If there’s one buzzword about the social media world this year, it’s relatability. 

Relatable content helps create those connections between you and your audience - it builds trust and evokes emotions. Everyone is looking to create more relatable content because that’s what social media audiences WANT. They want their favorite brands to be relatable, they want to relate to the influencer who is over-consuming with weekly $200 Amazon hauls (this may be deinfluencing - but we’ll get into that another time.)

I read this piece from one of my favorite substacks, about the influencer Hannah Neeleman (of Ballerina Farm fame) who is being criticized for giving birth just over a week ago and then squeezing into a ball gown for the Mrs. Universe stage. With a collective audience of nearly 16 million followers between Instagram and TikTok, there’s some discourse (and of course discourse around the discourse) about being a… “symbol of everything wrong with modern-day motherhood content online." Sidebar, if you don’t follow Stephanie McNeal for all things influencer culture, she’s a gem and a must-follow.

Jo Piazza (of said favorite substack) said it best after reminding us 1. That Ballerina Farm is a brand, not a person (accurate!) and ultimately, “They don’t care if the message they are sending is that women should look and behave like a so-called pageant queen in the hours and days after giving birth. They don’t care if that message is harmful and makes their audience feel bad. Are you watching? Are you clicking out of rage? Do they get more eyeballs and more minutes of people’s time?”

I’m sure someone in that massive audience of theirs found her post-partum…talents relatable. (Pretty sure, 8 days post=partum I was wallowing in the baby blues, and weening off of the pain pills from my c-section, so maybe I’m not her target audience. I’m also not going to spend $200 on mail order beef - I’ll stick to Costco TYVM.)

This made me think more about relatability and showing up authentically. And then we talked about it in my Masterclass thanks to our guest speaker, the amazing Maureen Porto, so it was on my mind this morning and I had to get some thoughts out about it all. 

Relatable is different for everyone. Not everyone is in your ideal audience, and not everyone is going to find you relatable. Similar to the runner who is training for their first 5k who might be cheering on their 12-minute mile, versus the seasoned runner who feels that 12-minute miles are their slow - they may support one another but they probably don’t relate.

As brands and business owners, we need to remember that followers don’t equal customers. I’d rather have an audience of sub 1k who are engaged and GET ME and what I do, versus the 10k I’d get who just… aren’t engaged. Followers aren’t customers. Likes aren’t sales. Remember that. 

So the real question is: if someone is going to find offense or something to nitpick (you can’t please everyone, right?) How do you show up authentically?

Be Specific

When you try to appeal to everyone, you appeal to no one. More specific content, that touches on emotions, helps connect you with your audience.  The people who find it, and it hits that nerve, gets them right in the feels, they’re a lot more likely to follow and engage. 

Convince and Convert says “But a business can’t hope to be at the top of their target audience’s brand recall unless they have created something distinct in this space. Typically, the winning brands are personable and relatable. They ooze personality. And they don’t shy away from speaking their mind.” – CONVINCE AND CONVERT

Be Authentic. 

Share the messy, the behind-the-scenes, the hard, and the wins! Sharing who you are at your core is far more relatable than quippy stock photos, and sharing your unique viewpoint versus overused cliches is going to resonate a heckuva lot more than anything else. Your followers TRUST you, so be real with them. Leave the robots for the vacuum company (see what I did there?) 

Know Your Content Pillars

What does your audience care about? What do they engage with? What resonates? Look at your analytics to track what content resonates and create around that. Know what they care about - not just their pain points either! If you market to other women business owners, know not just their pain points (the struggle of being a working mom for instance!) but also hit them right in the feels. If you market to dads, even if your content isn’t football-related, maybe touching on some of the recent football memes makes them feel a little more seen.

Content, as we all know, should be educational, relatable, or entertaining. Stop trying to shove an ad in your social media content and share your morning coffee instead, mmm-kay?  

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