There’s this idea that the era of social media will force companies to be more “transparent,” “intimate,” “authentic.” The business equivalent to the “Visible Man.”
Yesterday, I had a delightful breakfast and food-for-thought discussion with Jennifer Kane and Kary Delaria of local marketing and communications firm Kane Consulting, talking (among other topics) about social media and its use for business.
I can’t remember which of them first brought up the term “calculated authenticity.” I’ll credit it to both of them. (Here’s a thoughtful post the topic that Jennifer wrote some months back.) In any case, Kary and Jennifer both insisted that while social media are communications tools that more companies should be putting to work, using those tools doesn’t mean that businesses can or should just let it all hang out, tweeting or posting whatever comes into their heads.
Businesses that successfully use social media are still sending a “message”—a message about themselves that they must carefully craft. But the message is not simply being broadcast, but giving a real sense of who they are. They understand if they use hip biz jargon, glittering generalities, and other forms of marketing BS, they’re going to get called on it.
You can see “calculated authenticity” at work in a good blog post. The supposed idea behind a blog is that it’s dashed off, a direct, spontaneous outflow of ideas and feelings. In a word, unmediated.
But whenever you express yourself in print or by voice, your thoughts and emotions are already mediated—limited by sentence construction and generally accepted, common definitions of the words you use. Language isn’t your ball that you can take and go home with—not yours alone, anyway.
And if you’re trying to truly communicate, you’re limiting your “authenticity” and “transparency” even further. You’re adjusting your “self” (a fluid entity in any case) in order that the other person will understand and (in most cases) approve, if not necessarily agree.
Maybe you’ve seen those self-criticizing Domino’s commercials where the company seems to be agreeing with rants that its pizza crusts taste like cardboard and sauce like ketchup.
Of course, Domino’s isn’t quite being “authentic.” Its “transparency” is being mediated via a TV commercial, through a screen. And it didn’t produce the commercial itself—it contracted with an agency, Crispin Porter & Bogusky. And yet, it does show that it’s listening to customers (ex-customers, perhaps) and addressing honest concerns.
So what is “calculated authenticity”? Here’s my definition (by no means the only one, or a complete one):
It’s an expression of your own thoughts, emotions, and ideas presented in such a way as to communicate, and presented in such a way as to welcome an honest response. One’s communication style need not be highly polished—in fact, a certain lack of polish often works better. (Though in that example, Senator Harry Reid is undoubtedly being more calculated than he appears.)
And yes, it does mean that we as individuals—or businesses—don’t really have “selves” without other selves (or customers) to share those selves with.
Recent Comments