Q4 Research: Public Company use of social media for IR - Part 4 - Corporate Blogging

Summary Presentation: Download Complete Whitepaper November 2012

http://go.q4websystems.com/2012-11-26BloggingWhitepaperDownload.html?psSSS

Q4 Whitepaper: Public Company Use of Social Media for IR

Part 4: Corporate Blogs - Summary Slides

Why Social Media Matters For Investor Relations

• Social media has become one of the key methods for companies to

engage in discussion, share information, and connect with their

audiences.

• The number of users communicating on social media platforms is

compelling. Over 900 million on Facebook, 555 million users of

Twitter and over 150 million people on LinkedIn1.

• Research shows that:

– 49% of professional investors are reading blogs and 27% use YouTube2

– 3 out of 5 financial bloggers use Twitter as their primary news source3

– 63% of institutional investors believe social media will become

increasingly important to them4

Sources: 1. All Twitter Blog (Mediabistro), 2012 | 2. Rivel Research, 2010 | 3. Financial Media Conference, 2011 | 4. Brunswick Group, 2009

Download Complete Whitepaper




Overall Social Media Findings


• Q4 performs year over year reviews of social media is used for

Investor Relations by the companies in our sample. Our findings in

2012 reveal:

– slight increases in Twitter and Facebook use

– significant increases in use of SlideShare and corporate blogs

• Our study includes some new measurements for 2012:

– 64% of companies are listed on StockTwits

– 65% of companies have their social media links on their corporate

website

– 32% of companies have a social media summary page to help users

find the appropriate feed or page




2012 Research Sample


• Q4 research sample size for social media research has grown from

80 public companies in 2009 to a total of 807 in 2012.

Airline, 16

Automotive, 12

Consumer Goods, 114 Exchanges, 4

Financial Services, 67

Industrial goods/Basic materials, 67

Media, 8

Natural Resources, 134

Pharma/Healthcare/Biotech, 43

Real Estate, 13

Services, 120

Technology, 139

Telecommunications, 30

Utilities, 40

Companies Included in Study by Sector




Corporate Blogs


• While both Twitter and Facebook have higher usage for IR,

corporate blog use is growing at a rapid pace.

– According to a 2012 study by the University of Massachusetts

(Dartmouth) Center for Marketing Research, blog use by the

2012 Fortune 500 is up 5% over the previous year – to 28%.

– eMarketer estimates that by the end of 2012, a staggering 43%

of all companies will have a corporate blog.




Corporate Blogs For Investor Relations

• Q4’s 2012 sample shows that 33% of companies have a corporate

blog. Of these, 18% use them for Investor Relations, up from 10% in

2010.

– By Sector – The three sectors with the highest adoption of corporate

blogs for Investor Relations are Natural Resources, Real Estate and

Automotive.

– By Region - North American companies in our sample significantly

outpaced the rest of the world in corporate blog adoption, with Germany

and Japan coming in next.

– By Market Capitalization - Large cap companies lead in use of

corporate blogs for IR, followed by Small cap and then Medium cap.





Corporate Blog Usage and Content

• Companies use corporate blogs to share visual materials, providing

consumers and investors with information about their organization,

their industry and their markets.

• Blogs have lower usage rates than other social media tools, often

due to a need for a sustained effort (content generation, etc.) on the

part of the company, and because they are sometimes viewed to be

higher risk in terms of disclosure.

• Despite lower usage rates, corporate blogs fill a unique niche in the

social media landscape, and are perceived to have a the highest

value of any platform for driving site traffic, brand awareness and

lead generation.





Best Practices

1. Provide insight into news, industry developments and the

company

2. Use the blog to solicit questions from shareholders in advance

of a company event such as a quarterly earnings call or annual

meeting

3. Post videos and photographs to provide commentary and

context around company events and meetings

4. Provide a “Discussions Policy” and the company’s disclaimer

5. Add a bio and avatar of the main contributor(s) to the blog





Best Practices

1. Provide insight into news, industry developments and the company


Companies can use blogs to

provide insight and commentary

on sector-related news, such as

scientific publications that impact

or pertain to the company’s

work.

Another method is to add blog

posts that provide analysis of the

industry by a third party. For

example, Nissan Corporate

(right) added video of an

interview with a Deutsche Bank

analyst, Kurt Sanger, an expert

on the automotive industry.

http://blog.nissan-global.com/EN/?p=4465







Best Practices

2. Use the blog to solicit questions from shareholders in advance of a

company event such as a quarterly earnings call or annual meeting


Microvision has a great corporate

blog and uses clear categories to

make it easy for investors to find

the posts related to Investor

Relations material and engage

with the company.

