This presentation focuses on the status of adoption of social media by corporate investor relations departments in U.S. public companies. It was delivered on October 2, 2009, by Dave Hogan, APR, at the annual conference of the International Association of Online Communicators (IAOC) in Washington, D.C.
3. Reaching Shareholders Online: Trends and Best
Practices in Online Communication and Social
Media in Corporate Investor Relations
A revolution is taking place in how organizations communicate
with their target audiences, both internal and external. The
transition in organizational communications that began with
the advent of the World Wide Web and the popularity of
broadband Internet service took a giant leap forward earlier
this decade when several new online services appeared for the
first time, including Myspace (2003), Facebook (2004),
YouTube (2005) and Twitter (2006). Collectively, these and
similar new services came to be known as “social media.”
Communications consultant Merrie Spaeth has described the
impact of social media as being even more significant than the
advent of earlier new communications tools such as radio and
television (Spaeth, 2009).
20. Social Media Pioneers
Despite the ambiguity of the legal and
regulatory issues, a small‐but‐growing
number of companies are venturing into the
water and learning to integrate social media tools successfully with
more traditional investor relations approaches. Within this group,
Twitter has emerged as the early favorite among social media tools
for investor relations, thanks to its simplicity and the ability to link
Twitter messages back to news releases, conference call
announcements and other disclosure information on the company’s
Web site.
22. Social Media Pioneers
(continued)
A handful of public companies in North America go much further with their
use of Twitter for investor relations purposes. They include U.S.‐based eBay
and Canada’s CGI Group. Both companies send a series of “live” tweets
during their quarterly conference calls with investors, following release of
their earnings. In effect, they have become internal reporters, “covering”
the conference calls and reporting the results to the world via Twitter, 140
characters at a time.
“It (Twitter) is a new way to reach more people and expand our audience,”
said Colin Brown, communications and investor relations specialist with CGI
Group (Brown, 2009).
23. Social Media Pioneers
(continued)
Even though CGI is a Canadian company, it also trades on the New York
Stock Exchange, meaning it must comply with U.S. SEC regulations. In an
interview for this research paper, Brown said the company is not worried
about its use of Twitter because it only tweets information that is already in
the public domain (Brown, 2009). Brown said the company would never
send a news release first on Twitter before it has been distributed using
more conventional means. Even the tweets during the conference calls,
which may appear spontaneous, are typed out ahead of time based on the
wording from the conference call script, so Brown knows he is only posting
words on Twitter that his company executives are saying on the conference
call.
37. Social Media Integration
Pioneering public companies with social media are finding they can
leverage their time and investment by coordinating their efforts using
multiple social media tools together. Dell and eBay, for instance, both
use Twitter to announce new postings on their blogs. Dell posts its
Vlogs, created initially for the Dell Shares blog, on YouTube. This can
significantly expand the audience and drive more traffic back to the
companies’ Web sites and blogs.
38. Dell’s use of Twitter for Investor Relations
(continued)
Pioneering public companies with social media are
finding they can leverage their time and investment
by coordinating their efforts using multiple social
media tools together. Dell and eBay, for instance,
both use Twitter to announce new postings on their
blogs. Dell posts its Vlogs, created initially for the
Dell Shares blog, on YouTube. This can significantly
expand the audience and drive more traffic back to
the companies’ Web sites and blogs.
39. Social Media Integration: Cisco Systems
Another innovative leader in using social media for investor relations
purposes is Cisco Systems Inc. Like Dell, Cisco produces video interviews
each quarter featuring corporate executives talking about the recently
announced earnings results. Also like Dell, Cisco posts its investor
relations Vlogs on YouTube to expand its audience and tweets on Twitter
when new videos are available. Unlike Dell, however, the investor
relations department does not manage Cisco’s corporate blog, titled The
Platform, and the content comes from a variety of corporate sources,
not just investor relations (Cisco, 2009).
42. IR Uses for Document‐Sharing Sites: Slideshare
One of the more popular document‐sharing sites is Slideshare, which
allows companies (and individuals) to post PowerPoint presentations,
PDFs and other document formats on a public site where they can be
viewed. Slideshare is growing rapidly, with 17 million monthly visitors
and 50 million monthly page views. Heaps, of Q4 Web Systems,
described Slideshare in a recent webinar as “the YouTube of
presentations” (Heaps, 2009). His company has been one of the first to
incorporate Slideshare into corporate investor relations Web sites,
including Barrick Gold Corp.
