CCO Replica Sample - 15

people leading lives that always seem
far more interesting and gosh-darned
successful than my own.
When Terry1 proudly shares his
beautifully presented dinner, with the
obligatory glass of red held up just in
shot and accompanied by a smug "bon
appétit," I'm forced to look down at my
beans on toast and glass of milk, and
berate myself for not making more of a
culinary effort. When Angela1 shares her
new personal best time from the morning
run with stats uploaded from her Fitbit,
she puts my daily fitness routine of
walking to the mailbox to shame. Yet
we never get to see the chaos in Terry's
kitchen, including the three failed
attempts to get that soufflé to rise, nor
do we see Angela's afternoon chocolate
binge that undid all of her hard work.
Of course they don't share these
other moments with us. Reality would
completely undermine the impression
they want to make. Just like brands,
we all indulge in a bit of positive PR
and reputation enhancement while
concealing the duller, uglier or less
socially acceptable sides of ourselves.
Does that mean everyone in social media
is a hypocrite? Well, yes, quite literally so.
The word hypocrite is derived from the
Ancient Greek for actor, "hypokrites,"
from a time when all plays were performed
with masks to conceal the true face behind
that of the character. Increasingly used
metaphorically-to imply someone is
wearing a figurative mask that contradicts
his or her genuine beliefs or actions-the
word eventually gained its modern and
more negative connotation.
You might be uncomfortable with the
thought of being a social media hypocrite
(pesky Greeks). Maybe you prefer to
think of your activities in social media as
merely a persona: Much more in keeping
with current marketing terminology. Yet
the etymology of "persona" also dates
back to classical times; this time from the
Latin for, you guessed it, a mask designed
to conceal your real self while presenting
a fictional character to an audience.
As Shakespeare later might have tweeted
if he had but a smartphone and a reliable
connection; "All the internet's a stage,
And all the men and women merely avatars."

Fake it 'til you make it?
Since the arrival of social media,
brands and organizations have (often
begrudgingly) realized their behavior is far
more public and far more scrutinized than
they would like or even acknowledged.
That's not to say their customers and the
wider community weren't always watching
how a brand might behave and forming
opinions, but the almost instantaneous
feedback provided by social media-as well
as the 24-hour news cycle-holds up an
unforgiving mirror, making it much harder
for brands to ignore or rationalize away
how they are perceived.
Social media brings brands face to face
(tweet to tweet?) with real people, not
abstract viewer ratings or subscription
numbers. And this has made marketers
acutely aware of just how inauthentic we
can be. In the early days of social media
marketing this was particularly true. Many
brands entered new social environments
like a guy in a tuxedo at a beach barbecue.
A brand also operates as a mask,
designed to present a consistent and
carefully constructed public face while
concealing the complex and often messy
workings underneath. Behind this mask
there is usually another-an agency or
marketing department operating to a
pre-planned strategy. Strip it away and
there are still more people underneath,
each with a curated persona.
Each person who contributes to this
brand persona is first masquerading as his
or her public self, then as an employee,
then an agency, then as the brand. In an
agency, this may mean switching brand
masks many times a day. And each of
these layers of persona comes with a
different set of rules, different values,
opinions, even language. The real people
become buried and the result can be a
public persona that feels more robotic-
more contrived and less human.
No wonder "authenticity" became a thing.
Unfortunately, some marketers try to
solve this problem by placing another
mask on top: scripted authenticity.
In Australia, Airbnb and bank
Westpac were widely ridiculed in 2015
for attempting some brand-on-brand
banter. No one bought it. It didn't read
as spontaneous, natural and fun, and was

almost universally criticized as brands pretending to
be spontaneous with an obviously scripted exchange.
Unmasked!
You can't create authenticity just like you can't
create darkness. Darkness is the absence of light; it
only exists when you switch off the lamp or block out
any other light source. Similarly, authenticity is only
possible in the absence of the calculated or fake.
So, instead of planning how to be more authentic,
brands should switch off or block out as much of the
inauthentic as possible.
Use fewer scripted responses, and trust the team
to have the expertise to answer appropriately and
naturally. People want to believe the person giving them
the advice isn't just parroting a set of pre-approved
responses that might not always fit the individual
situation. Your social media team isn't a chatbot.
Simplify rules and guidelines so that employees
don't feel straightjacketed. Yes, this requires more
trust, but social media is one of a brand's best
opportunities to demonstrate it is a business of
individuals-while also highlighting their shared
values and passions. They should be your advocates,
not just your mouthpiece.
Stop overthinking things like tone of voice. Too
often language become so formal and corporatized
that the brand is detached from how your customers
and employees really speak. Don't be afraid of
conversational language; ditch the jargon and allow
a more human personality to emerge.
And if you can, remove or simplify some of the
masks or personas that may be getting between you
and the audience. Instead of an outsourced social
media team, which may be less able to reflect what
it's like to be a part of your business because of its
reliance on policy and strategy docs, work with your
agency or marketing department to find ways to give
a voice to more people from within the brand.
You won't be able to eliminate or block out all of
the inauthenticity. No one can. But it is possible to
reduce and simplify the various masks until your
brand's public persona begins to resemble more
closely the reality underneath.
Terry and Angela are entirely fictional but - be honest - we all know
Terry and Angela.

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DEPARTMENT EDITOR
Jonathan Crossfield is an awardwinning writer, blogger and journalist.
Find him at @Kimota.

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