As a marketing and communications professional, I stress simple, straightforward language in my work, andI’m always watching for the evolving lexicon of the market. Two words that have been showing up all over the blogosphere, Web and in print like they’re on sale are authenticity and authority. After reading scores of bogs and articles featuring one or both words, it struck me there were two schools of thought among web experts, bloggers and marketers about which was more important, or which begat the other.
Time Magazine recently named Synthetic Authenticity as one of its “Ten Ideas That Are Changing the World”. Authenticity: What Consumers Really Want is the latest book by authors and societal change observers Jim Gilmore and Joe Pine documenting what they see as a shift by businesses and consumers to an Experience Economy. Carter McNamara of Authentic Consulting, LLC took a more philosophical view of the idea in his article Authenticity, “…it’s important for people in management to live and work as authentically as possible…”
Authority shows up a lot as search engine authority, link authority or web authority. But I wanted to explore the larger idea of authority on the Web as a function of influence, credibility, knowledge and/or reputation…who has it, how do you get it, how do you know when you have it. Social media strategist and prolific blogger Chris Brogan had a take on it last year in his post, “How Does the Web Define Authority.”
Rather than sort out it out myself, I decided to pit the two words/ideas against each other in a kind of mashup and ask some of the leading voices (nee “authorities”?) that I follow for their opinions on which of the ideas and actions embodied by each word is of greater importance, if forced to prioritize.
Seth Godin, author of ten international bestsellers including Tribes, and the most popular business blogger in the world.
“If it’s a word game, then authority wins, because authority is about the perception of the consumer. If they believe you an authority, you are. In the long run, of course, authenticity will trump it, because your authority fades without it. The converse is not true. And yes, it’s a word game.”
David Meerman Scott, bestselling author of the New Rules of Marketing & PR
I remember in college there was a professor who had tons of authority. He was tenured, had written books, and was the head of the department. Although he had authority, he was not a popular teacher and his classes were empty. I recall other teachers who were young and dynamic and had no authority. Barely older than the students, they had an authentic love of their subject and of teaching. Their classes were packed. In the always on, one-click-away world of the Web, authenticity wins every time because unlike a college class, people can immediately leave the sites that don’t capture their interest. That’s why a lone blogger can be more popular than a stuffy old trade journal both on the same subject.
Brian Solis, PR 2.0, author of the recently-released book, Putting the Public Back in Public Relations.
“How are you doing?”
“I’m fine. How are you?”
“I’m fine. Thank you for asking.”
What started out as an authentic gesture to understand how someone was feeling eventually dissipated into an almost meaningless exchange to ease into a conversation or simply acknowledge someone’s presence. Authenticity is the minimum requirement in any exchange, online and in the real world. Authority however, is earned with every exchange where those involved are enlightened as a result of their participation.
Relevant information, consistency, and insight are the attributes of those who build credibility among their peers. The transparency that facilitates genuine and sincere interaction helps us build meaningful relationships with those who value each other’s contribution. It’s how we earn trust, loyalty and establish significance. Perhaps what we learn is that it’s not a case of authenticity vs. authority, but authenticity + wisdom + engagement = authority.
Chris Brogan, President of New Marketing Labs, a social media agency that helps businesses understand business strategy around online communication tools.
Authenticity and Authority in the Age of Trust
From around 1950 until maybe as late as 2006, organizations have been able to get away with mass communication and one-sided blurting. No longer. We are ALL the media. We all have networks. We all have cameras and video and newspapers at our disposal. We have the memory of Google on our side. How do companies succeed in this environment? They do what probably should have always been done: be human. It’s not a vast reworking. It’s not throwing out all that’s come before. It’s doing what we know in our guts to be right. How do you build authority? By being human. Be fallible. Be apologetic. And communicate in both directions. Listen, and build trust by responding and interacting. You’re still the leader, but you’re now a responsible leader who cares about your constituency. Try it. You’ll like it.
