â–¶ Corporate Reputation On the Rise: The 2011 Harris Interactive Reputation Quotient (RQ) Study shows that despite scandals, recalls and economic crises, public perception of corporate America has improved. Sixteen companies achieved an RQ score over 80, which suggests an “excellent” reputation, a substantial increase from the six companies that achieved excellence last year. Google ranks number one, replacing Berkshire Hathaway, which fell to fourth place. Johnson & Johnson took second place, followed by 3M Company. Other findings:
• Apple ranks fifth, followed by Intel, Kraft Foods, Amazon, General Mills and The Walt Disney Company.
• Aside from the top 10, the following six companies received scores indicating they have an excellent reputation: Procter & Gamble, SC Johnson, UPS, Sony, The Coca-Cola Company and Microsoft.
• The technology sector was perceived most positively by the public at 75%, while the retail sector was reported second most positively perceived, at 57%.
• Facebook made its first appearance on the RQ list, landing in 31st place, with an RQ score of 74.12.
Source: Harris Interactive
â–¶ Social Media Discipline: A survey of compliance and ethics pros by the Society of Corporate Compliance and Ethics (SCCE) and the Health Care Compliance Association (HCCA) reveals that an increasing number of companies are monitoring social media use by employees. In addition, employees are being disciplined for their activities on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn both at work and outside of work. Other key findings include:
• 42% of respondents report that disciplinary actions had been taken against employees using Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn inappropriately, an increase from 24% reported in 2009.
• Despite the rising disciplinary action, just 31% of respondents report that their organizations had actually set policies addressing the use of social media Web sites outside of work.
• 35% report that they were not permitted to access Facebook or Twitter at work.
• 47% report that “anyone” may access LinkedIn at work; for-profit companies were more likely to allow access to LinkedIn than nonprofits.
Source: SCCE/HCCA
â–¶ Pitch Your Stories with Video: The use of video footage by online media Web sites to cover news stories has risen by a third in the last year to 85%, according to the 2011 Web Influencers Survey by DS Simon. Almost all (94%) Web sites of radio stations use of externally produced video; magazines followed closely at 93%; newspapers at 86%; and Web media at 80%. Almost four-fifths of survey respondents suggested they would use more or much more video in 2011 than they did in 2010. Other key findings include:
• 47% of media Web sites offer a mix of editorial, product placement and paid content in a bid to offer increased brand integration opportunities to raise their revenues.
• The chances of video content being shared with other sites increased from 35% in 2009 to 41% in 2010.
• Newspapers, at 63%, are the most likely sites to share content with other sites.
• Completed videos are best: Media site owners prefer fully produced videos (57%) first; b-roll footage (49%) second; and sound bites (47%) last.
â–¶ Small Companies Big on Social Media: Over half (62%) of small- and medium-size organizations have adopted social media as a way to conduct everyday business, according to the Really Simple Systems Customer Relationship Management (CRM) survey. Key findings include:
• 83% of socially active small businesses reported using LinkedIn [see related story on page 1], 72% reported using Facebook and 65% use Twitter.
• 92% of those using social media do so to maintain relations with existing customers, and 78% use it to find new customers.
• 44% of socially active small businesses run company blogs to engage with the public. PRN
Source: Really Simple Systems