Don’t be that guy.
https://soundcloud.com/beatsbysailor/cook
When someone does not change who they are or what they believe due to societal pressures it is difficult for them to have a unqiue identity. Especially true with regards to someone who has attained some financial success but does not change their behavior.
The internet and keeping it real are two of the last things we think have something in common. Usually, people are weary of internet strangers and getting viruses from email scams. But now that our real lives and digital lives are increasingly becoming one and the same, keeping it real and being honest with yourself is becoming more important than ever for maintaining an upstanding online reputation.
The Online Social Ecosystem
The internet has come a long way. But the online world is still the wild west. It’s still an all-too common reality where making a purchase on a less-than-credible site can lead to identity theft. Even the so-called credible large online social media platforms routinely exploit your data. With all this sketchiness happening regularly online, who do we trust? Because of the state of the online world, a person or organization’s trustworthiness and credibility mean everything – everywhere from your personal life to professional reputation to your business.
How To Keep It Real
Civilized behavior has gone out the window when it comes to the online wild west. Let’s do our part and be kind, honest, and real online and offline.
When it comes to your personal online reputation, keeping it real online involves just being honest about your self-presentation. The first step to keeping it real with yourself and others. It may seem basic, but it’s a crucial step many people miss. How can you be true to yourself when you don’t even know who you are? People who stand for nothing will fall for anything.
Be honest about your flaws. If we actually admitted our mistakes, we would be learning more from them rather than repeating them. In the same vein, being open about what you like is a much happier place to be than pretending you like what everyone else likes. If what you are doing lights you up inside, others will feel that too!
Keep It Real With Your Brand
If you are like many influencers, who you are and your brand usually go hand-in-hand. So the above tips on keeping it real will usually be enough for you to build trust with your online audience.
If you are more of an online business owner, it’s a different story. Customers are usually interacting with a faceless company and are going off of company name, online reviews, and the quality of your content and design.
For example if you have an eCommerce business, simple ways to keep it real includes writing accurate product descriptions, having your online customer reviews clearly visible (good and bad), and provide a simple, easy to use interface that respects the customer’s time and sanity.
Word Up:
Without face-to-face interaction, it can be hard to know who to trust online. Because of that fact, being trustworthy and credible through your online content is everything. Keeping it real is so rare today, authenticity is a refreshing breathe of fresh air. We all need someone we can trust for recommendations – things to buy, music to listen to, current events to be on top off. Why can’t that credible source be you?
And should you want to build a trust-based audience, consider posting your content on SwomiBuzz. Automatically direct a curated audience to your blog or website. Contact us here to learn more about how you can grow your brand’s visitor traffic.
