Part of explaining your company is introducing your team. This is a logical extension of your About Us page, however, whether it would be beneficial to have your team listed should come down to comfort level and relevance.
Here are a couple of examples:
- A manufacturing company may want to have a group picture of the entire company but have individual profiles limited to leadership and customer-facing roles like sales or customer service.
- A Real Estate Brokerage would want to build complete profiles for each of their Real Estate Agents since it wants to present that they are legally operating at the brokerage and help each of them build a reputation for prospects. It also helps them be found if potential clients are trying to look up the realtor that they met at an event or heard about through a recommendation.
- A coffee shop might not want to show any of the staff since customers can’t expect a specific barista to be at the cafe for all of their operating hours. However, a restaurant might want to showcase the Chef and Sommelier as their personal touch to the menu is part of what makes them special.
- Medical practices would want to show the Doctors, but might also want to show support staff who would be interacting with their patients. This builds credibility and helps prospective new patients choose your practice over a competitor.
Do I need to Include Every Employee on our About page?
There are a few examples that we have consulted on previously, and the decision was never immediately obvious nor consistent within that particular industry. In some cases, the business owners were not comfortable showing any of their staff because there was an ongoing issue of competitors trying to poach their staff. More common situations were with part-time, seasonal, or contract workers being the bulk of their staff. They knew in some cases that the staff was working other full-time jobs and didn’t want to jeopardize that (bartenders, servers, cleaners) or thought it would be difficult to keep up with updates as the staff continued to change.
If it makes sense for you to include your team profiles on your website, here is an outline for you to follow that will keep introductions consistent and offer some personality to each of the people who are being listed. After all, there’s nothing worse than your team looking only as cheerful as a phonebook.
Include the essentials:
- Name
- Title
- Department
- Certifications/Licenses
Add some optional flavour:
- Favourite Quote
- Hometown
- School
- Hobby
- Office Nickname (if it’s approved to be shared)
Think this part through and consult with your team. It’s best to have the planning done as a group so everyone can be proud of what will be showcased. Before you ask for staff consensus, create the basic boundaries that you would be most comfortable representing your brand. Avoid things that will go against your company culture or could upset customers.
Should We Have a Way to Contact our Staff on our Website?
The decision to add contact or connection information onto staff profiles is about the intent. Does it help your business for it to be included? Usually, this depends on their role/department and if connecting with the public will be a good or bad thing based on your processes.
- LinkedIn can be great for salespeople as they are building a network that can lead to referrals.
- Email contacts could be helpful for accounts payable/receivable.
- Linking to Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok are not suggested unless the employee has an account specific to the business.
Regardless of business benefit, be mindful of individual privacy and possibly create part of your HR manual around how much is expected to be shared by employees for company use. Ask the person responsible for human resources what would be best practice for your company.
What Photos Should We Use for Profile Pictures?
We’re often asked about profile pictures or headshots. Headshots can be costly and difficult to coordinate for company consistency. Having a variety of photos doesn’t help, especially if they are being taken at different times. You don’t need to have a massive yearly photoshoot, just make sure they are current and consistent. We had one CEO who insisted on using a photo that was 20 years old and no one recognized him when he was at industry events, so that didn’t help anyone. If most of your team doesn’t want to have their photo shown, you can have some fun with alternatives. Build off your brand by doing something that will creatively showcase your collective personality.
Ideas for team photos to avoid headshots:
- Kids/Baby photo
- Cartoon Avatar
- Create GIFS
- Costume
Before you rattle off your list of people, consider having a group photo from a recent event that shows the entire team. This can be helpful for recruiting in the future and can put a smile on everyone’s face knowing that they are a valuable part of your company.
Profiles don’t have to be stale! Each of your staff can be a part of your team’s marketing efforts and link back to their profile (hello, internal link building!) Ask who would like to do a social media takeover for a week or write a blog post. It’s a great way for them to share something new that benefits the company and has relevance coming from their perspective.
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