Just talked to a friend of mine that recently joined a marketing organization and was told after he joined that he would have to stop blogging. When he asked why, he was told that it would take traffic away from the company blog. Again, this is a marketing organization, and one that sounds like it needs to get in touch with what is going on now.
Most organizations hope to find someone with some brand equity to bring to their team. By joining them it makes the team stronger. Anyone that disagrees with me needs to think of it as when a new player joins a sports team. When that new member steps onto the field, they have the team name and their name on their jersey. Team members don’t forfeit their identity when they join the team. (No one said ” Hey Jordan. You’re just a Bull now.”) A business is made up of individuals that are (hopefully) connected by a common goal; also known as a community. The online ecosystem is becoming more and more transparent and the new expectation is that I can reach someone who works for that business. The ability to talk to that individual that and/or share my thought about that business builds brand depth.
So when you hire someone with an established personal brand, take advantage of it. Have them post on the company site as well or have them post to the company site first and then post on their site. You can’t recommend to individuals/customers that they step out from their business to show themselves and then not practice the same thing. Too hypocritical.
