Do you know what? No one is perfect. No matter what people post on social media about how great their lives are. No matter how many filters they use.

The only perfection is imperfection. So have the courage to show the real YOU. Have the courage to tell stories about your challenges and adversity. That is what will make people connect with you and what will make you stand out from others.

When you are the real you and tell your story you will truly resonate with other people. Why? Because people want to do business with real human beings with whom they connect and for the most part they don’t mind if you share information about your life. In fact they want to get to know you better.

This is an example of one of my recent personal social media posts. And guess what? It did really well.

This is especially true since the pandemic. We’ve gotten to know each other on a much deeper and more personal level, and we have shed many of the professional barriers as we have worked from home.

Remember you are your own personal brand and it is OK to share information about your professional journey and how you got to where you are. Share what makes you comfortable. What I share may not make sense for you and vice versa.

I can tell you (based on actual data) that the posts on my social media channels that do the best are the ones where I share something personal. Yes it’s not easy, and yes it requires being vulnerable.

But when you brag, sugarcoat and pretend like your life is perfect, you can wind up coming off as superficial and sometimes even alienate others – or you can just seem plain vanilla.

So make being imperfect part of your social media strategy and don’t be afraid to be you and be real!