by By: Brooke Halvorsen @bhalvz
Note: This is not a list about how to attain social media authenticity and excellence in five easy steps.
In the world today, everyone and their dog has a social media presence. Same goes for brands, celebrities, leagues, teams, athletes and also, my grandma. I AM FINDING IT HARD TO TELL WHO IS WHO ANYMORE!
Mucho Tweetos
Tweets are tweeted at a rate of over 350,000 per minute, grams are ‘Instad at 48,611 per minute, and I guess you could say that books are ‘faced at 31.25 million messages and 2.77 million video views per minute. It is no wonder that any and every brand, personality, and pet has taken to the net to compete for our eyeballs, support, and realistically our dolla bills (wait for the chorus). They have to be. It is an economical way to reach consumers in the comforts of their mobile devices. Lately, I have been thinking to myself: Is it really working? Or are these platforms massively overpopulated with carefully researched and curated content marketing that my eyes gloss over absolutely all of it?
Toilet paper and the Badlands
Everything is going digital, and digital is getting uncomfortably personal. I have so many targeted adds coming my way for toilet paper that I once looked up on Amazon (no shame) that it makes me want to throw my phone/computer/tablet/fitbit/television/alarm clock/toaster off of my balcony. If I had a balcony, I am a student (full disclosure: I also don’t own a toaster). Since when did these retargeting ads become a thing? Ps. are the internet people also spying on me through my webcam?
So exactly what portion of all of this is authentic? The answer: WHO KNOWS?! It can’t be a whole lot. Even when people try to get really real for a second on social platforms they run the risk of being reprimanded and forced into silence by the man himself (cue: Badlands National Parks). What gives?
Ray of Sunshine
To bring this to a close in less of an existential crisis-y way, I wanted to highlight a modern day gem. Sally Bergesen is unapologetically and fiercely herself. She is the founder and CEO of oiselle; A running brand for women, by women and committed to empowering women. The Warsaw Sports Marketing Center MBAs had the pleasure of meeting Sally in her flagship store in Seattle earlier this month and what a delight it was. Support, community, equality and strength are words that come to mind when assessing oiselle’s brand voice. Whatever it is that oiselle is doing, they should do more of it. Actively supporting women’s rights, going up 
against the big dogs and Rule 40, and bringing a community of inspiring women together through a shared passion is a win in my books. Easier said than done though right?
Disclaimer
Now don’t get me wrong, I am an avid social media user, online shopper and app tinkerer. Heck, I will definitely be working in digital marketing at some time or another in my future career (#SOJCssm duhhh). I just think that there has to be a better way that humans can engage with other humans via social channels. I do not have these answers, but I do think that companies like oiselle are on the right track of authentic and genuine badassary.
This post provided something that I don’t think most people always think about when using social media – and I really enjoyed it! Although I’d never heard of oiselle before reading this, I looked into the brand and found some inspiring posts on their social. Especially in today’s society, it’s becoming increasingly exciting and important to have companies like this remaining prevalent in our world, and keeping women (and sometimes, everyone) as their main target audience is pretty cool. Social media can feel like an alternate world sometimes, but the truth is that it’s a huge part of our world, so seeing companies utilize it in this way is where I believe the future is taking us. Loved your article, I’m excited to read more into this subject!
I really enjoyed this article because the truth in it made me laugh. I have dog accounts that follow me and often I’m like “Who runs this account!?”, I don’t even have time to run my own account let alone create one for a pet (props to those who do this for their pets). I looked up Steve Madden two days ago to see if there are any cute black heels on sale, now I am being haunted by constant Steve Madden pop-ups on every site I go to. My wallet and I want these pop-ups to go away. The worst is when Amazon sends recommendations and the next thing I know, I all of a sudden need to have this item that I didn’t even know existed five minutes prior nor do I need. Thank you for this entertaining post!
I really enjoyed this article because the truth in it made me laugh. I have dog accounts that follow me and often I’m like “Who runs this account!?”, I don’t even have time to run my own account let alone create one for a pet (props to those who do this for their pets). I looked up Steve Madden two days ago to see if there are any cute black heels on sale, now I am being haunted by constant Steve Madden pop-ups on every site I go to. My wallet and I want these pop-ups to go away. The worst is when Amazon sends recommendations and the next thing I know, I all of a sudden need to have this item that I didn’t even know existed five minutes prior nor do I need. Thank you for this entertaining post!
Unfortunately with social media and online interactions, posts have no tone of voice. What is, or isn’t, authentic walks an extremely blurry line in today’s social media world. There is so much online, I have no idea if what someone is saying is authentic or not!!
As I have had the privilege of talking with oiselle founder Sally myself as well, I do know and appreciate the authenticity of her posts. However, for someone who does not know Sally or her brand, what makes her posts authentic to them? The point is….from the point of social media, there is no metric or formula to gauge someones authenticity, what is gauged as authentic is extremely different from one user to the next.
So what I say to that, is that if your are looking for genuine and authentic interactions, maybe social media isn’t the best place.