The surprising thing is, Todaymade is made of real people.
It’s not as if you didn’t know that, but if you’re like me, you often forget you’re dealing with real people when you’re online. They’re just faceless brands, maybe, because the usual cues (expressions, micro-reactions) that tell us we’re talking to actual people aren’t there.
What does this mean for real people connecting to brands, and vice versa?
There are four aspects to keepin’ it real, as a brand, online. Because brands are boring. People aren’t.
1. Use Photos Of Real People
We have a team page on our website, and it has our photos and our bios. This helps readers put a face to the names that they see on blog posts or in support emails. When I’m dealing with a brand, as a customer, I often go to the about page and look at the photos. It’s an attempt to humanize them. A photo of a person does so much more than an icon or graphic.
In art school, I quickly learned the value of including human figures (or the mere suggestion of them) in paintings; the interaction from my fellow students during critique immediately increased. ”Who does that person represent? What are they doing? What does it mean? Are they based on someone you know?”
My art instructor would joke that if you had a bland painting and didn’t know how to liven it up, put some people in it. Even if they’re just sitting on a park bench, viewers connect immediately and start wondering about who they are and what they’re thinking. We are people, and we like to be around and connect with people. We’re automatically drawn to people. That’s not a terribly earth shattering conclusion, but it’s surprising how easy it is to forget the power of showing images of real people on a site when you’re a brand.
When you want people to see your brand as real people, you should:
- Use real photographs of your team on your site. Not icons, not cartoons, not inanimate objects.
- Have bios for team members. Make them useful and personable, but not overly clever. Clever wears thin quickly, and can become unappealing after the first read.
- Use first names. Refer to them by their first name in longer bios, even if you’re a firm believer in the AP style guide. Your goal is to make them approachable.
2. Behave Well Towards Real People
Because we have a barrier of screens, apps, social networks, and the internet between us and others, we behave differently than if we remembered we were dealing with real people. Recently, I found it easy to fire off a snarky complaint to JC Penney via Twitter. That’s just a brand, after all. Except I forgot that a real person has to answer my tweet.
via:http://todaymade.com/blog/real-people/
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