Social Media: A Corporate Reputation Blind Spot?

In our just-released Digital Readiness Survey, Zeno Group found that a substantial number of executives fail to consider social media reputation, an area of valuable customer views and insights, when making business decisions.  In fact, more than one-third of executives surveyed told us that the CEO of their company does not care or cares little about the company’s reputation in social media.

In addition, despite the widely recognized influence and power of social media, there is still more than 10 percent of executives who said their companies would not engage at all online to defend their reputation.

We also found stark differences between B2C and B2B companies, as well as large and small firms, in both CEO attitudes toward social media and in the company’s ability to respond to an online challenge. Here’s what Zeno found:

• B2B companies lag their B2C counterparts – their CEOs are less likely to consider social media in decision-making, they are slower to engage in a crisis, and they are twice as likely to refuse to engage online audiences at all.
• The bigger the company, the more likely that the CEO will consider social media in their decision-making.    In fact, 43 percent of smaller firms said their executives rarely or never consider social media reputation.
• Smaller does not necessarily mean more nimble in social media.   A fast response to an online crisis is more likely in larger companies. 

Overall, the study suggests there is still much opportunity to introduce the concept of social media reputation into the C-suite.   We see too many organizations missing opportunities, either to advance their reputations or defend them.   By engaging non-customer stakeholders that are active online - such as industry analysts, investors and academics, among others – business can turn these groups into not only advocates and amplifiers during good times, but also trusted voices who can bring credibility to a company’s response in a time of crisis.

Click here if you’d like more information about Zeno Group’s Digital Readiness Survey.