Mike Volpe, VP of Inbound Marketing at HubSpot which sells inbound marketing software for small and medium sized businesses to generate more leads.
I think authority and authenticity are related but different. Authority is a measure of importance, impact or influence. You can measure authority by your ranking in Google and tools like Twitter Grader or Facebook Grader. Marketers should work to improve their authority in their market – today’s marketing goal is to turn your own web presence (website, blog, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, etc.) to the leading authoritative source for your market. The overall numbers don’t matter as much as the relative authority of your company vs. your competitors’ authority.
Authenticity is a measure of openness and lack of “marketing speak”. One way to measure authenticity is to run some of your content through Gobbledygook Grader and see how much corporate-speak you use. As the web has moved our society to more of a two way communication and given everyone more control over content, outbound marketing and advertising has become less effective. Marketers are embracing inbound marketing, which is more interactive and authentic by nature. I think most people will find that it is hard to achive a high level of authority without being authentic. However, being really authentic does not get you much without authority.
Marketers need to be authentic, but the primary focus for marketing should be on building authority. Authority is a marketing asset – you can use it to drive more people to your events, content, thought leadership, and products. Authority is far more important to driving leads and sales, which is what we marketers should care about most. Building an authoritative presence on the web is part of inbound marketing. You can use your blog, website and social media presence to attract more customers to you, and this effect is stronger as your authority grows.
What are your thoughts about Authenticity vs. Authority? What are your reactions to the positions by Godin, Scott, Solis, Brogan and Volpe? Your comments are invited.
UPDATE: Check the links below for further commentary on this post by Scott, Solis and Volpe on their blogs and HupSpotTV:
- http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/4846/HubSpot-TV-Vanity-and-Branding-on-Facebook-with-Special-Guest-Jeff-Taylor.aspx (go to the 15:57 mark in the video)
- http://www.webinknow.com/2009/06/authenticity-vs-authority.html
- http://www.briansolis.com/2009/06/a-soliloquy-the-universal-language-of-social-media/
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For growing vocabulary, I recommend these sites: FreeRice.com, UrbanDictionary.com, InvestorWords.com, BusinessDictionary.com, Merriam-Webster Online]
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I think that everyone is right. Authority is something that is EARNED.
Those who ASSUME that they have authority are generally those who shout blindly and think that people are listening simply because they’ve opened their mouths. This simply isn’t true. You need authenticity in order to give way to authority.
Authenticity is something of which each of us is capable, and something, if used genuinely and properly, can LEAD to having authority.
If you are genuine, actively listen and engage thoughtfully, you will earn the respect of your peers and, ultimately, have some measure of authority.
Good piece; I enjoyed reading that.
Authenticity is an honest relationship between equals.
Authority is the broadcast voice of an ‘author,’ usually a definitive decree on a subject.
We seem to be trending towards more and more authenticity, except in special cases where authority is of the essence; for example a medical diagnosis.
Customers want marketers to have authoritative knowledge of their product or service, but more and more don’t want to be talked down to. It can be a difficult balance.
Having Authenticity generally means speaking your mind with a focus on your ideal audience; without regard to doing the things that it may take to be identified as an authority in the machinations of search engines and the like.
Using your authentic voice without apology, (without simply saying what others are saying or what others think you should be saying) generally leads to authentic relationships with real people in your audience.
This builds your authority with people in your niche, but perhaps not with the wider, general community.
Seems to me many people strive for authority, without paying due attention to authenticity.
Authority doesn’t necessarily connect you with your ideal audience members. Authenticity does.
Great post, Mark. Thanks to everyone that contributed as well. I really enjoyed seeing everyone’s complimentary views.
In today’s game, authenticity is clearly a critical part of earning — and maintaining — authority. Everyday we can see examples of those who understand this, and those who do not.
Great topic and great insights, thank you!
My $0.02: Authority is conveyed by a third-party stamp of approval, often with a title or honorific (MD, PhD, Coach, Pastor, etc) and/or awards and accolades to back it up. Folks lacking that third-party stamp may try to imply it in marketing themselves as gurus, experts, etc.
