Since the SEC released their report of Investigation and confirmed social media can be used to disclose information under Regulation FD, many commentators have come out and publically supported the statement. Here at Q4, we have been actively promoting the use of social media as a viable channel for investor communication for years now and could not be happier that the SEC has finally taken a public stance on the issue.
While all of this newfound support is great to see, it is still important to consider the early proponents of …

Once again, The Center for Marketing Research at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth has released the results of their annual survey on how the year’s Inc. 500 companies have been using social media for corporate communications. This is always a fascinating study because it gives an excellent view into how growing companies are making use of social media to communicate corporate messaging and news.
The Center for Marketing Research has been conducting this study annually since 2007, when social media corporate messaging was just in its infancy. Looking back, it has …

On Wednesday, February 13 we held a live discussion between our CEO, Darrell Heaps and Jason Golz, Director, Brunswick group on the Brunswick Group’s latest survey: Trends in the use of Digital & Social Media by the Investment Community.  You can view the survey findings in their entirety below:
It was a fantastic opportunity for both Darrell and Jason to discuss some of the changes that digital media is having on the world of IR. If you missed out on the webinar or would like to see it again please check …

REGISTER NOW for our interactive webinar with Brunswick Group

Wednesday, February 13, 2013 1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. EST
Research has found that investors are using a combination of social media and a company’s IR website to help them make investment decisions.
A new study by the Brunswick Group: ‘Trends in the use of Digital & Social Media by the Investment Community’ of almost 500 investors and sell-side analysts in Europe, the US and Asia supports these facts and also found that:
•    Investors’ interaction with digital and social media is increasing substantially with …

What follows is the second part of our Interview with Michael Weitz, Senior Vice President, Investor Relations & Financial Planning at World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. (WWE). In our last blog post, Michael shared with us the steps that he took to implement his social media program and some of the challenges and successes he encountered. In the following post, he describes what goes into maintaining WWE’s IR presence on social media and what some of his goals are for the company’s social media IR program.
6. Who is responsible for WWE’s …

Over the past four years, we have conducted research on public company use of social media for IR.  We have made some interesting discoveries and uncovered some emerging trends.  For example, Twitter is the most widely used channel to share investor-related information.  The most common use of Twitter is linking to previously disclosed material that resides on a company’s IR website.  Common information being tweeted includes press releases, quarterly financial releases, company news, presentations and much more.
However, since issuing our first report in 2009, we have found new examples of …

Last month, Brian Solis, who is a Principal Analyst at Altimeter Group published a very interesting post on his website, looking at some of the findings that were included in the Nielsen 2012 Social Media Report. Comparing the findings from 2012 to 2011 provides a fascinating look into the rapid growth of social media use over the past year.
Time spent on social networks has grown across the board on multiple platforms. The study and Brian’s commentary gives a great look into the developing new web. Below are some of the …

NASDAQ OMX recently announced an agreement to acquire the investor relations unit of Thomson Reuters. The deal will see the integration of approximately 7,000 clients from Thomson’s investor relations, public relations, and multimedia solutions businesses into NASDAQ’s OMX Corporate Solutions.
If you’re an IRO or consultant, this may not be a surprise, especially given the news earlier this year of Thomson’s plans to undergo some restructuring. This deal has made the pool of key players in this space smaller, but we are proud to be a competitor during this exciting transition …

Last week I had the pleasure of speaking on a panel in Cleveland, Ohio. The event was hosted by the NIRI Cleveland Chapter and was entitled: ‘Global Trends in New Media and the Investment Community’. Sitting on the panel with me was Scott Suttell, from Crain’s Cleveland Business. He is in charge of overseeing the newsroom, website and e-newsletter operations for Crain’s and shared a lot of great insights on how the newspaper business is changing to meet the demands of the online world. Meanwhile, I got the opportunity to …

Over the last few years, Q4 Web Systems has performed research and analysis of public company use of social media for Investor Relations, producing several whitepapers and providing numerous examples of best practices.
In this fourth part in our series of whitepapers concerning public company use of social media for Investor Relations, we examine corporate blog use in depth for the first time. DOWNLOAD THE NEW WHITEPAPER. Our findings indicate that the use of corporate blogs is on the upswing; a growing number of companies in our study are using corporate …