investor relations & social media: how this evolving communications channel fits into the world...
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from Senior Managing Director Rob BerickTRANSCRIPT
Investor Relations & Social Media How this Evolving Communications Channel Fits into the World of Investor Relations September 22, 2010
AgendaDefinitionsVocabularyTools Usage ExamplesGetting StartedResourcesQuestions
Defining Social Media“Social marketing injects humanity into the delivery and reception of business communications by emphasizing relationships and meaningful experiences with people rather than simple transactions with publics.”
“Social media is media designed to be disseminated through social interaction, created using highly accessible and scalable publishing techniques. Social media supports the human need for social interaction with technology, transforming broadcast media monologues (one to many) into social media dialogues (many to many).”
Source: PEAK6 Online, Wikipedia
Defining Impact of Investor Relations Effective IR programs are believed to contribute a median premium of 10 percent of valuation, while ineffective IR programs are thought to cost a median discount of 25 percent to valuation.
Source: Rivel Research
Social Media Vocabulary
Blogs – Websites with dated items of content in reverse chronological order, self-published by bloggers. Items (“posts”) are usually available as feeds and often allow for commenting.
Forums – Discussion areas on websites where people can post messages or comment on existing messages.
Micro-blogging – A form of blogging that allows users to send brief updates to an open or select group chosen by the user (think: Twitter).
Monitoring and alerts – The art of skimming feeds to see what topics are bubbling up, and also setting up searches that monitor when you or your organization are mentioned.
RSS – Really Simple Syndication – allows you to subscribe to content on blogs and other social media and have it delivered to you through a feed.
Wiki – Web page(s) that can be edited collaboratively (think: Wikipedia).
Social Media Tools
Most Common Social Media Tools for IR
Source: Q4 Websystems
Social Media Usage Within Investment Community85% of financial services professionals under 50 are using social media47% of institutional investors read financial blogs for investment research and ideas
20% have used blog research to execute recommendations or investment decisions 63% in U.S. believe blogs and social networks will play an increasingly important role in
investment decisions going forward47% of retail investors look to financial websites and blogs for investment advice
Now ranks higher than financial advisors (39%) or brokers (36%)89% of journalists are using blogs; 65% social networks; 52% microblogs (e.g., Twitter)
108 @ NYT; 66 @ WSJ; 28 @ BusinessWeek; 15 @ FT
Source: Q4 Websystems, Brunswick Group, Cision, Ledermark, sharebuilder.com
Social Media Usage Within Investment Community79% of Fortune 100 companies are using at least on social media platform (e.g., Twitter, Facebook,
YouTube, corporate blog)
65% of 100 largest international public companies have active accounts on Twitter 54% have Facebook pages 50% have YouTube channel 33% have corporate blogs
100% have IR websites
Source: Q4 Websystems, Burson-Marsteller, Dix & Eaton
Example #1 – Cisco
Source: Q4 Websystems
Example #2 – Barrick Gold
Source: Q4 Websystems
Example #2 – Barrick Gold
Source: Q4 Websystems
Example #3 – Dell
Source: Q4 Websystems
Example #3 – Dell
Source: Q4 Websystems
Example #4 – TVI Pacific
Source: Q4 Websystems
Example #4 – TVI Pacific
Source: Q4 Websystems
Example #5 – HP
Source: Q4 Websystems
Example #6 – Symantec
Source: Q4 Websystems
Getting Started – Things to ConsiderWhat do you want to accomplish via social media?
Are you looking to enhance “customer service” for current investors or are you looking to attract new investors (e.g., what’s the plan)?
Who will own the social media “voice” to the investment community within your organization? And what is the time capacity of this individual?
How will the social media component of your IR plan fit within your existing disclosure policy? For example, how will you respond to a market rumor?
How will you measure success?
Getting Started – Steps to TakeDo your homework
Know what tools make sense for you (it’s not an all-or-nothing proposition) and how those tools will help you achieve your goals
Become fluent in the conversations already taking place about your company, where they are taking place and who the key influencers are in the social networks
Be sure the usage of social media tools is clearly delineated in your overarching corporate disclosure policy
Make sure there are systems in place to monitor the ongoing conversations – both by the corporation and about the corporation
Practice using the tools internally Set up private “beta” systems for internal audiences only
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Resources – Free Monitoring ToolsTECHNORATI BLOG SEARCHGOOGLE BLOG SEARCH
TWITTER SEARCH BACKTYPE
Resources – Free Monitoring ToolsTWEETDECK
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Resources – Paid Monitoring ToolsRADIAN6 CRIMSON HEXAGON
TECHRIGY SCOUT LABS
Additional ResourcesBooksNaked ConversationsRobert Scoble & Shel Israel
Social MediaTrevor Cook & Lee Hopkins
Call to ActionJeffery & Bryan Eisenberg
Buzz Marketing & Blogs for DummiesSusannah Gardner
The Cluetrain ManifestoChristopher Locke, Doc Searls, Rick Levine & David Weinberger
The Long TailChris Anderson
Small is the New BigSeth Godin
BlogsInvestor Relations Musingshttp://investorrelationsmusings.blogspot.com/
IR Cafehttp://ircafe.com/
IR Web Reporthttp://www.irwebreport.com/
Q4 Websystems’ bloghttp://www.q4blog.com/
Jeff Matthews Is Not Making This Uphttp://jeffmatthewsisnotmakingthisup.blogspot.com/
Street Talk http://blogs.dix-eaton.com/streettalk/
