Earlier this month, I was honored to be a panelist for The Branding Trifecta: You, The Voice and The Brand presented by Creative Women’s Co and Betsy Bash.

My fellow panelists and I fielded a huge range of questions about starting our own businesses, reaching our audiences, how we manage multiple personas on multiple social channels, whether we “as brands” can be political or not…

It was a fun evening of great questions and surprisingly similar answers. I didn’t actually keep track, but if I were to review a transcript, I’d guess “authentic” was the word used most often by all the panelists. We could be heard saying things like:

• Your messaging should sound authentically like you.

• Your point of view or political stance should be authentic to what you believe in.

• If you include your dog in your post, he should also be authentically him…

Okay, no one gave that last bit of advice, but you know what I mean. “Being authentic” is good advice and repeated often. By me. (Here, here and here.) By others (here and here.)

But it made me start to think about what authenticity truly looks and feels like in the conversations we have in our blogs, newsletters, videos. And, maybe more importantly, what it doesn’t look and feel like.

How do we decide?

The truth is, I’m not 100% sure and I am going to explore this idea in the coming weeks.

Let me start by turning the question to all of you.

What is it about a piece of content that makes you crinkle up your nose and think “Oh please, that sounds so manufactured?” Or what makes you lean in a little more? What is it about my content that might induce either response?

Is it something you can put your finger on? Tell me in the comments, share it on the 4.23 Facebook page or shoot me an email.

Then watch for future posts about what makes a piece of content authentically authentic (ha ha) and what makes it feel like someone is trying very hard, but missing the mark.

Thanks! Can’t wait to hear from you.