Authenticity – Be Real On Twitter – Marketing Efforts.
I know what you guys are thinking. Oh great another article telling me to “Be authentic”. Yeah, I feel like barfing every time I hear a guru saying those words in regards to social media and Twitter. However, they are on to something. By the time you finish reading this article you’ll not only understand what they mean, but learn how to achieve this “realness” without seeming like a phony.
First of all what does authenticity mean anyway? People keep throwing this word around without giving an explanation of what they mean. Here’s my definition of authenticity. Basically in a nutshell, it means that you should be yourself. In other words, the people that you network with online should be comfortable with you when they meet you in person because you act the same way online as you do in real life. That’s it. That’s what all of the gurus are talking about when they say “Be authentic”. Oops I said it again!
But why is this important you ask? Great question! Authenticity is important because people buy from other people they know, like and trust (yes I know another buzz word you hear over and over again). People can’t get to know you if you don’t give them a chance too. I know it seems uncomfortable, but you’ve got to give people a chance to see the real you. Once people see that you are an actual human being and not a robot (yes there are robots on Twitter) they’ll be more likely to click on the links that you post and respond to your messages.
Okay, I understand that I have to be “authentic” and show my personality so people can get to know the “real” me. But how do I do that? Again, another great question. Think of Twitter like a big party. What would you do if you were at a party and you did not know anyone? Well more than likely you’d listen to a few conversations and then join a group of people talking about something you find interesting, right? You’d probably introduce yourself and then add to the conversation. Well you can do the same thing online with Twitter. You can use Twitter’s search capability to find people to follow that are interesting to you. You can introduce yourself to those people with an “@” message, then you can start adding to the conversation. Once you start doing that, then you can start posting messages about your business.
Only start promoting yourself after you’ve promoted something someone else is doing. It takes some time to get some momentum going on Twitter, but once you do, you won’t be able to stop all of the traffic and sales that Twitter will bring you. Now what are you waiting for? Jump on Twitter and start tweeting!
