Recommendations by personal acquaintances and opinions posted online are the most trusted form of advertising worldwide, according to the latest Nielsen Global Online Consumer Survey.
In the UK 68 per cent of internet users were founfd to trust online consumer opinions, while only 58 per cent said they trust brand websites.
Text ads are the least trusted ad format worldwide, gaining the trust of only 24 per cent of recipients, while banner ads and online video do not fare much better, trusted by 33 per cent and 37 per cent respectively.
Earlier this week, research from Harris Interactive found 46 per cent of US internet users say they ignore banner ads, with just one per cent finding banner ads helpful in making a purchase decision.
The findings emphasise the importance of encouraging engagement and conversation via social networks such as Twitter and Facebook, as posts about a product will reach both friends and the wider public interested in the product.
However, moderation is key, a lesson Skittle recently learned the hard way after placing a live Twitter feed on its homepage, which was subsequently hijacked by users intent on offending other users.
The experiment was the first time a large consumer brand has put a live Twitter feed on its homepage and could be the last unless brands are prepared to invest in moderation or delaying the feed and only publishing edited posts.
Despite the importance of online reputation management just over half of brands employ someone to monitor online conversations and just over a third actively participate in exchanges, research from Quba found.
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