Microvision asked that questions

be submitted to their blog in

advance of a quarterly call. They

then posted a video on their blog

of an interview with their CEO

responding to a variety of

questions. Investors then began

posting comments in response to

the video, giving the company

some valuable feedback – both

positive and negative.

http://www.microvision.com/displayground/investor-relations/interview-with-microvision-ceo-alex-tokman/

















Best Practices

3. Post videos and photographs to provide commentary and context

around company events and meetings


In another blog entry, this time focused on the

company’s strategic goals, Iberdrola includes an

image of their CEO touring a plant in Scotland and

speaking to workers (left).

Iberdrola includes videos and images in their blog posts.

In an entry on the difficulties facing the Spanish energy

sector, they have included a video of the CEO Ignacio

Galán talking about changing the energy model to hybrid

solar-gas plants (right).

http://www.blog.iberdrola.com/en/blog/change-the-energy-model/ http://www.blog.iberdrola.com/en/blog/a-better-society-for-future-generations/


http://www.blog.iberdrola.com/en/blog/change-the-energy-model/







http://www.blog.iberdrola.com/en/blog/a-better-society-for-future-generations/













Best Practices

4. Provide a “Discussions Policy” and the company’s disclaimer


Social Media is a conversation

with consumers, investors and

other interested parties, and it

is important to clearly set out

the policies and rules your

company uses to govern those

conversations.

The best way to do this is to

post policies on the corporate

website, and on all social

media platforms.

The Johnson and Johnson

corporate blog (right) provides

several policies, including a

Blogroll Policy and a

Comments Policy.

http://www.jnjbtw.com/posting-policy/







Best Practices

5. Add a bio and avatar of the main contributor(s) to the blog


A growing trend for corporate

blogs is to post a bio for the

blog’s main contributor(s),

giving shareholders a more

personal touch. It also adds

some credibility to the content.

Kimco Realty provides

informative bios for contributing

writers. Along the left side of

the site, they list the blogger

names, each one a link to the

bio page for that writer. Each

individual blog entry has a small

picture and a clickable link to

the bio page.

This bio (left) gives a short

professional intro for the author,

a picture and their most recent

three posts.

http://blog.kimcorealty.com/author/will-teichman/







Compelling Reasons To Use Corporate Blogs for IR

• Half of professional investors read corporate blogs.

• Consumers, analysts and investors are increasingly using blogs to

learn more about companies and their industry, keep up to date on

developments, and share information.

• Evidence continues to show that many public companies see value

in using social media to increase awareness and engage with key

constituents.





• Download and learn how to:

– How your peers are using corporate blogs to interact and engage with

investors, provide news, information and insight

– What sectors, geographic regions and size of companies are leading

the way in adoption

– Innovative ways to use video and images to provide investors more

context around your company and industry

– Best practices on corporate blog use for IR, including the posting of a

Discussion or Comments Policy, and providing bios of the main

contributor(s)

Download the Complete Whitepaper Now!!


Get Your Free Whitepaper Today

http://q4websystems.com/Theme/Q4WebSystems2010/files/WhitepaperJan2011/index.html

http://go.q4websystems.com/2012-11-26BloggingWhitepaperDownload.html?psSLI




About Q4 Web Systems

• Q4 is the fastest growing IR website provider in North America

• Hundreds of public companies choose Q4 for their IR website and online communications because our web based platform is easy to use and helps them achieve results

• Everything contained in this paper is achievable if you choose Q4 for your IR website

Contact Us for a Demo Today!

www.q4websystems.com/ContactUs

Toll Free: 1-877-426-7829 www.q4websystems.com

[email protected]


http://www.q4websystems.com/ContactUs/default.aspx

http://www.q4websystems.com/

mailto:[email protected]




Visit Us Online

• Web: www.q4websystems.com

• Blog: www.q4blog.com

• Twitter: www.twitter.com/q4websystems

• Facebook: www.facebook.com/q4websystems


http://www.q4websystems.com

http://www.q4websystems.com

http://www.twitter.com/q4websystems

http://www.facebook.com/q4websystems


Q4 Research: Public Company use of social media for IR - Part 4 - Corporate Blogging

Social Media

Transcript of Q4 Research: Public Company use of social media for IR - Part 4 - Corporate Blogging