Q4’s CEO Discusses all things Twitter, Social Media and Investor Relations

December 3rd, 2009 by Sheryl Joyce
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ir-alert_mainpage_dec_091An article in IR Alert featuring an interview with Q4’s CEO and Co-founder, Darrell Heaps, was issued today. The interview includes Darrell’s commentary on the increased adoption of Twitter by public companies and how they are specifically using it for Investor Relations (IR). He also provides his thoughts on the future of Twitter within IR and other social media developments he foresees on the IR horizon in 2010:

The social nature of the Web will continue. Facebook, Twitter, blogs and so on will continue to dominate and affect how the Web is used. Looking into 2010 and 2011, we will see more companies and IR departments embrace these tools and drive value from them. Those companies will benefit by taking early steps once the risk side is addressed. We will see a greater adoption rate of these tools, and there will be a lot of companies coming out to provide tools to help companies get the most out of the Web market.

There are a lot of great insights as well as what he deems as the three biggest mistakes a public company can make on Twitter and social media in general. Click here to read the entire article.

Case Study: Westport Innovations Shares Tips, Wins & Pitfalls of Using Social Networks

December 2nd, 2009 by Sheryl Joyce
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More and more public companies are adopting social networks as part of westport_logo_squaretheir communications strategy.  Of these early adopters, we are seeing some emerging trends.  For example, we found that 48% of the 350 companies analyzed in our recently issued report on the use of Twitter for IR are using Twitter to engage with their audience.

Some other trends we found include tweeting the earnings call, providing a link to a video on YouTube of the CEO talking about recently issued financials and reaching out to followers to submit questions they would like answered on the quarterly earnings call.

Westport Innovations was also included in our recent study.  While the company has only been using social networks for a short period of time they have already implemented some interesting ideas, had some early wins and realized some of its pitfalls.

We felt it would be useful to speak with Westport to learn more about their early experience with social media to help increase awareness for those who are still sitting on the sidelines.  So Q4’s CEO and co-founder Darrell Heaps and I recently spoke with Darren Seed, the company’s Senior Director of Investor Relations and Ryan Thompson, Multimedia Manager to learn more about their social media strategy.

The interview was recorded and you can Listen or Download:

Download MP3 File (1.5MB)

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Don’t bring a knife to a gun fight – use your ‘Voice of Authority’

November 30th, 2009 by Darrell Heaps
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knife-gun-fightOn Nov 11th, I had the pleasure to speak to the NIRI Tri-State chapter outside of Cincinnati, Ohio. The topic of the discussion was about social media and investor relations. During the Q&A portion of the session we focused on dealing with rumors and misinformation on blog posts and social networks.

The initial reaction by many IROs is to ‘not engage’ with these individuals and to simply ignore these tweets or blog posts. This approach is based on policies forged years ago related to message boards and chat rooms. The challenge with these boards is selective disclosure. It is difficult to answer one comment and not another because the non-answer may be seen as acceptance. So companies need to either answer all comments, or none. It’s not surprising that companies choose to not respond to any of the messages.

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Report Reveals 175% Increase in Adoption of Twitter for Investor Relations during Q3

November 18th, 2009 by Darrell Heaps
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We’re thrilled to release our latest quarterly report on the use of Twitter in investor relations.

In August 2009 we issued a report which analyzed 80 public companies and their use of Twitter during the Q2 2009 earnings season. Today we’re happy to announce some of the key findings from our Q3 2009 report.

pubcos-use-of-twitter-q3-20091
Since issuing our Q2 report in August, the growth in the number of public companies who have a Twitter account has grown by 270 or 338%. Of the 270 public companies the number who are using Twitter for IR increased by 77 or 175%. Although still small in terms of the potential universe, this report indicates a clear trend in that IROs are realizing that social networks are an effective medium to reach out and interact with stakeholders.

Here are some other key stats from the report:

  • 35% of our sample is using Twitter for investor relations.
  • 68% of the companies who use Twitter for IR are located in the U.S.
  • 53% provided a link to their earnings release only.
  • 48% actively engage with their followers through @replies and Retweets.

Get the FREE report today and you’ll learn:

  • Innovative ways public companies are sharing content.
  • How companies are engaging with their followers.
  • What sector the majority of early adopters are from.
  • What country has the most public companies using Twitter for IR.

Twitter and Investor Relations Research Report
Fill out the form below and we’ll email you the full PDF report. We will never share your information with anyone.

Interview with Phil Pearlman, Director of Community at StockTwits (Audio)

November 12th, 2009 by Sheryl Joyce
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stocktwits_logoStockTwits is an open, community-powered investment idea and information service built on the Twitter platform. On November 5, 2009 Phil Pearlman posted an invitation to IROs to join the community.  We thought it’d be interesting to dig a little deeper to learn about StockTwits, where it’s headed and how companies can benefit in being a part of it.

