There’s a lot of websites that have the same opportunity — to connect with their customers.
It’s not hard to do, but — many sites fall short.
Most websites have a page with a name like About, History, Bio, or Meet the Team.
But most of them don’t list anyone who’s on their team, or perhaps one to two people at the most.
When the About page doesn’t list anybody, that’s the dirt worst.
Here’s why it’s a good thing to tell people who you are and who’s in your company.
Who Are You? I Really Want To Know.
People feel connected to you and are more inclined to want to see you succeed if they know who you are.
People root for people when they know who they are. People want to cheer you on, but they can’t do that when they don’t know who you are.
People feel connected to you when they see your face, and they read your bio, they feel like they know you. There’s a sense of familiarity.
This is the same reason it’s important to write on your company blog. By getting to know who you are, it makes customers feel like you’re not a nameless, faceless company.
When you’re a company without names, faces, and stories, it makes it difficult for people to connect to you.
You see, a href=”https://www.lockedownseo.com/storytelling-marketing/”>people love stories.
Everyone has something about them that’s unique. Every company has something that makes them stand out.
But people don’t buy from companies. People buy from people.
When people look at your About pages, and see the faces of your staff, they feel more interested. They feel more invested.
Your customers don’t want to see your company succeed. They want to see the people in your company succeed. This makes them more willing to buy stuff from you.
Nameless + Faceless = Soulless
Let’s be honest. How many times have you clicked on a website of a company and they don’t feature the stories of anyone that works in that company.
How does that make you feel about that company?
Let’s say it’s an enterprise level company website you’re browsing. If they don’t feature anyone on their site, you might feel like they are monolithic, cold, or impersonal. Enterprise companies often have to fight the impression that they don’t know their customers, so why make it more difficult?
Let’s change the scenario. What if you come to a small business website, and there are no faces, names, or staff bios on their site?
You may begin to wonder who’s actually in this company at all! Is it one person or ten? There’s no way of knowing.
But let’s say you’re browsing the website of a mid-sized company, and you can see many of the people in each department. You know their names. You see their faces. You learn just a little bit about them.
Suddenly, the people in that company become more real to you.
Human Connection
There’s something about human connection that makes a big difference.
It’s totally different connecting to people, and connecting to a nameless, faceless company.
(This is one reason many enterprise companies create “spokeperson characters” to represent their company in TV and radio ads. Think Flo from Progressive, Lilly from AT&T, Abby from Advance America, or “Red” from Wendy’s.
These are attempts to put a more human and personable face on companies that are too large to feature individuals in great detail. Enterprise companies may also choose to feature a founder as the face of the company, such as Virgin does with Richard Branson.)
Today, thanks to the hyper-connectivity of the web, we feel like we know people, even if we haven’t met them, through exposure to their stories.
The more that people see you, the more they feel connected to you.
Sharing your story is the next best thing to meeting in person.
When people read your words, see your face, and hear your story, you begin to sound like a real person to them. This is the beginning of trust.
So when those customers pick up the phone, or meet you in person, and you’re exactly the same as your About page showed you were, that familiarity and trust becomes more solidified.
So I encourage all small and mid sized businesses to put effort into their About page. I encourage larger companies to highlight their department heads and key players.
People do business with people. Let’s make the people inside your company as real as possible to your customers.
