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A study of social media practices and trends in the field of investor relations
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Content
A STUDY OF SOCIAL MEDIA PRACTICES AND TRENDS IN THE FIELD OF
INVESTOR RELATIONS
by
Wei Qin
A Thesis Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE USC GRADUATE SCHOOL
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
MASTER OF ARTS
(STRATEGIC PUBLIC RELATIONS)
August 2011
Copyright 2011 Wei Qin
ii
Table of Contents
List of Figures ........................................................................................................................................ iv
Abstract ................................................................................................................................................... v
Chapter One: An Overview of Investor Relations (IR) ........................................................................... 1
Chapter Two: The Evolution of Investor Relations ................................................................................. 4
2.1 The Definition of Investor Relations .................................................................................. 4
2.2 The History of Investor Relations ...................................................................................... 5
2.3 Non-financial information .................................................................................................. 7
Chapter Three: Research Methodology ................................................................................................... 9
3.1 Research Methodology – Primary Research ...................................................................... 9
3.2 Research Methodology – Secondary Research .................................................................. 9
Chapter Four: The Regulatory Environment ......................................................................................... 11
4.1 Milestones in legislation ................................................................................................... 11
4.2 Trends in Regulatory Environment .................................................................................. 14
Chapter Five: Audience Analysis .......................................................................................................... 16
5.1 Investors ........................................................................................................................... 16
5.2 Influencers ........................................................................................................................ 20
5.3 Financial Reporters........................................................................................................... 22
5.4 Independent Researchers, Experts, and Professional Bloggers ........................................ 23
Chapter Six: Modern Investor Relation Practices and Technologies .................................................... 25
6.1 Conventional IR tools ....................................................................................................... 25
6.2 An Overview of Uses of New Media and Advanced Technologies by the
Investment Community ..................................................................................................... 30
6.3 Web-based IR tools .......................................................................................................... 32
6.4 Social Media ..................................................................................................................... 36
6.5 Summary .......................................................................................................................... 43
Chapter Seven: Case Study – Dell IR program ..................................................................................... 46
Chapter Eight: Reflection ...................................................................................................................... 52
Bibliography .......................................................................................................................................... 55
iii
Appendices
Appendix A: Glossary ................................................................................................................. 59
Appendix B: Interview Transcript ................................................................................................. 63
Appendix C: Verbatim ................................................................................................................... 70
iv
List of Figures
Figure 6.1: Sample of Advisory Release 29
Figure 7.1: A Question Posted on Dell Shares 49
v
Abstract
This thesis will offer investor relations officers and financial communication
professionals a view of the trends in corporate disclosure and the suitability of social
media for the practice of investor relations. It defines investor relations in today‘s
communication environment and reviews basic policy regarding online information
disclosure. The thesis‘ analysis focuses on the IR activities that are the most suitable for
new media adoption. It concludes with suggestions on how corporations and IR
practitioners can embrace online media to communicate with investors.
1
Chapter One: An Overview of Investor Relations (IR)
The past decade marked a period of economic turbulence for the United States.,
particularly for the equity markets. The 10-year period included the devastating ―burst‖ of
the dot-com bubble that caused the NASDAQ to drop more than 10 percent in a single
day, a spate of high-profile corporate scandals that called into question the effectiveness
of the U.S. regulatory system, and a deep financial crisis that put both the U.S. and global
economies at risk.
One of the biggest challenges that public companies face during a downturn is
retaining investors. Concerned investors typically remove assets from the stock market
during and after a crash. For instance, after the market collapse in 2008, stock-fund
investors withdrew a record $70.7 billion from stock mutual funds that October.
(Bhaktavatsalam, 2008) Investments were transferred into less volatile assets such as
bonds, where risk is thought to be lower. An economic downturn erodes investors‘
confidence. Public companies must adjust immediately to address panic and assure
investors that they are a good investment for the long run.
According to the National Bureau of Economic Research, the recession ended in
June 2009, and the U.S. economy is experiencing a slow recovery. (Business Cycle
Dating Committee of the National Bureau of Economic Research, 2010) To continue the
rebound of the capital markets, investor relations (IR) departments of publicly-traded
2
companies must play a crucial role in defending the market‘s integrity and encouraging
investors to keep investments and/or return to the market. IR is no longer limited to
publishing financial information; it is now responsible for strategically building and
maintaining a company‘s shareholder base.(Laskin, 2009)
The role of investor relations is constantly evolving. In the last decade, the U.S.
Securities and Exchange Committee (SEC) — the securities industry‘s regulatory agency
— was concerned with highly publicized scandals involving selective disclosure and
accounting cases such as the Enron scandal. Congress responded by passing the
Sarbanes–Oxley Act and Regulation Fair Disclosure to require more corporate
transparency and accountability. These changes require IR departments to emphasize full
disclosure and more transparent communications.
In recent years there has been an explosion in the use of social media tools such as
Facebook and Twitter. Facebook has more than 500 million active users
worldwide;(Facebook, 2011) the average U.S. internet user spends more time on
Facebook than on Google, Yahoo, YouTube, Wikipedia and Amazon combined. (Parr,
2010) These tools have been successfully used to transform the way institutions
disseminate information in campaigns for political races, public education, and consumer
marketing.
The debate over the investor relations community‘s use of social media continues as
3
technology makes more advanced communication tools available. Nine percent of
in-house investor relations officers make use of social media, according to a 2010 BNY
Mellon IR survey. Of that total, 35 percent are looking for information on its potential
applications. (BNY Mellon Depositary Receipts, 2010) Since the technology is so new
and constantly changing, it is still unclear how investor relations can capitalize on these
new opportunities.
4
Chapter Two: The Evolution of Investor Relations
2.1 The Definition of Investor Relations
The National Investor Relations Institute (NIRI), the leading professional association
in the industry, defines investor relations as a strategic management function that
integrates the responsibilities of ―finance, communication, marketing and securities law
compliance‖ to accomplish two-way communication between publicly-traded companies
and the investment community. (National Investor Relations Institute, 2011) The ultimate
goal of investor relations is to ensure that a company‘s market value equals its fair value.
The investor relation activities can be divided into two categories: shareholder
services and media relations. IR professionals make connections between their companies
and the investor community. A publicly-traded company‘s IR department is responsible
for handling all inquires from shareholders, potential shareholders, and financial
professionals interested in the company‘s financial position. IR officers work closely with
the finance and legal departments to ensure that financial information is delivered to
shareholders within the legal framework, especially quarterly and annual financial reports.
Other IR-related activities include road shows, ownership research and analysis, direct
communication with shareholders, analysts, and brokers, and providing a company‘s
management with stock and financial information.
5
2.2 The History of Investor Relations
IR has been recognized as a function that connects publicly-traded companies to the
investment community for almost 50 years. Scholars have divided IR‘s history into three
periods: the Communication Era (1945-1970); the Financial Era (1970-2000,); and the
Synergy Era (2000-present). (Laskin, 2011)
The Communication Era (1945-1970) was marked by a period of vast economic
growth that created enormous amounts of discretionary income for the American public,
as well as expansion opportunities for companies. Companies found it necessary to
compete for available funds and often formed entire departments whose sole
responsibility was to attract new investors. In 1953, General Electric Chairman Ralph
Cordiner created the first investor relations department in the world (National Investor
Relations Institute, 2011). In this period, IR played a non-strategic role in
communications. IR was about publicity and promotion; very little substantive
information was given out to investors. Also during this period, people with
communications and marketing backgrounds held the majority of IR positions, rather
than those with financial experience.
In the Financial Era (1970-2000), large institutions were created to manage
individual investors‘ assets, usually in the form of mutual funds. Institutions created buy
and sell-side analyst positions to mediate between companies and individuals investors.
6
This movement made it necessary for IR campaigns to provide more detailed financial
information to financial analysts to compete for assets. The investor relations practice
experienced dramatic changes as institutional shareholders became the primary audience
of IR programs. Accounting and finance professionals began providing analysts with
financial information through direct, one-on-one contact instead of through mass media.
During the Financial Era, IR was sometimes used to achieve the highest possible stock
price by overstating financial results. This led to a series of fraud scandals in the early
2000s, initiating the transition into the Synergy, or ―Post-Enron‖ Era.
In the Synergy Era (2000-present), financial skills and public
relations/communication efforts combined to make IR more effective. The fraud cases at
Enron WorldCom and other companies demonstrated the need for stricter regulation of
publicly-traded companies. These fraud cases caused the SEC and the Financial
Accounting Standards Board (FASB) to scrutinize financial reporting and corporate
governance practices much more closely. Moreover, investors realized the importance of
non-financial information concerning management teams and operations — information
that could not be obtained through a traditional financial statement.
Research on news dissemination and the influence of the business press proved that
more efficient distribution of company news could result in ―lower bid-ask spreads,
increased share turnover and lower volatility.‖ (Soltes, 2009) This means that greater
7
dissemination, usually through commercial newswires, would help reduce the cost of
trading, thus benefiting both the company and the capital markets. The wider
dissemination of financial information also promoted greater transparency.
The mission of IR professionals is to ensure an accurate company description to its
investors and analysts and to achieve a share price that fairly reflects the company‘s
value.
2.3 Non-financial information
Investors and analysts rely on financial and non-financial information to evaluate a
company. While financial information is the primary criterion for evaluation,
non-financial information can also be relevant. Non-financial information can be grouped
into three categories: industry cohort, corporate governance, and social responsibility
(CSR). The history of corporate reporting of non-financial information dates back to the
1970‘s when public companies began including environmental information in their
annual reports (Gleick, Cooley, & Morikawa, 2008). The SEC does not have regulations
and guidelines regarding corporate disclosure of non-financial information and
companies release it on a voluntary basis. Eli Amir and Baruch Lev proved that financial
accounting data is only ―value-relevant‖ after taking the non-financial information into
consideration. However, non-financial information is value-relevant both by itself and
when combined with financial data (Amir & Lev, 1996). This suggests that if investors
8
and analysts include non-financial information in their equity research, they will achieve
a more accurate estimate of a company‘s value.
