A DEVALUATION OF "FRIENDS" MAY BE DRIVING TRUST IN THOUGHT LEADERS by Steve Rubel

A DEVALUATION OF "FRIENDS" MAY BE DRIVING TRUST IN THOUGHT LEADERS

Key points in this post..

• There's been a decline in trust in "a person like myself" and regular employees, arguably because of "over-friending"
• Trust in credentialed experts (70%) and company technical specialists (64%) is soaring
• Informed publics (media consumers) need to hear things three to five times for it to effect a behavior change
• To stand out and build trust, businesses must activate internal thought leaders across several spheres of media

 

Additional analysis...

 

This morning in Davos our CEO Richard Edelman unveiled the key findings of the 2011 Edelman Trust Barometer - an annual survey. There's a lot to dig into here. However, I want to highlight three data points that underscore a critical theme that my colleague David Armano and I detailed in our recent trends deck.

 

The takeaway: to stand out in a very cluttered media world, organizations must increasingly activate their internal subject matter experts as thought leaders and do so across several spheres of media - traditional (WSJ, CNN, etc.), Internet upstarts (eg Business Insider, Politico), corporate/owned platforms and social.

 

Let's dig into the data.

 

First, over the last several years there's been a decline in trust in "a person like myself." It's down four percent in the last 12 months. Some 47% said they trust this group, which is down from 68% in 2006. An analysis: I believe the reason for this is that, as more of us join social networks, there's been a devaluation in the entire concept of "friendship." A separate surveyfound that people don't know 20 percent of their Facebook friends. Consider that "unfriend" was Oxford's word of the year for 2009.

 

Second, the Trust Barometer revealed rising confidence in credentialed experts (70%, an increase of 8%). This is a trend that began last year. In addition, for the first time we looked at the credibility of technical specialists inside a company. Trust in this group is off the charts (64%). This hits home the need to identify those with expertise inside a company who can engage across different channels, many of which today are digital - or will be soon. Note that this differs from trust in a regular employee, which is down to 34% from 42% in 2006.

 

Finally, our Strategy One research team looked at what's required to effect a behavior change in a cluttered media world. It's not pretty. 

 

The data found that informed publics (media consumers) need to hear things three to five times from just as many sources before it sinks in. In the most developed countries like the US and UK it's even higher - a staggering nine times or more. This means organizations must secure multiple impressions across a diverse array of media sources, some that we don't control, others that we increasingly do. Advertising won't cut it. It's the least trusted form of communication, according to the study.

 

 

Embedded below and on Scribd is a mini white paper that outlines the findings. I dig into this every year and use it to advise clients in how to develop integrated strategies that span both PR and digital engagement. This year the takeaway is clear: trust in 2011 requires activating credible thought leaders who can not just talk but act (what we call Public Engagement) and do so across this "cloverleaf of media."

 

Now it's your turn. We encourage you to join the conversation. Here are links to our various digital embassies ...

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