Readers Not Buying Corporate Blogs
Only 16% of corporate blog readers trust what they’re reading, according to a recent survey by Forrester Research. But blogger Richard MacManus at Read Write Web has pointed out that even within a single company, there are many blogs with varying degrees of trustworthiness and usefulness. Great piece. Please see the link below for more information.
From Read Write Web:
According to a new report by Forrester Research, corporate blogs are the least trusted information source of all. Only 16% of online consumers who read corporate blogs say that they trust them. You can grab a copy of this report for free by filling in a form at Forrester. The full trust scale is below, with ‘Email from people you know’ the most trusted at 77%.
We have some reservations about the findings of the report – and to prove our point in this post we check out a good and bad example of corporate blogging, from Dell and the Walmart blog respectively.
The report stated that regular blog readers and bloggers trust company blogs a little more, and those that trust corporate blogs are more likely to trust other media. Consumers are skeptical, says Forrester, because they view corporate blogs as unbalanced. So their advice is: if you’re a company thinking of starting a blog “about your company and its products”, you probably shouldn’t bother. For those companies that already have blogs, Forrester says that “if your blog generates leads, links, positive reviews, buzz, or PR, it’s probably worth keeping.” Otherwise shut it down.
The Forrester report was noted by the Blog Council, an organization which is focused on “the business of blogging and social media at the corporate level.” The council listed a number of its own member blogs which they (naturally) regard as trustworthy:
- Rubbermaid
- Microsoft
- AccuQuote
- Analog Devices
- Cisco Systems
- Coca-Cola
- Dell
- Direct2Dell
- General Electric
- General Motors
- Graco (Newell Rubbermaid)
- Intel
- Lenovo
- Mayo Clinic
- Molson
- Nokia
- Orange Business Services
- Petro-Canada
- Pitney Bowes
- Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
- Rubbermaid
- SAP
- Sharpie (Newell Rubbermaid)
- Walmart
- Wells Fargo
This entry was posted on December 10, 2008 at 11:58 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments.
Tags: AccuQuote, Analog Devices, Blog, Blog Council, Blogger, Blogging, CEO Blog, Cisco, Coca-Cola, Corporate Blog, Dell, Direct2Dell, Forrester, Forrester Research, GE, General Electric, General Motors, Graco, Intel, Microsoft, Molson, New Media, Nokia, Read Write Web, ReadWriteWeb, Richard MacManus, Rubbermaid, SAP, Sharpie, Social Media, Social Network, Wal-Mart, Walmart, Wells Fargo
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