Forrester came out with a report today on trust and corporate blogging. We won’t mince words: it’s tough.
According to the report (authored by Josh Bernoff, who co-wrote Groundswell), only 16% of US adults trust corporate blogs. We can’t say we’re all that surprised. The themes of trust and transparency have been core issues for the Blog Council since its founding. Earlier this year, we released the Disclosure Best Practices Toolkit as a resource for helping companies establish their own policies and ensure corporate social media is conducted honestly and ethically.
What’s clear is that while there is a lot of work still to do, corporate blogs do work. The report specifically highlighted some examples of corporate blogs that are trustworthy — Dell, Rubbermaid, and Microsoft (all Blog Council members, by the way) — because they put their customer first and exist to help solve their problems. We completely agree. In fact, every single one of the speakers at BlogWell in September indicated that the purpose of their blogs first and foremost was to listen to their customers and help make their lives better.
Here are some other examples of trustworthy blogs, too (and yes, they are all Blog Council members):
- AccuQuote
- Analog Devices
- Cisco Systems
- Coca-Cola
- Dell
- 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
The Blog Council encourages everyone to support ethical, honest, transparent corporate blogging.
Learn more:
Josh Bernoff’s blog post about the report
Get a copy of the report
Clorox: Using gaming strategies to grow community
Jim Sterne: Social media metrics
BlogWell: How big brands use social media