#corporate-communications

#corporate-communications

ADI IGNATIUS: I'm Adi Ignatius. ALISON BEARD: I'm Alison Beard, and this is the HBR IdeaCast. ADI IGNATIUS: All right, so, Alison, did you know there is a social media report that says the lead article in last month's Harvard Business Review is actually a coded prophesy for the end of the world, and this thing is going crazy viral? ALISON BEARD: Wow, that is highly alarming; I didn't know that. ADI IGNATIUS: Well, because it of course didn't happen. ALISON BEARD: [Laughing] ADI IGNATIUS: And that's really the topic of this week's IdeaCast: fake news and how companies can respond to it.

Press releases, media appearances and community engagement used to be the sole factors that determined public perception. Companies controlled the message, content and virtually everything known to the public about their operations, leadership and point of view on issues. Today, all of that has changed. Social media has brought incredible transparency to corporate branding, for better or worse. Now, your customers, employees, business partners and suppliers seemingly all have equal influence over your brand image.