What Relatability Really Means For Businesses on Social Media

Social media has truly changed how people expect others to behave online. Audiences no longer respond well to accounts that feel overly polished or purely promotional. 

Instead, users tend to follow accounts that feel human and authentic. This is why so many influencers gain large audiences by sharing real moments from their lives. Personality and honesty beat curated content every time. 

But in the business world, authenticity needs to look a little different. A company can’t simply post personal life updates, simply because a company is usually not a single person. Instead, relatability needs to come from other factors. 

Speak Like a Human 

Businesses lose relatability through their tone of voice. The formal language or marketing-heavy messaging that used to work in the early 2000’s is not effective anymore. While this doesn’t mean that brands can’t sound professional, they also need to bridge the gap between the business and the audience. 

That’s why relatable brands speak in a conversational way. Social media captions sound more natural and approachable. They also try to avoid excessive jargon and complicated phrasing whenever possible, and if they can’t avoid it, they make a priority to explain it. 

Show the People Behind the Business

A brand is the combination of its people. Social media users feel more connected to companies that let them see the individuals who make things happen. 

This can include different types of posts, such as introducing team members, sharing behind-the-scenes photos and videos, showing aspects of the daily workflow, etc. Content like this stops the brand from being a faceless organization, and enables it to become a group of different and relatable individuals. It’s not uncommon to have insider jokes with the audience about the different members of the team. 

Be Honest About Learning Moments

Which brand is flawless? The answer is none of them. But while being flawless in appearance may seem like a safe strategy, it often backfires because it creates an unrealistic brand image. 

Being relatable as a company requires courage because you need to be willing to share parts of your journey and the lessons you’ve learned along the way. Growth and progress typically happen after mistakes, so as a company, you can’t boast about your growth without showing the failures that led you to it. 

Create Content That Reflects Your Audience’s Reality

A business needs to understand its audience to be relatable. The most successful social media content reflects the everyday experiences and challenges of the people who follow the account. 

That’s why, as a brand, you want to create posts that address common questions and misconceptions in the industry. You can also share practical tips to help customers solve real problems. 

When people don’t feel understood, they have no reason to follow. 

The Cost of Not Being Relatable

Can businesses truly ignore these expectations without consequences? 

The answer is no. Followers will scroll past without interacting. Gradually, they may consider which accounts they want to see in their feeds, and tracking Instagram unfollowers may help provide some insights into who stopped following your account, but it won’t bring them back. 

Relatability on social media doesn’t require a business to behave like an influencer, but it does require the ability to show the human side of the business. Ultimately, you can’t leverage your social media presence when people are not interested in your content.