Authenticity is built up by getting involved with your target audience, by giving value to them, by solving their problems, and by giving away information which they may not be seeking at that particular time but is important to them anyway.

Once you as a representative of a particular company start solving the problems and start adding value, bingo your authority and by extension the company’s authority start to build up.

This is the path i usually take but wasn’t really able to give a name to the process. Now thanks to you I have the whole process – “Authenticity + Wisdom + Reinforcement through Participation = Authority.”

It has also given me one big talking point which I am going to raise with Dave Evans (author of the book Social Media Marketing: An hour a day) whose workshop I am going to attend this month in India. I am sure it will lead to some interesting discussions.

Social media may be driving cultural change within organisations but it can also provide a veneer of authenticity. Is giving the impression of authenticity actually authentic?

All of these ‘concepts’ / ‘words’ have a role to play in communciation. We should not be looking to pitch one against the other but looking for depth, evidence, best practice and authenticity within, including within authencity itself.

Authenticity is also tied to motivation. Do we have a consensus on motivation?

First let’s make the distinction between authenticity and sincerity.

We fake authenticity in order to hide in-authenticity. Sincerity is fake authenticity. Every in-authenticity has a payoff and a cost by the way.

Authenticity = power, sincerity = struggle and effort

When we’re authentic, we are transparent, and share how/where we were assholes, or how we cleaned and restored up a messy situation. This is scary for most folks, because we run the risk of ‘looking bad’ or ‘uncool’, but it’s truly amazing (and counter intuitive) as to just how gracious folks will be when you give them the chance.

This translates perfectly to business. For example, brands like Seventh Generation have discovered that being authentic with their mistakes actually engenders more loyalty from their customers, because there is an authentic relationship that is happening. On a side note, what good is ‘looking good’ or ‘being cool’ if you life or business doesn’t work any better??

Relationship = being able to say whatever is there.

When authenticity is present, then folks tend to naturally put their defenses down, and this is very empowering and intimate for both parties; this is where relationship happens. Also, when authenticity shows up, then enrollment magically occurs (imagine that).

On another post perhaps I should sketch out the distinction between enrollment and registration. Let me just say this, when enrollment is present, registration naturally falls in line. But if you try to register folks without enrollment being present then you’ll have an rescinded sale (or worse)almost every time.

Integrity = being whole and complete. Keep you word!!!

It’s all about honoring our word. Bottom line. When folks show up powerfully connected to their word then ‘miracles’ start to happen. How many talented and smart folks do you know that could optimize so much more in their lives if they just honored their word!?

If we really want to advance this ‘conversation’ I would encourage anyone to get ruthlessly committed to the principals of honesty and integrity. Allow this to be our north star, because no matter what terrain we find ourselves, honoring integrity will always lead us in the right direction.

So to sketch this into a simple foundation for relationships:
1. Integrity: Honor your word as yourself
2. Responsibility: Be the 100% cause in the matter of your life
3. Generosity: Whatever you hold will diminish–give it away!

How often are you there for the conversation that is happening now?

@KurtyD

This search for ‘authenticity or ‘authority’ is an extension of television in my mind – who would we trust to read us the news? In the past it was always well spoken, handsome, gravelly-voiced white men. It is no coincidence that we view the web through the same lens, a rectangular screen, but it’s worth remembering that technology simply shortens the distance between us. As Marshall McLuhan has written “any history of technology is filled with unexpected reversal of form resulting from new advances.” Now we have the social web.

Arguably what is being discussed in this [wrongly titled] ‘soliloquy’ is how web users are searching for the authoritive newsman of yesteryear amid a sea of millions of “wanna be” bloggers and celebrities – and yet they are all looking in the mirror! Everyone is a celebrity these days so, as Seth rightly says “authority is about the perception of the consumer…” The TV newsreader had no more authority than the next newsreader, it was the viewers’ perception that gave them rank.

As a member of a famous UK post-punk band I started a music and mp3 blog three years ago http://pampelmoose.com and watched it build in unique viewers over the years to its current 150k + a month. I never had to try. I apparently was perceived as authentic and therefore I was “given” authority by my readers and peers. And yet I am more interested in finding the people who don’t read my blog – I’d like to know if they don’t think I’m an ‘authority’ or perhaps it’s simply that they don’t care for what I write about – there, are two distinctions worth mulling over.

I am now Community Manager at Nemo http://nemoHQ where I spend a lot of time thinking about and researching the social web. I write posts and essays that are published on the Nemo blog and about one year ago wrote this one – ‘On Social Media, Blogs and Advertising’ http://www.social-cache.com/2008/06/on-social-media-blogs-and-advertising in which I embrace nature over technology.

The simple fact is that we are all technological beings, as I wrote – “Most people that take a position on social networking and advertising come at it from a technological point of view, as in “technology has created the means for everyone to be connected and to stay in touch.” I disagree with that statement because it removes nature from the game. It is entirely natural for humans to want to interact as often as possible as we are all social animals. Cities are no more artificial (technological) than the hives of bees. Therefore the Internet is as natural as a spider’s web. People who believe that technology is driving our interactions are missing the point – we ourselves are technological devices, invented by ancient bacterial communities as a means of genetic survival”

“Authenticity + Wisdom + Reinforcement through Participation = Authority.”

As a newbie to the social media world people can rely on my posts to be authentic, and as my wisdom grows I will hopefully receive reinforcement through participation as I market myself to others, and through all this will come some authority. I think this is the best equation to achieve absolute authority; however there can be many levels of authority that do not stand the test of time and will eventually fall through the cracks of the ever changing social networking world.