We'd like to begin with a definition, because apparently we've reached a point where we need one.
Authentic: real, genuine, true to what something claims to be. Something that isn't fake, copied or manufactured. The dictionary also describes it as being true to your own personality, spirit or character.
Seems pretty straightforward.
Then social media got involved.
Now we're being told to “create authentic content”, “show up authentically”, “build an authentic personal brand” and “share the real you”. Which sounds lovely until you think about what we're actually saying.
We're asking people to strategically manufacture authenticity.
Film yourself making your morning coffee. Talk about your struggles. Leave your makeup slightly undone. Take a photo of your laptop with a half-drunk coffee next to it. Tell everyone you had a really hard week, but you're showing up anyway.
Congratulations. You have completed the Authentic Business Owner Starter Pack.
The problem isn't any of those things individually. You might genuinely drink coffee in the morning. You might genuinely have had a shit week. You might genuinely work from your laptop with no makeup on.
The problem comes when we're doing these things because we've decided they are what authenticity looks like online.
At that point, you're not necessarily showing people who you are. You're showing them your interpretation of what an authentic person is supposed to look like.
And that's where we think social media has completely lost the plot.
Research into how people perceive authenticity online actually lines up with this. People tend to see content as authentic when it feels like a genuine reflection of the person behind it — their thoughts, values and personality — rather than something that simply follows the expected social media formula.
So perhaps authentic marketing isn't about looking authentic at all.
Maybe it's about making your marketing sound like your business actually sounds. Showing the parts of your business that genuinely matter to you. Having opinions you actually hold. Talking about the things your customers genuinely ask you about. Admitting when something didn't work. Saying “we don't offer that” when you don't. Being willing to have a personality that doesn't happen to be trending this week.
You don't need to film yourself crying in your car to prove you're a real person.
You don't need to tell Instagram your deepest trauma.
You don't need to turn your morning routine into a content pillar.
And you certainly don't need to manufacture a candid moment and then spend 45 minutes choosing the perfect “casual” thumbnail.
Authenticity isn't a content format.
It's whether the thing you're putting out into the world is actually true to the person, business or brand putting it there.
Which is probably why the phrase “authentic marketing” has always sounded slightly funny to us.
The second authenticity becomes something you're deliberately performing for the algorithm, we've got ourselves into a bit of a pickle.
So maybe stop asking yourself:
“How can I make this more authentic?”
And start asking:
“Is this actually us?”
Much better question.