Image courtesy of llawlietSee these friendly people?

They are your employees. Well, technically not. This is a stock photo of some people pretending to be employees. Just imagine that they are your employees though. 

These people to the right are your new marketing campaign. 

Don't believe me? Check out Gautam Ghosh's post on the subject.

All of your employees can have a voice. They can build up or tear down your business in a fell swoop. All because one of them has a webpage, Facebook page or a Twitter account. They have groups of friends they interact with online (who each have groups of friends online).

As Gautam points out, smart money is on companies that actually use their employee's voices to shine a bright light on the great things they are doing as a company. For one, they aren't going away (and trying to stomp it out is a short term strategy filled with problems). Utilization of social networking is going up, not down. Consumers have a bigger voice, not a smaller one. 

And your employees? They haven't had a bigger voice than right now. What are you doing with it? How are companies helping their employees become a bright voice out there as brand ambassadors? 

If we admit that company culture is inseparable from the employees you keep, what's to prevent your company's brand from being significantly impacted? 

All of the careful constructs marketing has used to create a meaningful and purposeful brand can either be enhanced through the organic feedback of your employees own personal brands or be damaged by one that isn't so flattering. 

What are your thoughts on this? Is this the next big step in rethinking HR and Marketing?