Have you noticed the shift in social media: authenticity in marketing is on the rise! Lies and fake reviews just for the sake of views are in decline. And what’s more, the rise of AI-generated content is emphasising the importance of authentic, original content.
This makes the creative child within me purr. That is why I know when it comes to delivering a successful branding presentation, authenticity is key.
For too long we have accepted ‘advice’ and recommendations from influencers and celebrities who clearly don’t believe in the products and services that they are selling.
- We’re fed up with being told to go to the gym and work hard to get that perfectly round butt by someone who themselves has a butt created by a plastic surgeon.
- And we’re bloody DONE with being let down by the people (often coaches) that we have grown to love, respect and listen to.
So, today I am bringing you a bit of honesty on what true authenticity in marketing actually looks like. And more importantly, how you’re doing it wrong!
Why should you care?
Consumers want better because they are more and more aware that they deserve better. And it shows! There are multiple studies that show the power that the consumers hold in their hands.
- Consumers say that the number 1 reason they follow a brand or an influencer on social media is to stay informed about products and services
- Consumers have also reported that inauthentic, pushy and even fake marketing puts them off
- As we’ve seen with massive brands, like McDonalds and Starbucks recently, once consumers decide to take their money elsewhere, it matters!
I conducted a survey on this a couple of years back with my Instagram followers, and the results are 100% valid still today! The survey was about influencer marketing in case you want to take a look.
So, the big question now is, if you work for or own a brand or are an influencer, how’s your marketing on the authenticity scale? Do you use pushy, even fear tactics when marketing a product or a service? Or do you rely on AI to create marketing content?
Regardless of what your answers to those questions are, it’s time to really start paying attention. Authenticity in marketing is fast becoming the thing that can make or break your brand.
Read also: 4 Reasons Why I Switched my Instagram from Public to Private Account
What is Authenticity in Marketing
Before I break down how many brands and influencers fail in terms of authenticity in marketing, let’s recap what authenticity actually even is. These aspects apply to both, brands and influencers (who are often personal brands):
- authenticity in marketing means that a brand is truly genuine, open and preferably also as transparent as possible
- authentic brands know their customers well and want to serve them rather than empty their pockets for not much value in return
- the marketing content is customer-centric, relatable, and true to the brand’s values
All of the above are especially important to Gen Z, but also to many Millennials. And even though in the media you can get the impression that these generations have no money to spare, they are the growing consumer groups that will set the tone in many industries.
Let’s take a practical example of what authentic marketing could do for your brand. When you come across as genuine and really talk to your audience in a relatable manner, it’s more likely that they will engage with your content and visit your website. And we know where that can lead in the best case scenario, right?
Whereas if your marketing comes across as misleading, even fake, especially the younger generations have no problem calling your brand out and getting it cancelled. This doesn’t mean we need to try to please everyone and walk on eggshells. But it does mean that marketers need to pay a lot more attention to their tactics!
This has brought along a concept known as ‘deinfluencing’. It’s an interesting countermeasure from the consumers themselves creating content about products and services. Here’s why that’s important to know about:
Deinfluencing explained
Deinfluencing is growing in popularity fast. Which just goes to show how important authenticity in marketing really is in today’s world.
Basically, in deinfluencing
- consumers take a product that has been recommended, maybe even sent to them.
- And they do an honest review of why and how the product does NOT meet the marketing jargon.
- They showcase to their audience how inefficient, over-priced, and in worst cases dangerous the promoted products can be.
The interesting thing is that some studies have shown that over 85% of consumers would still check out, maybe also buy a product just because it was promoted on social media.
But the more aware consumers become, the faster the tides can change. So, if you’re not yet doing so, now is the time to start paying attention and making sure that your brand engages in true authenticity in marketing.
Read also: Can Money Buy Happiness?
Authenticity in Marketing and the Mistakes You Make
When brands and Marketing Executives think about authenticity in marketing, they often get it completely wrong. Why? Because the people making those decisions are rarely authentic themselves!
And that’s why we see so much inauthentic, forced and scripted marketing especially from influencers out there. And while ‘faked authenticity’ may work for you now, it may kick you in the face in the near future.
