The 2010 Edelman Global Trust Barometer released today might motivate you to take another look at your 2010 PR and social media strategy.
For the first time trust and transparency rank as important to corporate reputation as the quality of products and services. In fact, in the U.S. and in much of Western Europe, those two attributes rank higher than product quality—and far outrank financial returns.
“We’re seeing a vastly different set of factors driving reputation than we did 10 years ago<” says Richard Edelman. “Trust is now an essential line of business to be developed and delivered.”
The most credible voice for a company has shifted back to academics/experts or industry analysts. A ‘person like me’, which took top spot two years ago, dropped from 57 to 50 percent. The decline is even more marked in the U.S. (60 to 39 percent) and the U.K. (51 to 35 percent). CEOs, however, are still in the bottom two in the list of trusted spokespeople in the U.S. and Germany.
The credibility of mainstream media, including television, newspapers, and radio, continues to wane.
In the U.S., the credibility of television news dropped 20-plus points in two years (from 43 points in 2008 to 20 points in 2010). In the U.K, radio news coverage dropped by 20 points in two years. In the BRIC countries, television news and newspapers declined by more than 15 points each in two years (to 40 and 30 percent, respectively.)
“More than ever, engagement needs to be tied to action and not just set to broadcast,” said David Brain, president and CEO Edelman Europe, Middle East and Africa. “This means cultivating a wide circle of spokespeople with substantial expertise and participating in conversations in real time.”
Join us for a webinar on engagement as a PR strategy Feb 11th at 10 am PST and 1pm EST. Rebecca Lieb of Econsultancy will be my guest.
