PODCAST TRANSCRIPT
Rachel Strella: Welcome back to season two of Untamed Social. We're thrilled
to be back for another season. I'm Rachel Strella, and I'm excited to welcome a
new face this time Tiecen Payne. Hello.
Tiecen Payne: Hi, thanks for having me.
Rachel Strella: Absolutely. Tiecen is a marketing consultant who joined our
team at the end of last year. So welcome. We're just going to jump right into
today's topic, um, which is about authenticity on social media. And this is such
a great topic, uh, this year because it actually aligns with our marketing theme
as a company. So let's just go ahead and explore this topic a little bit. What does
it actually mean to be authentic online? What do you think, Tiecen?
Tiecen Payne: So I think that a lot of people think about authenticity as like,
uh, if you're willing to share everything, but I think it's more about your
intention behind what you're sharing. So are you sharing because you're trying
to like curate a persona or, or build some perfection? Or are you sharing because
you really want to connect with other people and you, and you really want to let
people into your world a little bit or let yourself into their world? Um, then that
will, you know, come across as authentic. So I don't think it's a matter of putting
all of yourself out there all the time. I think it's a matter of, um, being
intentional about putting yourself out there.
Rachel Strella: I love the word intentional. I love that. That's like the word of
the year. I love it. I love it. Um, I really, I agree with that. I really think it's about
Presenting your true self, like whatever you value, you believe, um, your
personality. It's putting yourself out there without trying to be something that
you're not. Um, I kind of like think about it as the humble brag, you know, those
people who are like, I am so honored to, um, and you can just tell it's fake. It's
not real.
Tiecen Payne: Right.
Rachel Strella: Well, now that we've defined it, let's talk about like, why does it
matter? And for me, I just think that it's being real and relatable to your
audience, you know, or to whomever like it just builds trust and stronger
connections online and you're yourself people know when you're being fake and
nobody wants to see it nobody cares to see it.
Tiecen Payne: Sure. And I think, I mean, in marketing speak, right, it's also
about engagement, like trust leads to engagement. Um, and even if you're
talking about your personal brand, like the Rachel Strella Facebook audience.
The reason why you're on social media is to socialize and to engage with other
people and to reach out. And so, uh, if that's the, the metric that you're looking
to move into your life is some engagement with others, then authenticity is
going to be what drives that.
Rachel Strella: You know, it's funny you say engagement. It's like that's that
metric is so interesting to me. I-- I maybe, I may not have any engagement on a
post. I mean, I might get people that like it, but they may never comment.
There's just too many lurkers out there. You know, they, but, but, you know, you
might get that one person who might email you or message you that says it
resonates with them, and that can mean so much more than having a hundred
comments on it. You know, knowing that you've impacted one person with your
posts because you were real.
Tiecen Payne: Sure. Or like the magical unicorn moment where you're out in
the world. And you run into someone who you've loved on social media and
you, you have an actual connection that you've built because you've been
pushing like on their kids soccer videos for five years and you see each other at
the grocery store and it's that moment, you know, and it, I think it's the same
engagement means the same. Um, when we're talking about business, right?
When I run across a brand that I just have built that love and trust in, then it's
not the same as finding a friend, but it has a similar feeling of--
Rachel Strella: Absolutely.
Tiecen Payne: Being engaged.
Rachel Strella: And that's when it comes full circle and it's, it's great. So
speaking of authenticity, I want to share a real quick story. A friend of mine
who's also my co host, um, on the Light Her Project podcast. Um, she told me
recently she could never be raw on social media. Um, and she, she said this after
reading my, um, my blog post from last weekend and I asked her why. And she
said, I don't, I don't believe people need to know details about me. And she went
on to say that she feels too many people overshare online and it's too much.
