{"id":722,"date":"2018-06-29T09:48:01","date_gmt":"2018-06-29T09:48:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pesta.themesawesome.com\/?p=9"},"modified":"2022-12-27T22:36:18","modified_gmt":"2022-12-27T22:36:18","slug":"the-importance-of-authenticity-in-online-content-creation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.brandon.ddtest.info\/teeninfluence\/social-influencer\/the-importance-of-authenticity-in-online-content-creation\/","title":{"rendered":"The importance of authenticity in online content creation"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cAuthenticity is everything. If you can fake that, you\u2019ve got it made.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

No one knows<\/span><\/a> who originally made this quip. But whoever it was, we can be reasonably sure they weren\u2019t a Gen Z influencer. In this day and age, \u201cfake it to make it\u201d doesn\u2019t work so well. Making it means keeping it real.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

How did authenticity get to be such a thing? And is it really what it claims to be?<\/span><\/p>\n

Embracing reality<\/span><\/h4>\n

For many, an online persona is a perfect version of oneself, crafted to give an idyllic and thoroughly misleading picture of how great things are. Gen Z are having none of it.<\/span><\/p>\n

Perhaps as social media natives they have a better-calibrated radar system when it comes to identifying fake from fact. For whatever reason, \u201creal and raw\u201d replaced picture-perfect as the modality of choice.<\/span><\/p>\n

This has led to the rise of apps such as <\/span>BeReal<\/span><\/a>, and phenomena like the Instagram <\/span>photo dump<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It signals – once again – a juddering pivot from the norms of previous eras, where putting on a show was considered a sign of effort and general good form.<\/span><\/p>\n

But why?<\/span><\/h4>\n

Authenticity is more than just a fad or affectation that the young will grow out of. It actually has a number of genuine advantages, particularly in the present age that is awash with free online content as far as the eye can see. Here are some of them:<\/span><\/p>\n

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  • \n
      \n
    • It\u2019s a better deal for your followers<\/b>: people will be loyal to you because they find your content valuable. You don\u2019t <\/span>need<\/span><\/i> to pretend if you actually have something important or interesting to say. Faking it is only necessary when you are covering up for a lack of genuine value.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
    • You find your niche faster<\/b>: counter-intuitively, trying to please everyone is not the best path to growth. There are people out there who are looking for <\/span>exactly<\/span><\/i> the sort of thing that <\/span>only you<\/span><\/i> can put out. Watering it down for people who are not them is the last thing you want to do.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
        \n
      • It\u2019s easier (in the long run)<\/b>: putting on a front or chasing trends may get you short-term spikes in engagement, but is hard work to maintain. And a fake persona is almost <\/span>impossible<\/span><\/i> to sustain in the long run. The real you will come through eventually.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

        In a world as competitive as the online content space, where everyone can access every subject for free, being yourself is the one true differentiator you have. Squandering it doesn\u2019t make sense.<\/span><\/p>\n

        The biggest risk of all<\/span><\/h4>\n

        Of course, <\/span>because<\/span><\/i> of all the competition, the lure of shortcuts is always present, and leads some people astray. The \u2018authenticity gap\u2019 is perhaps the biggest pitfall an influencer can fall into (so to speak).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

        In other words, if people perceive that an influencer is not being straight with them, the betrayal is double. At least the detergent ad is not pretending to be objective, but you\u2026we thought you were one of us! Shame!<\/span><\/p>\n

        A famous content creator called William Shakespeare once said, \u2018To thine own self be true.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

        We\u2019ll take this advice over the opening quote any day.<\/span><\/p>\n

        You can avoid losing the trust of your followers by staying true to yourself. And by remembering that this is <\/span>not<\/span><\/i> the same as being true to the algorithm.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

        The algorithm is your servant not your friend, and should never be your master.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

        \u201cAuthenticity is everything. If you can fake that, you\u2019ve got it made.\u201d No one knows who originally made this quip….<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":901,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[28],"tags":[30,29],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.brandon.ddtest.info\/teeninfluence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/722"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.brandon.ddtest.info\/teeninfluence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.brandon.ddtest.info\/teeninfluence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.brandon.ddtest.info\/teeninfluence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.brandon.ddtest.info\/teeninfluence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=722"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.brandon.ddtest.info\/teeninfluence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/722\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":902,"href":"http:\/\/www.brandon.ddtest.info\/teeninfluence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/722\/revisions\/902"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.brandon.ddtest.info\/teeninfluence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/901"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.brandon.ddtest.info\/teeninfluence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=722"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.brandon.ddtest.info\/teeninfluence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=722"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.brandon.ddtest.info\/teeninfluence\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=722"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}