- BDAILY PREMIUM -
Dr Laura Cutress is a business coach and brand development specialist who works with companies around the world to enhance their operations.
Here, she shares with Bdaily Premium her advice on how to communicate your brand message with authenticity, social media marketing and how to manage your business’ online presence.
Authentic: It’s the buzzword of the moment but it’s been around for a while. It’s the act of living in the moment, staying true to yourself, and behaving with conviction. In an age of influencers, social media and #ad, it’s about not being “fake”, but standing by your values and morals.
“To be authentic, we must cultivate the courage to be imperfect — and vulnerable. We have to believe that we are fundamentally worthy of love and acceptance, just as we are. I’ve learned that there is no better way to invite more grace, gratitude and joy into our lives than by mindfully practicing authenticity.”— Brené Brown
Being your authentic self can feel risky now in our screen-obsessed world. Most of us are just trying to fit in, be liked, and be accepted by other human beings. And as a result, the image we present (on our social media profiles and in real life) have become mere presentations of who we think we should be and not reflections of who we really are.
When looking to build relationships – both in business and life – we are seeking to connect with people of integrity, honesty, and a strong moral compass. Both you and your customers will avoid people and brands who are unreliable and don’t stand by their values, so why do we still communicate in this way?!
From working with businesses on their communications and brand presence for almost 10 years, today I’m sharing my top tips for communicating with authenticity, and what on earth it means for your business!
Let go of the inner critic
How often do you second guess yourself, censor or slap a filter over a selfie? Forbes magazine says that “Peak performers are able to tune out inner voices, nagging doubts and internal second-guessing—and they’re then able to tune into their activity with full concentration and confidence. They are present, and magic happens only in the present moment.”
Next time you find yourself editing, drafting and re-drafting something – ask yourself why. Are you putting on a posh phone voice type persona that’s not really you? Are you struggling to think of something to say? Chances are, if it’s a struggle and it doesn’t run onto the page like verbal diarrhea, it’s not authentic because it doesn’t light you up from the inside. If you can’t say anything true… do you need to say anything at all!?
Tap into your inner values
Your authentic self will always be drawn to the same elements and values, and these are largely the same as your ideal clients’. They are the reason you do what you do, why your offering is different - and that is your superpower. Don’t be scared of sharing your feelings, your audience will be feeling them too and acknowledge with your humanity.
Connect at a soul level with your ideal audience
Connecting from the soul is the most authentic way to do business. When you know, you know. You’ve got their back, you’ll sing their praises, and they will do the same for you. It’s not about making sure you are sharing things of equal value, or consorting to produce something to build you both up. For me, connection is all of that and more. It’s the trust, the values and personality that you can only share with someone when you BOTH show up with your authentic selves. Its honesty and respect, appreciation and excitement. That’s why many of my clients are good friends of mine and I know that we both do the very best we can for their business.
By sharing what you stand for with your community, there will be some people who don’t like it, and that’s okay – they aren’t on your wavelength. But on the other hand, there’s the crowd that GET YOU down to the bones, and will follow your every move, shout your praises from the rooftops and help craft your brand from a personal level.
Stand by your boundaries
This is a sticking point with almost all of the clients I work with, as that pesky inner critic likes to pop up and try to persuade them to break their own rules. But if you don’t work past 4pm, don’t take calls on your personal phone and don’t want to have pre-10am meetings, then don’t.
You set these boundaries for a reason – and your clients will respect you for looking after you and what you need. If it helps, set an out of office stating clearly your work hours and how long people can expect a reply. Comms isn’t just social media; it’s every piece of information that comes from your business, even out of hours. How would it feel to log off at the end of your day and know that an on brand ‘hey, thanks so much for your email! I’m not at the desk right now but look forward to chatting with you within the next 48 hours’ message is sharing your values and keeping boundaries for you?
Do the inner work to be able to know what you need to say
If you’ve read all the above and are still feeling lost. “What are my values, what is my brand message?!’ then the perfect place to start is deep down within you. Who are you? What do you stand for? What is your purpose in the world?
Now ask the same Qs of your business.
The perfect place to start is right at the beginning – why did you start your business? For who? What do you want to achieve with it?
It’s a fact - audiences online are demanding. They want fresh, inspirational, consistent content that fits with their sense of identity. They scoff cynically at #instacliches and shady advertising; at those who post too often or too little or who use the ‘wrong’ hashtags. It’s not that they’re being deliberately callous – it’s more that the bar has been raised. 500 million Instagram users are active on the platform every day and, frankly, there are so many of us competing for attention that promotion has become a carefully-scripted artform.
The fact that social media has an impact on our mental health is nothing new, but a new study published by the Royal Society for Public Health has compared different platforms to assess the impact they pose on our mental health. The poll asked 1,479 people aged 14-24 to score the most popular social media apps on 14 concerns including anxiety, depression, loneliness, bullying and body image. Perhaps unsurprisingly, image-based platforms came out on top, with Instagram rated the worst for mental health, out of a list including Snapchat, Facebook, Twitter and Youtube.
There are plenty of studies which show that social media affects our mental health, but very few that try to suggest solutions other than to stop using it.
For those that are using these platforms to promote a business, we know that sticking your head in the sand isn’t always a good move, so let me share some tips with you that I have learned over the last 10 years of marketing and managing up to 60 feeds at a time!
First off, have a plan. You wouldn’t go into a client meeting or a session with your accountant without planning, would you? Social media is one of the most powerful promotional tools you have at your fingertips – don’t leave it to chance. Hone key messages, vision board your brand and research the platforms and strategies that will work best for you.
Use a sanity filter, a scheduling tool and batch schedule. Don’t let the distractions of real life derail your online presence – take photos and prepare streams of tweets in bulk and in advance and let a clever scheduling tool likeTailwind or Hootsuite do the posting for you. You don’t need to see what client’s mates are up to on holiday, so use tools that filter the good stuff.
Own your brand. A wise Teddy Roosevelt once said ‘comparison is the thief of joy’ and by jove, he was right. Yes, those photographs of sun-soaked Miami complete with lithe, tanned models in colour-pop bikinis really are something, but if you’re an alternative family portrait photographer based in rainy Cumbria you need to accept – no, celebrate – that your brand is different – no better, no worse, just different – and equally glorious.
Only post if you have something valuable to say. If it feels contrived or false or posting-for-posting’s-sake, don’t – wait until it flows. If you follow our advice above and stick with your key messages and own that brand, you’ll be brimming with ideas for blog posts, tweets and captions anyway.
And finally, don’t forget – it’s a social NETWORK. This shouldn’t be the digital equivalent of you standing on a plinth shouting into the void with a megaphone – you’re here to engage with people. Ask a question, offer a freebie and applaud good work where you see it; you’ll soon turn a passive audience into an active community.
By Chloe Shakesby, Bdaily