That means that at worst, doing authentic marketing wrong can bring your entire brand reputation to its knees faster than you can say ‘cat’. So, if your brand is engaging in any of these marketing strategies but is not doing it properly, you may be in trouble soon:
- showing behind the scenes content on your social media channels
- creating content that is up-to-date on current trends
- utilize user-generated content and/or influencers
- relying solely on AI to create your marketing content
Remember that your audience is starting to get proper fed up with all the inauthentic marketing. So, let’s start with the most complex one!
Mistake 1: User-generated content and/or influencers
User-generated content (UGC) is a form of marketing where a brand for example gives a content creator a product or a service for free in exchange for content. The difference with influencer marketing is that these content creators can be anyone regardless of follower numbers on social media and such.
Often in UGC, the brand also gives the content creator free reign instead of scripted sales speeches or specifics for the content that will be created.
An example could be that a content creator gets 2 nights free in a hotel. The hotel expects the content creator to create content while staying in the hotel, which is free marketing. I offer UGC so if you believe in your brand, let me review your products/services!
When choosing a content creator for UGC collaborations it’s important to do your research! And no, that does NOT mean focusing on social media follower amounts. Like I stated in the article linked ahead:
Instagram is a FAKE platform. It’s full of fake content, fake followers, fake accounts, fake, fake, fake.
Get to know the actual content creator. Because I can guarantee you, that an actually authentic and genuinely liked content creator with less than 5 000 followers is more likely to get you regular customers than that influencer with a million followers. Simply because a lot of those followers are bots, and they won’t buy from you.
Mistake 2: Relying on AI-generated marketing content
Many businesses sang Hallelujah when AI brought with it simple and quick ways to create content ‘in house’. “No need to hire Copywriters and photographers anymore”, many of them thought.
If only life was so simple. The funny thing about AI is that it has evolved to a point now where search engines use it to recognise and downgrade AI-generated content. For example, according to Google’s latest search engine update, their AI is supposed to prefer original, authentic content.
So, in case you thought that authenticity in marketing could be achieved by using artificial intelligence, think again. It’s not only the issue of AI recognising your content as unoriginal and devaluing it.
There is also an issue with AI-generated content being very generic. While it can offer beneficial pointers your content is then exactly the same as your competitors’.
Solution
While I wouldn’t recommend ditching AI altogether, I do advice you to use it only as a source of inspiration and content ideas. The content itself should be created by an actual professional, though.
The handprint of a genuine content creator is very different to AI’s handprint, and as we know, AI can’t compete with human creativeness. It’s our Superpower that technology can’t match.
And what’s most important: making sure that the search engines find your content! SEO is the best way tackle all the generic AI noise online still today. If you need a content creator who masters SEO, look no further!
Mistake 3: Getting current trends wrong
We have had multiple examples of brands falling into this marketing pit. And it just goes to show how detached most of the people making decisions behind big brands are from reality. Authenticity in marketing means NOT falling into the trend wagon.
If you do, you better make sure you know what the hell you’re doing! Understanding a trend wrong or misinterpreting the social agenda behind a certain trend can cause your brand irreversible damage. There are 2 main ways brands go wrong with trends in their marketing:
- choosing a trend that doesn’t fit your brand aesthetics and/or brand values
- utilizing popular trends in a way that ends up insulting or discriminating people
The latter can even be used intentionally because hey, there’s no such thing as bad publicity. Isn’t there though? We’re living a time of infinite access to information and we’ve already seen that the famous phrase isn’t relevant anymore:
For example, Starbucks and McDonalds have seen a massive decline in their revenue since they openly supported Israel committing genocide in Palestine. After the announcement in January 2024 the company’s stock immediately fell by 4%.
In February they announced that for the first time in four years they hadn’t made the quarterly sales targets. Quite the opposite. Sure, these are massive companies that will bounce back. But for small and medium size businesses mistakes like this can lead to bankruptcy in a blink of an eye.
