I don’t mean visually. I mean, spiritually. Culturally. Interpersonally. Somewhere along the way, the most negative of our internet underbelly began to show. And today, it seems to dominate the conversation online. Rage tweets. Hate speech. Bad news and click bait. Since my dial up days of AIM and hotmail email, I can’t remember a time when the internet felt so… sad.
This isn’t to say I’m hopeless. If anything, I am one of those people who is irrationally hopeful about the capacity for good online and offline. Because when we see those bright lights, I do believe we are ultimately moths to a flame. We want to see the good. And that is really my theme for you this month: How can you be the “GOOD” your customers experience online?
When my cofounder, Hayley, and I started soona, we kept coming back to a central thought: How can soona feel like your “secret weapon” friend? You know that person who always brought you to the best hidden gem restaurants? And seems to know the best dermatologist? And not only that, but can help you get an appointment faster? Yeah, that friend.
Personifying our businesses is one way we can explore our brands. By calling out these human qualities, we can imagine how our customer feels when they encounter our business in the wild. Do they feel the same way about our instagram account as they do about their best friends? Or do they feel like we are someone they have lost touch with?
And if you think your company is more of the second than the first, that’s OK. All it means is that it’s time to start bringing back those feelings of humanity and connection to your content. Here’s a few ways you can do this now:
- Show the people in your organization doing what they do best. Take photos of your designers designing packaging. Your warehouse packing boxes. The reminder that someone personally cares for the products you send to them goes a long way.
- Use your next email not to sell anything, but to write your customers a love letter. Say thank you for their past purchases. Their social follows. And their support. In any friendship, we need to be reminded we are appreciated.
- Finally, give your closest customers something special. Invite them to a dinner. Or heck, a mountain meetup! (Like Half Days did!)
Or if you really want to go deep, get vulnerable. That’s what I am doing right now. Literally. I am documenting my experience of building my own ecommerce store over the course of the next year on TikTok. Everything I learn. Everything I dream about. And probably everything I screw up too. All so I can create another channel to connect with you. I hope you will follow me as I try to make the internet a little more beautiful.
I don’t mean visually. I mean, spiritually. Culturally. Interpersonally. Somewhere along the way, the most negative of our internet underbelly began to show. And today, it seems to dominate the conversation online. Rage tweets. Hate speech. Bad news and click bait. Since my dial up days of AIM and hotmail email, I can’t remember a time when the internet felt so… sad.
This isn’t to say I’m hopeless. If anything, I am one of those people who is irrationally hopeful about the capacity for good online and offline. Because when we see those bright lights, I do believe we are ultimately moths to a flame. We want to see the good. And that is really my theme for you this month: How can you be the “GOOD” your customers experience online?
When my cofounder, Hayley, and I started soona, we kept coming back to a central thought: How can soona feel like your “secret weapon” friend? You know that person who always brought you to the best hidden gem restaurants? And seems to know the best dermatologist? And not only that, but can help you get an appointment faster? Yeah, that friend.
Personifying our businesses is one way we can explore our brands. By calling out these human qualities, we can imagine how our customer feels when they encounter our business in the wild. Do they feel the same way about our instagram account as they do about their best friends? Or do they feel like we are someone they have lost touch with?
And if you think your company is more of the second than the first, that’s OK. All it means is that it’s time to start bringing back those feelings of humanity and connection to your content. Here’s a few ways you can do this now:
- Show the people in your organization doing what they do best. Take photos of your designers designing packaging. Your warehouse packing boxes. The reminder that someone personally cares for the products you send to them goes a long way.
- Use your next email not to sell anything, but to write your customers a love letter. Say thank you for their past purchases. Their social follows. And their support. In any friendship, we need to be reminded we are appreciated.
- Finally, give your closest customers something special. Invite them to a dinner. Or heck, a mountain meetup! (Like Half Days did!)
Or if you really want to go deep, get vulnerable. That’s what I am doing right now. Literally. I am documenting my experience of building my own ecommerce store over the course of the next year on TikTok. Everything I learn. Everything I dream about. And probably everything I screw up too. All so I can create another channel to connect with you. I hope you will follow me as I try to make the internet a little more beautiful.
