How To Manage Social Media Authenticity

Choose one of the two options.

2010Jan18_Rabbit_Wolfpix_3309835271_4dbd3c9bdb_b Run

Small business owners learn to run very early in their careers.  They learn to chase down every lead, to outrun the latest regulations until they figure out if they actually apply, and to run like a dog to get slow-paying customers to pay up.  

That's the nature of the small business game – it teaches you to deal with uncontrollable variables, and to do it without too much pretense.  Let's face it, after 12 hour days at full-speed, you are too tired to be anybody other than who you are.    

And if the usual course of business doesn't teach you to be authentic, the occasional need to secure a bank loan will take care it.  After you get done with that process, you aren't too worried about your slip showing once in a while.  So, it's safe to say you won't mind the amplifying lens of social media.

Hide

If you represent a large organization, social media may not be a good fit for you.  That is to say, you may wish to consider hiding.  While there are exceptions, large corporations typically suck at being authentic.  I know this because I spent a decade hiding in one. 

We received extensive training in hiding.  We learned how to stay clear of anti-trust laws, how to avoid accidents, and if we had one, how to hide from any consequences.  And most memorably, we learned how to hide from customers who didn't want to pay our latest price increase.  Sound familiar?

Authenticity may be the antithesis of most corporate cultures.  It just isn't part of the corporate DNA. Though, I do understand some of the reasons for that behavior.  For one thing, we still live in a litigious society and corporations know that.  This alone is going to work against authenticity.

What To Do?

It's always best to do what you do well.   That's what makes authenticity work in social networking.  If you are like most entrepreneurs and small business owners, authenticity has become second nature to you, like a survival instinct.  You have learned it just as you have learned to run to keep your business alive.

You are like a rabbit who is confronted by a hawk.  You respond without hesitation.

If you can't do that, then you know what to do.

Photo Credit:  Wolfpix

  

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