Brand authenticity: What it is and tips for building it

Joining the social team at Sprout has given me a crash course in brand authenticity on social media. A lot of marketers talk about the importance of authentically connecting with your audience on social media but for us, these qualities aren’t just the nucleus of our social strategy—it’s part of Sprout’s core values.

Our team’s mission is to build a social presence that’s genuine, approachable and engaging for a wide variety of audiences, all while using social to support our larger business goals. That means building awareness and perception of our brand as well as creating raving fans.

So in my day-to-day, I focus on connecting with our audience through initiatives like Year in Social, developing attention-grabbing content and engaging proactively and reactively with our community.

Additionally, I’ve learned how to leverage industry data, our performance metrics, social listening analysis and strategic intuition to create a social strategy that puts authenticity front and center. I’ve also learned the value of collaborating across teams, especially with our public relations team.

In this article, I’ll share why brand authenticity is crucial to creating meaningful connections with your audience and outline the steps to creating a social strategy that blends data, brand values and creativity. I’ll also share a free downloadable worksheet that you and your team can use to brainstorm and put these steps into practice.

Table of contents

What is brand authenticity?

Brand authenticity refers to if consumers believe a brand is genuine about their products/services, promises to customers and their brand values. Authenticity is a key component to building a cohesive brand strategy.

In the age of social media, brands can’t hide anything from their customers. Your audiences can find out everything they need to know about your business from other consumers, media and the internet.

Companies can’t just “talk the talk” anymore. For example, it would be unwise to claim that you’re devoted to customer service if you never respond to their messages on social media.

Honesty is an integral part of being an authentic business, but there’s more to it. You’ll also have to uphold a certain integrity level, especially online. Social media transparency is very important because today’s consumers are aware–they know brands are trying to sell a product or service.

According to the Twitter #RealTalk report,  80% of respondents agree they don’t mind being sold to on social media as long as “it’s fun, useful, entertaining, informative or moves me in some way.”

Brands be like “We know this is a difficult time. We are all in this together. Please enjoy 20% off our WACKY, BENDY KRAZYSTRAWS™️. Use Code “Pandemic” at checkout.”

— jon drake (@DrakeGatsby) April 4, 2020