Vulnerability = Connection
This past weekend I attended an awesome conference - The Online Video Marketing Summit. I learned SO many valuable tips to create much better videos than what I was putting out into the Universe. One of the things that came up over and over was people being fearful in front of the camera, afraid to look dumb, say the wrong thing, stumble, etc. I have watched so many polished video marketers, that I too had these fears. It was wonderful to be in a room with fellow scared people who were all willing to take a leap out of their comfort zone and onto the iPhone screen.
One of the exercises we did included bringing in a local improv comedian to get all of us acting pretty much like idiots. Yes, we ran around and pretended we were squirrels, zombies and even a distinguished Southern gentleman. In the first few exercises, everyone was a bit timid and would look around and nervously laugh. By the end, we all had wide grins and really hammed it up. It was a great way to form a connection of silliness, and we all suddenly realized that if we were willing to bark like a dog in front of each other, then talking about our businesses on video would be a snap.
After that day, we each had a homework assignment to use some of the formulas we'd been taught to create a short video and post it within our private Facebook group. While practicing my video, my cat happened to run through, and all you could see was this tail bopping across the screen. Normally, I would have just deleted that video and moved on. However, in that moment of vulnerability, I thought it was kind of funny, and other people could relate to the struggle of doing this at home, so I posted that video to the group as a #blooper.
Did you know I had at least 10 people come up to me the next day and mention how much they LOVED my cat video? Never mind the fact that I did post my real assignment too...they didn't care much about that. They said things like, "Oh my gosh that was so funny! My cat kept trying to get into my video too!" or, "Yes, I had to lock myself away in a bedroom since my kids were talking really loud." People could really relate to my "struggle" of having an annoying cat interrupt my video, and that made them reach out and connect with me.
Recently, I also participated in a hashtag challenge called #theimperfectboss where business owners share some of the things they do that they are not exactly proud of...and people LOVE it! I got a ton of likes and comments on my #imperfectboss post:
So what is my point in all of this? On social media, and especially platforms like Instagram where beauty and perfection seems to be the norm, showing your fails can help people relate to you more. How can you shed the "perfection mask" and let people know the real you? Leave me a comment and let me know!
