A Matter of Trust

Companies strive to portray their brands as those that can be trusted. Unfortunately, trust levels are not where they used to be.

It takes only a Pew Research Center poll from April, 2010 to shed some light on current views. The poll found that only 22 percent of Americans trust the government in Washington. Corporations don’t fare any better: the poll further confirmed that only 39 percent of consumers trusted messages conveyed to them by corporate spokespeople in 2010, compared to 45 percent in 2009. There are many elements contributing to consumers’ lack of trust: The economic downturn is an obvious indicator, but badly handled scandals, including the former Hewlett Packard CEO’s sex scandal, or the slowly-handled BP gulf oil spill, don’t help.

And keep this in mind; a carefully molded brand impression that takes years to build can go right out the window with a single rumor on a social media or news network. Take a look at the recent headlines that spread like wildfire when WikiLeaks’ Julian Assange revealed he may release damaging private information from a Bank of America executive on his controversial web site. The bank’s stock went down 3 points the following day even though there had been no such information revealed.

Think carefully about how you communicate when representing your company’s brand. Social Media and web content, although a powerful tool to spread great messaging and build impressions, can go sour instantly. Brands need to do more than merely stay on the straight and narrow; they need to develop web content that builds their impression effectively and should rely on experienced resources to create and manage their communications.