Though both individual and institutional investors use non-financial information for
company valuation, retail investors are more likely to use it as a ―proxy for good
corporate performance‖ because they lack the time and resources for research (Center for
Corporate Citizenship, 2008).
While a publicly traded company‘s finance departments are responsible for financial
information, the IR department is in charge of non-financial information. An IR officer
needs to make sure that their company‘s key non-financial information is embedded in
the messages delivered to investors, and that the investors actually understand those
embedded messages. Unlike financial accounting data, which is based solely on
numerical fact, non-financial information usually comes in the form of an analysis and
summary. Because of its subjective nature, non-financial information can be polished and
tailored to particular interest groups. IR officers can draft messages in different ways
based on tone, writing style, and word choice.
9
Chapter Three: Research Methodology
3.1 Research Methodology – Primary Research
Interviews with IR Professionals
The thesis author conducted a phone interview with Bill Coffin, the chief executive
officer of CCG Investor Relations, and email interviews with Andrea Wentscher, Investor
Relations Manager at BASF – The Chemical Company, and Kerri Thurston, director of
investor relations at Garmin. By obtaining viewpoints from both an IR agency and
in-house IR departments, this thesis gained different perspectives on the issue of social
media and trends in investor relations. Interview questions and transcripts can be found in
Appendix B.
Real-Time Chat/Forum Discussions
The author attended several Twitter meetings organized by Q4 Web System. IR
professionals discussed investor relations and social media on an assigned topic every
week. By participating in Twitter discussions, the author collected opinions on topics
including website disclosure, adoption of corporate blogs for IR purposes, and release of
earnings presentations. For related tweets and discussions, please refer to Appendix C.
3.2 Research Methodology – Secondary Research
This thesis included a great deal of secondary research, specifically content analysis
and literature reviews. By reviewing the IR campaigns of publicly-traded companies, the
10
author collected the latest applications of social media to IR. Furthermore, by analyzing
blogs and forums related to IR, the author solicited comments on the effectiveness of
social media-powered IR campaigns.
11
Chapter Four: The Regulatory Environment
4.1 Milestones in legislation
Securities Act of 1933
The Securities Act of 1933 — often referred to as the ―Truth in Securities‖ Law —
was passed in the aftermath of the 1929 stock market crash to protect investors.
Corporations were required to disclose significant information to investors before selling
them securities. It also prohibited the misrepresentation and fraud that sometimes
accompanied securities sales. The act was the first major federal legislation to regulate
the issuance and sale of securities (The Securities and Exchange Commission, 2011a).
Securities Exchange Act of 1934
The Securities Exchange Act of 1934 created the Securities and Exchange
Commission, or SEC, and established rules for the secondary securities trading market.
The act laid the groundwork for corporate reporting and other critical issues that have
come to form the practice of investor relations. It required ―companies with more than
$10 million in assets whose securities are held by more than 500 owners‖ to file periodic
reports to the SEC. Corporate reports are uploaded into the SEC‘s database, EDGAR, for
public access (See Appendix for EDGAR).
The disclosure requirements can be divided into two types: structured and
unstructured disclosure. Structured disclosure refers to explicit information about a
12
company‘s financial and operating results. Companies must provide investors this
information in a precise manner as stipulated in the required SEC forms, such as the 10-K,
the 10-Q, and the 8-K. Other documents include registration statements, prospectuses,
proxy statements and the management discussion and analysis (MD&A) of the annual
report (Cole, 2003). Unstructured disclosure refers to implicit information that companies
disclose at will in accordance with their disclosure principles. No SEC-mandated format
applies to unstructured disclosure. Annual reports, letters to shareholders, press releases,
investor meeting presentations, and conference calls exemplify this type of information
(Bragg, 2004).
The Securities Exchange Act of 1934 also prohibits fraud in connection with the offer,
purchase, and sale of securities. Insider trading is one of the main examples of fraud. At
one point in the history of the capital market, analysts and investors relied on information
obtained outside the financial statement of publicly-traded companies. These analysts and
investors called on material information unavailable to the public to make their
investment decisions (See Appendix A for definition of Material Information). This can
lead to significantly higher investment returns. Insider trading happens when individuals
trade securities based on nonpublic material information, a breach of a fiduciary duty, or
some other confidential relationship. Insider trading was not uncommon in Wall Street.
Since 1909, the United States has prohibited insider trading. The attention of analysts and
13
investors were then drawn back to financial information and accounting sheets, which is
the way how the equity research works now.
Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002
The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 — also known as the Public Company Accounting
Reform and Investor Protection Act or the Corporate and Auditing Accountability and
Responsibility Act — is a federal law that was enacted on July 30, 2002. President
George W. Bush regarded the bill‘s contents as ―the most far-reaching reforms of
Americans business practices since the time of Franklin D. Roosevelt.‖
The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 was proposed and enacted as a response to a series
of corporate scandals including Enron, WorldCom, and Adelphia Peregrine Systems. The
act contains 11 titles specifying requirements for auditing, corporate governance, and
financial reporting of publicly-traded companies. It improved the process of financial
disclosure by enhancing the accuracy of transaction recording, of financial reports, and of
corporate disclosure.
Regulation Fair Disclosure (Reg FD)
Separate from the above federal legislations, the Regulation Fair Disclosure is a
regulation that the SEC promulgated in August 2000. The rule mandates that all public
companies must disclose material information to all investors at the same time. It
addresses the issue of selective disclosure of information by public-traded companies.
14
Whenever companies disclose material, nonpublic information to certain individuals or
entities who may trade based on that knowledge, the rule requires that those companies
make that information available to all investors at the same time (The Securities and
Exchange Commission, 2011d).
More than a decade ago, public companies gave investors who purchased
institutional securities special treatment and corporate information because of their
investing power. However, most individual investors did not get the same amount of
corporate information, and were unable to make ―informed‖ investment decisions. To
protect individual investors‘ interests and defend the market‘s integrity, Regulation Fair
Disclosure requires that all investors have access to the same corporate information.
Under the law, publicly-traded companies are responsible for ensuring that corporate
information reaches all investors at the same time. The Reg. FD fundamentally changed
how companies communicate with investors, leading them to proactively disclosing
information and bringing about transparency.
4.2 Trends in Regulatory Environment
The government agencies that oversee the accounting and financial industries closely
scrutinize publicly-traded companies‘ corporate governance and investor relation
practices. Alexander‘s study shows that the ―changing regulatory environment and
compliance with these regulations‖ are the biggest challenges facing the industry (Laskin,
15
2009). Regulatory changes in financial reporting, financial information delivery, and
proxy voting have dramatically altered the way investor relations are conducted.
In 2008, the SEC took a step toward acknowledging the change in how people
acquire the information that they base their investment decisions on. The SEC published
the Commission Guidance on the Use of Company Websites as an interpretive release. It
is a guide for companies that use the internet for corporate reporting.
According to the guidelines, the SEC makes it clear that it encourages companies to
adopt interactive media in their reporting. It will develop EDGAR in a way that makes
financial information easier for investors to analyze as well as help automate regulatory
filings. The SEC also expects companies to make disclosures readily available to
investors in a variety of forms to facilitate more efficient access to financial information.
Essentially, the SEC said that disclosure through a corporate website is sufficient for
some companies under some circumstances. However, the agency also recognized that
simply posting information on the internet does not mean everyone necessarily becomes
aware of it (The Securities and Exchange Commission, 2008).
16
Chapter Five: Audience Analysis
An investor relations department, as indicated by the name, manages a company‘s
relationships with its investors. To build up a diversified shareholder base and retain
investors over the long term, an investor relations program must communicate to a wide
range of interested parties, many of whom may not yet own company stock.
5.1 Investors
5.1.1 Retail Investors
Retail or individual investors, are people who buy and sell securities for their personal
accounts. A beneficial shareholder is a retail investor who holds shares of his securities in
the account of a bank or broker, while a registered shareholder holds shares of his
securities directly through the issuer or his transfer agent. Individual investors usually
make investment decisions by themselves or get suggestions from financial advisors or
brokers. In the United States, almost half of all American households invest in equities,
meaning that the total number of retail investors is greater than 91 million. This group
owned about 26 percent of all equities in 2005 (Harris, 2010).
Most IR programs usually do not target retail investors. Given the relatively small
amount that each individual investor invests, it is not cost-effective for an IR program to
communicate with each of them. Generally speaking, an individual investor alone will
not have any impact on shareholder votes or stock price fluctuations, and it is impossible
17
to have one-on-one conversations with all of them. An interview with Bill Coffin
confirms this argument:
Companies that are very consumer-oriented — such as Disney or J&J — made some
efforts to target individual investors by participating in conferences that are attended
by individual investors. But for the most part, they do it even less today than they used
to, because (they have) concluded that individual investors are not important factors,
particularly for large companies. (Appendix B)
However, social media can provide an opportunity for IR programs eager to target
individual investors. First of all, retail investors are less sophisticated than institutional
investors, and thus less likely to use financial data and accounting sheets to make
investment decisions. They tend to follow suggestions from financial professionals and
are more likely to use non-financial information in conjunction with their analysis
(Center for Corporate Citizenship, 2008). Non-financial information regarding corporate
governance, industry analysis, and competitive analysis of a company can help a
company obtain positive reviews from individual investors, if carefully crafted.