Granted, I get what she's saying. Um, but it got me thinking. You know, is this
belief shared by most people? Um, and so I, I decided to poll people and find
out, you know, let's talk about this. Let's, let's dive deeper. So, let's, let's just talk
about the questions that we asked people and what they had to say. So the first
question that was asked is on a scale of one to ten with ten being the most
comfortable, how comfortable are you with sharing details about your business
or your life on social media? And the numbers were all over the place. You
know, we had a one we had a two we had a three and we had we had six seven
eight. You know, we had them all over the average was a five point four six. So
It really spanned all over. Um, but one question we asked is do you feel
comfortable being authentic on social media? And feel free to elaborate on what
that means to you. And we had a lot of different responses there. One thing I
want to first mention is that somebody said, you know, not really, I've always
taken a neutral stance on politics. Um, when we're talking about something like
this, we're not talking about politics. Um, those kinds of things can be really
polarizing, and I tend to not include them on things when I'm talking about
being authentic. Um, we're talking about sharing your own personal beliefs and
values and while politics can be included in that because they're so polarizing,
we're not really talking about that kind of thing here. But as far as some of the
other responses, um, I highlighted a couple here. One said, I used to be, until I
was hacked, and my business was destroyed. I hardly post about my life on
social media. So I'm going to say this is one person that is the exception to the
rule. Um, I would also say I would feel very uncomfortable putting things about
my life out there. Um, when you have a cybersecurity breach. So, um, she gets a
pass and I take cybersecurity very seriously. So I understand, um, in that case.
All right. So for the rest of the world, you know, let's talk about it.
Tiecen Payne: Everyone else.
Rachel Strella: There's one response that really stuck out for me. She said, for
years, I prided myself on being very authentic in my business and on social
media, especially. People really knew who I was and what I stood for, which I
felt was a great asset. However, there seems to be so much negativity lately that
I'm more cautious. People used to try and vote others up and share in their
successes and wins both personally and professionally. But work needs to be
done to get back to that. A good goal for 2025. Oof. What do you think about
that?
Tiecen Payne: I think, I think that often being authentic and especially like
living in an authentic way, um, and you'll hear other words for it. There are
things like simplify your life or, uh, reprioritize. And to me, I, I think people are
just saying, dial in with what's authentic to them. Right? And you hear it
everywhere. It's, it's the hugest thing for 2025. Right. And I think, uh, overall
the responses to your, to your survey here. Anyone who's saying, like, I don't
put myself out there, um, you know, coming from a place of fear, that they're
afraid of what the rejection will be, afraid of what the exposure will be. And I
hate to think that, like, we're discouraging relationships as a society because of
fear of, like, a bully. And we're all in our 40s on Facebook, like, um, and I, I
think we had, like, a pendulum swing. Like, social media came out and
everyone loved the surge of information that you could get, and they loved the
surge of connection that you could get, but they also learned that there's not a lot
of consequences to just saying whatever you want, and the pendulum swung
over here. And I think it's, swinging back because, um, we're demanding as an
audience now, kindness and we're demanding authenticity and we're demanding
that you still act like a decent human. Um, people will getcha. Like there was a
time when if someone commented negatively on my post, it was crickets, you
know, cause. You didn't know what to do about that, but you just try it now, like
my girlfriends will eat you alive. And so I think the pendulum is, is swinging
back, you know, to where as a society, we're evening out a little more. We're
getting a little more used to this access to each other and learning how to be
kinder to each other. And I hope that that's going to make space for this
authenticity in those channels.
Rachel Strella: You bring up such a great point. You know, I'm still traumatized
by some things that I've posted. I've had these random people attack me. You
know, and I'm like, where did that come from? This was either something that
was supposed to be funny or light hearted and they will take it to a whole nother
level. Like, where did that come from? Um, and you're right. And it's funny
when you have people in your community come to your defense and you're like,
go ahead and go there, buddy. I dare you.
Tiecen Payne: Get 'em girls.
Rachel Strella: You know, um, that's the other side of social media. But the
negativity can get really, really overkill. Um, and people are afraid. And it's sad
because that's not, you know, there's no place for it. There's no need for it.
Tiecen Payne: Yeah.
Rachel Strella: Um, I, but I don't truly feel that fear is the reason for
everybody. I just feel like some people that it just, let's talk about that. I'm going
to skip to this question here because there's something on for later. Do we think
it's a generational thing?
