Do Consumers Trust Corporate Blogs?

A Forrester report says only 16% of corporate blog readers trust what they're reading.

Obviously, companies have to do a better a job convincing people to trust them.

Here are five ways companies may be able to make their blogs more trustworthy:

1. Find ways to get blogs to show up in search engine results. Consumers are more likely to trust content that is readily available through search engine results.

2. Connect with key influencers talking about your brand or its products. Encourage those influencers to link to your company blog.

3. Make sure your blog is relevant to your company and industry. Too often, a company will create a blog which is not relevant to its brand or products.
Wells Fargo's Guided By History blog is a great example. What does this blog have to do with business and banking?

4. Allow consumers to comment, even if they respond negatively.

5. Respond to consumer's questions quickly and truthfully.

6. Place a link to your companies blog on your homepage. I hate to pick on Wells Fargo, but it doesn't have a link to its Guided By History blog on its homepage.

Note to companies: If you do not feel your company blog is good enough for you to link to it, then why should I? (Wells Fargo - consider the link above as a favor).

7. Make contact information easily available. I don't want to spend hours searching for information to contact the company.

8. Talk about other things related to your company or industry. Discuss industry trends and important events. For instance, an automobile manufacturer could write a post requesting feedback from consumers about fuel economy.

9. Link to important news articles referencing your company blog. According to the Forrester study, 46% of people still trust newspapers. Given that, positive references about your company blog in a major newspaper is worthy of highlight.

10. Don't try to make your corporate blog too professional. By this I mean, focus on content, then design.

Feel free to comment if you have any other suggestions or concerns.

United Airlines Talks the Talk, but does not Walk the Walk When It Comes to Corporate Blogging

Upon returning home from New York City on Friday, November 21, 2008 (United Flight #7147) connecting in Washington DC, I decided to take a glance at the United Airlines "HEMISPHERES" magazine.
. I came across an interesting article titled,
"The Business of Blogging". Overall, I thought the article made some very valid points. In fact, the author, Ethan G. Salwen recommends businesses integrate websites and blogs. This can be done by simply adding a "Blog" link to a main site or homepage.

The article captivated my attention. I never thought an airline magazine could present such and interesting article. Reading up on the article peaked my interest in whether United Airlines, or it subsidiaries has a blog. I asked the flight attendant but she was unaware. Additionally, I wanted to find out if any other airlines have corporate blogs.

I spent some time over the past week trying to see which airlines implement social media effectively. I reviewed results through Google.com, visited company websites and checked other blogs citing examples of companies using social media effectively. My results are posted below.

Airline / Blog (Yes /No) / Link to Blog on Homepage?

Southwest / Yes / Yes
Delta / Yes / Yes
JetBlue / Yes / Yes
United / No / No
US Airways / No / No

Overall, I'm really surprised to see that United Airlines and US Airways do not have a corporate blog (or at least a corporate blog which is easy to find). It shocks me to see a company support the importance of business blogging in a company sponsored magazine yet not participate itself in such a social phenomena.

As I mentioned, I feel the content in the current issue of HEMISPHERES magazine is very relevant, especially to business people and marketers. United Airlines simply needs to monitor content more closely to make sure it aligns with its business polices and goals. It does not make a lot of sense to allow an article stressing the importance of business blogging to be published in its company sponsored magazine while the brand itself doesn't blog.

I plan to contact United Airlines to clarify whether they indeed have a corporate blog and whether a link can be provided. I will keep everyone updated on my findings.

You may visit Peter Kim's site for a list of companies using social media.