Harris Interactive just released it’s 9th Annual Survey of the 60 most visible US companies. Their findings: 71% of consumers say the reputation of corporate America is “poor,” but consumers will buy, recommend and invest in companies that concentrate on building their corporate reputation.
What are those building blocks? More than profits.
- emotional appeal
- vision/leadership
- social responsibility
- workplace environment
- financial performance
- products/services
How do you measure reputation? According to Ken Powell, Chairman and CEO of General Mills, you do so in:
- recognition
- employee recruitment and retention
- stock price multiples, even
- trust is by far the most important measure
The top ten companies on this year’s list include (with social media URLs or specific category scores):
1. Google – Google User Experience manifesto
2. Johnson & Johnson – JNJ BTW a three dimensional view of Johnson & Johnson
3. Intel Corporation – IT @ Intel Blog
4. General Mills – scores in social responsibility, emotional appeal, workplace environment
5. Kraft Foods – scores in emotional appeal and workplace environment
6. Berkshire Hathaway Inc. – scores in financial performance, vision & leadership
7. 3M Company – scores in emotional appeal and products & services
8. The Coca-Cola Company – Coca-Cola Conversations
9. Honda Motor Co. – “Honda strives to be a company that society wants to exist,” said Jeffrey Smith, spokesperson for American Honda Motor Company, Inc. “As such we endeavor to create value for our customers and society through our efforts to improve fuel efficiency, enhance safety, provide products of the highest quality, and be on the leading edge of corporate social responsibility.”
10. Microsoft – Microsoft Community blogs
From the press release:
Overall, more companies taking an active role affecting and managing their reputation are seeing positive results, while those that are not continue to see their reputation decline.
Why does it matter? Because we buy and recommend products and services based on a company’s reputation – as experienced in customer service, and perceived through the display of high ethical standards. It comes down to trust. That five-letter word.
Rather than focusing on improving familiarity, companies would be better served in working to improve understanding. What do you think? Have the social media activities helped the companies that engage in them score higher on this list?
For select research download the PDF here.
Valeria,
Thanks for sharing the research. I have been using similar research in my presentations.
The research supports good old common sense: We buy products and services from people, not brands or slogans. When we trust those people, we become loyal customers and buy more.
Reputation is – by most definitions – a social evaluation. To measure the reputation of a company, you must find a way to tap into the “gossip cloud” that surrounds the company. Historically, this is done by consumer surveys.
We think Web-based social media offers an opportunity to make more timely and accurate measurements of company reputation. If you are interested in knowing more, please check out the website we’ve just launched:
http://www.vanno.com/
@Lewis – it was interesting to see the measurement piece being quoted with such authority. I like the conclusion about improving understanding vs. familiarity and the implications on relationships and community building.
@Nick – welcome to the conversation and thank you for sharing. Have you read Groundswell? There are many ideas on the use of social media for customer intelligence and insights.
Hi Valeria
Thanks for this post. It’s relevant to a seminar I attended this morning.
There was one thing missing from your list of building blocks that deserves to be there – integrity.
The speaker who shared this with me this morning (www.hannahsamuels.com) talked about it in these terms.
Acting with integrity builds trust. Trust builds reputation. Reputation builds loyalty.
Following this logic, individuals or companies that fail to act with integrity do not build trust.
To me integrity = do what you say you will do. Which is easier to demonstrate in an open and candid forum than it is to do behind closed doors. Hence my emphasis on the adoption of tools that allow that open conversation.
One of the most vexing issues organizations face today is the loss of internal alignment. Without alignment there is no common voice and agreement as to how to demonstrate that integrity.
Thank you for the link and for expanding on the thread.
Ciao Valeria,
Siete assolutamente corretto. Per un commercio e molto importante avere una reputazione onesta.
Molti nuovi clienti vengono perche un amico ha parlato di un commercio che e fantastico.
Grazie per la scrittura.
I like the post, Valeria…but most importantly, I’m blown away by Neil’s Italian!
Yes, I am sure Valeria either winces or laughs every time she sees a post from me. Not sure which.
Hi Valeria,
One of my favorite topics and an area I have done some work in is the whole area of corporate reputations. A link and resource I find really helpful is here http://www.reputationinstitute.com/. I do think the traditional “reputation” studies, data and concepts may needs some re-thinking as the emerging online world has an impact.
@Neil – sometimes it manages to be just a smile.
@Elaine – LOL.
@Richard – I was surprised that Dell was not in the top ten and pleased to see three technology companies there. Everything needs rethinking. Social media and conversations have shifter the paradigm of business. Not a day too soon, either. Thank you for the link. Always eager to learn.
Valeria – Thanks for the welcome. I have read Groundswell, and found it a good summary. The more specific inspiration for how we’re approaching company reputation comes from the use of Bayesian methods in marketing (cf. Peter E. Rossi, Greg Allenby, and Rob McCulloch “Bayesian Statistics and Marketing”). These methods underpin the algorithms we use to turn “gossip” into numbers.
I just realized I put in an actual book reference as opposed to a link. How old-school
Thank you for the reference, Nick. With the Google, today we can easily find books, even with titles or authors alone.
Here’s the link for those who wish to look into it http://tiny.cc/DBR3t
I get the feeling Valeria reads a lot of books. That is a very, very good thing.
Web sites, blogs, etc., are great but reading a book is a whole different level of learning.
Check out Trust-index. It is a way to measure how trusted an item is. Items can be of very different nature (service providers, brands, persons, etc). The mechanism is pretty simple, users can vote each item from 1 (minumum trust) to 5 (maximum trust). An average (the Trust-index) is calculated from all the votes issued. The higher it gets, the higher trust that item is generating on voters.