Investor Relations Thriving on Social Networks

By now, every publicist and communications strategist worth their salt recognizes how social media is changing the face of public relations. As a PR practitioner, it’s fascinating to observe how old forms of communication are adapting to meet this new reality.

In the social media sphere, we are seeing significant growth in the adoption of social media tools for investor relations purposes – often referred to as “social IR.” A recent survey of more than 300 public companies around the world found that 65 per cent of companies on Twitter use it strictly for investor relations (source: http://bit.ly/Q4Report). Our recent work for New Gold was highlighted in this report (page 24) as an example of how public companies are finding innovative ways to use social tools. We recently developed a Facebook Page for our publicly-traded client strictly as a channel for recruitment.

A report released earlier this year found that 79 per cent of the Fortune 100 companies are actively using social media. Just last week, the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants published a web reporting guide on “How to enhance communications with stakeholders using Internet-based reporting.” One of the three discussion drafts focuses specifically on social media and web 2.0 (http://bit.ly/CICAGuide).

What does all this mean? Social IR is becoming the norm for public companies of all market capitalizations. It’s only inevitable that investors will search for information about companies online, so companies need to take control of what will be found. Even if your company doesn’t have a presence on social networks, industry and stakeholder conversations take place every minute. Ever check out StockTwits? It’s addictive.

For public companies interested in engaging with stakeholders, it is crucial to have a corporate social media policy to ensure all departments are on the same (web) page. Knowing what corporate content meets disclosure requirements, which conversations are appropriate to engage in and what to post to your social networks in a crisis are some of the issues that a corporate policy addresses.

At Peak, we have significant experience developing social media policies for public companies and see firsthand the importance of having clearly defined guidelines governing social media usage, both internally and externally. After putting a social media policy in place, a social IR campaign designed around meeting specific corporate goals can be implemented.

Peak has provided social IR services to public companies in various sectors, from telecommunications to resources to biotech. Some of our most popular services include targeted influencer relations, lead generation on social networks and social profile development/management. Another valuable service is the “Investor and Shareholder Listening Dashboard,” which gives companies instant, real-time views of conversations around their stock, industry and competing symbols. This is especially useful when an industry or company is under fire, or a new product or initiative is launched.

Let’s take a poll – how many of you follow the companies you invest in on the Social Web?