"You might have noticed a trend in more and more marketing," writes Rohit Bhargava at the Influential Marketing Blog, "where large brands are featuring real people and actual employees in their ads." Heavy hitters like Intel, Best Buy, Dominos, IBM and GE have all used real team members to tell a compelling story—and here's how you can get in on the action:

Identify your company's in-house cheerleaders. "Many times," notes Bhargava, "you can find the most vocal of your employees already online talking about what they do and what your company does." Also look for those who consistently earn high marks in customer surveys and close the most deals—they're likely to be your best ambassadors.

Aggregate their voices for the greatest impact. "If some of your employees are on Twitter," he suggests, "consider asking them to use the same naming convention for their accounts (such as @bobatyourcompany)."

Establish clear guidelines. Let employees know what flies—and what doesn't—when discussing your company in online forums. For instance, they should always disclose their professional affiliation and should never share the company's trade secrets or financial data.

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