M.O.M. knows what’s best for IR and Social Media
As more companies begin to slowly dip their toe into the social media realm, they are not only trying to figure how it fits into their overall business strategy, but what is the ROI of using it?
Mike McDonald of WebProNews cites an interview with Tarla Cummings, Social Media Manager from Location3 Media from the SMX Advanced Conference recently held in Seattle, WA.
When looking at your social media campaigns, Tarla discusses the acronym M.O.M. which stands for Monitor, Outreach, Measure.
MONITOR
Companies should make it a top priority to be in tune with who is saying what and where about them. They should know exactly where they are being discussed across blogs, wikis, forums, tweets and any other social forum they can think of.
Mike points out “we used to refer to this practice more in terms of reputation management than we did marketing. However, if there is one major takeaway about social media here, it’s that marketing and reputation management are getting closer and closer to being synonymous.”
Keeping track of everything that is being said in public forums sounds like an onerous task! There are services out there, both free and paid – for example you can subscribe to free Google Alerts for mentions of your company. Also, recently during the Trends in Media and Technology Session at the NIRI Conference in FL, Serena Ehrlich of Start-up Army cited a few more free monitoring services such as www.search.twitter.com or www.socialmention.com.
Dick Johnson of IR café was also on the panel with Serena and after the session, put together a list of monitoring sites and services he incorporated in a broader IR 2.0 menu he compiled for IROs learning about new technologies and connections in web and social media. You’ll need to scroll almost to the very end of the document – the list is a good starting point.
In the context of monitoring social media, Brian Solis in his recent article “Unveiling the New Influencers” states that “…we need assistance in order to hear and see relevant conversations and the related people and communities where they emerge and inhabit.”
He then provides a comprehensive list of the “tools available so that we can start the process of uncovering the unknown and plotting our next courses of action which starts with the heading “Searching the Social Web”.
OUTREACH
Once the social forums are identified, companies should become active participants. In particular, if someone has posted something negative about the company make an effort to win them over. This can be beneficial in that it reflects well on a company to have made a public attempt at rectifying a negative situation – although he notes not everyone can be swayed to come back as a loyal consumer of your brand.
Please note that he is referring to this in a marketing context in which someone is unhappy about a product or service. From an IR perspective, I would tread cautiously when responding to upset investors in a public forum. I would assess each post on a case-by-case basis and would respond for example, if someone has posted something blatantly incorrect. As in my view that would be in the best interests of the company and its shareholders to do so.
It is logical to want to respond to and correct any erroneous information about your company. However, as previously stated, keeping track of everything is a large undertaking. So as an IRO how do you go about staying on top of and addressing everything (in particular negative comments) being said about your companies online? Serena (from the same panel cited earlier) points out a very valid consideration – that it is not necessary to address all of the negative comments, as they may be coming from people who are not widely followed anyway. Instead, she suggested investigating how much traffic some of the negative bloggers get first through sites such as www.compete.com, www.quantcast.com and www.alexa.com to help determine whether it was necessary to respond.
MEASURE
Okay, now for the crucial part – how do you measure all of this effort?
Mike feels that social media is not as difficult to measure as one would think – he states that a decent analytics package will provide a good idea about where the information is coming from. One sure way to be precise is to “simply make sure everybody is on the same page about your goals for these campaigns before you get things rolling.”
Further to this, Ben Straley from Meteor Solutions in this interview states “when you set goals for your social media campaign, you need to ask yourself what you want to accomplish and then measure your efforts. The type of business you operate actually determines what you should measure. Ultimately, the value of social media is not determined by how much money you make. Instead, it is determined by how your business receives value from it.”
I completely agree with Ben when he states you need to ask what it is you want to accomplish. One way to help you do this is to put together an IR plan in which you set measurable short and long-term goals and objectives, identify target audiences, develop strategic messages and tactics and activities to deliver the program.
Of course, the plan must be monitored to measure its effectiveness and fine-tuned as needed. In my experience as both an in-house IRO and consultant, a typical IR plan is measured on an annual basis, but like anything, this can differ based on a company’s particular business strategy.
Some examples of what to measure may include new institutional investors or an increase in holdings by existing investors, analyst coverage (increased coverage, improved recommendations), investor perceptions, media coverage, number of face to face contacts made through roadshows and meetings with targeted investors, website visits etc. This is by no means a comprehensive list and again the specific objectives you set, will drive what is measured.
If you do use social media as part of your IR program, the resources I outlined above should give you a good starting place to keep track and measure what is being said and even give you insights on how to appropriately respond when necessary. It will also allow you to proactively report back to management and the board keeping them apprised of what is being said about the company and nipping any potential issues before they get out of hand. After all, there is nothing worse than getting a phone call or an email asking you about a situation in which you don’t know about.
If you are currently using social media and measuring your efforts, I’d love to hear what services both free and paid you are using.
Related posts:
- Social Media and IR Trends Webinar Wrap-Up
- Trends and Best Practices in Online Communications and Social Media in Corporate IR
- Social Media Monitoring – Fish Where the Fish are
- Examples of small and large companies using Social Media in Investor Relations
- Q4’s CEO Discusses all things Twitter, Social Media and Investor Relations
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