Is your brand trusted on the social web?
Although the Internet is an integral place of business, the online reality is that many Internet users still distrust even the most credible brands on the social web.
A 2008 study by Josh Bernoff of Forrester research showed that consumers don’t trust corporate blogs or company profiles on social network sites. Trust of company blogs was 16 percent.
Online classifieds (20%), direct mail (25%), Wikipedia (33%) and yellow pages (48%) rated higher!
Social Web
Much of the distrust related to corporate blogs is a byproduct of poor corporate blogging practices by early adopters in 2006 and 2007. These adopters underestimated the effort required for blogging and used blogging as a channel for one-way product-centered discussions.
Today’s social web, however, requires ongoing interaction, relevance and openness.
To enhance the credibility on the social web, companies can:
- Be completely transparent. Companies who participate in social networks should be completely honest about who they are and who their employees are. To avoid confusion, they should have a company branded profile and ID for all social networks they participate.
- Listen. Consumers use social networks to vent good and bad customer service and product experiences. When negative comments arise about a company’s brands, products or services in the public areas on social networks, it’s important to review comments closely and understand the circumstances before responding.
- Respond honestly in helpful tones. Don’t overract. Don’t make excuses. Provide a response that restate the problem that occurred and describes the company’s willingness to resolve and prevent problems.
If you haven’t read Josh’s the book Groundswell: Winning in a world transformed by social Technologies, do so. It points out that listening, talking, energizing, supporting, and embracing customer conversations is the best way for companies to build brand awareness, credibility and buzz on social networks.
Websites
Trust of company websites isn’t much better. If someone is seeking unbiased information about a product or service — it seems like the last place they want to go is the company’s own website. Instead, they prefer to seek recommendations from friends using email and social networks.
Many Internet surfers often believe they know a credible Web site when they see one. Sites seem intuitively credible when content is frequently updated, unbiased and helpful. Sites filled with boasting , exaggeration and advertising copy are viewed with lower credibility.
To enhance the credibility of their Web site, companies can:
- Provide well-attributed testimonials.
Testimonials raise a Web site’s credibility. Testimonials can brief, specific, unique or unexpected in their wording. Attribution is important. Testimonials need to include detailed attribution (the name and company of the individual providing the testimonial). Testimonials that exclude attribution raise suspicion. - Offer expertise.
Be an “approachable expert” to Web site visitors by providing them with meaningful content and advice. Demonstrate your expertise. Offer articles and white papers that people can freely read at your site or download. - Include meaningful contact information.
Many businesses overlook the benefits of stating where they’re located, their telephone number and email address. Contact information positions your company as legitimate, reliable, and accountable. Lack of contact information makes surfers wary.
Actions
Actions speak louder than words. An OTX research study entitled, ”The Impact of Social Media on Purchase Behavior” found that 63 percent of consumers say they would like to personally share their opinions online about a brand or product with a company’s representative. And, 67 percent of consumers are likely to pass along information from this conversation to other people.
According to the 2008 study, 54 percent of consumers say information from a company’s brand representative who directly interacts with them online is more valuable than information they find on companies’ websites.
Traditional marketing tactics are strained on digital platforms. In social media platforms, they often flounder. Why? It’s not possible to manufacture credibility. credibility has got to be earned.
Credits: Cartoon (above and below) by Charles M Schulz. If you find yourself near Santa Rosa, CA, take the time to visit the Charles M Schulz Museum. Graph is from Forrester’s Time to rethink corporate blogging ideas report from 12/9/2008.
Behavior Determines Trust: The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown (on DVD), offers one of the best “trust me” scenes in TV history. Enjoy the scene below and consider whether you’re brand is trustworthy on the social web.
Catching up on Social Meteor — good writing TJ!
Very insightful. Would user generated content on advertisements and brands be a good way to start a brand conversation? Another question that comes up is, how will/should brands consume and react to such feedback. Will one social network be given more weightage over another?