When influencers came onto the scene, it changed the lives of ordinary people forever. They went from looking at celebrities they idolized to everyday people who were relatable and simply “just like you and me.”
But as the social media scene became more and more competitive, the creators became more obsessed with creating perfect content. What was once their real appeal started to fade: the authenticity that once drew people in.
With this obsession with perfection and the existence of AI tools, social media content has become either saturated with generic content or a database of curated media that seems too perfect to be relatable to ordinary people.
The only way out of this stagnant content escape is one: return to authenticity. Let’s explore why authenticity matters now more than ever on social media.
Standing Out When Everyone is Scaling With AI
Doom-scrolling and constant consumption of content on social media have made the majority of us addicted to “new information.” Influencers know this and want to deliver more and more content every day. The equation was simple for content creators: more content equals more engagement.
Initially, making more content manually was quite difficult, so no matter how much they wanted to scale, unless they had a large team, it was nearly impossible to do so beyond a certain limit. But then, AI came in, and everyone started to scale in full swing.
This made social media saturated with generic content, giving birth to AI-slop and Brainrot. Now people are consuming AI content on a scale, whether they like it or not, leading to a serious case of AI fatigue.
To truly stand out and to ensure you don’t give AI fatigue to your audience, the only way is to be authentic. Even if you are generating written content like captions, comments, etc, you need to ensure it doesn’t come out sounding AI, which you can easily do using an AI checker to find the more robotic parts and edit them accordingly.
Driving Engagement With Authenticity
Did you know that a study explored how information overload contributes to social media fatigue? Now this is being driven by AI, as more and more creators are using automation to scale.
If the point of making content was limited to just how many people are watching, scaling would have been enough. But content creators don’t just want traffic; they want organic engagement.
After all, who wouldn’t want to be admired and appreciated for the content they are investing so much of themself into?
Being Authentically You
The audience no longer wants hyper-polished content. Somewhere between getting smothered by social media content and the generative AI taking over all industries, the majority of consumers started feeling sick and tired of the curated media and inauthenticity.
While the algorithm is getting better and better to find them exactly what they want, authenticity is in high depend. People don’t want to see your picture-perfect life with that Clarendon filter slapped on. They want to see what makes you authentically you.
This is why Tiktok became quite famous around late 2021 to 2022, because many creators started breaking the mold of traditional, highly-curated endorsements to warn the public about hyped, overpriced, or low-quality. This “de-influencing” trend brought trust back into content creation and paved the way for originality.
What People Want to See?
These days, no matter which niche you are making content for, people want to see your real life.
If you take the example of travel bloggers, or influencers who travel a lot, now the audience would rather see the behind-the-scenes struggles instead of that perfect shot of some exotic horizon.
Even if a content creator seems to have the perfect life, people really want to see the true personality behind the content.
Take the example of The Pasta Queen, a New York Times best-selling author and an influencer. She is wealthy and has what would seem to be a perfect life. However, her authenticity comes from her over-the-top reactions to people messing up Italian recipes, which she then recreates authentically.
This is why people with a good sense of humor and unique personalities become the best content creators. They are being themselves, while doing something they love, and the audience loves them for it.
Being Original For Your Business
Let’s go back to the de-influencing trend. What was so powerful about it is that many beauty and skincare influencers made their stance to only accept sponsorships that they actually believe in, instead of accepting anyone offering them more money.
Responsibility and Transparency
Being a social media personality may mean you are a public figure, but it is a lot more personal. Most of the time, you are building a brand around who you are and what you believe in.
You are developing ideas and sharing them with millions, and while this can be profound and highly profitable, it is one big responsibility(Cue “With great powers come great responsibilities”).
This is why people are counting on you to not just be original, but also trustworthy. Meaning, you can’t overshare, but you also can’t hide some things, especially if they affect other people.
If you are a fitness influencer, you are not just there to show off how much you can lift; you must also be transparent and show people the drawbacks.
Think of the accidents you have had and the injuries you have sustained. People may think you are a bigshot if you act as if nothing affects you, but they will also feel that you are not relatable. And, sooner or later, the audience shifts away from people whom they can’t relate to.
People don’t just want to see success, they want to see endurance, and if you have a business, this should reflect there as well. Don’t be afraid to show it when going gets tough, because your audience will appreciate your perseverance more than your perfection.
Shifting Away From Perfection
Once you start being authentically you and only with imperfection, it makes life much easier. Because you no longer have persona fatigue, and are in constant fear that people will find out who the real you is.
However, when your original personality is the brand, it can be quite scary. Because if they hate your brand, you would feel like they hate you. This is why, while it is crucial to be authentically you, you also need to disassociate yourself from the influence and fame.
Even if it is a public display of you, it shouldn’t matter when some people don’t like it. People have varying preferences, and what they don’t prefer, they might take it as an adversary, but that doesn’t mean you have to, too.
So, be mentally prepared to be loved for being you, and hated for being you; hopefully, the number of people who would love you, your content, and everything you stand for would be higher than those who don’t.
Final Thoughts
When generic AI content is filling up social media, the only way to stand out, appease the audience, and be successful is through authenticity.
As long as you are comfortable being you and showing it to the world, chances are that you will attract more audience than anyone who is busy showing how perfect their life is.
So, keep being authentic, and remember that Rome wasn’t built in a day. If you can create a whole catalogue of authentic content, over time, you will be building trust through originality and transparency. This is what will give you more authority and eventually more audience.
