John Davis
Skepticism is the new normal, particularly in the B2B technology world. Trust is at an all-time low, in an environment where nobody really knows what’s “real” anymore. While authentic content has always been crucial in the journalism landscape – at least in our opinion – it’s never been more valuable. These days, authenticity isn’t just the key to protecting your reputation.
It’s quickly becoming the only way to really connect with audiences, and earn their trust. We’re living in an era where robotic AI-generated content, deepfakes, and relentless clickbait is fueling an increasing state of content fatigue – particularly for journalists.
The only way to actually cut through the noise, and build a genuine bridge to your audience that won’t be blocked by AI, is to be more human, relatable, and honest.
The stats speak for themselves, 86% of customers say that authenticity is a major factor in determining which brands they’ll trust and support.
So, how do you preserve, build, and optimize authenticity, and break free from the shackles of the “fake news” landscape? Here’s everything you need to know.
Understanding Authentic Content: More than Just Facts
If you’re a journalist, marketing pro, or even a business leader, you should already know what authentic content is – at least in general. Authentic content is real, honest, experience-led content that shares genuine perspectives, values, opinions, and facts.
It’s the exact opposite of the robotic, AI-generated fluff that clogs up countless news feeds in today’s media landscape. For journalists, authentic content has always been the “holy grail”. After all, journalists are conveyers of facts – their job is to tell the real story of what’s happening in their industry. But that doesn’t mean authentic content is just about sharing data.
Rather, authentic content – at least effective authentic content, creates a connection with readers through transparent, relatable, and honest insights. It reflects real experiences and voices, prioritizing truly genuine thoughts over earning clicks or pageviews, or selling a product.
Most importantly, authentic content tells the whole story. While a journalist might tell a story in a specific way, to encourage users to form a particular perspective, they don’t “gloss over” certain elements. For instance, in a news report about a new AI tool like “SearchGPT”, a journalist creating authentic content would cover all the pros and cons of the product clearly.
Even if their underlying goal was to drive customers to use that product, they wouldn’t ignore the downsides – they’d present all of the information clearly, along with their own opinions, to help users make an informed, educated decision.
The Growing Importance of Authenticity in Journalism
As mentioned above, the value of authenticity in journalism is nothing new – at least it shouldn’t be. Journalists might work with companies to help share their stories with a wider audience, generate leads, and inspire sales. However, they’re not just salespeople.
As storytellers, journalists rely on authenticity to earn the trust of consumers. That’s crucial at a time when 88% of consumers say trust determines which brands they’re going to buy from.
Journalists that use authenticity to earn trust have a direct impact on the profitability and growth of the companies they talk about and support. They act as “influencers”, improving the credibility of brands, and helping them connect with buyers.
However, while authenticity has always been essential in journalism, there are a few reasons why it’s becoming increasingly critical right now.
The Platform Shift: Cracking Down on Inauthenticity
Noticed anything different about your social media feeds or search engines lately? The rise of AI-generated content is prompting a major platform reset. Thanks to issues like deepfakes, and the fact that consumers can no longer trust what they read online, many platforms are beginning to reduce the exposure users have to news content.
According to a Reuters report, typical journalist content is disappearing, as platforms like Facebook, X, and Instagram adapt to consumer concerns about misinformation. The people that stand out on these platforms are the authentic content creators who build human connections with audiences.
In fact, journalistic content is beginning to thrive more on channels that are all about human-driven, authentic content, like TikTok and YouTube. If you want to survive in this landscape, you need to make authenticity, credibility, and trust a priority.
Audiences are Hungry for Human Connection
Traditional advertising strategies are losing their impact. In the B2B tech sector, for instance, consumers are growing sick and tired of seeing endless content from brands that focuses entirely on selling products, or promoting new features. They want content that’s inspiring, solves problems, and connects with them on a human level.
That’s why journalists and thought leaders are becoming so valuable in the digital marketing space. They give companies a way to reach their audience in a more compelling way. Journalists can tell real stories about which problems a product solves, or customers can overcome challenges.
However, this impact only works with a focus on authenticity. Journalists can’t just relay facts or promote products just like another brand. They need to share content that speaks directly to the needs of their readers, and connects with their values.
Authentic Content Cuts Through the Noise
There’s never been more content available online. AI content generation has empowered countless journalists, marketing teams and business leaders to scale their content strategies at an incredible speed. These days, anyone can generate a press release, article, or video script in seconds.
That means the digital landscape is crowded – packed with a lot of similar content that rarely says anything new. As the rising content volume deafens digital audiences, the only way to stand out is with a different voice.
The more meaningful, sincere, and unique the journalistic content you share is, the more likely it is to grab your audience’s attention. More importantly, creating authentic content is how journalists, and businesses ensure that they become the “first port of call” for readers in the future. When your readers know they can trust your insights to be genuine, they’re more likely to bypass the AI-generated summaries on Google, and latest reports, to seek out your content directly.
The ROI of Authentic Content in Journalism
Creating authentic content in the journalism landscape isn’t just about ethics, or responsibility. It’s not even just an effective way to make sure you stand out in a complicated AI-driven landscape. Authenticity has tangible business benefits.
It helps to build a tribe around a publication, individual, or business, by creating and strengthening feelings of trust. It’s how companies can not only survive the post search apocalypse, and diminishing clicks, but improve engagement and visibility on a comprehensive scale.