Secondly, individual investors use Facebook, Twitter, and other social media on a
daily basis, just like hundreds of thousands of other Americans. Social media create a
platform in which individual investors can ask questions about the company, and most
importantly, have their questions answered in a timely fashion (Greenlaw, 2010). Social
media can be an ideal place for companies to find and communicate with retail investors,
who would otherwise be hard to reach out to.
18
5.1.2 Institutional investors and Buy-side Analysts
Institutional investors represent the ―buy-side‖ of Wall Street. They include mutual
funds, pension funds, insurance companies, and hedge funds that pool large sums of
money invest in securities, real property, and other investment assets. The clients of these
investing institutions can include individuals, corporations, foreign governments,
hospitals or any other organizations that employ the buy-side to manage their money. The
various institutional investors differ in terms of the industries they invest in and investing
style: i.e. value vs. growth, long only vs. hedge, and quantitative vs. fundamentalist.
Buy-side analysts are financial professionals who work for institutional investors and
provide investment recommendations to the organization‘s own money managers. They
usually conduct research on stocks and securities by developing financial models.
Investment recommendations build on formulas and financial models that consistently
beat the market are selling-points of a buy-side firm, and are not available to anyone
outside the firm. Firms that do not have the resources to conduct equity research
internally also purchase research reports from their brokers.
IR programs consider institutional investors their most important audiences, because
of their voting rights and majority ownership of the company (Crofton, 2011).
Institutional investors can heavily influence a company‘s management through exercising
their voting rights on various issues. In this regard, a significant change to the ownership
19
base may critically impact shareholder voting, and potentially affect the company‘s
management. IR officers and public companies‘ management teams always pay close
attention to a company‘s ownership and constantly communicate with the larger
institutional investors.
By facilitating the buy-side‘s equity research, IR activities can have a positive impact
on their investment decisions. A study of the buy-side by Rival Research reveals that
―portfolio managers and buy-side analysts attribute a premium of 10% of a company‘s
value to good investor communications and a loss of 15% to bad investor
communications.‖(Joyce, 2009)
Investors certainly chase after good business performance and a good financial
position, but IR is about communicating how well the business is being run. To better
serve the buy-side investors, IR officers need to ensure that the IR department and the
management team are accessible to investors. Companies can achieve these goals by
holding more IR events and conferences to meet more potential investors and buy-side
analysts.
Being a valuable information source to the buy-side is very important. Research also
shows that the more experienced analysts use more financial information (Orens &
Lybaert, 2010). In contrast to retail investors, institutional investors are more interested in
financial data and in-depth analysis. IR officers must pay attention to institutional
20
investors‘ needs and provide informative and detailed financial data to them. Institutional
investors do not accept the type of Industry and Business 101 research that may work for
retail investors.
5.2 Influencers
5.2.1 Sell-side Analysts
Sell-side analysts are financial professionals who work for brokerage firms and
conduct research assessing companies‘ future earnings growth and fair value. Their job is
to assist investors in making better investment decisions by providing services like
investment recommendations, price targets, and buy-side interaction. Sell-side analysts
use accounting sheets and non-financial information to calculate the fair price of a
company‘s stock and bonds. They also calculate financial ratios such as the
Price-Earnings Ratio (P/E) and Earnings per Share (EPS). By comparing a company‘s
fair value to its market price, and the company‘s financial ratio to the industry average,
sell-side analysts can conclude the evaluation research with a recommendation of ―buy,‖
―sell,‖ or ―hold‖ the company‘s stock. Another regular job of sell-side analysts is to
provide research notes on earnings or periodic industry updates based on specific events.
Sell-side analysts do not buy or sell stock; they sell the results of their equity
research. They usually offer research results to their brokerage firms‘ clients. Sell-side
analysts regularly contact the firm‘s largest clients to update them about the changes and
21
developments in investment recommendations. Equity research results can be widely
circulated since they are usually delivered to brokers‘ clients in electronic form. These
research reports can heavily influence stock prices and investors‘ decisions.
The sell-side analysts are the investment community‘s ―third party.‖ A sell-side
analyst usually specializes in one sector and has a profound understanding of the industry
and companies he follows. Though public companies can legally sponsor conferences and
events that sell-side analysts participate in, analysts still conduct their equity research
independently. A good sell-side analyst does not advocate for a company‘s stock, but
works to determine the stock‘s fair value and the company it belongs to. In the long run,
analysts are evaluated by their recommendations‘ accuracy.
Sell-side analysts have different preferences when it comes to their interactions with
the companies they follow. Usually an analyst starts his research on a company‘s stock by
meeting with the corporation‘s management team to discuss related topics like operations
or financial positions. The analyst then closely follows the company to develop a
financial model that estimates the company‘s value (Zucchi, 2010). While some analysts
maintain constant communication with the IR officer, others never call the company. IR
officers need to accommodate each sell-side analyst‘s style and always respond to their
inquiries.
IR officers can use sell-side analysts to their companies‘ advantage from two
22
perspectives. First, sell-side analysts are valued for their neutral perspective and in-depth
understanding of a specific industry or company. An IR officer who has worked a long
time for a company might have the corporate agenda deeply ingrained, and thus is less
likely to think with an outsider‘s perspective. Hence feedback from sell-side analysts is
invaluable because of their independent analyses of the stock market. Sell-side analysts‘
opinions can also help the IR officer think through investors‘ perspectives and understand
their needs. Second, although analysts run their research independently, IR officers can
always support their studies by providing more information about the companies. IR
professionals should be a credible information resource for analysts.
Furthermore, an IR program‘s success is judged by the sell-side analysts‘ feedback,
making communication with the analysts a priority. Sell-side research reports
information and analysts‘ recommendations are valuable tangible metrics used to
determine IR activities‘ effectiveness. An IR program is on the right track if the
information in the sell-side report resonates with the corporate IR messages.
5.3 Financial Reporters
Financial reporters are journalists who work for the financial news media. They are
the traditional target audience of a financial communications program, working as
another third party in the investment community. An increasingly common phenomenon
in public relations is that financial reporters will call corporate communications officers
23
to confirm news or stories that he or she had seen on the internet.
5.4 Independent Researchers, Experts, and Professional Bloggers
In the last five years, more and more commentary and analysis has come from
outside the traditional world of sell-side equity research. Independent researchers, experts
and professional bloggers now work as third parties in the investment community to
provide equity research. On one hand, these third parties create aggregated opinions and
original research reports that buy-side analysts and investors consume. The independent
perspectives and variety of research topics complement the existing information
resources and assist the buy-side in making an informed investment decision.
On the other hand, blog posts discussing investment ideas and company information
are becoming increasingly important as sources for further research by professional
analysts. More than half of the analysts and investors surveyed by the Brunswick Group‘s
Social Media Research stated that they had read a blog post that led them to further
investigate an issue (Brunswick Group, 2010).
Summary
In general, an IR program involves three types of external audiences: current
shareowners, target investors, and the sell-side. Time spent on each audience varies from
company to company, but an ordinary investor relations program usually spends its time
equally on all three (BNY Mellon Depositary Receipts, 2010). IR officers and the
24
company‘s chief financial officer often are the engines behind one-on-one meetings with
investors and analysts. For example, an average IR officer is involved with about 150
communication sessions a year, and a CFO would have about 50 per year. IR officers also
reach out to potential investors by attending investment-related conferences and obtaining
new investors thought sell-side referrals.
People in the investment industry have observed a steady decrease in the number of
analysts and research coming from the sell-side. Investor relations has become much
more direct-to-investors than they were 10 years ago, reflecting an increasing emphasis
on transparent and two-way communications. Investor relations officers now get to meet
more investors and establish a rapport with them instead of using the sell-side as an
intermediary.
25
Chapter Six: Modern Investor Relation Practices and Technologies
Solid communication with the investor community is a vital priority for investor
relations. A survey study conducted in 2010 showed that an investor relations program‘s
top three goals are effective disclosure, coordinated investor relations messages, and
making company leadership visible and available to investment professionals (BNY
Mellon Depositary Receipts, 2010). With these communication-focused goals, IR
professionals have to leverage their resources and develop a tailored communication
strategy for each objective. Also, as the internet and electronic communications
technology advance, IR professionals grow better equipped with unprecedented tools.
This chapter will mainly discuss communication channels and media typically used in IR
programs.
6.1 Conventional IR tools
6.1.1 Individual relationships and communications
As previously mentioned, financial analysts and institutional investors are the
primary targets of IR programs, and IR officers are responsible for maintaining good
relationships with them. One-on-one communication with analysts and investors is a key
component of an IR officer‘s daily work. BNY Mellon‘s Global Trends in Investor
Relations survey shows that an IR officer has 147 one-on-one meetings with investment
professionals on average in a year (BNY Mellon Depositary Receipts, 2010). Direct
26
communications include analyst meetings, conference calls, and analyst briefings. The
situation varies in individual companies depending on the corporate policy on interaction
with financial professionals. Some publicly-traded companies have adopted a policy of
prohibiting any non-public communications with financial professionals.
Analysts — especially those on the sell-side — also benefit from building close
relationships with the companies they follow. Getting to know more about the company
would doubtless help analysts to make informed decisions. Some analysts frequently
contact the management of the companies they follow to confirm information they
obtained through external resources.‖ (Crofton, 2011) A Harvard Business School study
shows that personal relationships can improve mutual fund managers‘ investing
performance. The study shows that mutual fund managers place larger concentrated
investments on companies they are connected to through alumni networks. Fund
managers tend to perform significantly better on investments in these connected
companies than on non-connected ones — a difference of about 7.8 percent per year
(Cohen & Malloy, 2010).
6.1.2 Traditional marketing tools
Some investor relations professionals also take a marketing approach to pursue
prospective investors. Some tools they employ include one-on-one phone calls or
brochures, and annual reports mailed directly to investors. IR officers use marketing
27
initiatives to attract new investors as well as retain existing ones. Selling financial
messages to investors takes the same amount of effort as selling a product to consumers.
