I was sitting in church yesterday at Overlake Christian Church listening to a great message by Pastor Mike Howerton talk about “getting unstuck” by facing where you are in life and how you can move on to be more at peace with yourself and others around you – then it hit me. Mike was simply sharing some of his “Testimony” about how he got to where he was and how finding God had changed his life through a series of events. Whether you are a religious person or not, there is a great message in this for everyone.
You could see it in the faces of the audience. When Mike started talking about his own “Testimony”, about his past and his amazing stories and events that had transpired before he came to know God and become a Pastor, the audience sat up in their seats, became increasingly attentive, and were drawn into the content. Why? Was it because Mike is so unusual or unique or powerful? No – it was because he was being extremely “TRANSPARENT” about who he really was and his journey. We were connecting in a deep way with someone most people “know” but didn’t really “know” until he was willing to share his past in an honest, personal, and direct way.
As you know from reading my blog, I am a massively supportive of transparency. Since I spend so much time helping others to effectively use social media as a business tool, one of the biggest, and I mean biggest, hurdles people have to jump over is this issue of “Transparency”. I believe until someone is really ready, as a company or individual, to become “Transparent” in their content, they are simply playing in the “Easy Social” arena (more to come on this topic). They will never really “connect” with their audience. They will never create that bond that truly defines “Advocacy”. They will never get people vehemently interested in spreading “Word-of-Mouth” about them. None of the true benefits of social media will ever really surface until they are willing to be “Transparent”. Ever ask yourself you YouTube is the second largest search engine or why Reality TV dominates the programming?
Whether you are a Pastor like Mike Howerton, or the CEO/Business Owner, or just someone that has something great to offer your audience, it doesn’t really matter until you cross the line and decide to become “Transparent” with your audience. But when you do, amazing things will happen. People will start “talking back” to you on the social channels and in person. People will be much more “connected” to you because they will “really understand” what is going on inside you or the organization. This takes your audience to new depths – ones your competition probably isn’t even considering. Think about it – if you truly want to differentiate, this is one of the easiest ways to do it.