Tiecen Payne: I mean, I think, I think it is. I think certainly the different
generations handle this problem or this opportunity. However you think of it
differently. Um, my, my teenage daughters, they, they have so much access, um,
to everyone and everything all the time. Uh, and they're much smarter than me
and they're much more emotionally intelligent than me and they've learned a lot
of things, but, um, I also feel like. They've learned to chase the reaction of
others. They've learned to chase that superficial interaction. Um, and I know
they're still immature and they'll learn what an authentic reaction and what an
authentic interaction is. Um, but as they're, as they're learning to sort of chase
that, they also are carrying a lot more stress, I think, than we carried as children,
because it was a lot simpler, which again, I think is another word for authentic
to, to just interact in person. Um, so, I don't know if it's a generational issue in
terms of like, for being nice to each other or not, but I think in terms of whether
or not we feel the pinch of social media and the stress of it, I think certainly it is.
Yeah.
Rachel Strella: I wonder, you know, when it comes to sharing, you know, if
like generational, if we, if we feel, okay, so for example, my dad will be like, I
can't believe you're sharing all that stuff on social media. You know, and, and,
and I get it. You know, my dad is like almost 70, but he doesn't want to see that.
He's like, you know, I can't believe you put all this stuff on social media. You
know, for him, he doesn't understand it. But he respects it. He understands why I
do it. He understands that for me, he would just never do it. Um, but I, I think, I
think there's just a different perception there. I mean, I, for most of my adult
life, I've grown up with social media. So, um, I think it's if they're, people just
have different values, different things they bring to the table about how they
share. And I, I think for, for people like your teenage daughters, they've, they've
had social media their entire life.
Tiecen Payne: Yeah. And they've learned that there's some curation there, you
know, interesting.
Rachel Strella: Yeah. Yeah.
Tiecen Payne: I think too, when we come back to like marketing terms, right.
And we're talking about like the quality of life. So the quality of leads that
you're getting or the quality of interactions that you're getting, um, and whether
or not those lead to retention, right. So a real engaged audience leads to
retention. And I think that's what I'm trying to teach my girls. And I'm sure
what. What you're trying to institute into your own accounts is that if we can
reach that level of, if we can curate an authenticity instead of a sense of
perfection, then the result is going to be a lot higher quality relationships and a
lot higher quality connections. And, um, that opportunity is certainly there too.
And I. I do think the younger generation has a better grasp on curating some
authentic connection. So.
Rachel Strella: I do agree with you there. I absolutely agree with you. Well,
going back to the survey, um, one, one question that I asked is, do you believe
vulnerability builds trust? I have a lot of mixed responses, but I really liked one.
Um, and I believe whoever said this is in the leadership space or, um, maybe in
management or leadership. Uh, they said yes. Um, if you read Five
Dysfunctions of a Team, based on the pyramid, um, vulnerability based trust.
Um, so, uh, I'm happy to read that. Because I've had, uh, you may not see it
right away, but when you think about it, you break it down. When you're
vulnerable, um, it kind of gives you, um, a feeling for other people that it makes
you a little relatable. You know, when, when you're vulnerable, other people in
the room are like, they immediately will kind of want to understand and they
want to help you. Um, and that, that kind of builds a relationship immediately.
Um, and I know I've had so many people that have come to build that
relationship with me because they're like, man, I felt that same way or I've been
in that same situation and I'm glad that you talked about it. They might have not
felt comfortable talking about it or maybe they have, but either way, they were
glad that I talked about it, and then together we were able to come up with some
sort of solution, or whatever it is, bond about it. It built that, it built that
relationship, and that helped establish trust. Um, and, and so, you know, as
you're thinking about the, the, the wise old words of like, no, like, trust, I feel
like that vulnerability piece is, is somewhere fundamental within that.
Tiecen Payne: Definitely fueling that, right? And I think it's sort of like a
feedback circle. So if I give a little bit of myself out there, I'm like, Rachel, do
you think I'm weird that I use eggnog as creamer in my tea? Something
unimportant, right? And then you say, I love eggnog. Then we have a little trust
about tea at least, but you can apply that on like a grander scale. So every time
someone is willing to be a little bit open and then they're received with love,
then they get trust built and then back around and they can be more open and
then back around you go. And so I think that's the fuel for trust to keep entering
back into that cycle that keeps us engaged with each other is, is authenticity.