If the communication is persuasive enough, investors will invest in the company.
Effective IR programs develop tailored marketing strategies and tactics for each type
of investor. Obviously marketing materials designed for retail investors contain less
accounting data, but they present a company‘s business in an easily understood format.
Institutional investors, on the other hand, are only interested in solid financial analysis,
not a Business 101 brochure.
6.1.3 The Wall Street information channel & Newswire services
Regulation Fair Disclosure requires publicly-traded companies to ensure fair
disclosure by making material information equally accessible to all interested parties. To
achieve that goal, public companies employ newswire services to publish and distribute
important financial information. Companies expect that these newswires will transmit the
messages embedded in press releases to a wide range of investors and financial
professionals. Business Wire and PR Newswire are the two largest commercial newswire
services used to reach financial audiences effectively.
Mainstream financial media like the Wall Street Journal and Forbes Magazine long
enjoyed positions as leading sources of financial information, followed by newspapers,
magazines and TV broadcasts, before online media became widely available. The Wall
28
Street Journal, which is named after the United States‘ financial capital, covers economic
and business topics and has a circulation of 2.1 million copies — more than any other
newspaper in the country. (Plambeck., 2010) The Journal‘s writers and columnists are
very influential among its readers — for both financial professionals and individual
investors. For example, the column Heard on the Street reports breaking news to its
readers and was long considered a must-read for financial professionals and retail
investors.
With the surge in popularity of website disclosure, an increasing number of
companies now choose an advisory news release to announce quarterly and annual
financial results. Similar to a media advisory, an advisory news release is a short
announcement delivered through newswire services to alert the audience. Instead of
sending out an informative press release containing detailed financial results, IR
departments now just post the links for news releases and updates on their websites. By
doing their news posting online, publicly-traded companies like Nordion and SVB
Financial Group use their websites as the only sources of detailed information, thus
diverting more online traffic to their IR websites.
A typical advisory that announces quarterly financial results often starts with an
earnings release announcement, followed by information about a conference call, and
concludes with a brief company introduction. Figure 6.1 on the next page is an example
29
of an advisory news release that Nordion issued about its 2011 first quarter financial
results (Nordion Inc, 2011).
Figure 6.1. Sample of Advisory Release
6.1.4 Road shows:
Road shows are a fundamentally important part of any IR schedule, and an essential
channel for companies to forge individual relationships with analysts. A road show is
when the management team of a company that issues securities or does Initial Public
Offering (IPO) travels around the country giving presentations to analysts, fund managers,
and potential investors.
30
6.2 An Overview of Uses of New Media and Advanced Technologies by the
Investment Community
Like every other industry, the investment industry, is facing changes in the flow of
information and communications that social media have brought about. The investment
community and investor relations professionals used to enjoy a one-to-many
communication approach that disseminated information to large audiences. Mainstream
news media, such as the Financial Times and the Wall Street Journal, were the exclusive
outlets with the ability to reach out to a large amount of investors.
But with the free flow of information on the internet, facts about the operation and
performance of a company now become unprecedentedly visible to investors and analysts.
Online applications and websites automatically deliver tailored financial information to
investors. Social networking sites are growing at an astounding rate and serve investors
as a platform on which to share and discuss financial information.
6.2.1 Social Media for the Investment Community
Sharing financial information is a useful way to discover new ideas within the
investment business. Research shows that about 53 percent of institutional investors
attribute their initial interest in a particular stock to conversations with fellow investment
professionals (John & Robert, 1988). Before the internet era, social networking among
Wall Street professionals meant cocktail parties and gatherings like the Value Investing
31
Congress, a formal party where financial professionals get the opportunity to speak with
industry figures. Today, the same type of social networking happens on blogs and through
social media.
Private investing communities like SumZero and Value Investor Club are becoming
popular among financial professionals. These online clubs are open to analysts and
professional investors; they encourage sharing and communication between members.
For example, Value Investor Clubs charge no membership fee, but require its members to
submit investment ideas to keep their membership status. Both sell-side and buy-side
investors join these online communities, but for different reasons. Buy-side investors
seek investment opportunities, whereas sell-side analysts more often than not expect
investors to recognize and implement the ideas they have published on social media web
sites.
In addition, diversified media platforms promote democracy within the investment
community by offering alternative perspectives. Aside from existing online forums,
investors and analysts have access to a variety of online networking web sites that
exclusively target the investment industry. Investors and analysts gather at open-source
blogs, online trading communities, and exclusive high-end investor clubs to share their
research results.
Seeking Alpha is an example of an open-source blog that provides free stock market
32
analysis shared by its users. The site now attracts more financial professionals than any
other major financial web sites. The site now has 652,000 registered users. More than half
of its users are money managers, sell-side analysts, investment bankers, financial advisers,
business leaders, and sophisticated retail investors, according to the Nielsen research firm
(Costa, 2010).
These online networking sites supplement the traditional Wall Street information
channels as emerging information resources. Seeking Alpha and similar websites allow
professionals in the investment industry to share and discuss different points of view.
Equity research, which is conducted by financial analysts and usually provided only to
paid subscribers, is now published freely on Seeking Alpha. Investment ideas and
exchange-traded fund and stock research written by financial professionals and
sophisticated retail investors, provide a divergence of opinions ―unmatched‖ by
traditional Wall Street research and are what the investment community need (Costa,
2010). Ultimately, the mainstream financial media‘s information monopoly will end (if
that is not already the case) and financial professionals will have access to more
information resources.
6.3 Web-based IR tools
Investor Relations has adapted to the changes in the media industry by adopting new
web-based tools.
33
6.3.1 Corporate websites & IR section
. Almost every publicly-traded company now has a separate section on its website
dedicated to IR-related content and investor services. IR websites are designed to provide
investors and analysts with the facts and information they need to make educated
investment decisions. Financial materials include — but are not limited to — SEC filings,
ownership breakdowns, stock price quotes, and news updates. Interactive media is largely
employed on IR sites to make financial data more accessible and easier to digest by users.
The SEC has recognized company websites as a legitimate method for financial
disclosure. The SEC made the case in a 2008 update, stating that only ―under very limited
circumstances‖ does a company‘s website serve as ―a standalone method of providing
information to investors.‖ (The Securities and Exchange Commission, 2008) Research
conducted by the Brunswick Group proves that most investors and analysts believe that
information released directly from the company is the most reliable (Brunswick Group,
2010).
While the SEC authorized company websites as a legitimate method for financial
disclosure, few companies have actually taken action. In 2010, technology companies
like Google and Microsoft took the lead in abandoning newswire methods for
information dissemination. A well-established technology company that uses its blog
extensively to announce all of its company news — disclosing financial information
34
solely via the web — makes a lot of sense, according to a Google spokesman (Stuart,
2010).
However, investor relations professionals must also be objective and balanced when
considering the elimination of newswire services. On the one hand, it depends on which
industry the company is associated with, and how the analysts who cover that industry
work. In Google‘s case, the company has utilized many web disclosure tools and urged its
audience to grow accustomed to them. Similarly, technology analysts — especially
industry analysts — are likely to adapt to these new tools and programs quickly, making
online news media disclosure even more convenient than conventional media.
On the other hand, the website disclosure approach may only work for blue chip and
mega-cap companies. The newswire service is extremely valuable to small capital
companies that many analysts don‘t necessarily cover. Carefully designed news
distribution may help the company generate investment ideas and thus gain some
attention from analysts.
6.3.2 Multi-media Quarterly and Annual Report
The reduced cost associated with online disclosure and the available technology
encourages public companies to be more creative in preparing and disseminating their
financial reports. By offering their SEC filings at multiple places in different formats,
companies make their financial information more accessible and easier to analyze, which
35
is critical to investor protection and market efficiency. Beyond filing with the SEC‘s
EDGAR system, companies used to mail copies of their quarterly and annual reports to
shareholders.
Nowadays, more and more public companies choose to put the financial reports on
their investor websites. Using a web-based ―dynamic‖ approach, a company creates a
product document file (PDF) and a multimedia presentation program for each year‘s
annual report. The interactive program is created to integrate financial information with
visual art to increase user-friendliness.
6.3.3 Email Alerts and Really Simple Syndication Feeds (RSS)
The multitude of technological advances in electronic communications has increased
investors‘ and analysts‘ expectations for timely and accessible financial disclosure.
Companies are expected to prepare and disseminate their financial information in ways
that are easy to adopt and follow. IR programs have adopted the email alerts and RSS
feed services to meet such needs. IR email alerts send all of the posts on a company‘s IR
website to investors, including SEC filings, annual reports, webcasts, presentations, event
alerts, and financial news. The email alert service is very specific to specific stock
information. For example, Comcast offers stock information alerts on regular quotes,
threshold price changes, and stock price changes. Users are able to customize their own
alerts and are even able to set up different alerting ranges for each setting.
36
Some companies offer Really Simple Syndication (RSS) services to subscribers.
Investors and analysts can receive a news feed directly from a company by adding the
corporation‘s RSS address to a selected news reader, like My Yahoo! or Google Reader.
Companies like Samsung have a more comprehensive news feed service that covers all of
the company‘s business sectors.
6.4 Social Media
The new media and technology bring public companies and investors into an era
where news is ubiquitous, abundant, and free. A piece of news may quickly affect equity
research by influencing forecasts of, and speculation regarding, a company‘s future
profitability. For example, Apple‘s stock price fell less than 3 percent after the company
announced Steve Jobs‘ medical leave because investors already believed that the ―Steve
Jobs Premium‖ that raised Apple‘s stock price 10 percent to 15 percent higher was gone
(McCormack, 2009). The flow of rumors and news about Jobs‘ health condition was sped
up by the way it saturated social media.
