Trending Online: How Personas Affect Your Biz and the Bottom Line
One of my favorite blogs is Penelope Trunk. Although I don’t always agree with her advice or perspective, I appreciate Trunk’s ability to be publicly vulnerable without fear of judgment or condemnation.
On her blog, Trunk weaves in advice about career and entrepreneurship with intimate talks on Asberger’s, parental concerns, divorce, sex, and everything in between. Because of her writing style, it feels like I know Penelope just as well as I know one of my friends. That sense of connection is a powerful way to get fans, followers, and customers.
But here’s the thing. Despite feeling like I know Penelope Trunk well, I really don’t know her at all. I know her persona or the aspect of Penelope’s character that she chooses to present online.
The distinction between the person and the persona is significant especially when it comes to online business. Great online personas can create communities and economies. However, if left unchecked, a persona can leave people feeling swindled especially if that online character doesn’t match the values of the real person behind the personality.
To understand the delicate balance between the person and the persona and how it affects your business, here’s what you need to know.
Public Vulnerability
In the internet marketing realm, the key to authentic selling is public vulnerability. Every marketer will tell you that if you want to sell something and sell a lot of it, you must build the “know, like, and trust factor” with your audience. One of the best ways to do that is through public vulnerability on social media.
Public vulnerability makes you feel like you have a backstage pass to someone’s life and that they are bringing you along on the journey. People who are willing to let it all hang out there in public seem brave, likable, and generous. You want to be around them because they are willing to open themselves up to ridicule and shame to help other people get through similar situations or resolve similar problems.
Public Vulnerability = Persona NOT Personality
Because a person is exposing so much of themselves online, it’s easy to get swept up in the idea that you know the real person behind the social posts. However, the aspects that people show you online are not the full picture of who they are.
First, people are going to present themselves in the best light even if they claim they are “keeping it real.” It’s just human nature to want to display our best selves. Secondly, most of us don’t know ourselves as well as we think we do. We need other people to hold a mirror up for us and show us our blind spots. So if they are curating their “real self” online chances are they’re missing something. Finally, many people use personas because they want to keep aspects of their lives private for safety reasons, privacy reasons, and just because they feel like it. You never know who is following your feed online so having a persona separate and apart from your life is definitely a prudent safety decision.
The Shadow Side of Personas
Ultimately people are using personas online to run businesses and sell you something. Now there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that especially if they are selling something beneficial. Where people get into trouble is that they let greed, and they start to lose their integrity.
Case in point — a photographer recently caught a vegan YouTuber who built her platform advocating for a plant-based diet, eating fish and dairy on vacation. After her vacation video went viral, the Youtuber made an apology video indicating that she changed her diet a few months ago based on advice from her doctor. Unfortunately, she didn’t get around to telling her followers about this until after her fans already saw her eating something other than plants.
How To Use Personas In Your Business
If you are going to use a persona in your online business, and the majority of us are, then the key is not to think, “the more I expose, the more I sell.” It’s to remember that we started our businesses to help people, and we can only do that if they trust us and our products.
We must put our integrity first even if it’s uncomfortable, shameful, or completely different from our persona in the past. People want the authentic truth even in our online personas, and if we are to survive as business owners, we must give it to them even if it makes us uncomfortable.
What are your thoughts on personas, authenticity, and sales? I’m curious to know how other business owners are navigating the persona landscape. Let’s start a discussion together. Let me know in the comments below.