Many companies in our industry struggle with showing their true corporate culture. If your CRE company is still serving up your company information with stock imagery in a boxy brochure-like format and no links to social media, this column is for you.
1. Custom Photography
Stock photography may seem like a great idea, but in reality you're just hurting your company brand with these beautiful strangers. Many times you see the same stock images across other industry sites which doesn't exactly show off your company's creativity. Your company becomes that much more credible when you're highlighting those that actually work for the organization. Lastly, stock imagery can be very expensive, so it may be more efficient to simply hire a photographer and take a day to do website and collateral photography.
2. Bio Pages
Having an About Us page and an Our People page is very important and for many companies, these two pages are the most visited pages on their website. It's best to have an About Us that gives the basics but also tells the reader what kind of company you are. Do you do volunteer work? Include an Our People page of all employees with crisp, professional head shots that include a write up of their function at the company and brief work history. Take it one step further though and have each employee write three lines about interests. This helps build a more personal connection for the reader.
3. Get Social
When I say, "get social," I mean it on a few levels here. The first reference is to social media. Make sure you have at least a LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter page, I recommend posting separate content on all of them. Another idea to help get more social and show off your company culture is tenant relations. Get more involved with tenants' ribbon cuttings, grand openings and other events. This will show other retailers that you get involved and truly care about their success.
Social media fun fact:The Federal Trade Commission announced that it sought to refund millions of dollars in purchases made by children on their parents' accounts and put a permanent ban on Amazon's ability to bill for unauthorized in-app purchases. (Reference, Mashable).
Diana Podaski is VP - marketing and social media at Linear Retail Properties, Burlington, Mass.