Rachel Strella: Absolutely.
Tiecen Payne: Vulnerability.
Rachel Strella: It can be a scary word for a lot of people. Um, and I think the
reason for that is, there's a fear that if you're vulnerable, you'll lack credibility. I,
you know, I feel, you know, I wrote my post this weekend that, you know, I've
had kind of a crappy go of it lately, lately, and that can happen. I've been doing
this thing for 15 years and sometimes you get disenfranchised, especially in
marketing. It is not for everybody. It can be difficult. It can be hard. The waves
knock you over. I read about that. Anybody who has worked in marketing can
relate. Again, relatable. Some people on the outside, they might be like, man,
you're just whining. Get over and get out of this business. Um, but, so for
people that, you know, don't want to be vulnerable, they might just think, oh
man, you're not, I'm afraid I'm going to not be seen as credible, or not, not know
what I'm talking about. Um, and I understand that factor, um, but I kind of look
at it like, everybody has those days, so why not just be human?
Tiecen Payne: Yeah. I think you're kind of hitting a nail on the head here too, in
terms of like, um, do you care? That some people wouldn't like your blog post
or think it was over the top. And you talked about me before you, you talked to
me before you posted the blog post and you said, do you think this is too much?
And I said, no, I think it's great. And you said, I don't care if it's too much. And
off it goes, right? Because you know that the marketing professionals that you
hope to engage with anyway, they're going to like that message and the people
who didn't get it and thought it was too much, they're not our audience. Um, and
again, the same goes for social media like. You get to a certain level of self
confidence as we get older. And we're just like, I don't care if like random girl
who I met in line at the grocery store once likes this post, I really like this one's
for my mom, you know, and her friends or whatever. So I think that's part of
authenticity is earlier when I was saying, are you, are you curating a sense of
perfection or are you curating a sense of connection? And I think that, um, that
comes back to that, like, do I care if every person in the world likes me? I do
not. Do I care if, if my audience got a piece of the real me? I do. And that's why
I'm on social media.
Rachel Strella: I love that very much. I do. And I'm looking at it in the lens of
like, my potential customer, or current customer, may be reading this. But if
they, if they don't align with what I'm saying, or they can't understand what I'm
saying, they may not be the right customer for me.
Tiecen Payne: Yeah, that's fine.
Rachel Strella: Right? Before we end, um, one tip maybe for how we can show
up more authentically online.
Tiecen Payne: You want me to go first or do you want to go first?
Rachel Strella: You go first.
Tiecen Payne: Um, so I think it's a matter of self awareness, right? So I think
you can be more authentic online if you're willing to sort of check yourself and
check those intentions. Um, and it becomes a, it's a muscle that you flex and it
becomes more natural to say like, is what I'm like, am I posting the picture
where I'm sucking in or am I posting the one where my smile really was really
good? And those kinds of questions that you start to ask yourself and um, and
then your content becomes more authentic, but it takes some bravery to do that
and it takes some self awareness. So I think, um, and the same for business
strategy, right? Are you, are you willing to, to check yourself? Are you willing
to stick to your company's values? Are you willing to, to ask yourself those hard
questions? And then pretty soon things are up and running and going in an
authentic direction.
Rachel Strella: I love that. I think for me, I would say just tell a story. Um, tell
a story about whatever it is that you're going through and you, you will show up
authentic.
Tiecen Payne: I agree with you that storytelling is a top, in road to authenticity,
and I think being a good storyteller, though unfortunately not all, not everyone
is good at that, and that doesn't come naturally to everyone. So, you're lucky
that you're such a good and easy storyteller and can convey your authenticity,
you know, organically like that. I think that's something not everyone has the
skill for.
Rachel Strella: Thank you. Well, thanks to everybody for tuning in to the
Untamed Social Podcast. Check out the next episode, which will feature another
fresh face, Tara Kay, and we'll also have Laney back. So again, thanks
everybody, and thank you Tiecen joining us today. We will see you next time.
Tiecen Payne: Sure. See you.
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