Authenticity in conveyed in your interactions with others. Are you engaged in the communication? Are you accurately representing your point of view (vs playing poker?) Maybe most importantly, do you honestly admit when you don’t know something?
The two aren’t opposites, they overlap. My physician is a recognized authority. But the reason she’s my physician is because she’s authentic. If she weren’t, I’d ‘unsubscribe’ in a heartbeat and find someone more authentic.
Nice article, and really interesting distinction.
My two pennies worth:
Authenticity = being true to yourself, following your passion
Authority = down to your skill and how you promote this expertise
Passion + skill => personal fulfilment
Authenticity + authority => business success
Props to Mike for bucking the trend and making this an interesting discussion.
I think I’m biased right now. I got a cold-call e-mail from a vendor today. It made me sick to my stomach trying to read it (honestly, I did – try that is). The “Marketing English” was so thick. Trying to get into my mind about how I should think about value and offerings…
I wrote back (as is my policy – trying to be a human being) and said “Send me more info, but tell me your story and make me care.” At the end of the day, I don’t have to do anything. So motivate me. Inspire me. Connect with me and convince me that I should trust you enough to move into more of an exploratory dialog. Because what you sent sure made you sound important, but it didn’t move me at all.
So I guess I am looking for authenticity with authority on the back end. But until you interest me as a person, I really don’t care what you’re selling.
Then again, it may have just been what I ate for lunch…
Thanks for this great post. As someone shifting from the customer relations/traditional marketing side of the world to the tech world I am finding more and more that your ability to use tech tools is not as important as your ability to use them creatively and strategically (authentically).
I am finding that because I am an authentic and passionate person in everything I do, I am valued in this realm even while I work hard to become more familiar with the tools, lingo and general lay of the land.
I think as many of the bloggers illustrate this is mirroring the trend in the world at large–marketing is dead, relationships are king.
It is encouraging that in today’s world it “no holds barred” and those with authenticity and drive are given (almost) equal time to those with authority.
Authority creates the opportunity set that you will only realize if you are authentic.
There are some great points in this blog. My take away is that authenticity can create, strengthen and keep authority. As if authority is dependent upon authenticity. It’s the authenticity that fosters the relationships. It is the authority that builds status within these relationships.
Everyone probably has a real close friend that they have almost no understanding of what they do for work. That friend if very authentic through the long-lasting friendship but he has not real authority in any area.
Authenticity with a purpose = authority which creates status. In the business world that could be the path to an Advisor type of relationship. Isn’t that the goal?
Authenticity is the start – it opens the door. When you’ve established your authenticity, your real-ness, the next step is to demonstrate your authority. Authority cannot happen without your audience aggreeing that you’re authentic. But authenticity is just the starting point. Authority is what is needed before your audience is willing to accept the information you deliver as truth.
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Authority comes from the outside in; it is an inherently social concept.
Authenticity goes from the inside out; it is an inherently personal concept.
Authority can never be faked, because others have to cooperate to grant you authority. Authenticity can, and often is, faked (see, e.g., televangelists, politicians, actors).
-rsh
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Excellent conversation but – in all due respect – with no really new idea. The different opinions expressed by the 5 bloggers are the direct consequence of the nature of their own business. However, combining their views gives a rich and complex picture and, Marc, you deserve a big credit for being the initiator and catalyzer of this discussion.
Now my modest contribution will be that Authority is highly relative. It depends on perception as much as on facts and the web has amplified this phenomenon.
On the web nothing is really different from the real life, with the huge caveat that the web allows you to work around social parameters that would make you silent in the real world. However, even more than in the real world, popularity and therefore authority are linked to pleasing others and offering the easy path. If you preach very standard ideas but in a compelling way, you will be considered by most people as an authority. If on the contrary, you profess uncomfortable thinking, you will be recognized only by a very small number of free spirits. Once again there is nothing new with this but the web is an amplifier. In each context, from the most futile to the most serious, each of us has the liberty to judge whether it is for the good or for the bad …
Authority can have several conotations tied to it.
