It might be a scary thought for certain public relations professionals, but companies should really find suitable employees outside the marketing department to blog about their business, and perferably those who display passion for the product or service and are good communicators.
The wisdom of this is born out by a new study conducted by Intelliseek, mentioned by Christopher Hannegan, Edelman’s Director of Employee Engagement. He reports:
[Intelliseek] found that consumers were greatly influenced (7.0 on a 10-point scale) to purchase a product or service if they heard a positive comment about that product or service by an employee of the company who offered it. Only three types of influence ranked above employee comments: “a negative word-of-mouth report from someone you knew personally”; “a positive word-of-mouth report from someone you knew personally”; and “a positive first-hand report from a credible professional source or expert.”
And for those who think they can still buy their way to their customers’ affection:
What was last on the list of things that influence purchase decisions? Advertising in a newspaper or magazine and in television or radio all came in at 4.6 out of 10.
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