The following is an analysis of how investors and publicly-traded companies
leverage social media for IR purposes.
6.4.1 Micro-blogging Sites
A micro-blog differs from a traditional blog in its smaller character capacity, file size,
and media embedding ability. The two micro-blog services that the IR community uses
37
are Twitter and StockTwits. Twitter has gained the most popularity within publicly-traded
companies and IR departments for financial disclosure purposes. Tweets are text-based
posts of up to 140 characters, and can be re-tweeted or replied to. While Twitter is a
universal social networking and micro-blogging service aimed at the general public,
StockTwits is the ―Twitter for Investors‖ dedicated to the investment community.
StockTwits gathers ongoing discussions within the community and categorizes them into
specified stock watch lists.
Twitter and other micro-blogging tools were initially used to broadcast events like
Analyst Day and analyst conference calls. In July 2008, eBay became one of the first
publicly-traded companies to use Twitter as a way to update financial information and
reach investors. Richard Brewer, eBay‘s corporate blogger, reports the company‘s
quarterly earnings results via his blog and covers analyst calls live on his Twitter account.
eBay initially struggled with SEC compliance regulations, but then came up with New
Social Media Guidelines for Reporting Company Information, to make its social media
disclosure more legitimate.
By using social media as a news channel, the information contained in key messages
is then disseminated through Twitter networks and followers‘ re-tweets. Moreover,
investors with smart phones and other mobile devices can receive tweets and news feeds
within seconds of them being posted online.
38
A quick analysis of publicly-traded companies shows that only a limited number
have a Twitter account exclusively devoted to investor relations, but many use their
corporate accounts to post updates about financial information and IR activities.
Examples include companies like Procter & Gamble and Syngenta, which include IR
functions as a part of their corporate communication activities.
Micro-blogs have gained popularity among publicly-traded companies and IR
professionals for their simplicity (Maeckle, 2011). Unlike Facebook and blogs that
require a significant investment of time, Twitter and StockTwits have a relatively intuitive
user interface. They are both easy to set up, and the content is presented in plain text.
Twitter and ShockTwits have especially suitable platforms for IR since they don‘t require
multi-media content.
Other companies employ micro-blogs as an IR tool by creating accounts on
StockTwits, or separate IR accounts on Twitter. They mainly utilize micro-blogs for two
purposes: news alerts and brief follower engagement. Global Positioning Systems (GPS)
technology provider Garmin has a Twitter account named GarminStock that it uses as a
news alert channel for promoting its earnings calls and the availability of financial
information. Such tweets are often very informative and include valuable facts and
financial data.
Many companies also use micro-blogs to hold real-time conversations with their
39
followers: an IR officer is able to answer investors‘ questions five minutes after the
question is posted. BASF Global has a dedicated IR Twitter account @BASF_IR that it
uses to communicate with retail investors. The IR officers who manage the retail
investors and run the Twitter account regularly share information about financial
strategies and directly communicate with investors.
However, communication over Twitter has an obvious downside. While an investor
or analyst may benefit from a clear and brief tweet, the 140-character limitation is often
troublesome for IR professionals. In reality, a typical forward-looking statement takes
more than 140 characters, and it is difficult to reconstruct a press release‘s non-committal
nature with the intention to impress or attract followers within the given limit. To comply
with securities laws, the IR teams have to consult with corporate lawyers and work on
practice guidelines for corporate disclosure on such platforms.
Moreover, IR professionals have also had concerns about Twitter‘s security.
Companies including Home Depot and Intel UK have reported Twitter-based worms and
cases where corporate Twitter accounts were hacked. In Intel‘s case, the Twitter account
was compromised, and then a direct message with a scam link was sent out to all of
Intel‘s followers (Calouro, 2010). The company eventually got its account back, but not
before several of its followers‘ accounts were compromised. If a publicly-traded
company‘s IR account gets hacked and tweets containing false information lead to
40
unfounded trading, its relationship with its followers will invariably suffer badly.
6.4.2 Social Networking Sites (SNS)
Corporate activities surrounding social networking sites (SNS) remain experimental.
While research shows that about 65 percent of companies have adopted Twitter for IR
activities, only 37 percent of these companies have attempted IR related activities
through Facebook, currently the most universally-used social networking site on the
internet. Once again research shows that the technology sector is leading the transition to
social networking sites: the number of technology companies that have adopted social
networking services for IR purposes is almost triple the number of companies in other
industries that have done so (Heaps, 2010).
Social networking services provide public companies with more media elements and
more control over published content. SNS, specifically Facebook, allow users to post
videos, pictures, and links on their pages, as well as share content with friends and fans.
With embedded multimedia, an IR team is capable of providing some context about its
company and industry by sharing material like advisory releases of quarterly and annual
financial reports, event information and analyses, and other industry news. Importantly,
companies are now using social networking services to deliver non-financial information
to investors. Content about corporate governance, management teams, business strategies,
and merger and acquisition transactions are presented in the forms of news releases,
41
photographs, and interview videos. All the information is sent through the SNS, to
investors through their news feeds.
Social networking services, especially Facebook, allow for in-depth, two-way
communication. SNS features such as discussion boards and Facebook walls, which
function like message boards, make conversations between companies and their investors
not only possible, but more convenient. Unlike communication via Twitter and
StockTwits, which is hindered by the character limits, real-time dialogues take place on
Facebook. This is extremely beneficial to individual investors and other interested parties
who do not have direct access to the IR officers of the companies they have invested in.
Instead of extracting information from a company‘s financial reports and Q&A materials
prepared by the IR department, individual investors now have direct access to the
company via SNS.
From an IR officers‘ perspective, online communications save a great deal of time
and energy. Bill Coffin hit on this point in a phone interview:
I think companies are adopting social media as a disclosure tool to use all of
the technologies that are available to them to expose their stories to as wide an
audience as possible. Companies are doing it, because it doesn’t cost very
much money to do it, and it’ s simply another tool that can disclose information
in different forms. (Appendix B)
6.4.3 Other supporting social media websites
There are also several websites that provide supplemental content for investor
relations programs. The two most widely-used sites are YouTube and SlideShare. IR
42
teams usually put original content on these websites, and then share the links to these
posts on social networking sites and micro-blogs. At the same time, a company can build
its own following on these sites as long as the IR team updates its account regularly and
provides informative perspectives.
YouTube is a video-sharing website on which users can upload and share videos.
Users are able to create their own profile pages with customized design and content, as
well as automatically deliver newly-uploaded videos to subscribers. At the end of 2010,
Google, the parent company of YouTube, was the only public company that owned a
YouTube channel dedicated to investor relations. The IR team uploads audio
presentations of earning calls, live videos of stockholder meetings, and various other
Google events. The channel now has about 890 subscribers; each earnings call video
averages about 9,000 views. Other companies take a more conservative approach by
including investor relations content in their corporate YouTube channels.
SlideShare has the same philosophy as YouTube in terms of sharing. Although many
earnings call slides, CEO interviews, and annual reports were posted on SlideShare, only
a few official corporate accounts were created. Of the few corporate IR accounts, almost
none received a decent following. The lower participation of companies can be attributed
to the SlideShare‘s limitations; presentations can be hard to follow without explanations
and footnotes.
43
Another new medium created from advancing technology is Apple‘s iTunes Store. It
is an online digital media store that provides music, applications, and podcast
subscriptions. IR departments have used the iTunes Store very creatively; public
companies like IBM and Johnson & Johnson record earnings presentations and investor
conferences in video or audio formats, then allow investors and interest parties to
download them through Apple products. Nestle‘s IR department developed an application
for the iPad and iPhone to keep the media and investors connected to corporate news and
weekly share buyback updates. This tactic works particularly well for investor relations,
since most financial analysts and investors use smart phones.
6.5 Summary
Transparency in modern communication poses a new challenge for investor relations
professionals, but more importantly, generates opportunities for innovation in the investor
relations practice. Analysts and financial reporters regularly use corporate websites,
especially the investor relations pages, as critical resources for their research (Brunswick
Group, 2010).
As personal interviews and online discussions have shown, the investment
community is split on the applications of social media for investor relations and corporate
disclosure.
On the one hand, both IR professionals who work on traditional IR activities and
44
financial officers of publicly-traded companies usually believe in using conventional
tools and hold conservative attitudes toward social media. Concerns about embracing
social networking technology include compliance with SEC regulations, the real-time
release of information without opportunity for revision, and format limitations of the
content like Twitter‘s 140-character limit. Bill Coffin, the founder of CCG Investor
Relations, the largest IR agency on the West Coast, believes that social media will not be
an efficient and sustainable tool for investor relations:
Most people who follow the business believe that the main tools for disclosure
continue to be the same today as it were two or three years ago, which is the
quarterly disclosure of corporate information through earnings and press release
and conference calls followed by road shows, presentations that make in-person
when they go to visit with the street analysts and portfolio managers and the
company’ s targeted institutional investors.
Social media is on the outside of mainstream corporate communications. It’ s there,
but it’ s not taken seriously, because it doesn’t have a meaningful impact in terms of
targeting the right source of investors the company wants, which are the large
investors, and most companies are not that concerned with small and individual
investors, because it’ s too expensive to communicate one-on-one with individual
investors. They would rather communicate with mutual funds and institutional
investors. (Appendix B)
On the other hand, media and IR consultants have conducted a great deal of research
on social media that shows promise. From reviewing how early adopters use social media
and demonstrating social medial campaigns‘ effectiveness, these IR professionals have
successfully promoted social media as a new and effective IR tool. Publicly traded
companies and the IR industry association NIRI, recognize and accept the social media
45
approach. Brunswick Group‘s research shows that about 58 percent of institutional
investors and sell-side analysts in the United States and Europe believe that social media
will become more important in helping them make investment decisions.
