Social Network for IR · 2010-12-13 · Case Studies – HP 3Q10 Earning Release • HP used an array of social media to report its 3Q10 earnings results. • These activities are

Exploring Social Media for IR Advantage

szhang88 #1: Social Media Trends

December 9, 2010 @ IR Magazine Awards in HK

szhang88 #2: Why Social Media for IR

szhang88 #3: Challenges and Status

szhang88 #4: Recommendations & Case Studies

Sydney Zhang, CFADirector of Investor RelationsChina Unicom (HK) Limited

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IRmagazineIR Magazine

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Social MediaExplosion of Communications Channels

Graph source: Ogilvy

• Social media - an interactive form of communication where you are able to be the broadcaster as well as the receiver of information

• 58% of online users globally have created a social network profile (Universal McCann Social Media Tracker and Facebook)

• 72% of internet users are part of at least one social network (~940 million users worldwide)

• Web users spend on average five and half hours every month on social networking sites – has doubled in one year

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Popular Social Networks

500+ million users

130 friends/user90 pieces of content/user/m

Microblogging

175m registered users95m tweets/day(as of mid Sept2010)

Microblogging(Chinese)

50m registered users25m messages/day(as of Oct2010)

Professional Networking

>85m members+1 new user / second(as of Nov2010)

Financial Microblogging(Chinese, A-shares)

Launched in early 2010

Stock market opinion and analysis with social media features(US Stocks, Professional investors)

50K registered users

Financial Microblogging(US Stocks, trader focused)

50K registered users

Social News Discover&Share Contents

15m Monthly US unique visits

Sources: Company web sites

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The News Spreading Fast on Social Networks

Traditional news media outlets have all adopted social media sharing capabilities on their web sites

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Why Social Media for IR?

A company’s reputation is on the line• Business executives surveyed by Weber Shandwick and KRC research estimated

that a company’s reputation contributes to 63% of its stock valuation

Increasing numbers of shareholders, stakeholders and investors usingsocial media to understand more about your company• 85% of professional financial service providers under 50 are using social media

• 89% of journalists using blogs, 65% social networking, 52% micro-blogging (Twitter)

• 47% of institutional investors read blogs for investment research and ideas (A Brunswick Group 2009 study of digital media use)

• Surveyed by the Australian Investors Relations Association – 20% of institutional investors and sell-side analysts said that information accessed through

social media channels had influenced their investor decisions

– 15% of the surveyed said they can access information through social medial channels that they cannot get elsewhere

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Social Media for IR - Challenges and Status

• Wide variety of channels and influencers

• Increasingly difficult to control

• Legal and regulatory requirements

• Internal guideline

• How to measure success

BNY Mellon IRO Survey 2010:• 35% are interested and 9% is

already using services like Twitter for IR communication

– Twitter and corporate blogs were the most commonly used social media a

• 57% of IR departments said they have no plans to use social media

– 20% due to company policy– 37% due to IR decision

Challenges Status

A 2010 study from the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan found that companies who used Twitter to distribute financial news got lower bid-ask spreads and greater depths. The study also found the biggest impact was for lower visibility firms that didn’t get much traditional media coverage

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Recommendations

Make your IR web site social media friendly

Monitor & Listen

Contribute to the conversation

Evaluate and try new things

• Tools: RSS, Blog, Add Share Button, XBRL, mobile version, webcast, etc.

• Tune into the conversation around the globe 24x7

• Identify influencers and stakeholders

• Tools: Google Alerts, Twitter search, subscriber to RSS

• Open corporate accounts at major social network sites

• Engage key stakeholders with great content

• Ensure within policy & compliance

• Evaluate results from social media efforts

• Try emerging new technologies

• E.g. blog site, multimedia,

High Flag issues for Corporate Communications to address

Balance online dominance of a competitor

Key influencers use social media for outreach and info gatheringResources

IR GoalsUnderstand Participate LeadLow

To actively tell a story of your company to new audience

Set Goals

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Example: Monitoring & Listening

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Case Studies – HP 3Q10 Earning Release

• HP used an array of social media to report its 3Q10 earnings results.

• These activities are conducted in parallel to its traditional disclosure venues, such as a PR wire service, its IR website, company news room, SEC filings and the quarterly earnings call

• Information is posted to the social media accounts after it is has already been made public in the traditional venues

• Well coordinated and timed despite complexity

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Resources

Respective social networking websites

The Executive’s Guide to Social Networks for Businesshttp://www.slideshare.net/360digitalinfluence/ogilvy-socialnetworks4biz

Investor Relations 2.0 by Ketchum Digital PracticeHttp://blog.ketchum.com

IR Web Report by Dominic Joneshttp://irwebreport.com/

Investor Relations – Taking on social media white paperhttp://blog.dna13.com/bid/49454/Investor-Relations-Taking-on-Social-Media