Solution:
Stay away from trends altogether! That’s the easiest way to make sure there is authenticity in your marketing. Focus on showcasing the unique selling points of YOUR brand and fuck the rest. Uniqueness is a big part of authenticity and it can also be your biggest competitive advantage.
If there is a trend that fits your brand perfectly, make bloody sure you understand the trend. Figure out where and how did the trend start, who started it and what are people saying about it. If you use trends, you must make sure you’re on the right side of them. And if the side is not right for you, don’t use it!
Mistake 4: Taking your audience and customers for granted
One of the biggest mistakes that I see brands making while trying to incorporate authenticity in marketing, is this! If you assume your customers will always stick around or come back no matter what, go ahead, fuck around and find out.
But if you’re serious about coming across to your audience as genuine, you need to pay attention to transparency. There is no authenticity without transparency!
Transparency is the key to building trust with your audience and your customers. Especially with sustainable values (ESG) becoming more and more important to consumers, you need to prove that what you say in your marketing is actually true.
Consumers are too familiar with things like greenwashing. Don’t make the mistake of thinking it wouldn’t matter to them! Consumers want to make informed decisions, and when they know you’re lying to them, bye bye trust.
The most popular way to bring transparency to marketing is to create behind-the-scenes content (BTS). And while making BTS videos can be a great tactic to bring authenticity in marketing, there are certain pitfalls to be aware of:
- Brands forcing employees to create content without considering the fact that not everyone is comfortable in front of a camera, or wants to be on camera at all
- Copying other brands’ BTS content but not doing it as well. Also, social media users are often aware of who made the original piece, so you’ll just end up looking lame as fuk
- Going full-on fake! For example a fast fashion company sharing BTS content of happy factory workers on a paradise island while the actual clothing factory is somewhere completely else surrounded by toxic chemicals and starving workers.
Solution:
Adding transparency is a sure way to increase authenticity in marketing for your brand. And since BTS content is the quickest and easiest way to do this, you can add relatability to your content like this:
- introduce the owners of the brand and explain what they actually bring to the table? This would set you apart from the competition because seeing management that is actually involved is a rarity.
- How does the brand look after their employees who make the brand go round?
- How are everyone in the company contributing to the customers’ benefit?
- Showcase where and how are the brand’s products made? Videos like these are super popular on TikTok; aesthetically pleasing, interesting, educating and entertaining. Like this Palmroth video of making a pair of shoes.
Authenticity in marketing – How to do it properly?
While authenticity in marketing may sound easy to achieve, it really isn’t. In a world where consumers are better and more aware than ever, underestimating their intelligence and power would be unwise.
To make sure you’re not falling into any of the unnecessary but easy pitfalls listed ahead, make sure you tick all of these boxes when it comes to marketing in general.
Open communication
If you engage in any sort of misleading marketing in any part of your business, then there is no authenticity in marketing at all. Sharing BTS content while using greenwashing to sell your products cancels all aspects of attempted openness and transparency.
Open communication isn’t only about what and how you market, but it’s also about listening to your customers. Active engagement and brutal transparency are the only paths to genuine trust.
Aim for sustainability on all fronts
As much as capitalism wants to fight against it, sustainable business operations are becoming more and more important in terms of consumers determining which companies to buy from.
But just stating on your website that your brand is sustainable isn’t authenticity in marketing. You need to be genuinely transparent about your partnerships, business practices and manufacturing processes to prove to your customers that you truly are what you say you are.
Get the community involved
One of the best ways to ensure that authenticity in marketing is achieved to a good extent, is to get everyone involved. Employees, customers, stakeholders, social media communities, etc. Initiate and engage in genuine conversations about product development or even decision-making with all parties.
Inclusivity and authentic communication makes your brand seem more relatable, which encourages people to stick around.
Conclusion
Authenticity and transparency are no longer optional for brands; they are a lifeline! By optimizing its marketing a brand can forge deeper connections with consumers, employees, stakeholders and their social media community.
Transparent and open communication fosters loyalty, which results in a thriving and increasingly conscious marketplace. Authenticity in marketing is the solid base for all of this. Make sure you don’t try to fake it, cause you will not make it.
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