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Far too many businesses online mimic and model corporations in terms of how they deal with their customers: excessively professional. I’m not talking about using proper headers and salutations; I’m referring to communicating with their clients like they’re robots.

Now that corporations are adopting social media, they are showing who they are as a business in terms of their values and who they are as people. For example, when a runner sees their favourite clothing company, Lulu Lemon, say something like:

If you’re a runner, that’s going to pump you up! If that runner didn’t run that day because it was too cold or she was procrastinating about it, she is much more likely to layer up and get out there.

The best part is when she comes home from that run, the first thing she’s going to do is, you guessed it,  Twitter about how she went to run and did it only because Lulu Lemon gave her the inspiration to do so. You simply can’t buy those kinds of referrals.

What if it’s not an atmosphere like running; what if the business is say, wood carvings? To be authentic to the wood carving fanatics out there, show the kind of projects that you’re working on personally or the business is working, what kind of obstacles you faced and then solutions to those obstacles. Ask your followers meaningful questions like: “What has been your most cherished piece of work and why?”  These kinds of questions EXCITE your prospects and your clients. The next time you or your business interacts with them, you are more likely to obtain a very scarce: their attention.

How many corporations businesses would take the time to ask a personal question like that to their clients?

Side Effects of Being Authentic

There are many platforms that can be leveraged to get insights from your fans. Twitter is a platform where you can ask your followers a question, get answers from them almost instantly and then have the ability to reply to their answers to keep the conversation going. When you ask questions and reply to relevant updates from your fans, you’ll notice that:

• Your questions are answered with more honest answers rather than a boring and useless “I agree” or “I disagree”. From the answers that you do get, don’t let this data to go to waste. Leverage the answers and store it as a database to use it as content for your blog, marketing strategies and even product lines. By the way, if you’re having trouble finding testimonials, this is the perfect opportunity to get them.
• Your fans retweet (RT) your message and it reaches even more people. And to continue with the previous example, if that runner is dominant in her social circle, her runner friends are likely to see the reply on her Twitter stream. Here’s an example:

(This is a real tweet. I swear I didn’t creep around for like 3 hours to find it :P)

• Your click-throughs go up. Your followers feel connected to you and are more intrigued to click to read past the grabbing headline. When your business tweets, it is valuable from the client’s perspective because of the rapport you have built with them positions you as the expert in the industry. The goal is to maintain that perception as a credible source and build it to be even stronger.
• Lastly, your fans feel special. They know that an influential business actually gives a **** about them rather than just expecting them to buy and get on with their lives. They will love you for it!

Now, Your Turn.

If you don’t already engage with your audience, please, please, please start talking with your market. They want you to talk so you can be a part of their lives. It sounds weird but trust me when I say that fans crave to feel connected to the business that solve their problems and help make their lives easy. So, I have one thing for you to do:  ask a question to your following where they feel like you actually care.

Take this opportunity to connect with your following. You’ll notice that you might not get too many replies when you first start and that’s ok. Keep interacting with your followers consistently, keep providing them with the content that will turn them on (you know what I mean) and keep their attention to build reciprocity. Persistence is the name of the game.

Authenticity is an ongoing process and takes time to reap the results. Please realize that building relationships online is just like in the “real world”. If you put up a fake smile, be authentic only when you want something and you’re asking them questions so they buy your crap, just close up shop now.

“Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap, but by the seeds you plant.” -Robert Louis Stevenson