I recently told everyone that they should hire someone to be a digital face of their business.

I can sense the panic that any business owner would have in entrusting their brand in the hands of some blogger, social media specialist, or whatever you want to call it. In order to clearly state why this concept works for any brand, I’ll point out the advantages by shutting down the 5 basic fears that businesses have with putting the responsibility of their brand marketing on the shoulders of highly visible team members.

Fear #1 – Hiring an employee to represent your brand online could result in disaster due to poor brand representation. This is why you hire a professional blogger, not your nephew or your friend’s kid who is a recent college graduate looking for a job. People do this for a living for businesses and are successful.

In fact, out of 160 million blogs, 21% are business blogs with people behind them. Creating processes that hold your team accountable such as a content calendar and a social media policy are the key in a winning structure for both employee and employer.

Fear #2 – If they ever leave the business I then lose everything. The Internet has shrunken our attention spans significantly. I’m not saying to have your digital faces be interviewed by ‘The New York Times’ or have sip coffee alongside Kelly Ripa. Although, that would certainly be some great exposure.

Your digital face is posting on social networks and blogging daily. Swap one blogger out with someone else and while of course you suffer a loss as you do with any other employee as long as you maintain those three principles – consistency, relevance, engagement – then with the help of our Internet ADD you should be just fine. Do you not hire sales people because you might lose them one day?

Fear #3 – Having a digital face to my company doesn’t offer any real value to my existing structure. In fact, it has both internal and external benefits to your existing structure. On the external side of the coin, the concept allows your brand to be more human and thus easier to digest and relate to for consumers. Strong customer relations certainly lead to stronger sales.

As far as your current internal structure, it allows you to constantly define your goals for your staff and share valuable knowledge that keeps them on the same page. You are able to execute both those goals using the same networks they already comfortably use in their personal time and comfort leads to an increase in team collaboration.

Fear #4 – It devalues the business brand. Currently, most businesses devote the majority of their budgets to outbound marketing, or traditional marketing. This form of marketing is business-centric, not consumer-centric. Whether it is skipping TV commercials, tossing unopened direct mail to the trash, using the Yellow Pages as a step stool, or adding their numbers to the “Do Not Call List”, consumers are experts at avoiding outbound marketing.

Connecting with consumers through online networks originally created for them and getting on their level by putting a face to your business brand is not only effective it is also extremely cost efficient.

Fear #5 – It has never been done before. Completely false. Small business entrepreneurs have welcomed this concept because they didn’t know any other way, from restaurants to retailers. Blogger Julia Allison claims to have invented the idea of “lifecasting” or blogging about all aspects of your life with subtle product reviews from product partnerships.

The ‘New York Times’ was revitalize, at least for younger generations, in part thanks to media journalist Brian Stelter who blogs and tweets every step of his life but in and outside of the office. Of course I can’t forget Matt Cutts, the internet celebrity that is the apple of every SEO geek’s eye, who is known for his down to earth videos and blogs that are part a reflection of Google’s culture and certainly a part of his own online personality.

The Responsibility Is on Your Shoulders

Once you embrace the best practices of inbound marketing you can, with ease, build an internal team with online personalities that match your business culture that utilizes the current popular networks to connect with consumers.

Internal team members can present content matching the three marketing principles that users respond to the most: consistency, relevance, and engagement We are also quickly being reassured that it is highly likely that whatever an online user likes, the search engines like.

Bringing your digital marketing strategy back to the basics and hiring a blogger or online personality could revolutionize your online brand. Or it could do nothing. Either way, that responsibility will fall on your shoulders. I say the risk is worth taking.

About the Author

Brian Pasch is the founder of PCG companies. PCG provides customized marketing and training solutions for businesses that are committed to dominate their local market.