Absolute Authority (Authoritarian) or authority pushed on to you forcefully vs you annointing authority (leader) or allowing them to influence.
So really it is a choice. You chose to pick leading authorites of Marketing & PR to supply the answers.
I have chose to read Seth’s books & Blog, I choose to read Chris Brogans blog, I have chose to read both of David Meerman’s Scott books and drove over an hour and half to have drinks with him. Choose to listen to Hubspot and be part of their groups.
So the choice to listen to their thoughts makes them an authority in my mind because I have placed them in “my world” (as Seth would say).
Authenticy is important, and one of the reasons I chose to listen to them. I genuinely believe they have interest outside their own in their thoughts and intentions.
So if you use the give first & provide value, and expect no gain DIRECTLY in return than you are on the right track.
Chad Rothschild
http://www.chadrothschild.com
[…] his post, “Authenticity vs. Authority,” Olson featured an industry-leading ensemble of leading minds and voices in the new media […]
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This is an interesting post and begs many questions – one might be “Is social media marketing now just a channel where marketers are missing out on the Social Web?” I argue that once someone opens a browser they are participating in the social web, but I digress.
Seth Godin begins his smart, short answer with “If it’s a word game…” as if planting a stake in the ground. He knows it is a word game and he suspects that we know it too. Brian Solis provides a list of new definitions but they are just words. He proposes switching out new definitions such as ‘believability’ for ‘transparency’ where transparency is already perfect; transparency says it all very clearly, whereas believability makes me think of the possibility of opaqueness.
This search for ‘authenticity or ‘authority’ is an extension of television in my mind – who would we trust to read us the news? In the past it was always well spoken, handsome, gravelly-voiced white men. It is no coincidence that we view the web through the same lens, a rectangular screen, but it’s worth remembering that technology simply shortens the distance between us. As Marshall McLuhan has written “any history of technology is filled with unexpected reversal of form resulting from new advances.” Now we have the social web.
Arguably what is being discussed here is how web users are searching for the authoritive newsman of yesteryear amid a sea of millions of “wanna be” bloggers and celebrities – and yet they are all looking in the mirror! Everyone is a celebrity these days so, as Seth rightly says “authority is about the perception of the consumer…” The TV newsreader had no more authority than the next newsreader, it was the viewers’ perception that gave them rank.
As a member of a famous UK post-punk band I started a music and mp3 blog three years ago http://pampelmoose.com and watched it build in unique viewers over the years to its current 150k + a month. I never had to try. I apparently was perceived as authentic and therefore I was “given” authority by my readers and peers. And yet I am more interested in finding the people who don’t read my blog – I’d like to know if they don’t think I’m an ‘authority’ or perhaps it’s simply that they don’t care for what I write about – there, are two distinctions worth mulling over.
I am now Community Manager at Nemo http://nemoHQ where I spend a lot of time thinking about and researching the social web. I write posts and essays that are published on the Nemo blog and about one year ago wrote this one – ‘On Social Media, Blogs and Advertising’ http://www.social-cache.com/2008/06/on-social-media-blogs-and-advertising in which I embrace nature over technology.
The simple fact is that we are all technological beings, as I wrote – “Most people that take a position on social networking and advertising come at it from a technological point of view, as in “technology has created the means for everyone to be connected and to stay in touch.” I disagree with that statement because it removes nature from the game. It is entirely natural for humans to want to interact as often as possible as we are all social animals. Cities are no more artificial (technological) than the hives of bees. Therefore the Internet is as natural as a spider’s web. People who believe that technology is driving our interactions are missing the point – we ourselves are technological devices, invented by ancient bacterial communities as a means of genetic survival”
My sense is that there is a much better distinction to focus on than Authority vs. Authenticity, because I agree with Brian Solis that they are very much interrelated and entwined. May I suggest that we look at it from a different lens?
