, do you choose to show that you’re real life or you’d rather appear perfect to your followers?

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About two decades ago, it was easy for brands to create perceptions that were in dissonance with reality. They did not simply ‘do the talk.’ However, they enjoyed a great deal of immunity. At that time, there was almost no way the audience could verify marketing messages. This made it easy for brands to hide their faults and cover up their inadequacies and imperfections.

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However, the digital revolution that started off in the late 1990s brought with it a new form of marketing strategy – influencer marketing – where brands collaborate with influencers to increase their conversion rate as well as generate a high return on investment (ROI) through an organic collaboration.

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Unfortunately, immediately after money exchanged hands, it became difficult for brands to prove that the partnership remains authentic and uncompromised. This lack of knowledge makes it easy for influencers to detach their digital selves from their real selves. They provide a heightened version of their personalities online.

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Interestingly, the new generation of consumers is now exposed to more information that they can easily puncture through any lies, thus rejecting any marketing content that does not come across as real, human, and relatable – these are the three factors that constitute the essence of authenticity. This has made several brands end partnerships with influencers that are inauthentic.

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In this article, we will be discussing what authenticity entails, why you should embrace authenticity as an influencer, and how you can maintain authenticity.

What is authenticity?

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In simple terms, authenticity involves being real about your identity, messages, and values. It is the only way to build genuine relationships with consumers. Research reveals that real and transparent brands win the trust and admiration of consumers. It is not about “appearing” authentic; it’s about truly authentic.

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Several studies indicate that a majority of consumers seek authenticity when deciding the brands to patronize. This underscores the importance of authenticity to both influencers and brands. For consumers to describe you – whether a brand or an influencer – as authentic, they must know, like, and trust you.

Why does authenticity matter?

The reality is that people won’t be able to relate with you well if you’re just all perfect or you’ve shown to be dishonest. With no intention to malign any brand, some social platforms, for instance, have had too many issues with customers’ data and privacy. While people might still use such platforms, they may not act as their advocates. Here are some reasons why you should be authentic.

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1. Authenticity is the essence of any brand

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Before any brand sets out to reach out to its audience, it is expected that they have a real brand story and values that represent them. This is what makes that brand the brand as well as sets the difference between how brands see themselves and how others see them. When consumers become familiar with what such brands represent, they watch out for them.

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As an influencer, you serve as a proxy for the brand that you represent. Therefore, whatever you say, do, or post on social media should reflect your values, beliefs, and interests. For instance, you can’t say you care about the green economy while you act as an ambassador to a vehicle company that makes cars that still use fossil fuel. You’d come across as an inauthentic influencer.

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By sharing what you represent, your true feelings, your insecurities, and your challenges, you’d be building great trust among your followers. While every post you make will not generate the results you expect, your followers will appreciate your authentic self.

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Of course, they know you’re not perfect. As such, they want to know about the side of you that is imperfect. This makes them relate more to you. Apart from that, it is often difficult to keep in touch with your true self when you try to create a perfect image of yourself.

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2. Authenticity will make you find YOUR audience

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Whether you appear as perfect or authentic, not everyone will like you or appreciate your content. However, one is better – being authentic. Consider it this way: what do you think would be the result of building a huge following over a long period on a picture-perfect mode only for your followers to suddenly find out that you’ve been deceiving them all along? Apart from losing followers, it could also damage your reputation.

As a way of avoiding this, it is better if you already built a following that knows about your imperfections. In fact, such imperfections could form a part of your appeal as used by Buckley’s, a Canadian cough medicine brand. Knowing that its medicine tastes awful but has been proven to be effective, it adopted the slogan: “It tastes awful, but it works.”

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This simple advertising message takes a deep root in honesty and reality, and it would come to help the brand become incredibly successful. The point is that humans are imperfect creatures and can only relate well with other imperfect creatures. It is far easier to create a bond between two imperfect creatures than between a human being and a product.

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3. Authenticity gives you influence over your audience

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As an authentic influencer with certain values and style, you’re not necessarily a people-pleaser. At the same time, you can represent a brand more effectively in your authentic self. The new generation of consumers often holds influencers in high regard, and that is why it is very easy for them to exert their influence on their followers.

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Beyond purchasing a product or service, consumers want to be sure that by patronizing a brand, they’re also supporting a social cause or advancing a social view that appeals to them. Thus, they try to understand how such a brand operates and why it does what it does. This helps them to easily build trust with such a brand.

In other words, when consumers gain your trust, they are more likely to remain loyal to you. You can then leverage this trust and loyalty to influence them to act in a way that improves your authenticity as an influencer and also the brand with whom you’re collaborating.

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4. Authenticity is what modern consumers need

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A lot of brands now compete for the attention of consumers. Gone are the days when brands adopted a one-sided communication means in their marketing efforts. Now, consumers want brands to interact with them as well as convince them on the reasons to purchase their products or use their services. This means they need active interaction and genuine information.

While influencers are able to help brands in this aspect, there is a growing spate of skepticism among consumers about influencers. Of course, they know influencers are doing it for the money and would go any length to promote these brands. Since trust is at the core of the relationship that exists between influencers and their followers, it will be disastrous to break that trust by being inauthentic.

How influencers can maintain authenticity

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The way to maintain authenticity as an influencer is to stop engaging in activities that can diminish the trust that exists between you and your followers. While those things may appear to you as normal, they can make you easily lose your credibility and earn a bad reputation. A report by GRINindicates that about 25% of consumers will unfollow a creator that they can’t trust to be honest and authentic. Here are a few ways to maintain authenticity.

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✔️Limit sponsored posts

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Consumers who double as followers are easily turned off by sponsored content. Basically, they follow influencers as a result of their personality and quality of their content – not their promotions. Therefore, you may lose your authenticity and trustworthiness as an influencer if you only post sponsored content. Much more than promotions or sponsored posts, feed your audience with quality content, that is, content that feels authentic or real. 

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✔️Maintain your style

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Every influencer has a unique style. It is this style that sets you up for trust, loyalty, and collaborations. What is your voice like? Do you have a way of setting your profile? Are there certain keywords you use consistently? Your followers are quick to identify content and promotions that do not fit into your style as fake. Therefore, it is important that you maintain consistency in the way you present marketing messages across social platforms.

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✔️Be creative

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Avoid posting exactly whatever marketing messages brands send to you. Irrespective of the collaboration between you and the brand you represent, there is always the need for you to get creative with marketing content. This will enable you to create content that resonates well with your audience. 

Conclusion

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Authentic influencer content is at the core of influencer marketing. It is a ‘be real till you make it’ process. It may take a while before you grow but it will definitely come. Besides, there is a huge sense of satisfaction when you know you made it through the right way.

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Choosing authentic influencers is critical to establishing an authentic audience connection. At Vling, we connect you with authentic YouTube influencers that suit your product, brand, and target audience. Irrespective of your industry, you will always find influencers with a genuine interest in your niche.

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