This is the second of a series of blogs on achieving authenticity in public communications.  Authenticity is the sine qua non of our age. We all want it, and when it’s lacking in a public figure, we turn off to that person.  I talk more about authenticity in my book, Trust Me:  Four Steps to Authenticity and Charisma, but these blogs will cover a condensed discussion of the topic. 

The second step in achieving authenticity is to be connected.  Connected communication deals with the audience’s concerns.  Following are eight ways to connect with an audience through your content. 

Connected communication is phrased in the audience’s own language. This is a simple point, but one that many forget.  Insider language, jargon, identification with those you’re communicating with: all of these can strengthen the connection if they are used to highlight the bond between you.  Of course, if the jargon gets in the way of communication or sounds forced or fake, it won’t work. But used as a gesture of solidarity, it can have great impact.

Connected communication is direct and simple. Communication that cuts through the usual clutter, euphemisms, and verbiage can be powerfully effective. When you start with a truth that hasn’t been uttered out loud before, you get people’s attention. We’re so used to being sold in today’s marketing-saturated world that simple language about real concerns can cut through the noise.

Connected communication uses you and we more than I.  People like to hear about themselves, and, with rare exceptions, they like having the focus on them. Your language is a tip-off as to how well you’re accomplishing that. If you’re using the word I a great deal, you’re not communicating; you’re soliloquizing.

Connected communication is reciprocal. For the most part, people feel obligated to listen if you’ve listened to them.  Some self-absorbed people never reciprocate, but most of us do because the golden rule is deeply baked into our psyches.  So a good way to begin a communication is to find out what the other person (or group) has on its mind.

Connected communication is consistent. We don’t like to experience ourselves as inconsistent, so if I can snare your attention once, I’m likely to be able to get it again unless I’ve abused the privilege.  People prefer the familiar to the strange in most things. It’s why clichés are clichés, after all. Why go to all the work of developing a new source or finding a new expert if the old one will do?  So find ways to reinforce the consistency of your message. 

Connected communication is social. If everyone’s doing it, we’re more likely to join in unless we have an oppositional streak. Communications success breeds communications success.  This explains fads and the popularity of otherwise inexplicable things (like Barry Manilow).  Here, it helps to have someone introduce you stressing your social success.

We connect better with people who are like us.   Again, this is a simple rule that is often forgotten. In a world awash with information, especially if we feel threatened or disoriented by that overload of new data, we tend to go tribal and safe and cluster with people most like ourselves. Similarly, we are likely to recognize first the things that are most familiar to us: ourselves and the habits and activities we always engage in.  So find ways to tell your audience you are like them. 

Finally, and paradoxically, we also connect better with ideas, communications, and people whom we perceive to be unusual, scarce, or rare.  We are perverse creatures and can one day ignore and the next day embrace an idea, a communication, or a person who is unusual to us. Indeed, an opposing and equally powerful human urge, in contrast to the tribal instinct, is to take the stranger in and make him or her familiar.  So take your audience on a journey into the unknown.