Question: What is Volvo’s favorite hobby? Do Rally’s restaurants like country music? What should you get the Nvidia company for their birthday? The fact is, businesses never actually connect with people — other people do.
Image via Wikipedia
Socializing Employees
WTHI News 10, a local TV station, uses Twitter through both a corporate news-headline account and reporter accounts (examples: 1, 2). They write what they want — from stories they’re working on to what they had for lunch — but because WTHI is in their username, the brand recognition is enjoyed by the parent company. Even if the screenname is different, like with their Webmaster, the work-related content and bio link still build up WTHI’s brand.
Visitors want to interact with an actual person and not some faceless corporation. Put this psychological bent in your favor by choosing a real-live, human “mascot” for your company. Your representative can be the CEO, Webmaster, VP of Marketing, a salesperson, or another employee. They don’t have to write every post and email, of course, but making their presence well-known will help users connect with your business.
Tom Anderson of Myspace
If you’ve ever signed up for Myspace, you’ll find that you’re immediately befriended by “Tom.” This is Tom Anderson, current President of Myspace, who they chose to represent the entire organization. Besides welcoming you to Myspace, the company uses his profile page to update users on all their developments and issues.
This isn’t the only to go about it, though. Especially in the social media space, any good, employee-created content talking positively about your business or its topics could be interesting to readers. People want to know about the day-to-day lives of workers in the trenches and calling the shots, not just the candy-coated, “buy-this”-focused marketing materials we see everywhere.
Image via Wikipedia
Try it out — let your employees update Twitterers on what they’re working on (as long as they don’t leak company secrets). Have them blog about their favorite websites, especially if they’re related to your business. Use them to grow your network, interact with communities, and give your company’s image a face.
How does your business currently use or plan to use personal relationship-building on the Web?
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