Ever since Forrester put out its report stating that consumers don’t trust 86 percent of corporate blogs, there have been a plethora of blog check up, and reasons why posts. Here are some of my favorites:
- A blog should feel like a gift (Kami Huyse)
- Health Check: How trusted is your blog (Jeremiah Owyang)
- No News Here (Debbie Weil)
- On the Other Hand, Maybe Your Company Shouldn’t Blog (Mitch Joel)
In the end, consumers don’t trust corporate blogs because they are one dimensional pieces of propaganda, and no one want to read corporate drivel (see Blog Council post on topic). It sucks!
Really, it’s that simple.
Welcome to the Twilight Zone: Social Media
One dimensional social media is about me, my personal brand (good Conversation Agent discussion here), my company, our products, buy, buy! Note the absence of real world matters, meaningful dialogues about better products or fixing broken ones, discussion of marketplace problems, meaningful macro trends, cross-links, comments or community issues. There is no substance in your average corporate blog, Twitter microblog ,influencer relations effort or Facebook engagement. Heck, for most corporate communicators engaging on that level is like visiting the Twilight Zone.
This is something that gets to the very heart of social media. People are not an audience, they are a community that wants to be engaged, not messaged at! Want to be safe? Publish a newsletter. Want to build relationships and have meaningful dialogue, then stop publishing content and participate!
Participation is marketing, not tossing a bunch of chic advertising agency designed contests at the blogosphere. Creating meaningful calls to actions that people care about, that’s social media engagement. Create environments for people to engage and get out of their way! Help others achieve their needs and wants. Resolve their problems! That’s what companies should do (case studies here and here).
It’s common sense, but it’s not safe. Because it involves risk, it involves putting the company out there, and taking feedback. It means talking about things other than you or your organizational endeavors. It even means being wrong sometimes.
86 percent stinks. I don’t anticipate that changing too much more towards the positive. Why? Because PR, marketing and corporate communications are incapable of performing on the front line. No matter how much smack they talk.
Even so with all the distrust, is it not worth it for a company to put out a blog explaining a great success, new product or whatever they care to share out into the world? I would think if a company blogs and I stumbled on it and it was a product or tool I used, that I could comment on it. I could leave positive or negative or constructive criticism. Which is maybe what the company desired by putting the information out in a conversational text.
Not really, not unless they intend to have a conversation about that and much more. My experience developing social media for dozens of cos shows when it s about them and their products it often fails to meet the mark. Socializing product info for feedback is great, but how many companies really are open to that. Like Mitch said, don’t bother blogging.
Otherwise, we can all see the press release :P Which is what most blogs are anyway, drivel for press releases about products.
So what type of companies are being trusted? And what do you think of Social Media Press Releases?
Case studies above have lots of great examples. I mean, one way to look at the report is 14 percent are doing this the right way! That’s a lot better than two years ago.
SMPRs have failed to stimulate conversations. I am not saying they won’t in the future, but right now I am not impressed even with my own experiments.
Could we extend your point to Barack Obama way of using social media? Since his election he has used only You Tube without updating his twitter status once.
Geoff – I’m OK with the 86%. The shock value serves Forrester (publicity, corporate guys going to them like they are gurus). The raw number serves PR folk who can show the way in companies (if we believe the inevitability of it all). And those of us in consulting get a shot at immortality by turning the tide?
Geoff,
The report was ridiculous. I agree with Michael. I’m OK with the 86 percent too. And, I assume the 14 percent are mighty happy with that as well.
All the best,
Rich
Hi Geoff, We are seeing a changing landscape in the world economy and still the large Companies don’t get it.
My opinion, who cares. Most of these Large Companies will never “get it” they all want to control the message. They cant even manage a decent apology when things go wrong.
http://michaelashworth.wordpress.com/2008/10/23/the-death-of-sorry/
Many pay lip service to the idea of having a meaningful relationship with the people who keep them in Business (or not as we are now seeing).
The people formally known as consumers demand more!
They are finding these Large Companies wanting.
The energy and the passion is in the micro, small and medium sized businesses. They know they can move adapt more quickly than these large Companies. They will have the edge.
Much like the dinosaurs who became extinct, the same will happen to these Large Companies. It is not a “right” to have a successful Business. It is a privilege, that in many cases is undeserved.
Mike Ashworth
Marketing Coach and Consultant
Brighton and Hove, Sussex, UK
Helping Small and Medium Sized Businesses find, attract and keep Customers.
http://www.linkedin.com/in/mikeashworth
Incapable of performing on the front line = fear of showing their face. Its a battle internally to get the buy-in of execs to allow such transparency for the world to see. But that’s what differentiates the 86% and the 14%. If you’re not willing to open up to the rules of social media engagement, then you might as well not jump in and add to the negative side of that percentage.
