A “plogo” is a concept we developed at the InSights Group (with a little help from our friend @toddlist) during one of our Social Media sessions. We coach business owners, entrepreneurs and teams that, to be visible in social media and form solid relationships with people, they need to have their photo on all of their profiles. Many of our clients raised the legitimate concern that they also need to represent their company online. Enter the plogo, a photo and logo used in combination to represent both the company, and the individual person.
Just imagine how effective this is for teams of people. Using a consistent brand logo for the company, combined with an individual photo, each person has their individual Plogo they can share on Twitter, Facebook, and in email signature. This combines the relationship-building power of a photo with the brand recognition of the company logo. Entrepreneurs can use this to their benefit as well when they are communicating online with a subliminal brand, or company name that works with their photographic image.
The history of human communication includes both words and visual cues. Before electronic communication became the norm, we learned as much with our eyes as we did with our ears. With social media, where we don’t have the visual cue of the actual person in front of us, the importance of social interaction and human connection through pictures is even greater. Since marketing is about creating relationships, using a photo with a logo lets you accomplish the best of both worlds.
As social creatures, humans are innately drawn to other human faces. Physiognomy is the study of the human face, and specifically the study of how facial features represent our thought processes. As we go through life, the process of how we think literally becomes etched on our faces. The human brain picks up on subtle cues on faces, and helps us understand people from a visual level. Our face helps people gain a better understanding of us. Physiognomy is innately understood by the brain, whether we are conscious of it or not.
In the new economy and its dependence on online connections for relationship building, we must stretch the boundaries of our communication and think of new ways to truly create a human connection. The easiest way is to use our most human asset — our own face. 
Facial recognition starts building neuro-pathways in our brain and creates a sense of comfort. We form a sense of knowing and common ground when we meet someone in person after seeing their picture online. The relationship builds even if we never meet in person, as so many of our relationships will exist only in cyberspace. Marketing is about finding and building on common ground. When someone shares our social space, and we have glimpsed their life through pictures and videos, we feel a sense of connection with those people. Our brains, because we put a photo with it, engage at a higher capacity and we have a sense of greater connection. Being the social creatures that we are, once we’ve seen someone’s face, we feel that we know them on a personal level.
If you need a plogo, our design team can help. Just visit the Contact Us form and send over your request.