46
Chapter Seven: Case Study – Dell IR program
We expect to not just push out information, but to share perspective and
understandings. We hope that means that the information will be given context and
meaning, that it becomes more digestible and accessible, that you can share the
information, perhaps we could say we want to democratize financial information
beyond just filing public data. (Lynn Tyson, Vice President of Investor Relations,
Dell) (Tyson, 2007)
Dell‘s IR program has led the industry in embracing new communication channels
and democratizing financial information. Since October 2007, Dell‘s IR team has run the
first investor relations blog of its kind called Dell Shares. Dell also harnessed social
media tools such as StockTwits, Twitter, and YouTube to spread financial results and
corporate messages to investors and financial professional with great success. The Dell
IR team tweets about corporate news, earning conference calls, and other investor events.
Managers post comments on the company blog about the financial market and business
strategy. Moreover, the IR program employs various media formats, including executive
interview videos, slideshows of earnings conference calls, and interactive charts and
graphs.
In 2011, Dell published its first quarterly earnings results and generated more than
1,100 posts online, which equaled 3,458,700 impressions (Jones, 2011). Dell‘s success in
reaching so many investors serves as an example to other IR programs of how powerful
social media can be for improving communication.
The use of social media revolutionizes the practices of IR in the following three
47
ways:
First, it challenges financial news media‘s monopolistic position in financial
disclosure by increasing the number of channels for information. It also increases
channels for disseminating financial news. Before social media, the newswire services
were the only tool available that met companies‘ investor relations needs. Today,
companies are equipped with new media such as micro-blogs, Facebook, corporate blogs,
and investor websites. In themselves these methods do not fully comply with traditional
financial disclosure, but with them, publicly-traded companies will still satisfy
Regulation Fair Disclosure. Social media will not replace the newswire distribution
channel, but it offers companies complementary channels.
Tyson believes that the SEC has never required companies to use a newswire service
to meet Regulation Fair Disclosure. Companies are therefore free to use media that meet
their disclosing needs (Hobson, 2007). IR departments only adopted newswires because
of their effectiveness in distributing financial news. This explains why some IR
departments choose website disclosure over the newswire service: website disclosure
meets the needs of modern IR and is more cost-effective.
Second, the social media program enables instant, continuous, and one-on-one
communications between a company and its investors. Instant and constant
communication is possible through emerging IR tools such as Really Simple Syndication
48
(RRS), email alerts, blogs like Dell Shares, Twitter and StockTwits. Live tweets from
shareholder meetings to investors‘ and analysts‘ mobile devices are faster than any news
distribution services. Also, one-on-one communication between investors and IR teams
occur as IR officers answer questions posted on their blogs or send them through Twitter.
These methods also consume fewer resources and staff time than responding to letters or
phone-calls, thus increasing the number of people an IR team can reach daily. See Figure
7.1 for an example.
49
Figure 7.1 A question posted on Dell Shares
Third, social media platforms deliver additional important information, specifically
non-financial information, to investors and financial professionals. For example at Dell,
Dell Shares is a part of the corporate website‘s Investor Relations section and a large
portion of the information provided is non-financial. The most-reviewed posts include
commentary and interpretation of company strategies. A post will often provide
50
background to justify executives‘ decisions and explain how those decisions fit into the
company‘s long-term goal. The IR team also provides answers to investors‘ questions,
which helps Dell respond immediately to concerns and helps investors to see the
company as responsive and transparent.
Rationalization
Although Dell‘s IR program has achieved many milestones, there are also certain
controversies about its program. Its influence and effectiveness are unproven, because it
is hard to measure customer satisfaction and the company‘s perceived value as reflected
in stock prices. Take the 2011 fourth quarter earnings report as an example: though data
from Dell Investor Relations shows that the social media campaign helped generate up to
3,458,600 impressions — up from the previous quarter‘s 243,590 — the Dell Shares blog
and micro-blog sites have received limited online feedback. Also, Dell Shares Twitter and
StockTwits accounts still have relatively few followers.
In general, Dell‘s social media program might not fit all publicly-traded companies.
IR officers should consider whether or not the social media approach fits the company‘s
communication and business strategies. Blue chip companies such as Dell retain high
trading volume and are watched by many sell-side analysts. It saves them time and
money to experiment with new approaches. Dell‘s size also ensures analysts will continue
to cover the company regardless of how it discloses financial information, thus giving the
51
analysts some flexibility. The same philosophy may not apply to small-cap companies
who struggle to get analysts‘ attention. They may need to rely on mainstream methods
like commercial newswires to reach sell-side analysts.
52
Chapter Eight: Reflection
After reviewing trends in corporate disclosure and existing social media-powered
campaigns, this thesis reveals tips regarding the successful integration of social media
into IR communications.
It Is About How You Define Social Media
Publicly-traded companies should have an idea of what social media is and how they
can use it to effectively communicate with investors. Social media can be divided into
three groups: content-providing websites, content-sharing sites, and communication sites.
Sites like YouTube and SlideShare are examples of content-providing sites — websites
where companies can upload original content. The content can then be shared on other
social media sites. Twitter and Stocktwits exemplify content-sharing sites: websites that
allow instant messaging, but have a character limit that guarantees only a brief template
of information. Facebook is the clearest example of communication websites, one where
in-depth, two-way communications can take place.
Social media is a powerful tool for spreading out financial information and
supporting online communications. But what‘s more important is the idea of being social
and transparent with regards to corporate disclosure. A publicly-traded company with a
conservative IR policy may be not willing to adopt social media as a disclosure tool, but
there are other ways to use social media on IR issues. Communication platforms — such
53
as interactive media on corporate IR websites and stock monitoring applications on
iTunes — function like social media, but work in a more traditional IR manner. The
social media concept can be expanded to incorporate all programs and technologies that
connect a company to its investors and analysts. Public companies should not limit the
adoption of social media to being on Facebook and Twitter.
Adopt Only When It Fits
A clear understanding of a company‘s shareholder base and priorities of work are
prerequisites for a successful IR campaign. The social media strategy is still in its
experimental stage and certainly will not work for all publicly-traded companies.
Corporations that are willing to commit time and resources should be aware of the
following three conditions:
First of all, asocial media strategy is more likely to succeed in attracting retail
investors. For public companies considering diversifying their shareholder
base by attracting more retail investors, a social media-powered IR program
may provide the best solution.
Second, a social media campaign can succeed only when it fits the overall IR
strategy of the company. Opening IR-dedicated accounts on Twitter or
Facebook may be a natural extension for a company that already uses its
website and other online applications for disclosure. In addition, investors
54
and analysts who follow such a company have become used to the online
disclosure tools and are more likely to embrace social media. This movement
toward social media is happening to many information and technology
companies that have adopted online IR tools early.
Third, a social media strategy can be very cost effective when tailored to a
company‘s particular situation. There is no one-size-fits-all social media
strategy; companies use it for different purposes. Large cap companies that
already get enough coverage do not need to extensively publish financial
results to analysts and investors; they can disclose financial information on
corporate websites and through social media. Small cap companies may
choose to use social media-powered IR campaigns to approach retail
investors individually, because they do not have an established relationship
with big institutional investors and financial analysts. To maximize the
outcome of a social media campaign, a company needs to tailor it
strategically to their financial situation.
55
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Appendix A: Glossary
Securities and Exchange Commission
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is a federal agency which enforces
federal securities laws and regulates the securities industry, the nation‘s securities,
options exchanges, and other electronic securities market in the U.S. The agency is
responsible to ―protect investors, maintain fair, orderly and efficient markets, and
facilitate capital formation.‖ (The Securities and Exchange Commission, 2011e)
Financial Accounting Standards Board
Financial Accounting Standards Board (FSAB) is a private, not-for-profit
organization which holds the primary responsibility to ―establish and improve standards
of financial accounting and reporting for the guidance and education of the public.‖
(Financial Accounting Standards Board, 2011) It was designated by the SEC as the
organization responsible for setting the accounting standards, the General Accepted
Accounting Principles (GAAP), for public-traded companies in the U.S. The
organization‘s primary purpose is to develop GAAP, and does not play a role in
regulation enforcement or governance.
General Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP)
GAAP, better known as Accounting Standards, is the accounting codification of how
to prepare, present, and report accounting and financial information. The GAAP
60
comprises accounting standards, conventions, and rules that are followed by a variety of
entities, including public-traded companies, privately-held companies, non-profit
organizations, and governments.
Material Information
Information that would likely cause changes in investors‘ investment decisions and
thus, affect the stock‘s price when it is made known to the public. It is the management
team‘s responsibility to determine what information is material. Corporations should
disclose material information through a set of information channels acceptable to the SEC;
this guarantees that everyone in the investment community has equal access to it.
Proxy Vote
A Proxy vote is one of the key rights of shareholders that allows the qualified ones to
vote on important matters that could affect the management of the company. The SEC
ratified the new proxy access rules in 2010 giving shareholders more power to put up
their own candidates for election to corporate brands. Under these rules, shareholders are
eligible to have their nominees included in the proxy materials if they own at least 3% of
the company‘s shares continuously for at least the previous 3 years. In the U.S.,
Broadridge Financial Solutions is the primary service provider of investor
communications and voting counts.
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SEC Filings
The SEC requires public-traded companies to disclose information on an ongoing
basis. Domestic issuers must submit annual reports on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on
Form 10-Q, and current events reports on Form 8-K. These documents must be publicly
available for the purposes of Regulation Fair Disclosure. Investors can also find the SEC
filings through the SEC‘s Electronic Data-Gathering, Analysis, and Retrieval (EDGAR)
System.
