Post on 03-Jul-2020
Exploring Social Media for IR Advantage
szhang88 #1: Social Media Trends
December 9, 2010 @ IR Magazine Awards in HK
szhang88 #2: Why Social Media for IR
szhang88 #3: Challenges and Status
szhang88 #4: Recommendations & Case Studies
Sydney Zhang, CFADirector of Investor RelationsChina Unicom (HK) Limited
100 200 50
IRmagazineIR Magazine
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Social MediaExplosion of Communications Channels
Graph source: Ogilvy
• Social media - an interactive form of communication where you are able to be the broadcaster as well as the receiver of information
• 58% of online users globally have created a social network profile (Universal McCann Social Media Tracker and Facebook)
• 72% of internet users are part of at least one social network (~940 million users worldwide)
• Web users spend on average five and half hours every month on social networking sites – has doubled in one year
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Popular Social Networks
500+ million users
130 friends/user90 pieces of content/user/m
Microblogging
175m registered users95m tweets/day(as of mid Sept2010)
Microblogging(Chinese)
50m registered users25m messages/day(as of Oct2010)
Professional Networking
>85m members+1 new user / second(as of Nov2010)
Financial Microblogging(Chinese, A-shares)
Launched in early 2010
Stock market opinion and analysis with social media features(US Stocks, Professional investors)
50K registered users
Financial Microblogging(US Stocks, trader focused)
50K registered users
Social News Discover&Share Contents
15m Monthly US unique visits
Sources: Company web sites
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The News Spreading Fast on Social Networks
Traditional news media outlets have all adopted social media sharing capabilities on their web sites
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Why Social Media for IR?
A company’s reputation is on the line• Business executives surveyed by Weber Shandwick and KRC research estimated
that a company’s reputation contributes to 63% of its stock valuation
Increasing numbers of shareholders, stakeholders and investors usingsocial media to understand more about your company• 85% of professional financial service providers under 50 are using social media
• 89% of journalists using blogs, 65% social networking, 52% micro-blogging (Twitter)
• 47% of institutional investors read blogs for investment research and ideas (A Brunswick Group 2009 study of digital media use)
• Surveyed by the Australian Investors Relations Association – 20% of institutional investors and sell-side analysts said that information accessed through
social media channels had influenced their investor decisions
– 15% of the surveyed said they can access information through social medial channels that they cannot get elsewhere
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Social Media for IR - Challenges and Status
• Wide variety of channels and influencers
• Increasingly difficult to control
• Legal and regulatory requirements
• Internal guideline
• How to measure success
BNY Mellon IRO Survey 2010:• 35% are interested and 9% is
already using services like Twitter for IR communication
– Twitter and corporate blogs were the most commonly used social media a
• 57% of IR departments said they have no plans to use social media
– 20% due to company policy– 37% due to IR decision
Challenges Status
A 2010 study from the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan found that companies who used Twitter to distribute financial news got lower bid-ask spreads and greater depths. The study also found the biggest impact was for lower visibility firms that didn’t get much traditional media coverage
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Recommendations
Make your IR web site social media friendly
Monitor & Listen
Contribute to the conversation
Evaluate and try new things
• Tools: RSS, Blog, Add Share Button, XBRL, mobile version, webcast, etc.
• Tune into the conversation around the globe 24x7
• Identify influencers and stakeholders
• Tools: Google Alerts, Twitter search, subscriber to RSS
• Open corporate accounts at major social network sites
• Engage key stakeholders with great content
• Ensure within policy & compliance
• Evaluate results from social media efforts
• Try emerging new technologies
• E.g. blog site, multimedia,
High Flag issues for Corporate Communications to address
Balance online dominance of a competitor
Key influencers use social media for outreach and info gatheringResources
IR GoalsUnderstand Participate LeadLow
To actively tell a story of your company to new audience
Set Goals
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Example: Monitoring & Listening
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Case Studies – HP 3Q10 Earning Release
• HP used an array of social media to report its 3Q10 earnings results.
• These activities are conducted in parallel to its traditional disclosure venues, such as a PR wire service, its IR website, company news room, SEC filings and the quarterly earnings call
• Information is posted to the social media accounts after it is has already been made public in the traditional venues
• Well coordinated and timed despite complexity
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Resources
Respective social networking websites
The Executive’s Guide to Social Networks for Businesshttp://www.slideshare.net/360digitalinfluence/ogilvy-socialnetworks4biz
Investor Relations 2.0 by Ketchum Digital PracticeHttp://blog.ketchum.com
IR Web Report by Dominic Joneshttp://irwebreport.com/
Investor Relations – Taking on social media white paperhttp://blog.dna13.com/bid/49454/Investor-Relations-Taking-on-Social-Media