When you invest in authentic content, you:
- Reduce customer acquisition costs: Customer acquisition is expensive, particularly when you’re breaking into new markets. Authentic, category-defining content, shared by journalists, helps companies to build trust with potential customers faster. It accelerates the lead nurturing process, leading to faster conversion rates.
- Strengthen engagement: Content that feels genuine is more likely to be shared and interacted with. Think of how often heartfelt stories, personal essays, and transparent reporting go viral—these pieces don’t just get clicks; they start conversations. That’s crucial at a time when it’s becoming harder to maintain visibility in the digital landscape.
- Increased Loyalty and Lifetime Value: Authenticity breeds loyalty. Readers aren’t just there for a one-time click. They keep coming back to the same publication or outlet every time they need guidance, support, or information they can trust.
Foolproof Strategies for Creating Authentic Content
In an era where every scroll greets you with another headline, tweet, or video clip, authenticity isn’t just a buzzword—it’s your golden ticket to capturing and holding your audience’s attention. But how do you create content that’s truly real and magnetic, without compromising on scalability?
Here are some top strategies, straight from the Today Digital Team.
1. Truly Know Your Audience
This probably seems obvious, but authentic content should resonate with your intended audience – even if it features your own opinions and thoughts. When you know your audience inside and out, you know what kind of information you should be sharing with them.
You’ll know which problems and pain points to discuss, which achievements to highlight in your press releases, and how to make your messages impactful, without causing them to appear too “salesy” or commercial. Getting to know your audience these days takes more than just looking at demographics. You need to really listen.
Dive into surveys, read reviews and testimonials, listen to customers on social media. You can even have one-in-one conversations with customers and transcribe them with AI. Find out what your customers really want from you.
2. Invest in Building Thought Leadership
Thought leadership is everything – particularly if you want content that pops in today’s landscape. Journalists develop thought leadership by sharing valuable insights, conducting research, and partnering with other subject-matter experts.
They express opinions consistently across a range of channels, and are open and transparent with customers when they get things wrong. Companies can build thought leadership in a similar way, going beyond the basics of “regurgitating” content to create new, valuable pieces that genuinely help their audiences.
Focus on creating “category-defining” content, that incorporates data and research, genuine opinions, and unique ideas. When you partner with journalists and publications on news reports and press releases, don’t just “list information” about a new product.
Get creative, think about how you can answer the questions your customers might have about your solutions, or inspire conversations.
3. Use UCG and Expert Insights
Authentic content in the journalistic space rarely includes just one voice. Effective journalists build their target audience into their story, with user generated content. They don’t just tell customers that a new product is “transformative”. They show how it’s addressed the needs of a specific group, with genuine reviews and statements from customers.
User-generated content is incredibly useful for building credibility into your journalistic content. Just look at the difference between a press release about a new product that shares feature information, and one that’s packed with quotes from customers about what they’ve achieved with a solution.
Expert insights make a huge difference too. When authenticity-led journalists share an opinion, they back up their statements. They might use statistics or data drawn from a market report to validate what they’re saying, or ask for quotes and insights from other thought leaders.
Adding other voices into content immediately boosts the credibility and authenticity of whatever you’re writing. It shows you’ve actually spoken to the people that matter, and done your research, to share the most valuable insights possible.
4. Use AI with Caution
AI is incredible for scaling content production, but it inherently lacks authenticity. AI tools can’t form new opinions or share genuine experiences. They can only structure the information you give them, or what they can find online into a specific format.
That’s why it’s important to be cautious with your use of AI. You don’t have to give up on this technology completely. In fact, doing so could put you at a competitive disadvantage. After all, AI is great for transforming content into different media formats for various publications and channels.
It can even help you tap into more of your unique data, so you can create more compelling content. For instance, you could transcribe a conversation with a customer with AI so you can pinpoint excellent quotes to add to an article. The key to success is making sure you don’t rely on AI too heavily. Don’t generate entire news reports with AI, even if you’re using your own data.
Additionally, be wary about AI-generated images and videos – many platforms are cracking down on those to reduce deepfake issues. Make sure you review, and edit everything you create with AI, so you can hold on to the human element in journalism.
5. Connect with Your Community
Finally, truly authentic content should generate responses from your audience. The opinions and insights you share are going to lead to questions. Some people will disagree with you, others will ask for more information. If you want to build credibility and earn trust, you need to be ready to respond.
Interact with your audience. When you publish a post on a publication, and share it across social media channels, pay attention to comments and responses. Answer all of them, as much as you can – even the negative ones.
If a customer questions the validity of a fact or statement, be prepared to show your sources. If you make a mistake, be honest about it, but don’t just change your opinions and perspectives to try and appeal to everyone. Be consistent, and stay true to your story.
Trust in Truth: Connect with Authentic Content
The future of journalism is authenticity. Authentic content is more important than it has ever been – not just for journalists, but for companies that are relying on earned media and to build their credibility, and demonstrate category leadership.
As deepfakes, AI, and misinformation threaten to erode trust, authenticity is the key to content that makes a genuine impact. Whether you’re writing your own press releases, or working with a publication to create high-quality content, don’t underestimate the value of a genuine touch.
Let’s face it, in a world where “fakes” are everywhere, the future belongs to those who can keep it real.