First let’s make the distinction between authenticity and sincerity.
We fake authenticity in order to hide in-authenticity. Sincerity is fake authenticity. Every in-authenticity has a payoff and a cost by the way.
Authenticity = power, sincerity = struggle and effort
When we’re authentic, we are transparent, and share how/where we were assholes, or how we cleaned and restored up a messy situation. This is scary for most folks, because we run the risk of ‘looking bad’ or ‘uncool’, but it’s truly amazing (and counter intuitive) as to just how gracious folks will be when you give them the chance.
This translates perfectly to business. For example, brands like Seventh Generation have discovered that being authentic with their mistakes actually engenders more loyalty from their customers, because there is an authentic relationship that is happening. On a side note, what good is ‘looking good’ or ‘being cool’ if you life or business doesn’t work any better??
Relationship = being able to say whatever is there.
When authenticity is present, then folks tend to naturally put their defenses down, and this is very empowering and intimate for both parties; this is where relationship happens. Also, when authenticity shows up, then enrollment magically occurs (imagine that).
On another post perhaps I should sketch out the distinction between enrollment and registration. Let me just say this, when enrollment is present, registration naturally falls in line. But if you try to register folks without enrollment being present then you’ll have an rescinded sale (or worse)almost every time.
Integrity = being whole and complete. Keep you word!!!
It’s all about honoring our word. Bottom line. When folks show up powerfully connected to their word then ‘miracles’ start to happen. How many talented and smart folks do you know that could optimize so much more in their lives if they just honored their word!?
If we really want to advance this ‘conversation’ I would encourage anyone to get ruthlessly committed to the principals of honesty and integrity. Allow this to be our north star, because no matter what terrain we find ourselves, honoring integrity will always lead us in the right direction.
So to sketch this into a simple foundation for relationships:
1. Integrity: Honor your word as yourself
2. Responsibility: Be the 100% cause in the matter of your life
3. Generosity: Whatever you hold will diminish–give it away!
How often are you there for the conversation that is happening now?
@KurtyD
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[…] this on my mind, Mark Olson’s post “Authenticity vs. Authority” from a couple days ago was something I feel like should have left me feeling enlightened. I follow […]
Authority = Competence
Authenticity = Likable
Authority – Appeals to the head
Authenticity – Appeals to the heart
If you meet a brilliant doctor who knows his stuff, but you sense he is not genuine or sincere in his care for you, do you go with him?
Your head says yes. Your heart / gut says no. That is authority without authenticity.
You meet a nurse who really cares about your well being. He doesn’t know that much, but he is really sincere and you like that. Would you trust this person to make all of your major medical decisions?
Probably not all of the decisions. This is a case of authenticity without authority.
The best of course is to have both – be authoritative and authentic (it really is an incredibly powerful combination). Be competent and likable.
True story: the doctors who get sued the least are the ones who listen the most. To reduce malpractice claims, some medical schools actually teach med students to be nicer to their patients… call that authenticity (sort of) training.
[…] Authenticity vs. Authority Marketing Truth […]
Authenticity vs. Authority
Authority = Competence
Authenticity = Likable
thx for the article
[…] his blog Marketing | Truth, Mark Olson has a very interesting post that includes opinion from some like-minded smart people discussing the notion of authenticity vs […]
What i don’t realize is if truth be told how you’re not really a lot more well-favored than you might be right now. You’re very intelligent. You already know therefore considerably with regards to this matter, made me for my part consider it from so many varied angles. Its like men and women aren’t involved except it is one thing to do with Woman gaga! Your own stuffs outstanding. All the time take care of it up!
Where did you obtain the tips to create ““Authenticity vs.
Authority Marketing | Truth”? Thanks for your time
-Shauna
Shauna…from lots of reading of what marketing leaders were writing. After a while, a trend emerged which I turned into the thesis of the post. Then it was a simple matter of asking these leaders to comment on the thesis. — Mark