Phil Pearlman is an investor in and the Director of Community at StockTwits.  Prior to this, he was a co-founder of Lumina Fund Management, a long/short equity hedge fund which focuses on behavioral and sentiment analysis to exploit under and overreactions in options markets. He is a contributor to Real Money, a paid service owned by TheStreet.com. He currently trades a private account in New York.

Listen or Download:


Download MP3 File (1.5MB)

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IR Best Practice: Get to know the Buy-Side

October 28th, 2009 by Sheryl Joyce
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risk-pen1Recently, I responded to a discussion on LinkedIN entitled “Required skill sets for IR professionals”. The person who started the discussion was a former portfolio manager and head of research who now has his own consulting business that is putting together a training course for IR professionals. He asked “in addition to how the buy-side analyzes company financial statements and announcements, values a company’s shares and assesses corporate strategy what else would an IR professional need when dealing with the buy-side?”

Dealing with the buy-side has been pushed to the top of the priority list for IROs – especially since there has been a slow decline in the number of sell-side analysts over the past few years. This coupled with the spotlight it has been given at this year’s NIRI conference with a panel discussion entitled “How the Buy and Sell Side Trade your Stocks Today” (and the fact that there was standing room only) along with the discussion I outlined above has prompted me to share some ideas for IROs to consider when dealing with the buy-side.

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Trends and Best Practices in Online Communications and Social Media in Corporate IR

October 21st, 2009 by Sheryl Joyce
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Earlier this month, Dave Hogan, presented his paper “Reaching Shareholders Online: Trends and Best Practices in Online Communications and Social Media in Corporate Investor Relations” at the 2009 Annual Conference of the International Association of Online Communicators in Washington, D.C.

The focus of the paper is how online communication tools, in particular social media, are influencing the communication practices of corporate IR departments at public companies of all sizes. It also examines the question of why corporate IR departments have been slower to adopt social media communications tools than their marketing and corporate communications counterparts.

Dave currently splits his time between teaching public relations in the Department of Journalism and Mass Communication at Abilene Christian University in Texas and works as Director of Investor Relations and Corporate Communications for First Financial Bankshares, Inc. (Nasdaq:FFIN).

While I highly recommend that you take the time to view the presentation in its entirety (below), I have summarized some of the key findings.

Investor Relations and Social Media
View more documents from Dave Hogan.

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How to Get the C-Suite to Embrace Social Media for Investor Relations

October 13th, 2009 by Sheryl Joyce
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roadblockAs IR practitioners it is hard enough to keep on top of the ever-changing regulatory environment.  Not to mention the virtual conversations happening about your company and the fact that you know you should be a part of those online discussions through social networks.  But before you can even think of having a social media presence you have to get buy-in from the C-Suite.

What follows are some tips I compiled to help IROs put together a business case to begin using social media as part of their IR plan.  These tips were inspired by the article “Problem Solved: How Do You Convince the Boss That it’s Time to Go Social?” by Claire Coyne of MarketingProfs which are based on ideas from David B. Thomas, Social Media Manager, SAS for convincing your boss it’s time to go social.
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NIRI Twin Cities – IR in the Age of Social Media Wrap-up

October 9th, 2009 by Sheryl Joyce
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logo_smallEarlier this week, Darrell Heaps, Q4’s Co-Founder and CEO participated in a panel discussion entitled “Best Practices for Using Social Media to Communicate Material Information”.  The event was put on by the Twin Cities NIRI Chapter in downtown Minneapolis and was co-sponsored by the Dorsey & Whitney Law Firm.  Other panelists included Jonathan B. Abram and Melissa Krasnow both Partners with Dorsey & Whitney LLP and was moderated by Barbara Doyle, Vice President, Investor Relations at Lawson Software, Inc.

We had intended to write a follow up post that summarized the event, but IR Magazine beat us to the punch with “IR in the age of social media” .  Rather than duplicate the post we thought we’d just point you to their blog.

Here’s a quick quote by Darrell:

‘The risk posed by social media for your company … exists whether you participate or not,’ observed Darrell Heaps, CEO of Q4 Web Systems, an IR website and communications firm out of Toronto. ‘If you’ve ignored social media and said there are too many risks, we‘re not going to get involved, then you are putting your company at higher risk … than if you know how to use the tools. The market doesn’t care whether or not you’re there. They’re going to use the channels that are most readily available to them to put their message out.’

Read the full post on IR Mag’s blog “IR in the age of social media”. Thanks to Brad Allen for the great write up.