by Authenticity, Transparency, Accessibility
Written by Kelly O’Shaughnessy- @westcoastarheel – linkedin.com/koshaug3
No, those words are not a political slogan or some credo pulled from a Fortune 500 company. This week in Journalism 580, our discussion revolves around the importance of these three attributes in social media. As an MBA student, I approach this conversation with an aptitude to apply these lessons to social media campaigns in the business realm. As crucial as authenticity, transparency, and accessibility are for a social media platform or individual user, they are doubly important when discussing a brand’s social media efforts as they can directly affect a company’s bottom line.
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If I had a nickel for every time I heard someone say that authenticity was crucial in social media… well I’ll spare you the rest of the line but you get the picture. The term has almost become cliche in the business realm. Every brand is striving to be “authentic” when communicating with their consumers. They want to put forward a customer facing persona that demonstrates the core values of the company with each and every interaction. Easy to say, difficult to execute.
The danger in this clichés is that they are sometimes brushed off. Taken for granted, companies ignore these truisms; dismissing them as irrelevant. While it may be accurate that the term is over-used, authenticity is the key to any social media marketing or PR strategy. As interactions between companies and their consumers become less transactional and more conversational, customers expect to know exactly what they are getting from each brand they interact with. Gone are the days when one stand out brick and mortar location could help fuel a brand’s public perception. Now, companies have to ensure that every action taken by employees both online and off properly reflects their core values. Without this “authenticity” a brand will get lost in all of the noise in today’s marketplace and lost it’s hold on consumers.
One of the most authentic brands in the apparel market is Nike. The video below features a former Nike executive talking about the importance she places on that quality, and how she has seen it help various brands.
Video courtesy of TedX via YouTube
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Transparency: another buzzword in business today and another important aspect of a company’s social media persona. Much like a brand must be “real” or “authentic” when interacting with consumers, they must also work to make sure that the consumer feels like they are an integral part of any business process/conversation. Consumers today have the ability to learn about 100 other consumers’ experiences with a given company in seconds. Because of this development, companies need to increase efforts to make their practices more visible to the public. One easy way to do this is by harnessing social media. By allowing consumer’s an “inside look” and a business they create a sense of transparency. If they do not, they risk losing consumer confidence, and therefore their business.
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Accessibility is the last of the three major aspects of a social media campaign discussed in class this week. This applies to a business context in a variety of ways: companies have to open brick and mortar locations to provide access points to consumers in varying locations, businesses have to ensure that the consumer’s shopping experience has as few frustration points as possible, etc.
As it pertains to a company’s social media, this means that the business must be available for conversation on whichever medium the consumer prefers at all times. A business catering to an older audience may prefer to have a large number of email/phone staffers to help support customers. On the other hand, a brand focused on a younger clientele may set up a twitter hashtag that their consumers can use when they have a question. Without this ease of accessibility online, a consumer is likely to abandon their efforts to work with one company in lieu of another.
It’s funny how the more prominent or “cliche” these terms become the more inclined we are to dismiss them as “buzzwords” rather than accept them as proven approaches to business and communications.
Couldn’t agree more with the importance of an authentic personality being at the core of successful social media engagement. Platforms such as Twitter and Instagram have given businesses a more informal and authentic way to communicate with their consumers and portray a company persona through the tone and content of their social outlets. Some organizations are great at this (the Atlanta Hawks come to mind) and others are yet to truly integrate social media into their company culture and communications strategy.
I believe brands truly under estimate the amount of work it takes to establish an online personality that authenticity aligns to the companies values. As you said, “easy to say, difficult to execute.” However the importance of this well crafted online presence has continuously proved more and more pertinent to company success in the more recent years. As companies begin to utilize social media has a tool for monitoring and engaging in consumer conversations, it will prove even more important that they respond and insight changes accordingly and in consideration of the value behind authenticity, transparency and accessibility.