Why do we need to be real in the virtual world?

People immerse themselves in a vast ocean of information every day. Images, videos, and words. People are exposed to a variety of messages and information. What should we do, as digital marketing practitioners to make our messages stand out of the pack? Authenticity is one of the elements that we should display to promote our businesses. According to the familiarity principle, people would prefer the content that they have previously perceived many times. As we apply this principle to digital marketing, human-related elements could enhance the authenticity that those static or graphic posts could not achieve. But how should we integrate authentic elements into the current digital marketing strategies? Here are some possible methods we could take into consideration.?

Being real in the virtual world is the principle that we should follow in digital marketing. Like content on traditional media platforms, messages and information are also unevenly stratified on digital platforms. Since the receiving and digestion of information are limited, people would have to distribute different attention to different contents. Therefore, it is important to make sure the content is designed to fit their preference. According to Aimee Meester who is a Forbes Council member, “not only do 90% of customers report that authenticity is an important factor but Millennials and Gen Z (almost 140 million people) now prefer brands that are ‘real and organic’ as opposed to ‘perfect and well-packaged.”

As we could find out, being real and authentic is very important and preferred by customers in different demographic groups. Let’s be more specific on how to be authentic. Imagine you are trying to promote your restaurants on Instagram, what will you do? Will you post pictures of your foods and restaurants' indoor decorations? Will you write a short paragraph about how much care you paid to serve those foods? Those attempts could be effective sometimes but it is getting harder and harder to promote business relying on those static posts. It is common for customers to have this kind of doubt “Those sides look really good but I think they use Photoshop to make foods look nicer”. To get out of the cognitive trap, business owners could implement an authentic strategy which is to invite a real person to interact with customers.

People are now tired of the voice or figure generated by synthesizers. They will not trust those virtual objects like a real human they usually meet. Imagine you replace a bunch of picture posts of your foods with real customers’ experiences. Imagine you shot a first-person kitchen tour instead of posting pictures of your restaurants. The familiarity brought by authentic elements could greatly enhance your digital presence and reputation.

Being real and authentic could be your key to success. When people start to be vigilant of digital marketing, it is vital to display your authenticity and sincerity. Both of those features could be perceived in the way that most of us are familiar with, which is the normal interaction between humans.? Let’s promote your digital presence by making it look alive.?