Is Your Company Trusted or Do You Have a Digital Comb Over?

Is Your Company Trusted?

Many companies are entering the social/green/community space, with hopes of impressing customers, yet despite their best intentions, they could come across as inauthentic, and be damaging their own brand.  Companies should first take a self-assessment of their brand to see if they’re ready before they decide to enter the social space.

Companies should first assess their culture and ask:

  • Is the company ready to talk about the good –and bad– with the market?
  • Is the internal culture ready to embrace customers on their own terms?
  • Is the culture ready to make changes based on the request of customers?

Launching a corporate blog is easy, a Twitter account even easier, yet if companies culture doesn’t match the values they’re telling the market, they risk brand damage through reduced credibility. You’re not fooling anyone.

20 Replies to “Is Your Company Trusted or Do You Have a Digital Comb Over?”

  1. Jeremiah, I keep saying companies must embrace the mindset of social media before engaging with the toolset. The DNA of social media – authenticity and transparency – has to be ingrained in them before they can make the most effective use of the tools available.

    I’m troubled that I see a continued emphasis on the “how” without an equal emphasis on the “why.” Understanding and adapting themselves to the cultural landscape is paramount. Companies must be able to positively answer the question, “Are we ready?” Those who are will be rewarded; those who are not stand the chance of being taken to task by the very consumers they wish to engage.

  2. Recreating Gartner Quads truly is the first sign of madness…

    Trust boils down to something rather simple, beyond just culture — form is more important than words. A company can say everyone is equal, but if the Junior Execs, get the big offices, and have posh conference lunches, it cancels out any puffery social-talking content whatsoever.

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