Tips for being “authentic” on social media
When it comes to posting on social media, a conventional piece of advice is to “be authentic” and to just “be yourself.” That makes sense right? With the deluge of people publishing, the most reliable way to stand out is to lean into being your. unique. self. After all, there’s no one quite like YOU. The challenge with this is that it’s hard. There are three components you have to nail to really make it work; good content, original thought that adds value for others, and a regular frequency of posting. That is TOUGH to master. Since we are students of strategy, we love to showcase when we come across something seemingly straightforward with surprising depth. Enter, the Wandering Eye.
Our head of content Jamie has been a fan for a long time and I am admittedly a newer follower. And honestly, initially I didn’t see why Jamie felt so strongly about Caroline Snider, the influencer and photographer behind The Wandering Eye. At first glance, her feed appears to be sort of predictable in that she checks the boxes of a well-presented mom slash photographer slash home renovator. But then you get into the grit of her stories and the nature of her captions, which can feel simultaneously like vlogs and poetry and therapy sessions - and it’s like, ah ha, this is why this woman has over 100k Instagram followers. She’s uniquely real on here, and I get it.
First off, I’d love to point out that while algorithms crave consistency and fandoms enjoy fulfilled expectation [like a regular newsletter or Monday morning post], this is counter to human behavior. We all love a routine, but we are, well, human, so when an influencer does things in an unexpected way, it’s incredibly refreshing. For example, in the past year, Caroline took 2 months off social media. Yes. Amazing. She returned with a tumbling post about mental health and weighing the worth of being on social media at all - something SO many of us are debating - and rounded it out with her mission, which is to simply share what’s on her mind in this space [we love this for her]. Also accompanied by a seemingly candid photo - which, sorry Caroline, looks too good to be true - but with a caption note that her children are screaming inside the house. Yes, we see it and we feel it [viscerally, if you have two toddlers like I do, eek].
Here’s an excerpt of what she wrote: “I have a lot of thoughts about social media right now, about whether it’s time for me to just be done with it completely or whether maybe there is a balance to be found. Whether life is simply trying to teach me to establish the boundaries I was never taught to hold on my own. But I will say I felt freer without it these last few months. More myself when I wasn’t being made painfully aware of what everybody else thought of me and how easy other people make it all look.” There’s so much here. We even mulled over this idea as it relates to brands and my god, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve thought the same [tell me you haven’t either!], though that doesn’t make much sense given my business. Le sigh.
At any rate, she rejoined, we’re all back, and while blunt realness might not be your cup of influencer tea - or maybe you’re not into mom content - Caroline is employing some really great techniques that any of us can implement to level up your own content strategy. Here’s where she shines - and you could, too:
Longer, in-depth captions. The debate on Instagram captions is neverending. Some people prefer short, some only use lower case, some stick to just emojis, some write novels, and then some do all of these things. There’s no strict rule honestly, and IMO, it’s really about nailing the story you want to tell in the best way possible in conjunction with the photos or video you’re sharing. There are a couple arguments FOR longer captions though which can help in two tactical ways:
Discoverability - yes, captions are like blog posts and by including searchable, keywords [AKA SEO] that other people might be searching on the app, the platform will potentially elevate your posts to them. So go for it, let your heart sing, but just be sure to include words that people might use to find your brain dump
Emotional connection - Instagram is a visual platform and it’s often tough to effectively storytell within the confines of the tools provided. The perfect example is how I sized Caroline up immediately in one way based on her photos, without realizing the gold that was hidden in her captions. Use the caption space to tell the full picture of what’s going on in the media you're sharing. For example, what’s on your mind? What are the sounds and smells? Tell us - your community - what it is that we need to know and it’s okay to be vulnerable. This is your space to connect
Playfulness in stories. Have fun with and experiment in your stories. They’re as temporary or permanent [highlights] as you want to make them, so if you’re looking to flex some humor or edgy content, experiment there. Recently Caroline, mother of two, posted about having sex dreams about Roman Roy, one of the characters from Succession played by Kieran Culkin. I mean, LOL. Definitely not perma-feed worthy content, but also hilarious and relatable. [will insert screenshot / image into blog post]
Motherhood, the good and bad. Again, the constant tug and pull of wanting to put your best foot forward, but also be honest about the drudgery of it. Caroline does such a great job of highlighting the special moments with the best detail ever in her captions [“Hold chubby hands eager to get in the water”] with the challenges of motherhood [describing the early newborn days with “I know you’re panicked. I know you feel like you can’t go on. Like this will last forever. You count the minutes out loud, desperate for the call of your pillow once again.”]. Even though she’s a photographer by trade, I think at her core she’s a writer and she does a beautiful job of showcasing the whole of it and not the highlight reel. She’s a wonderful inspiration for those looking to balance the same
Lastly, another cool thing to know about Caroline is how her brand - The Wandering Eye - ties back to her personhood in a unique way. The name is not only a signifier for her photography, but it’s also reflective of her actual eye, one of which is blind. Such a smart, beautiful, yet light hearted way to package her brand. And honestly, we don’t know her in real life, so as with any influencer, she could be different than the way she presents herself. Yet for some reason, we highly doubt it, we bet she’s exactly as she comes off and we’re pretty sure we’d want to hang out IRL.