How marketing agencies are getting it wrong on social media and what to do about it.

I’ve owned my agency for as long as Instagram has been around. I know a thing or two about social media content strategy. I understand what works and what doesn’t because I’ve seen soooooo much change with the algorithms.?

Over time, you learn how to stop working to beat or “win over” the algorithm because you never will. You’ll burn out your employees, and you’ll burn out your clients by changing tactics or continuing to charge more and more to improve your campaigns (to keep up, we need to add video, graphic design, brand photos, audio overlay, etc.).

Now, with over a decade of experience creating social media content, here’s what I know.

Humans win every time. Putting a face on social media with a message from behind the scenes or to communicate your brand values will win over even the most clever, well-designed post ever created. Humanizing the brand should be everyone’s goal. ESPECIALLY on social media. Showing up authentically will win the trust you’re looking to develop online and grow a community of brand advocates more efficiently than any other tactic.

But how can brands do this once they hand over the reins to an agency? An agency isn’t involved in the day-to-day of a business. It becomes challenging to create behind-the-scenes content and offer new insights from the thought leaders inside the company.

How can marketing agencies continue to humanize a brand that they write content for? How can businesses continue to show up authentically when someone else creates content for them?

Studies show that almost 80% of brands think they're delivering authentic content, but only 37% of consumers agree. (Source )That is a HUGE disconnect. How do brands think they are being authentic? Why would only 37% of consumers agree??

In the research article Are You for Real? Perceptions of Authenticity Are Systematically Biased and Not Accurate ; it states, “We found no evidence that people can accurately identify who is authentic.” There were personal biases involved. People who considered themselves as authentic saw it differently from others. Authenticity is so subjective – how could we possibly determine who is and who isn’t with only social media content to base it on??

Content creators have to get really creative about how they access and design content for brands. Agencies will continue to struggle to achieve positive results for their clients with generic posts. They need to get into the heads of their clients and make sure to align values with messaging. As new content creators take over client campaigns, how can the voice, tone, and style stay consistent and AUTHENTIC?

By following a formula.

I’ve developed a formula to help our agency write authentic content for our clients (and ourselves) time and time again. We’ve been testing it and seeing great results! It also helps us explain what good content looks like to our clients.?

The formula itself is pretty simple:

A customer-focused principle + a creator-focused principle = a SUCCESSFUL post!

There are three customer-focused principles and three creator-focused principles that we’ve laid out to choose from, and as long as the post contains one of each – you’re good!!

I’ve explained it in more detail here – in the CANDID Content Playbook . Download it, start writing some content, and tell me what you think! I’m ready and excited to get this into the hands of more content creators, agencies, and thought leaders. It’s going to not only improve results for brands, it is going to improve the culture of social media for consumers because CANDID Content creates REAL connections. People will find community in their own corners of the internet if we can all be a little more authentic.