December 30th, 2008

Corporate Blogs are the Least Trusted Information Source Amongst US Internet Users

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According to a recent report by Forrester’s Josh Bernoff, corporate blogs are the least trusted information source amongst US internet users, below direct mail and online classifieds!

Forrester Corporate Blogging

Only 16% of those who use company blogs say they trust them. Even regular blog readers (24%) and regular bloggers (39%) trust in company blogs lags behind most other forms of content.

Those who trust company blogs are a little younger, a little richer, and slightly less educated than those who don’t and they are likely to trust all types of media, including direct mail.

Surprising, bloggers are more likely to trust ALL types of content than blog readers, who, in turn, are more likely to trust ALL types of content except radio and TV than average US internet users.

Given that most corporate blog posts are essentially press releases, it isn’t surprising that most people don’t trust them, even though they trust word of mouth marketing in general. Even though Josh Bernoff gives several suggestions on how to run a corporate blog that stands out (be personal, be authentic, focus on the customer, focus on the industry), it will be sometime before we see a new breed of corporate blogs.

Trust, after all, is not a function of the content management system, it’s a function of the corporate culture.

Also see: J P Trenn, Debbie Weil, Paul Bradshaw.

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December 30th, 2008 | Posted in Default | Tagged with , , , , , , , |

  • @vandana: I agree that the corporate blog has a customer support function. But, often, listening is harder than talking and most organizations are too busy (or lazy) to do it. That's why corporate blogs aren't trusted. But, yes, it need not be that way.
  • Gaurav,
    There appears to be a problem here...while every consumer's need for information is strong, and a corporate blog appears to be an appropriate landing page in a google search, is the organisational objective of setting up a corporate blog primarily related only to satisfy a consumer's quest for information?

    A corporate blog is more of an e-crm tool where an organisation can engage it's consumers in conversations, request feedback, infact, give them a place to interact with the organisation, primarily so that the organisation gets more information on the consumer through the consumer comments.

    These comments finally become a knowledge repository for the organisation which can be mined to map the consumer thought process.All the organisation has to do is to extract explicit knowledge out of the tacit knowledge hidden in the blogs and treat this as a decison support system!!!!

    'Trust' is a big word.
    A consumer moves through a complete set of relationship stages on the continuum between
    liking and loyalty.The organisation needs to study the stage of a consumer on this continuum and maybe influence this through the right strategy.

    I can demonstrate a 100% shift in a consumer sentiment regarding an organisation, thanks to grievance redressal the organisation engaged in, after reading his comment in a blog post!!!!- AND ALL THIS, THROUGH THE CONSUMER'S COMMENTS ONLY............

    What eventually may end up being a great response management tool under the Campaign management segment in the e-crm domain, need not be written off, only because of a 'different' perspective!!!!!
    My personal take on this-
    A CORPORATE BLOG IS A SIGNIFICANT BLOGOSPHERE TREND THAT EMERGED IN 2008 TO AID AN ORGANISATION IN THE E-CRM DOMAIN and this can be proved.....!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    Marketology- Emerging trends!!!
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