â–¶ Sheen’s Shooting Star Fizzles: After riding a PR wave flimsily built on his bad boy behavior, Sheen lost his battle with CBS—and now with the general public, says a Q&A Research survey. Polling 350 households across the U.S., positive impressions of Sheen have fallen, from 41% prior to recent events involving the actor, to just 8%. Other study findings include:
• Sheen’s negative impressions have risen from 31% to 71%.
• Thanks to both mainstream media attention and Sheen’s self-initiated Internet blitz, 97% of those surveyed are following the saga of the actor and CBS.
• Over a third of survey takers (36%) are so turned off presently by him that they are now less likely to tune into any future television series featuring the actor.
Source: Q & A Research
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| How much does the public “like” the best corporate citizens? PR News is tracking companies on Facebook that the public perceives as tops in CSR, from a list compiled by the Boston College Center for Corporate Citizenship. The big winner in likes by far is Caterpillar; its “Cat” brand Facebook page grew from a few thousand to tens of thousands in about four months. (Immerse yourself in the do’s and don’ts of using Facebook for PR by attending PR News’ Facebook Conference on May 24 in New York. Go to prnewsonline.com/facebookconference for more information.) |
â–¶ Journalists Follow PR Pros on Social Media: Conducting a survey of 2,400 journalists across various beats, social media newswire MyPRGenie finds that 54% of journalists follow PR professionals on social media platforms. The study uncovers emerging media trends, asks how reporters prefer to field pitches and press releases in the digital era and how companies can use social media to work more effectively with the press. Specific findings include:
• 90% of media respondents still prefer to field press releases via e-mail.
• 62% of media respondents use Facebook in their reporting.
• 54% follow and friend corporate communications and PR pros on Twitter, LinkedIn or Facebook.
Source: MyPRGenie
â–¶ Reputation Drives Brand Valuation: Corporate reputation plays a key role in shaping valuations and shareholder perceptions of companies, says a global study. Consultancy Bestra calculated this area contributes almost $667 billion in shareholder value to firms in the Financial Times Stock Exchange (FTSE) 350, approximately 30% of the group’s market capitalization. Other findings include:
• The top three performers based on Bestra’s methodology include energy giant Royal Dutch Shell, whose reputation delivered 52.1% of its value, beating manufacturer Unilever (52%) and natural gas expert BG Group (49.9%).
• Among the top 10, reputation made up 48% of shareholder value, equivalent to $330 billion.
• Reputation assumed the greatest significance in the oil and gas sector, supplying 51.2% of capitalization, slipping to 30.4% for basic materials, 27% for healthcare and 24.5% for consumer goods.
• Bestra’s report notes that at the height of the recession, long-term value, product quality and financial soundness were essential, while CSR was viewed negatively. Now, quality of management, quality of goods and services and “environmental and community responsibility,” likely brought on by BP’s problems, are recognized as key reputation drivers.
Source: Bestra
â–¶ Social Media Worth the Effort for Small Biz: According to findings from the Social Media Examiner’s 2011 Social Media Marketing Report, small businesses and solo entrepreneurs reported notably increased business exposure from using social media. Specific findings include:
• 90% of those surveyed say that social media is important for generating more business exposure. Increased traffic (72%) and improved search rankings (62%) were also extremely important. Improved sales was last on the list of seven benefits, with 43% of those surveyed enjoying success.
• The self-employed and small business owners with two or more employees were most likely to report that social media helped them close new business. They also were most likely to find business partnerships through social media.
• More than half (58%) of respondents are using social media for more than six hours per week, and about one-third (34%) invest 11 or more hours weekly.
Source: Social Media Examiner