Are your People Pages scaring customers away?
Don’t lose sight of the fact that your people are one of your best content marketing resources.
Whilst recently reviewing the Google Analytics for a couple of client sites I noticed how high their people pages were ranking. Visitors to the site were obviously spending a lot of time checking out who they could / would be working with.
It doesn’t surprise me that people want to spend time looking at the people in a team. It’s part of business to check out qualifications and experience; however, I think there’s more to it than that. We want to know something about the people involved because we don’t do business with a faceless corporation; we do business with people.
The Social Web
With the web becoming increasingly social, and more of us than ever having social media profiles, it’s becoming second nature to click on profiles and make judgements. Do you follow so and so on Twitter? Do you want to friend this person or that?
Because the social web is changing our attitudes, I believe businesses need to make their people pages ooze personality and showcase the team that will be working with you, teaching you, managing your project, and so on.
Establishing Personality & Trust
Showcasing the people in your team is both a sign of trust and helps build trust.
It’s a sign of trust because you’re celebrating their skills and ability. You’re so confident that they can do the job and deliver that your happy to introduce them to your prospects.
Great people pages also build trust because they give insight into the team; their personalities, skills and experience.
Make Your People Page Stand Out
With companies having to think more and more like media publishers these days, you want your people pages to stand out. People pages should be something more unique, eye-catching and compelling than just the tried and tested photo + blurb approach.
I don’t know them personally, but Mule Design Studio have one of my favourite people pages. The best way to see how it works is visit the page and mouse over their portraits or watch this screen clip I’ve put up on YouTube.
Talking of YouTube, I think one of the most successful ways we conveyed the personality of some of the staff at IEG was through a low-fi video. This example shows you who’ll be teaching and the positive results from this strategy speak for themselves.
Don’t forget that great content marketing makes use of a variety of tools: a static webpage will enable you to showcase your staff in one way. A vlog or video clip will do it another way.
Showcasing
Another great way to feature your staff is to shine the spotlight on them with your company blog.
Telling the story (or a bit of the story) behind the people that work in your organisation makes them standout. What’s more, you also communicate to them that you appreciate and value the work they do.
Employees thrive on positive recognition and reinforcement. In-company recognition is one thing, but telling the world is another, more powerful way of communicating your feelings.
The bottom line
People are increasingly getting used to knowing more about people online and making personal connections through the Net. Use your website or business blog to showcase the team that provides your services and products. Successful people pages can help you build better relationships with your prospects and help convert them into buyers.
Image:FlickrCC
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