In a blog post today Arianna Huffington said in part: “I’m going to predict that the Internet of the future will deliver technology that addresses the greatest needs of the present: the restoration of trust through greater transparency.”
This part of her prediction hit home because I had just been explaining to my 85-year-old father why the website that he had shown me was not effective. To put it simply, there was no there there.
In other words, even in the “About Us” part of the site there were no names and photos of the website’s people, only the bland “we do this and we do that” copy. This is the opposite of transparency.
I explained to him that today people want to know who is behind a website, what that person cares about, does he/she share worthwhile information on Twitter, Facebook and other social media sites.
And then I explained to my 85-year-old mother that what bothered me is how many people are wedded to their websites and don’t want to give these up even when these sites are ineffective.
These people, usually unknowingly, are losing out to their competition that does understand how important it is to be transparent, to personally connect with your potential and current customers.
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{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Twitter: WordsmithBob
March 17, 2010 at 10:25 am
Boy, did you hit it on the head, Phyllis! I’ve had so many clients who, when I try to introduce them to the idea of transparency, absolutely refuse to hear it. “You’ll give away all our secrets.” “Our competitors will know all about us.” “No one in our industry cares about that.”
Some of the most successful social marketing campaigns have been major corporations hiring one person to be the “face” of the company. This person starts a blog and talks to people through the blog like a “regular” person. They answer questions, they solve problems, they become an integral part of the lives of consumers or customers.
And this isn’t just something for major corporations. If you have one person in your business who is willing to put themselves out there for the good of your customers or clients and let them all know that if they have a problem or a question or a suggestion or a complaint, they can come to the blog and get answers from a real person, you will have your customers eating out of the palm of your hand.
Twitter: Site_Booster
March 20, 2010 at 7:32 am
Transparency on the web is like honesty in life. How could you attract others to yourself without it? Impossible.
Thank you Phyllis for the interesting point. Certain things are so easily neglected that many don’t even think about them. Such is “about us” page while it could create trust, draw targeted traffic and establish some relationship with the readers among other benefits.
Bob and Rahman –
Your points are both so important and so well-stated.
I’d like to add one thing to Rahman’s mention of the ABOUT US page. For me it doesn’t count as transparency if the ABOUT US page is written as “we do” and “we think” and there are no personal names included in the page. This is NOT transparency.