“Authenticity is still key for smaller brands, so founder-led content is really important,” Leif Fry, a one-time successful entrepreneur who heads a fund that purchases e-commerce brands, told Corissa Steiner for an article in the New York Times Tuesday.
The translation for Steiner meant “smartphone videos showing the founder speaking directly to the camera.”
I really don’t do smartphone videos, but I have tried throughout my entire time on the internet to always be real and genuine in engaging my customers and potential customers. What I mean by that is I’ve got to do exactly what these folks talked about: authenticity being number one, and feeling like I’m speaking directly to people by doing so.
Authenticity works for lawyers
In the case of lawyers, whether you’re in a large firm looking to increase your status and build a book of business, or in a small firm looking to build a name and a book of business in a niche, authenticity works. Real, authentic communication with people, and doing so over the internet.
Most of the time, the competition is not authentic on the internet. When someone writes longer articles it doesn’t feel like they are speaking to you. Most lawyers don’t blog in a conversational tone, they tend to write in legalese.
When it comes to LinkedIn, things often feels like someone is shouting or boasting, where nobody’s listening to each other. They’re just looking for eyeballs.
Some firms measure success by analytics, whether it’s a small firm or a large firm. We’re not talking about authenticity in those cases. We’re talking about “come look at me, here are the numbers I’m achieving.”
Video, if you can
I would suggest that if you’re not using a smartphone and doing videos — and I do think that’s a very effective way to do so — get started. I plan to jump in, even though I keep saying I will jump in and have not.
I think getting on TikTok can be a really effective way. Just get on two or three times a week, speaking about one thing each time. Maybe it’s something you read that you wanted to share. Mentioning others matters. You’re going to grab an audience over a period of time.
Listen first
The way I practice authenticity and engagement with people, to build relationships and build a reputation, is I listen. I’m not talking about people talking at me on the internet. I listen in two ways.
One is I listen to what’s being written by people on the internet. It might be a reporter, it might be an association leader. It could be anybody writing a blog I subscribe to in Feedly, my RSS reader, and I also get sources of news in this RSS reader. When I reference the person who reported that or wrote that, they see me.
I also listen to what I believe my clients are thinking about, and I share that information with them. So I don’t feel that I’m broadcasting or trying to teach people something. I feel like I’m trying to listen to them at the same time, so that they know I care. They know I’m thinking about them first, as opposed to shouting at them. And they know that I might have something to offer them, that it might be real and genuine. They’re more trusting of me than otherwise.
So what I’d be thinking about, if you’re not doing the videos, is to listen first by following certain things and certain writings. You might then be following somebody you want to get to meet. That’s what happens to me all the time. People might follow something I write, and the next thing I know, I see they’ve asked to follow me on LinkedIn. So I know they’ve seen what I wrote, and they might be interested in the subject.
And listen in other ways on the internet, via social media and whatnot, so that you’re engaging with people in a real and intimate way.
Way ahead of the pack
If you’re going to listen and engage and communicate in an authentic way, you’re going to be way ahead of the pack, because it’s only 1% of professionals, especially lawyers, who do so. Most are going to be talking at people, not so much concerned with listening and engaging and being real and authentic. So you can really stick out compared to other people – and establish trust, authenticity and relationships.