Bring Authenticity/Audience Perception to Social Media

Even though we only have 140 characters on Twitter to express ourselves, I’ve always been impressed by Mary Cullen’s mini-blogs. As a leadership professional, she expresses herself clearly. I listen, and I know where she stands. So, I asked Mary – President of Princeton-based Instructional Solutions – to be a guest blogger here:

We have entered a wild west world of social media communication, where everything we share in these networks – including missteps – can go viral quickly, causing irreparable career damage.

And – perhaps surprising to you – this gives me enormous hope for improvement in communication and social discourse. Certainly, the only way to “control” these networks is to consistently engage in them with openness, transparency, clarity and responsiveness.

If we follow this approach, we are protected by our authenticity. But, communication occurs at an intersection between writer and reader (or speaker and listener). To navigate social media we need to approach this intersection with our consistently truthful persona and values, but we also must honor the audience who faces us at this intersection.

Social cues and contexts also matter:

• A psychologist might term this “appropriate filters”
• A theologian might term this “discernment” or “wisdom”
• As a trainer who advises business people how to communicate in the workforce, I’d be more pragmatic and advise that we must be transparent in our way of being, but we don’t need to bleed on our audience to be authentic.

Let’s look at four communication incidents in social media just this past week, and how this intersecting place offers both pragmatic and higher opportunities.

1. James Andrews, of Ketchum Public Relations, failed to realize his tossed-off, snarky, one-liner on Twitter, the micro-blogging platform used by business people world-wide, would likely be seen by clients. He forgot about his audience, including those who might hear the message in social media echoes. Andrews pushed the gaffe to a trending topic du jour on Twitter when he failed to engage in the subsequent conversations in social media, and retreated to old-media proclamations on his blog and news. Lack of audience awareness combined with lack of authenticity caused a silly throw away comment to snowball into a full-blown communications crises. You will find a very thoughtful analysis of the actions, reactions and responses of the players involved on David Henderson’s blog post, “Social Media Crises Continues, Unabated.”
2. Chris Brogan has an utterly truthful and authentic persona, and is a brilliant community social media strategist. Chris swore a few times during a recent presentation, and received feedback that some in the audience were put off, prompting him to ask the question: “Why do we edit who we are when we’re in business? If, as writers, we’re told to find our voice, why don’t we bring this to all aspects of our life? What’s your take?” (Note his honesty and desire for both feedback and interaction here.) View Brogan’s video, and ask yourself if authenticity in social discourse requires us to be utterly ourselves, warts and all, even if it if chafes our audience? I do not advocate self-censorship of personality, beliefs and way of being, but I do believe we must frame our message so our readers can hear it. After all, if the swear rings in the air too loudly in the meeting or on a blog or in a Tweet, readers will disengage, and they’ll miss the great core message you’re trying to convey. The communication opportunity is broken. Keep focus on that admittedly precarious fulcrum holding our authentic persona on one side, balanced with our reader’s needs on the other. Ideas move when both authenticity and awareness balance.
3. Recently, I sat in on a client webinar where a younger, very talented programmer referred to a senior manager as “dude” both in chat and on audio. The tension in the room was palpable because it’s not part of their culture to speak so informally. The programmer’s manager left the room muttering, “I can fix this, I can fix this,” like a mantra. The webinar was recorded and posted to the company knowledge base, so this gaffe lives on.
4. I stumbled a couple of days ago, also. My company, Instructional Solutions, launched a company Facebook page, and I am featured in a welcome video that explains a little about our company and the support viewers will find on this page. The problem: I am wearing a short-sleeved dress. 

In the United Stated, my dress is suitable for business and is authentically my style, but I forgot my global audience has varying standards. Our client in Qatar told me kindly and with trepidation, “Your message is wonderful and the information very valuable, but some members of my staff would notice that your dress does not have full sleeves more than your message.”

Now, I could argue fairly that I am going to be who I am, but I want to do more than be authentic. I want to connect. I want my ideas to flow past our intersection point, and I am so grateful her suggestions flowed to mine. (Plus, I now have a reason to buy a new dress, which is always good.)

I’m not advocating self-censorship. I’m advocating bringing our own authentic selves to a mutual meeting place with our audience so we hear each other, so sales are made, skills gained, businesses grow and perspectives widened. My less pragmatic, higher hope is that these flowing interconnections, already occurring in social media, will enhance President Obama’s tenet that “as the world grows smaller our common humanity will reveal itself.”

For social discourse to fully become the medium where our common humanity connects, awareness is equally as important as authenticity. And here’s the best part: if we are both authentic and aware of our audience, we’ll manage social media better. In addition to our authenticity navigating us safely, we’ll have our audience redirecting our missteps.

~ Mary Cullen
Instructional Solutions
Princeton, NJ
Email: cullenm@instructionalsolutions.com
Tel: 609-683-8100
Blog: http://blog.instructionalsolutions.com/
Twitter: @M_Cullen

 

Filed Under: Featured • Guest Blogger • Reputation management • Social Media

Tags: Facebook • Instructional Solutions • James Andrews • Mary Cullen • Social Media • Twitter