One of the things I love most about blogging and social marketing is that I get to be myself. I’ve worked at jobs where I had to pretty much tailor my personality to fit with the company’s image, and believe me, it’s no fun having to suppress who you are day in and day out.
What I’ve found since venturing out on my own is that my personality works just fine, and it attracts to me the people who I am a good match with. It’s one of the main reasons I won’t take on a new client without talking to them first. You can tell right from the get-go if your personalities are a match. And when it comes to creating content and graphics for someone else’s business, if your personalities don’t mesh then it’s really hard to get it right. At least that’s how it is for me.
It’s the same when you are creating content for yourself. If you don’t embrace your own personality, and instead try to portray something that you’re not, it really does not work. Your writing will come across as stiff and stilted, instead of flowing naturally as it would if you were writing from your heart.
When you allow your personality to shine through, it makes it easier to market your business on a few different levels.
When you’re real, it’s easier to brand yourself
When you let yourself be yourself, branding becomes much easier because it’s an extension of you. There’s a reason all my websites are either blue or green. They are my two favorite colors, and the ones I feel most myself working with. They’re also, along with purple, the colors I wear most and the colors I have most in my house (or will once we repaint this spring).
When you’re real, it’s easier to create content
I’ve already mentioned that your content will flow much more easily if you’re being real and honest instead of trying to be someone you’re not.
While I’m all for the “fake it til you make it” school of building confidence for yourself, it doesn’t always work well when you’re writing or doing video, for example.
What I mean is, if your natural tendency is to want to teach in your blog posts, then writing a fluff piece where you try to be bubbly and airy is not going to really work well.
On the other hand, if you are naturally a bubbly person (and I’m not, in case you couldn’t tell), then when you try to write something heavy and “business-like” you’ll probably have a harder time of it because when you’re naturally happy all the time, it’s really hard to tone that down.
When you’re real it’s easier for people to know you.
Keeping it real also helps you in other areas. It’s easier for people to get to know you, and it’s also easier to get help when you need it. For example, if you were to write a blog post and ask for feedback, when you keep it real it’s easier for someone to say “Yes, this really sounds like you,” or “This doesn’t sound like you at all. What the heck are you thinking?”
The only drawback with that is when you do try to change something up, you can get so stuck in a rut that it’s hard to see something different. Case in point… I tried to go for a little quirky on my new social content site (which will be live later this week), and totally got the “What are you thinking?” look from my son when he saw it. I’m leaving it anyways, and you all can let me know what you think when you see it. :)
Letting the world see the real you can definitely be a little scary. When I first started blogging seriously, it was really hard for me to put any type of personality into my posts. Now, for the most part, the energy and personality that you see in my writing is what you get when you meet me in person too.
That doesn’t mean you should let it all hang out when it comes to business. You know what your business voice is, and while mine is pretty similar to my every day personality, there are pieces of me that rarely see the light of day online.
If you’re unsure of what your business voice is, practice taking baby steps to develop it. They say life is what happens at the edge of your comfort zone, and believe me, when you’re not used to letting people see the real you, it can get uncomfortable. The more you do it, the easier it gets. I certainly couldn’t have written a post like this a year ago.
By keeping it real and putting yourself into your marketing, you will attract the people you are meant to be serving with your business. And helping the people you are meant to be helping is the best measure of success I know!
