Don't just talk about authenticity - show it!
Don’t just talk about the concept of authenticity
Show what that looks like in your world.
With the vast majority of the speakers, authors and expert-based business owners that I serve, they speak in some shape or form about the concept of being or discovering your authentic self.
Whether it’s being authentic and real in various aspects of your business or life, they offer frameworks that help to bring out your very best selves.
And, one of the reasons why they hire me is because they want that same authenticity to show up in their image content.
They recognize that it’s not enough to simply talk about it - they want to show it.
That’s why I spend hours strategizing with my clients before their sessions in order to uncover the unique wrinkles of their lives so that we can capture what their brand of authenticity looks like.
While we all share commonalities with the way we live our lives and run our businesses, we all do it in it in our own ways and in our own time..
So, how do you exemplify “authenticity” in your image content?
There’s a couple ways to achieve this goal. Let’s a take a look at a couple right now:
Show real expression that spans the emotional spectrum
I can’t stand looking at social media feeds where all I see are photos of the person looking ridiculously overjoyed and happy or power posing the shit out of the camera.
Does this mean that those types of images are bad? Absolutely not. They certainly are a part of the mix, no doubt about it.
But, they only tell a brief portion of your story. And it’s hard to connect emotionally with you when all you show is you at your very best and when everything is sweet.
There’s a lot more to running a successful expert-based business, and your image content needs to reflect this.
There are a lot of ups and downs, and those emotional shades of gray are important to showcase.
We’re talking vulnerability, rumination, reflection, frustration, outrage, annoyance, disappointment, just to name a few off the top of my head.
When you share with your audience image content that conveys these emotional sentiments, that serves two major purposes:
One, they visually punctuate these types of stories that you share through your online content in a way that a power pose photo or a wildly laughing photo could never do. I mean, those photos simply conflict with your words.
And two, offering a portrait where your expression and body language reads as vulnerable and open is extremely relatable to those you serve because they know exactly how that feels.
Relatability leads to connection. Connection leads to a heightened sense of rapport. Rapport goes a long way in establishing trust.
And trust leads to people signing on the dotted line to buy your trainings, books and other programs when they’re ready to pull the trigger.
Don’t be afraid to show your cards - you’ll win most hands when you do.
Illustrate your day-to-day activities, whether work related or life-related.
On many social media feeds, I see a lot of people living the dream.
It looks like they don’t have a care in the world. Although consciously, we understand that everyone has crosses to bear in their lives, those challenges are not reflected in the way they present themselves online.
For someone who might be an ideal client for you, they’re completely intimidated and turned off by this lack of relatability.
That’s why it’s so important to break down the fourth wall and let your audience in to see what your life looks like.
And not just the fancy, fun shit.
Show them what work looks like, what working with clients look like, what the mundane, day-to-day things look like.
This is why I capture lifestyle portraits of all my clients working on their computers and phones. Yeah, it seems uninteresting, but it serves a greater purpose than what is depicted in the image itself.
When you demystify your process, that gives your audience of potential clients an entry point in getting to know what your world looks and feels like.
It lets them know that although you’re an authority in your space of expertise, you do the same shit that they do every single day.
Again, being relatable to those you serve is a truly powerful way to connect with them beyond the work itself.
Illustrate what’s important to you beyond the work itself
What are your hobbies? How do you unwind? What inspires and motivates the way you live your life? Is it family-related? Is it activity-related?
Whatever it is, make sure the next time you invest in a lifestyle portrait session, some of these activities are captured for your image content portfolio.
When you share image content that illustrates what’s important to you beyond the work itself, you’re painting a broader picture for your audience and truly showing them what your world looks like.
This gives them a more authentic look into your life.
In some cases, photos of you enjoying other aspects of your life can start conversations about the activity in the image, and that leads to developing a deeper connection with that person.
This is precisely why you share these types of lifestyle portraits - to start a conversation.
When you’re in the business of building community and relationships with members of that community, this is certainly an effective way in which to do it.
Does this mean that you need to show everything? Of course not.
Some things are best left to be private and for you and your friends and family.
But whatever you do intend to show, double down on it and be consistent.
In order to truly be authentic, don’t simply wax poetic on the subject. That’s not enough these days to truly gain people’s attention and interest in learning how you can help solve their problems.
We all have been burned before, and that fact has ramped up our need to reinforce that we are, in fact, real people who want to legitimately help others with our expertise while also financing the life we want to live.
Help yourself in this process by offering image content that shows people what your authentic life looks like and that will only serve to bring people under your tent to hear more.
PS - For those of you who aren’t in the know, I mail out these blogs 3x a week, and lemme tell you, they’re a real party, so, if you’d like to get in on this, sign up for it here and I’ll throw in a free gift for you, because I care, :)