“In the end, consumers don’t trust corporate blogs because they are one dimensional pieces of propaganda, and no one want to read corporate drivel (see Blog Council post on topic). It sucks!”
Wow, Geoff. One dimensional pieces of propoganda? Drivel? That’s a bit extreme, don’t you think?
The report is tough. No question about it. But I believe there to be a direct connection between lack of trust in corporate blogs and the generally low opinion of corporations in general. The Forrester data reflects that. We talked about this with Josh in a private briefing with the Blog Council on Tuesday.
By and large, people just don’t trust large corporations as having their best interests at heart. So when they see that a corporation has started a blog, they see it as the Big Bad Wolf knocking on the door.
Frankly, that’s sad. ‘
Instead of actually reading a corporate blog, what people don’t see is that there are *real people* writing these blogs. The work these people do is outstanding, and comes from a good place. They genuinely want to help make their customer’s lives better.
For example, look at one of the example Josh wrote about in the report: Rubbermaid. (*) You have Jim Deitzel blogging about getting organized, preparing for the holidays, getting ready for New Year’s, etc. It’s fun and personal. He even posted pictures of his kids. Yes, he talks about Rubbermaid products, but in the context of getting organized and helping to solve real world customer problems.
How any of that could generate mistrust is beyond me.
cheers,
Michael
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312-932-9000 / michael@blogcouncil.org / twitter: merubin
I am a Blog Council employee and this is my personal opinion.
* Rubbermaid is a Blog Council member. I write about them because I like them and they are good people.
Michael:
I have a real hard time taking your rubbermaid example as anything but drivel. you want authenticity, here you go.
your defense predicates that big cos care about people and want to do the right thing. yet they put out bs and don’t talk about real issues, or show how social media is changing their orgs. instead you assume that 86 percent of people are stupid, and won’t give your paying clients (to the tune of TENS OF THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS) the time of day.
Meanwhile your most notorious client – GM – can’t give anyone a good reason to believe in them on or off line. Spare me the victimhood and the rubber stories. Counsel your clients to pay attention and knock off the drivel, oops, I meant bullshit.
Geoff,
I did not say, nor did I presume, that 86 percent of people are stupid. Out of respect to you for your past work, I’ll forgive your lapse in judgment. It’s never a good idea to put words in other people’s mouths, and I would ask you not to do so with mine.
I guess we’ll have to agree to disagree on this one. What you call drivel, I call transparency. What you call bullshit, I call a remarkable case study in honesty.
…Michael
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312-932-9000 / michael@blogcouncil.org / twitter: merubin
I am a Blog Council employee and this is my personal opinion.
I’m not asking for your forgiveness, Michael. I’m asking you not to come here and flack on behalf of your clients with statements like it’s sad that big cos will never be trusted by 86 percent, thus inferring that consumers are stupid.
And I don’t forgive you for judging people like that. You and your big member cos need to take a hard look in the mirror. Numbers like this happen for a reason.
A blog is a platform that delivers information a certain way. It is only a tool. This lumps the blog that delivers press releases with blogs that deliver information.
It’s b.s. statistics and you’re just propigating the problem by not calling out the problem with the stats.
Next we’ll talk about how php-coded sites or javascript widgets aren’t trusted when used by companies.
Focus on the communication and why that isn’t trusted, not the delivery method.
Because if the delivery method is so important you would compare blogs to commercials. Not commercial blogs to personal blogs. It’s really just a false premise bringing on results that people want to talk about. It’s rigged.
Geoff,
I agree with you but Michael also makes a point when he says many of us don’t trust big business, and that likely translates onto thier blogs as well. Here’s a big problem, as I see it.
Companies don’t know how to adopt social media as a vehicle for their customers. Instead of seeing the value it can offer through Inbound Marketing, they try to use it for Outbound Marketing, PR and Advertising, just as you suggest. Part of that happens, I think, because so much of what companies learn about social media comes from evengelists and techies who don’t know the difference between Inbound Marketing and Outbound Marketing or ROI and Value.
To anyone who will listen, I encourage them to see blogs as a tool much like CRM or the customer call center, where we listen, customers talk, and we learn what our customers want and need, and then we do everything we can to create great customer experiences around what we learn. At the end of the day, that is a goal of Inbound Marketing.
Do you think that corporations will start to employ FT bloggers/tweeple solely for the purpose of communicating with customers on a personal level? How great would it be to speak with a real person on Twitter about a brand in a real sense, not just a corporate talking “head.” I’m sure this has been discussed before, but I’m surprised I don’t see more of it.