This post appears courtesy of Ogilvy. Read the full press release here.

Professional communicators face the challenge of effectively maintaining brand reputation in today’s noisy media landscape. To gain some perspective on what drives brand reputation worldwide, Ogilvy conducted the 2019 Global Media Influence Survey. The survey of 311 journalists was conducted throughout North America, Asia Pacific (APAC), Latin America and EMEA regions. The study discovered that corporate announcements such as financial reporting, CSR initiatives and strategic decision making were most influential in shaping earned media coverage and driving brand reputation.

Corporate announcement tactics were found to be significantly more powerful than third-party endorsements such as social media influencers. Twitter was ranked first by 48% of respondents as the social media platform they use most to inform coverage. Facebook ranked second to Twitter (29%), with WhatsApp ranking third overall (17%).

Survey findings also emphasized the importance of earned media’s lasting impact. An overwhelming majority of journalists (89%) reported that they research past coverage when writing about an organization. Reporters also believe a balanced combination of earned, owned and paid media is necessary to successfully manage corporate reputation and influence coverage.

Additional key findings pointed to regional differences in reporting across the globe:

  • Asia Pacific differs from North America, EMEA and Latin America in usage of social media platforms to inform coverage. In Asia Pacific, Facebook and its Instagram equivalent were said to be the most impactful (41%), followed by WhatsApp (34%) with Twitter in third (20%). Twitter is ranked first by journalists outside of Asia Pacific (48%).
  • Government policies and regulations are reported to be more influential on coverage according to Latin American journalists (71%). They are also more likely to consider industry development in their coverage of brands. Latin American journalists ranked social media last among influencing factors.
  • North American reporters believe their coverage only has “Some” impact on shaping reputation (61%) while reporters elsewhere believe they have more influence. Respondents in APAC, EMEA and Latin America reported having “A lot” of influence in shaping reputation (53%, 61% and 79%, respectively).

Organizations across the globe can drive brand reputation in the buzzing media environment by utilizing sound earned strategies. Brands need to recognize the importance of earned media if they wish to cut through the noise, while ensuring these efforts are strategically balanced with other forms of outreach.

For more information, read the full press release here.

Heidy Modarelli handles Growth & Marketing for IPR. She has previously written for Entrepreneur, TechCrunch, The Next Web, and VentureBeat.
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