Research

The late Steve Jobs, Warren Buffet, and former Southwest Airlines CEO Herb Kelleher all have something in common: they’re CEOs who have demonstrated authenticity, a trait deemed highly important by bloggers who cover business news, according to a new survey by the 10 company and Gotham Research Group.

The research showed bloggers would like CEOs to acknowledge the mistakes and excesses of corporate America to show that they are in touch with reality, even if the CEO’s company has shown no excesses or crimes.

What are some telltale signs a CEO is being inauthentic? Avoid these five phrases if you want your client to develop a reputation in line with the Buffets of the world:

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Create a clear, strategic approach to the way you use Facebook to market your business in our new Facebook Marketing Boot Camp. The online conference and workshop starts April 24. Learn more.

Are you friends with your boss on Facebook? That may depend on your age and how much you are online, according to a study by Minneapolis marketing firm Russell Herder.

Using the firm’s social media research tools and analysis, Russell Herder conducted an online survey of nearly 1,000 U.S. residents, finding that age, gender, and frequency of social networking usage influence attitudes and behaviors regarding the decision to connect with one’s supervisor online.

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With everyone still tallying the various successes of this past Sunday’s Super Bowl, we return to our question: Do the ads overshadow the game? According to a study from MWW Group, the answer is no.

The firm surveyed 400 viewers between the ages of 18 and 34 on Friday, February 3 and 71 percent said they were interested in both the game and the ads. The findings show that “advertising is part of the Super Bowl’s appeal,” said Michael Kempner, MWW’s CEO.

More interesting perhaps is that 61 percent said they watched the game to know what people would be talking about the next day.

So everyone’s need to be in on the conversation in some way — simply being in the know –can drive viewers, participants, etc. That little nugget is a reminder of the importance of getting the word out to audiences effectively.

[image Julio Cortez/AP Photo]

In just 18 months’ time, older generations of in-house lawyers have stepped up their social media use, largely on LinkedIn and law firm blogs, according to a new survey by communications firm Greentarget, consulting firm Zeughauser Group, and InsideCounsel magazine.

The 2012 In-House Counsel New Media Engagement Survey finds that lawyers in their 40s, 50s, and 60s are using social media in far greater numbers than they were in 2010.

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Fleishman-Hillard has released the results of its third annual Digital Influence Index, which takes a closer look at how consumers around the world are using the Web and consuming information. Conducted with Harris Interactive, one of the major findings this year is the influence that the Internet is having on purchasing decisions, in some cases exerting more influence than family and friends.

In the U.S., the Internet is about as important as the Web when deciding what to buy (46 percent said the Internet is more influential versus 47 percent who identified friends and family). In India, 79 percent said the Web held more sway. Only 60 percent said those nearest and dearest were more influential.

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Raise a pharmaceutical company’s reputation in the public by just a small margin and it can have huge results, according to a new study released by APCO Worldwide.

APCO found that if a company’s corporate reputation is raised by just one point, an additional 28,000 patients ask their doctors about a company’s medicine; sales for the average pharmaceutical company increase by 3.33 percent; and 83,000 more community activists actively and vocally advocate on behalf of the industry, among other positive results.

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Burson-Marsteller used last week’s World Economic Forum to reveal results from its Global Reputation Index, research conducted with help from Landor Associates and Penn Schoen Berland.

The Index is based on a point system that evaluates companies and corporations based on performance and citizenship. A big difference in the scores in these two categories show that reputation is suffering from a lack of citizenship and, therefore, trustworthiness.

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While we’ve heard a number of times that women, more and more, hold the purse strings in the home, a new study says they also hold a great deal of sway with friends and family.

Fleishman-Hillard teamed up with Hearst Magazines for a new study, “Game Changers: Women Defining the New American Marketplace,” the fourth installment of the research series “Women, Power & Money.”

In 2011, more than 50 percent of respondents to the study said they influence the purchases of friends and family, a jump from 31 percent in 2008. In the six months leading up to September 2011, nearly one-fifth of those women polled (19 percent) said they’d told someone not to buy a product or service.

And 54 percent of respondents said they agreed with this: “I feel it is my responsibility to help friends and family make smart purchase decisions.”

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Weber Shandwick has released the results of “The Company Behind the Brand: In Reputation We Trust,” a study finding that 70 percent of consumers won’t buy into a brand if they don’t like the parent company. Among senior execs, 87 percent said that having a strong brand for the parent company is as important as having a strong product brand.

A couple of stats that jumped out at us as well: 56 percent of respondents said they do research on companies that make products they buy; and 56 percent said they “hesitate” to purchase a product if they can’t tell which company makes it.

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A survey conducted by market research company Cint finds that consumers are more likely to purchase a product if they’ve been asked about it first.

The company surveyed 1,193 people (almost equally split between men and women) around the world and 62 percent said they were more likely to buy an item if the company asked them about it first. More than half, 56 percent, said they would be more loyal to a brand that sought their opinion. As we mentioned up top, Cint is a market research company.

Still, another interesting find — 77 percent of consumers say they think companies are listening to them more now than they did 10 years ago (which could be true if you use BofA and Netflix as examples). And 91 percent said they prefer to conduct market research via Web, smartphone, or SMS.

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