43. IR Uses for Document‐Sharing Sites: Slideshare
Heaps’ analogy to YouTube is on the mark. Like YouTube, what makes
Slideshare powerful is that information can be easily shared. To use
YouTube terminology, Slideshare makes it possible for a company’s
PowerPoint presentation to “go viral” and be spread from investor to
investor, either via e‐mail, embedding on a blog or Web site, or through
a host of other sharing tools. While it is not likely that any company’s
next quarterly earnings presentation is going to get millions of hits like
some of the more popular videos on YouTube, Heaps said it is possible
for a company to double its normal presentation viewership using
Slideshare.
51. References
• Barnes, N.G., & Mattson, E. (2009, April 22). Nonprofit organizations lead the
way in social media adoption according to Society for New Communications
Research Chair Dr. Nora Ganim Barnes and Eric Mattson of Financial Insite,
Society for New Communications Research. Retrieved from
http://sncr.org/2009/06/28/nonprofit‐organizations‐lead‐the‐way‐in‐social‐
media‐adoption‐according‐to‐society‐for‐new‐communications‐research‐chair‐
dr‐nora‐ganim‐barnes‐and‐eric‐mattson‐of‐financial‐insite/
• Brewer‐Hay, R. (2009, September 17). Monitoring social media for investor
relations, webinar sponsored by Q4 Web Systems. Retrieved from
http://www.q4blog.com/2009/09/18/webinar‐replay‐–‐monitoring‐social‐media‐
for‐investor‐relations/
• Brown, C. (2009, August 20). Telephone interview.
• Bulldog Reporter’s IR Alert (2009, September 17). Survey reveals investor
relations professionals slowly embrace social media, especially smaller
companies – and which IR blogs they read. Retrieved from
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52. References
• eBay.com (2009, March 6). New social media guidelines for reporting company
information. Retrieved from
http://ebayinkblog.com/2009/03/06/new‐social‐media‐guidelines‐for‐reporting‐
company‐information/
• Ehrlich, S. (2009, September 17). Monitoring social media for investor relations,
webinar sponsored by Q4 Web Systems. Retrieved from
http://www.q4blog.com/2009/09/18/webinar‐replay‐–‐monitoring‐social‐media‐
for‐investor‐relations/
• Heaps, D. (2009, July 1). Q4 Web Systems introduces social media and XBRL to
investor relations Web sites. Bulldog Reporter’s IR Alert. Retrieved from
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2C48E6DBCF5610426C5&tier=4&id=904DFFF8A09F46529EFA4732D1FE0C32
• Joyce, S. (2009, September 23). Institutional investors and analysts increasingly
using blogs and social networks for research. Message posted to the Q4 Blog,
http://www.q4blog.com/2009/09/23/institutional‐investors‐and‐analysts‐
increasingly‐using‐blogs‐and‐social‐networks‐for‐research/
53. References
• Kurth, B. (2009, September 23). Don’t believe the hype: Twitter doesn’t matter
to IROs, Bulldog Reporter’s IR Alert. Retrieved from
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2C48E6DBCF5610426C5&tier=4&id=A39E6F40BAB740E49DFEA7CB05A18631
• McKenna, Francine (2009, August 21). Investor relations and Web 2.0. Re: The
Auditors. Retrieved from
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threats to IROs ‐‐ and offers timely coping tips, Bulldog Reporter’s IR Alert.
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• National Investor Relations Institute (2003, March). Definition of investor
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54. References
• National Investor Relations Institute (2008, April 7). NIRI releases summary
results of inaugural NIRI – Korn/Ferry International IRO compensation study.
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• Palizza, J. (2009, September 1). Investor relations and social media. Messag
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social‐media.html
• Palizza, J. (2008, June 16). Blogging and investor relations. Message posted to
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• Q4 Web Systems (2009, August 26). Public companies and their use of Twitter for
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55. References
• Solis, Brian (2009, July 9). Social media and the SEC: Where do you stand in the
investor broadcasting vs. investor relations debate? Bulldog Reporter’s IR Alert.
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• U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (2008). Commission guidance on the
use of company Web sites (SEC Release Nos. 34‐58288, IC‐28351; File No.
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• Williams, R. (2009, September 1). Telephone interview.
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lesson on social media. Webinar.