Form 10–K is the annual report that provides an overview of a company‘s financial
performance and standing. Form 10-K report covers company history, organizational
structure, executive compensation, and detailed audited financial statements along with
other information (The Securities and Exchange Commission, 2011c). Form 10-K is
different from the annual report to shareholders which a company sends its shareholders
when it holds an annual meeting to elect a Board of Directors.
Form 10-Q is a report designed to update the performance of the issuing company on
a quarterly basis. The 10-Q contains the same content as the 10-K, but the information is
generally less detailed in the un-audited financial statements.
Form 8-K is the current report that companies must file with the SEC to announce
major events that are unscheduled material information and important to shareholders. In
the event of CEO departure or bankruptcy, a public company must file an 8-K within four
62
business days to provide an updated version of a previously filed 10-Q and 10-K.
Annual report to shareholders
As mentioned above, the annual report to shareholders is the principle document
used by most public-traded companies to provide corporate information to their
shareholders. It usually includes a letter from the CEO, a market segment analysis, a new
project/product plan, and a financial report. The annual report to shareholders is usually
available on the reporting company‘s website (The Securities and Exchange Commission,
2011b).
Management Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of
Operations (MD&A)
MD & A is an integrated part of the reporting company‘s disclosure documents. It
provides the management‘s narrative explanation of a company‘s financial situation, as
well as information about the company‘s performance.
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Appendix B: Interview Transcript
The following is the transcript of the email interview with Andrea Wentscher, the IR
director at BASF.
1. Have you noticed any investor relations campaigns or programs involved the use of
social media, such as YouTube, StockTwits or Twitter?
The BASF IR team has Twitter account and is posting IR details on the corporate
Facebook account. In addition the IR presentations are also included in the
Corporate Slideshare account.
Our IR activities are part of the Corporate Social Media strategy
We are posting tweets since October 2009 and we have roughly 960 followers.
Our twitter account is personalized with a photo and we are retweeting corporate
news and posting IR content like earnings estimates, presentations, reports, news
on the website and we are live tweeting from our IR events like analyst
conferences.
2. Social media has been used to announce financial results (sharing links or brief
results) and communicate with investors and interested parties. Why do you think
these companies adopted social media for IR-related activities?
It is a fast and easy way to spread your information
You may reach a new target group
Social Media is part of our communication mix
3. Do you agree that social media-powered IR campaigns will work out better for
individual investors since it offers individual investors direct accesses to the company
that were only available to institutional investors?
Analyzing our followers we see that there is a great number of individual persons
who follow us and we reach a lot of sector related companies.
Social Media offers a possibility to communicate with companies which is well
adopted by private persons. They may give feedback.
In our experience institutional investors read social media channels but – by now
– they do not actively participate.
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4. What do you think would be the obstacles preventing social media from being widely
adopted in investor relations?
Lack of time and resources within the IR team
Lack of priority within communication mix
5. How could public companies play with online investor communities such as Seeking
Alpha and Covestors?
We do not have any experience with this topics
This is a next step after adopting Twitter, Facebook and Slideshare
6. Any thoughts or experiences to share?
The acceptance of mobile devises and social media channels is further increasing.
More and more ir departments are considering participating in social media.
No matter if we as companies are actively participating or not – Social Media is
reality. People talk about our companies. Wouldn‘t it be good if we join the
conversation?
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Interview Transcript
The following is the transcript of the email interview with and Kerri Thurston,
director of investor relations at Garmin.
1. Have you noticed any investor relations campaigns or programs involved the use of
social media, such as YouTube, StockTwits or Twitter?
Yes, we are using Twitter to ―broadcast‖ our earnings calls each quarter and also have
product announcements – it is a separate account from other Garmin Twitter activity.
2. Social media has been used to announce financial results (sharing links or brief
results) and communicate with investors and interested parties. Why do you think
these companies adopted social media for IR-related activities?
We did it because we have been a corporate advocate for social media in marketing so it
made sense to extend our reach.
3. Do you agree that social media-powered IR campaigns will work out better for
individual investors since it offers individual investors direct accesses to the company
that were only available to institutional investors?
I don‘t know that it necessarily provides any greater level of access then previously
available as we don‘t actually engage in conversation. It is just another option and another
outreach point.
4. What do you think would be the obstacles preventing social media from being widely
adopted in investor relations?
Major institutional investors are not using it as a source of information so it is not reaching
the most important audience.
5. How could public companies play with online investor communities such as Seeking
Alpha and Covestors?
We do not engage with online investor communities for two reasons – 1) we don‘t have the
human resources (it is just me in IR) and 2) retail investors can‘t move the needle for
GRMN.
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6. Any thoughts or experiences to share?
Just that it is not a strategic initiative (we don‘t expect it to move the stock price) but
instead an extension of existing social media initiatives.
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The following is the transcript of an interview with Bill Coffin, the CEO of CCG
Investor Relations.
Question 1. Why do you think companies adopt social media as a disclosure tool and
do you think it is going to work for analysts and brokers?
I think companies are adopting social media as a disclosure tool to use all of the
technologies that are available to them to expose their stories to as wide audience as
possible. Companies are doing it because it doesn‘t cost very much money to do it, and
it‘s simply another tool that can disclose information in different forms.
Most people who follow the business believe that the main tools for disclosure
continue to be the same today as it were 2 or three years ago, which is the quarterly
disclosure of corporate information through earnings and press release and conference
calls followed by road shows, presentations that make in-person when they go to visit
with the security analysts and portfolio managers and the company‘s targeted institutional
investors who are called buy-side investors. And these public companies also
communicate with sell-side analysts, such as analyst at Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanly,
so that they can communicate through their research to the public. That is the traditional
way in which a company communicate with investors and most investors for most big
companies are institutional. That‘s another reason social media does not play much of the
role, because most companies are very heavily institutional-oriented.
So I would say social media is on the outside of mainstream corporate
communications. It‘s there, but it‘s not taken seriously, because it doesn‘t have a
meaningful impact in terms of targeting the right sort of investors the company wants
which are the large investors, and most companies are not that concerned with small and
individual investors, because it‘s too expensive to communicate one-on-one with
individual investors. They would rather communicate with mutual funds and institutional
investors.
Question 2. In real practice, do companies usually try to diversify the ownership? Have
you seen IR campaigns targeting individual investors?
Yes, there is some of that. Companies that are very consumer-oriented, say Disney
and J&J, they made some efforts to target individual investors. They do that by
participating in conferences that are attended by individual investors. But for the most
part, they do it even less today than they used to, because it‘s pretty much concluded that
individual investors are not important factors, particularly for the large companies. With
very very small companies who haven‘t knew institutional investors because they are too
68
unseasoned and too small, sometimes they target individual inventors, including using
social media. What they try to do is promote their stock by generating extracted claims
about the company that individual investors might be attracted to, so the stock could go
up. But these are small companies that are very speculative.
Question 3. Do you think institutional investors would have much impact on retail
investors‘ investment decisions?
I don‘t know. Individual investors have different motivations. Some individual
investors would buy stock of retail companies that they feel comfortable with what they
read on the newspapers. So they will buy Apply and Johnson & Johnson. In those
particular cases, I think they are more guided by what they read about as opposed to
institutional investors. But in some cases, some investors may be more oriented towards
technical approaches to investing, such as momentum. Companies whose shares are
moving up quickly generate a certain amount of momentum are tracked by certain
organizations, for example, Investor Business Daily, is a company that tracks stocks who
are generating support by institutional investors. Sometimes individual investors would
just simply buy those types of stocks, because they believe that the institutional investors
have more information that they do. So I think individual investors have many different
approaches in investing companies. Momentum may be one way where they invest
simply because other people are investing. Other investors invest because they do their
homework and do the research that they are comfortable with.
Question 4. Do you think investor communities, such as Value Investors Club and
SumZero would have any impact on institutional investors?
It hasn‘t so far. Take for example, Seeking Alpha, a successful blog. But I can‘t see where
it can have a significant impact in influencing institutional investors. They do have an
impact at a smaller level on individual investors. If you correlated what they said in these
blogs to what is being published in mainstream, like the Wall Street Journal and the
Investor Business Daily, you don‘t see much more relations. You don‘t see the Wall Street
Journal say ―a blog from SumZero said…‖ In influencing these professional institutional
investors, they don‘t seem to be influenced by these clubs and these organizations.
Social media is far more from the mainstream because professional investors are trained
to do it in the traditional way, and certainly companies are certainly to trained to approach
investors in a mainstream way.
69
Question 4. Some Chinese companies and Canadian companies are using Facebook to
solicit investment from American investors. What‘s your position on this?
Social media does not have the ability to concentrate valuable information. All it does is
to trade ideas that different people might have. That by itself, it‘s not very valuable. If
you have an idea that Johnson & Johnson is going to introduce a new product and I have
the idea that they won‘t. What important is what Johnson & Johnson is really doing, and
how they are communicating what they are doing to the investment community. That is
what would really make the difference. What Johnson & Johnson would do is they will
come up with a communication strategy that deals with how they communicate important
news to the investment community. Part of that will be all these traditional techniques,
and a very small part will be social media. All these Canadian companies that use social
media do it, because they don‘t have the traditional support and institutional investors. So
they are using some other tools to generate interests in their stocks. For the most part,
these are all short-lived environment.
70
Appendix C: Verbatim
The following is a recap of the weekly twitter meeting IRChat.
