How are you portraying yourself on social media? Are you the real deal, or portraying a life you don’t truly live?
"There's so much drama...there’s so much acting going on on social that it's hard to really peel: Is this real or is this Memorex?”
“It's like Fantasy Island, right?" said Larry Levine, bestselling author of Selling from the Heart. "There's so much drama...there’s so much acting going on on social that it's hard to really peel: Is this real or is this Memorex?”
Levine joined Freedom Media Network founder Curt Mercadante for a discussion on how to be more authentic in branding and sales. In addition to writing the book, Levine is co-host (with Darrell Amy) of the Selling from the Heart podcast.
“I'm a huge Brene Brown junkie, and I remember in the Gifts of Imperfectionshe started talking about social media and that social media is a big fantasyland for a lot of people,” said Levine. “Which leads me to believe it’s like Fantasy Island, right? Are you really leading that lifestyle or are you dressing it up online?”
In his book, Levine writes about LinkedIn (and social media overall) as a great platform to share the your key messages.
“I'm a sales geek and nerd at heart. I love everything about sales. And this has been a tremendously great platform for me to share the message,” he said. I don't hide anything. You get what you get. I don't fake it. This is exactly who I am. I speak the same way online as I speak face-to-face. There's no difference. I just use this platform to get my message out.”
Along with authenticity on social media and in sales, Levine talks about focusing on your ideal clients, not other influencers and like-minded people who aren't in the market for your business.
“Unfortunately, a lot of people who leverage this platform are speaking to other like-minded people just like them, as opposed to speaking to their audience, speaking to their target client, and educating them and engaging with them,” he said. “They're too worried about creating social pied piper-esque moments where they get a bunch of followers following them.”
Levine and Mercadante discussed the importance of being true to yourself.
“That's why I wrote Selling From the Heart the way I did,” said Levine. “You've got to work on yourself. You've got to work on the inner part of this. And that's the hardest part to work on. I firmly believe in my heart that's why a lot of people run from it. They may uncover what's really going on. They don't want to hear about it, and there's a lot of fear around it. So they play pretend.”
He added, “People say, ‘I'm going to set all this aside and I'm going to lead a different lifestyle online.’ Well, at a certain point in time, that's going to come back and bite you. I talk about it in Selling From the Heart as sales chaos. It's hard to distinguish. And I always say, ‘Hey, listen, folks, if you lead a genuine, authentic lifestyle personally, then what prevents you from leading that exact same life professionally?’”
Watch Levine’s full discussion with Mercadante by clicking here.