A Discussion of the Risks and Compliance Issues Associated with Using Twitter

February 5th, 2010 by Sheryl Joyce
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Twiiter_complianceIn their article “Is Your Company Tweeting Towards Trouble?”, attorneys Julie Jones and Cynthia McMakin, discuss some of the risks and compliance concerns public companies need to consider when using Twitter.  In particular they state

“Due to Twitter’s innovative, yet immediate and informal, nature, tweets made by public companies and their employees may create a higher risk of violating US securities laws because the substance of each tweet may not be as thoroughly vetted as information that is disclosed through traditional channels of communication. Twitter’s appeal as a tool for companies to use to quickly dispense information to the public heightens these risks”.

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The Current State of Social Media and Investor Relations – FREE Webinar

February 4th, 2010 by Sheryl Joyce
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SM_IR_logoJoin us on Thursday, February 11th from 4:00 – 5:00 p.m. EST for a guided tour by Darrell Heaps, CEO of Q4 Web Systems, and one of North America’s leading authorities on social media for IR.  If you are thinking about if, when and how to integrate social media with your investor relations program, you can’t affords to miss this interactive demonstration of how public companies are using the social web for IR.

Register now if you would like to learn:

  1. Which social networks are being adopted by your peers for IR first and why.
  2. How these companies are using social networks and deriving value from them.
  3. Tips to enhance engagement and streamline quarterly reporting.

Register today for this free webinar and learn how social media is helping other public companies mitigate share value erosion, dramatically increase website traffic and broaden their reach to potential investors.

If you have any questions that you’d like us to address please leave a comment below and we’ll be sure to answer during the webinar.

The Use of Social Networks to Engage Investors During the Quarterly Reporting Period

January 29th, 2010 by Sheryl Joyce
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Quarterly reporting is a key part of communicating a company’s financial story to the investment community.  As many companies are in the midst of another earnings season right now, I thought it would be timely to highlight some of the interesting things they are doing to interact and engage their shareholders in the quarterly reporting process.

Right now, the social network predominantly being used to share this material is Twitter.  So what follows are concrete examples from our Twitter for IR report we issued in November 2009.  However, I will also be highlighting a company or two that reported in January of this year who are trying new approaches to engage investors during the quarterly process.

A number of interesting ideas came to light from our research and I have categorized them into three groups: 1) Proactively engaging shareholders before the quarterly call; 2) Keeping shareholders engaged during the quarterly call; and 3) Providing additional commentary after the quarterly call has ended.

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IR Website Best Practices Webinar Wrap-Up

January 19th, 2010 by Sheryl Joyce
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IR Website Best Practices

IR Website Best Practices

Last week, Catherine Crofton, Q4’s VP, Sales & Marketing hosted a second webinar on IR Website Best Practices.  Interest was high as we had another great turnout with people from around the globe in attendance. I also tweeted the event so if you were unable to join us, you can do a search on Twitter #Q4BP for a feed of the conversation.

This presentation was a follow up to a webinar Catherine conducted on this topic in April of last year in which she discussed five common barriers that block potential investors from understanding a company’s investment story.  Click here to view last year’s presentation and listen to the audio. 

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Webinar Replay – IR Website Best Practices

January 15th, 2010 by Sheryl Joyce
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On January 14, Catherine Crofton, Q4’s VP Sales & Marketing hosted an IR Website Best Practices webinar.  Her presentation focused on how to build investor confidence through effective online communications.  The presentation includes a lot of great examples of companies using best practices and how they can be applied to your own IR website.

In particular she outlined some critical improvements to make to the IR website in 2010 including:

  1. Key information to include for potential new investors in this economy.
  2. Using social media effectively to increase your reach (and website traffic) and to protect your share value – with case stories and examples.
  3. New interactive technologies – what kind of technologies increase user engagement and add value.

If we weren’t able to get to your question during the webinar, please feel free to post it in our comment section below or email sherylj@q4websystems.com.

TVI Pacific Discusses ROI of using Social Media for IR

January 11th, 2010 by Sheryl Joyce
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TVI_logo“My sole objective, and the only bullet on my job description, is to get the share price of TVI to a fair and sustainable value, PERIOD.  I decided the way to do that would be to use all things social media and set some benchmarks for Return on Investment (ROI) so I could measure the results.  Indicators such as increased web traffic, improved liquidity, increased institutional holdings and improved investor sentiment, would all result in a fair share price.”  – Rhonda Bennetto, Executive Director Investor Communications, TVI Pacific Inc.

TVI is still a relatively new user of social networks and in conjunction with the launch of their new website in mid-November 2009, they have reaped some interesting results thus far:

  • Website visits are up from 100/mth to 4,000/mth;
  • 83 followers on Twitter (as of Jan 11);
  • Photos have been viewed on Flickr 1,519 times and they have 696 views of their videos on YouTube; 
  •  Average daily trading volume has increased 55%; and
  • Their share price has risen from $0.06 prior to launch to $0.12. 

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IR Website Best Practices – FREE Webinar

January 8th, 2010 by Sheryl Joyce
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IR_BPs_Jan14_10_imageTimes have changed but have your web communications kept pace? Today’s more discerning investor is more open to portfolio diversification – which may mean that you need to provide different information than you are offering now.

Join us on Thursday, January 14th at 4:00 p.m. ET as we share top IR Website improvements to meet today’s challenging economic environment.  If you’re involved in your company’s IR website, this webinar will show some great examples of best practices from the world’s leading organizations as well as innovative small cap companies and how you can apply them to your own website.

Register now and learn 3 critical improvements to make to your website in 2010:

  1. Key information to include for potential new investors in this economy.
  2. Using social media effectively to increase your reach (and website traffic) and to protect your share value – with case stories and examples.
  3. New interactive technologies – what kind of technologies increase user engagement and add value.

If you have any questions that you’d like us to address please leave a comment below and we’ll be sure to answer during the webinar.

IR Community Weighs in on Valuation placed on Good vs. Bad IR programs

January 5th, 2010 by Sheryl Joyce
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valuation_imageEvery Thursday @ 1:00 p.m. ET I participate in #irchat on Twitter.  It is a weekly event hosted by Dan Dykens, CEO of Meet the Street, an online matching network for non-deal roadshows, which electronically schedules meetings between the buy-side and corporate executives.

The session only runs an hour so Dan asks one question every 15 minutes which gives us time for usually about three to four questions.  He does a fantastic job of stimulating the conversation by asking thought provoking questions which creates a lot of debate among the experienced IR professionals who participate each week.

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HAPPY HOLIDAYS FROM Q4 WEB SYSTEMS

December 23rd, 2009 by Sheryl Joyce
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happy-holidays150Best wishes from everyone on the Q4 team for a wonderful holiday season!  We will be taking a short hiatus from our blog and Twitter to spend some time with loved ones.

We look forward to connecting with you in early 2010!

Leading IR Firm at Forefront of Developing Social Media Strategies for Investor Relations

December 16th, 2009 by Sheryl Joyce
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EQU_logoOver the course of 2009, I have connected with a lot of smart, seasoned IR professionals on Twitter. I have met IROs and IR consultants alike.  One great contact I have made is Trevor Heisler, an IR consultant at TMX Equicom (a TMX Group company).

With experience as both an in-house IRO and IR consultant, I know the day-to-day challenges that IR professionals face.  One newer challenge has been the question of whether to embrace social media as part of the broader communications strategy.  Although I am not a practicing IR professional anymore, I was curious to hear how consultants were dealing with this rapidly emerging topic.  With that, I asked Trevor to be interviewed with the goal of compiling tips that would help consultants handle client inquiries about social media.

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