October 28, 2010: Microsoft‘s Move to Website Disclosure & Merits of IR Blogs (Joyce,
2010)
‗Is anyone surprised at Microsoft‘s move to website disclosure?‘
@trevorheisler: ‗Not really. Sure other mega caps will follow.‘
@q4websystems: ‗Do u think smaller co‘s will still think it‘s not for them?‘
@trevorheisler: ‗For the most part, yes. They don‘t have the same level of awareness in
the markets or online.‘
@q4websystems: ‗Agree. But what about multipronged approach as suggested by
marketwire:http://bit.ly/c4Hvjh?‘
@q4websystems: ‗I agree smaller co‘s don‘t have much awareness in mkt, but dissem.
releases over newswires is costly.‘
@trevorheisler: ‗I agree that a multi-pronged approach is the way to go for smaller
companies needing to generate awareness.‘
@q4websystems: ‗Smaller co‘s may think it will stymie the reach of their news &
Newswires argue won‘t get sent 2 Bloomberg, DJ.‘
@q4websytems: ‗Investment portals get notified once co files their release with edgar, so
argument re: not reaching key media IMO is moot.‘
@trevorheisler: ‗Agreed, newswire dissemination can be expensive, but there are ways to
minimize that cost.‘
@trevorheisler: ‗Companies that include financial statements could save newswire costs
by just linking to financials on website.‘
November 4, 2010: Implications of posting slide deck before earnings call, recommended
IRO reading & Annual Reports
‗What r your thoughts on practice of posting earnings call slide deck b4 the call?‘
@q4websystems: ‗‗NIRI egrp discussion found norm seems 2 b 30-60 mins. B4 call.‘
@FLYIR: ‗As long as release is out, cool, can prepare Q‘s.‘
@bropo: ‗Interesting question. It‘s almost like, do you hand out slides before a
meeting–can be distracting, you don‘t direct attention.‘
@q4websystems: ‗Soc. med wasn‘t around when I was an IRO. So posting 2 slideshare
as well as website sld b considered IMO as well.‘
71
@bropo: ‗I‘d rather people were paying attention to what we were saying than making
their own conclusions/getting distracted by slides.‘
@q4websystems: ‗@fredmcclimans: interesting point. tho posting earlier may help
investors come up with better q‘s.‘
@FLYiR: RT @q4websystems: @fredmcclimans ‗That‘s the beauty of controlling the
message.‘
@bropo: ‗On the other hand, if u have a ton of info to share in 60 minutes, & structure as
leads, could be useful in directing Q&A.‘
@q4websystems: ‗@bropo re: paying attn.: co‘s should ensure slides rn‘t too text heavy.
Stick to relevant points.‘
@A VGoldberg: ‗Agree w/ @bropo and @fredmcclimans re: importance of context.‘
@fredmcclimans: ‗@q4websystems True, pre-posting a slide deck on corp results could
help improve questions, but I‘d embargo the slides (if poss).‘
@FLYiR: ‗If you find confusion from slidedeck, then U haven‘t done a very good job of
pre communications.‘
@q4websystems: ‗@fredmcclimans yes embargoing a consideration. tho s/b used 2 supp.
only not give ‗new‘ info.‘
@bropo: ‗You couldn‘t put them out before a press release was out. That wld b FD prob.‘
@A VGoldberg: ‗Similar to issue as to whether or not to post transcript prior to call to
focus more on Q&A.‘
@becktold: ‗Need to ensure there are no new disclosures in your slide deck if posted in
advance of the call.‘
@q4websystems: ‗Wld be interesting 2 know if investors found decks useful? I‘ve heard
they like transcripts.‘
@bropo: @FLYiR I‘m jockeying ―back of the napkin‖ pres concepts with long lists of
numbers. Would love to hear how you balance.‘
@bropo ‗@becktold ―ensure there are no new disclosures‖ Though you would have time,
since mkts wd be closed, to cover in filing.‘
@bropo: ‗For plane rides!‘ RT @q4websystems: Q1: wld be interesting 2 know if
investors found decks useful? I‘ve heard they like transcripts.‘
@huangjulie: ‗If there are good looking graphs/commentary in the slides then they
should be in the 10Q filing & the release.‘
@fredmcclimans: ‗@q4websystems I think you are right on adding colour to deck/preso
– it is all part of the same event, use it to add value.‘
‗Why create more docs during earning season? Do sell- & buy-side need more things to
look at during an earnings season?‘
@q4websystems: ‗Honestly I think decks may be geared more to retail investors than
72
buy/sell-side.‘
@FLYiR: ‗Mine R both, less retail.‘
@q4websystems: ‗So I guess we all agree that presentations should only be avail. once
release is issued?‘
@A VGoldberg: ‗Definitely agree post release – real question is pre- or post- call See
advantages to both but see more risk pre-call.‘
@bropo: ‗Simultaneously @ earliest.‘
@fredmcclimans: ‗Yup. Presentations go at same time as corp results release. Q is do you
summarize release or add new value/info?‘
@q4websystems: ‗IMO think adding colour on results in deck is more useful than
straight regurg. of press release.‘
@bropo: ‗Shd reflect call, which is more detail than pr.‘
‗What ppl r reading these days? IR? personal?‘
@A VGoldberg: ‗Always looking 4 gd books 2 help balance industry & econ reading in
WSJ, NYTimes, mags.‘
@bropo: ‗Reading WSJ in print more than in years past but boy, has it changed! Lots of
tech pubs, interesting to see the overlaps.‘
@q4websystems: ‗I find a lot of value in reading NIRI IR Weekly. Good wrap-up of
current issues.‘
@A VGoldberg: ‗For Non-IR recommend books: Beatrice & Virgil by Yann Matrel;The
Solitude of Prime #s by Paolo Giordino.‘
@A VGoldberg: ‗Agree IR wkly is good summary. Also follow some blogs: IRCafe,
IRWebreport & read NIRI‘s monthly IR Magazine.‘
@q4websystems: ‗Ditto. I also follow some blogs: IRCafe, IRWebreport & read NIRI‘s
monthly IR Magazine.‘
@nexxar: ‗Agree! I also follow some blogs: IRCafe, IRWebreport & read NIRI‘s monthly
IR Magazine.‘
@fredmcclimans: ‗I‘m reading (books) ―You are Not a Gadget‖ and ―Banff & Lake
Louise‖. I‘ve got about 10 sites I read via iPad (all int‘l) 4 balance.‘
@bropo: ‗I have to admit, I read Vanity Fair religiously. Every month for the past year,
have had interesting disc on the econ collapse.‘
@fredmcclimans: ‗Reading outside of ―biz‖ (4 me) provides a fresh/new perspective.
Things I wouldn‘t normally think about. Helps creativity.‘
@bropo: ‗Agree! Like 2head 2 mag rack/pick way out of realm.‘
@fredmcclimans: ‗@bropo You make visiting a news-stand sound like a middle ages
quest!‘
@fredmcclimans: ‗@huangjulie: Curious if you prefer to read online or print?‘
@huangjulie: ‗No pref Fred…I will read both.‘
73
Q3: A VGoldberg posed this q on LI a few weeks ago: R ppl taking a diff. approach with
annual reports this yr? Anything interesting?
@Nexxar: ‗I can only talk about Europe: currently changing a lot! ppl start with online
first approach: in thinking and every other respect.‘
@q4websystems: ‗Interesting…I like that online is considered first. I think it‘s other way
around in N.A.‘
@nexxar: ‗Problem r people involved in process, moving to online first is a total different
deal, will need generation change.‘
@bropo: ‗I‘m not currently working on an A/R but if I were, would use some of the mktg
measurement tools to capture investor interest.‘
@q4websystems: ‗@nexxar I like your analogy: an HTML #annualreport without search
is like a car w/out engine #BMW #fail http://twitpic.com/33to6b.‘
@q4websystems: ‗@nexxar I wish more co‘s would stop printing…as I think they are
catering 2 small minority who want print copy.‘
@nexxar: ‗Netherlands are currently leading the way, co‘s there stop printing reports and
shift focus to real online!‘
@bropo: ‗But u can do much more than just search. With some of the tools that work
with SFA, u can gauge where interest is, anticipate.‘
@bropo: ―Anticipate issues, concerns, that is.‘
@q4websystems: ‗@nexxar maybe there‘s a perception online takes a lot more time?‘
@nexxar: ‗I guess people are simply scared about things they are not used to.‘
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Asset Metadata
Creator
Qin, Wei
(author)
Core Title
A study of social media practices and trends in the field of investor relations
School
Annenberg School for Communication
Degree
Master of Arts
Degree Program
Strategic Public Relations
Publication Date
06/03/2011
Defense Date
06/02/2011
Publisher
University of Southern California
(original),
University of Southern California. Libraries
(digital)
Tag
corporate disclosure,financial communications,investor relations,OAI-PMH Harvest,Public Relations,social media
Language
English
Contributor
Electronically uploaded by the author
(provenance)
Advisor
Swerling, Gerald (
committee chair
), Floto, Jennifer (
committee member
), Tenderich, Burghardt (
committee member
)
Creator Email
anneqin7@gmail.com,weiqin@usc.edu
Permanent Link (DOI)
https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-c127-615427
Unique identifier
UC1382260
Identifier
usctheses-c127-615427 (legacy record id)
Legacy Identifier
etd-QinWei-17.pdf
Dmrecord
615427
Document Type
Thesis
Rights
Qin, Wei
Type
texts
Source
University of Southern California
(contributing entity),
University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses
(collection)
Access Conditions
The author retains rights to his/her dissertation, thesis or other graduate work according to U.S. copyright law. Electronic access is being provided by the USC Libraries in agreement with the a...
Repository Name
University of Southern California Digital Library
Repository Location
USC Digital Library, University of Southern California, University Park Campus MC 2810, 3434 South Grand Avenue, 2nd Floor, Los Angeles, California 90089-2810, USA
Repository Email
cisadmin@lib.usc.edu
Tags
corporate disclosure
financial communications
investor relations
social media