How to Make Your Company More Human (and Lovable)

Building trust with your audience is a must in the inbound marketing realm. And one of the best ways to build trust is to ensure people view your company as much more than a faceless entity designed to make a profit off everything they buy. 

Since people are much more apt to trust other people than they are to trust a faceless entity, you can start by making it clear you have a batch of lovable folks behind your company lines. Here’s how. 

Introduce Your Team 

Actually introducing those lovable folks is a great place to start. In addition to featuring a small photo and short bio of key team members on your website’s About page, you can post a series of introductions on Facebook. 

Let your website visitors virtually 'meet' the person posting on your social media channels, the support reps they may be speaking with if they ever give you a call, and even the people who founded your company. Use photos, quick Q&As, videos and interesting tidbits about each member. Be creative and have fun with it. 

Tweet During Company Events and Trips 

Keeping your audience up to date while an event or trip is in progress is a fast, fun-filled way to give them a glimpse of life with your team while on the road. Twitter is an awesome place to share pictures and videos of your booth or table at the conference, where you hung out or ate dinner, and notable quotes from keynote speakers. You don’t even have to go out of town to use this tactic, as in-town Happy Hours, company wide meetings or even a picture of your team at lunch helps put a face to your firm. 

Feel Free to Make Fools of Yourselves 

Silliness is A-OK, and humor can be a fabulous tool for helping people connect. Once you’ve introduced a few team members, let the audience get an inside gander at your office, and shared several company events, you can start to show what really sets you apart. 

Maybe you guys (and gals) dress up as pirates on Speak Like a Pirate Day. Or order strange pizza combinations every third Monday of the month. Or bring your pets to work, even if those pets include 22-foot boa constrictors. Whatever the case, share it with the world on Twitter, Instagram or your blog. Be careful to balance your company's personality with your industry culture. You don't want a bunch of very serious surgeons viewing your medical website and thinking everyone does nothing but goof around all day. 

Keep It as Personal as Possible 

Keeping it as personal as possible whenever possible is another good rule of thumb. In addition to the tips already mentioned, you could keep the personal vibe alive by: 

• Including author bios on each blog post to give readers a sense of different authors’ personalities and writing styles.
• Going beyond your pre-scheduled social media posts by posting comments in response to current events, amusing things you’ve seen or whenever the urge hits. Your audience will recognize the very human spontaneity behind the posts.
• Engaging in conversations. Instead of talking “at” your audience with ads and promos, engage them in conversations. Ask them what they like and don’t like, or what they’d like to see more or less of. Thank them for their comments. Jump into discussions where appropriate – and not just to promote your brand. 

The more you reach out to and engage with your audience, the more likely they are to see you as the unique, diverse, lovable batch of folks behind the brand that honestly cares about their needs.