You can't trust corporate blogs?
Came across an interesting report from Forrester Research. They had done a survey to find out how much people trust information from various sources. Email from friends you know was rank the first while corporate blogs were actually rank the last.
I think the findings provides a good perspective and balance against the background where almost everyone is actively pitching about the use of social media. The key message to me is to stop focusing or get hype up by the media or the tools. Don't get me wrong, I am a strong supporter on the use of social media but at the end of the day people need to realize that they are just tools rather than painting the scenario that companies are doom because they don't use social media to engage the customers, have a conversation with them, etc.
The use of social medial is a tactic not a strategy. Companies need to put in time and effort to build up relationship with their customers and aim to achieve this at all touch points be it online or offline. It is not that people don't trust corporate blogs but rather what are the efforts that companies but into establishing a sincere relationship with the readers. It is the relationship that builds the trust not the tools. The tools are there to help companies do a better job at building a relationship.
If any company believe that they can become more trust worthy because they are using the latest social media solution, it is time to do a check if there is an overdose on the social media Kool-Aid.
What are your thoughts? Perhaps in the near future we would be so wired that we blindly placed our trust based on the the type of media used? Will we end up only trusting people that must have at least a Facebook profile?
The use of social medial is a tactic not a strategy. Companies need to put in time and effort to build up relationship with their customers and aim to achieve this at all touch points be it online or offline. It is not that people don't trust corporate blogs but rather what are the efforts that companies but into establishing a sincere relationship with the readers. It is the relationship that builds the trust not the tools. The tools are there to help companies do a better job at building a relationship.
If any company believe that they can become more trust worthy because they are using the latest social media solution, it is time to do a check if there is an overdose on the social media Kool-Aid.
What are your thoughts? Perhaps in the near future we would be so wired that we blindly placed our trust based on the the type of media used? Will we end up only trusting people that must have at least a Facebook profile?
