The use of social media by institutional and retail investors is growing at a significant rate.  Companies that have embraced social media as a core element of their disclosure are seeing a substantial increase in awareness of their company and their ability to attract and influence investors.
Based on these findings, on June 14, 2011 Q4 sponsored a Lunch ‘n’ Learn session at the NIRI Annual Conference which sought to answer this question:
‘Is now the time for all companies to adopt social media disclosure and move beyond compliance to a more …

Ryder is a FORTUNE 500® commercial transportation, logistics and supply chain management solutions company. Ryder’s stock (NYSE:R) is a component of the Dow Jones Transportation Average and the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index.
Let’s take a look at how the site recently changed when they upgraded their IR website from Thomson’s IR website template to the Q4 web platform.  The comparison from a design and user experience standpoint is night and day.  We have provided a number of screen shots in the slideshare below, or you can visit the live site at …

With Facebook now counting more than 600 million users, the reality is that a large segment of any corporate website traffic has a Facebook account.  If you’re company has a Facebook page and you’re actively using it, then it makes sense to extend the capabilities of your corporate website with Facebook social plug-ins. Below are the 4 ways that we integrate Facebook social plugins into corporate IR websites.
Share to Facebook
Starting in 2009 a default component of all Q4 websites is the ability to share any page to a number of …

“Readers will still have access to the same great content they have come to expect from our blog“, said Darrell Heaps co-founder and CEO of Q4 Web Systems, “with a continued overarching objective of striving to have the blog serve as a key resource to IR professionals – which is currently accomplished by staying apprised of and sharing news relevant to IROs such a changes in the regulatory environment and online IR best practices“.
We will continue to share findings from our active research into IR website and social media best …

For the last three and a half years, Dell has taken the lead amongst public companies that use social media by being one of the first to have an IR-dedicated blog and YouTube to provide more context and background on their quarterly financial results.
In February of this year, Dominic Jones of IR Web Report did a great post that detailed how Dell ‘leveraged an impressive array of popular social media services, including Twitter, YouTube, SlideShare, and its own investor relations blog’, for their Q4 and year-end results.
Recently, Darrell Heaps, co-Founder …

Back in January of this year a question was posted to Quora (the hot new social media question and answer community) asking which vendors help integrate social media into the corporate website.
Our CEO, Darrell Heaps responded to the question and his answer has remained the top ranked answer. I thought it would make sense to share it here:

Darrell Heaps, Co-founder/CEO at Q4 Web Systems
2 votes by Broc Romanek and Brian Chen

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If you are contemplating using social media to augment your online communications efforts, read on to hear from Mo Sheahan, Corporate Communications Manager at Prologis about how the Corporate communications team put together a comprehensive five-year social media plan and effectively presented it to the C-suite to gain their buy-in.  You’ll also learn how they manage the account to ensure consistency of messaging and how they work with IR to ensure the program’s success.
Our advice is to be clear with your own objectives, and put together a specific plan …

There are some interesting developments in the highly regulated healthcare industry that are taking place – particularly around the sharing of product information on social media by pharmaceutical companies.
In a bid to get a handle on the situation, in late 2009, the FDA issued a Call for Comments on their public notice:  Promotion of Food and Drug Administration-Regulated Medical Products Using the Internet and Social Media Tool.
In response to the FDA’s call, in March 2010, AstraZeneca responded to the FDA’s notice and asked them ‘to adopt guidance that will enable …

Media coverage is still considered an important component of measuring a communications strategy. With more and more journalists using social networks to get story ideas, companies need to adjust their strategy to get coverage.
With this in mind, I thought a discussion with a reporter would help shed some light on the topic. So during this week’s #irchat, Matt Hartley (@thehhartley) a technology reporter with the Financial Post agreed to be questioned about where he gets story ideas, the best way to pitch a story to him and what …

Online conversations are happening about your organization.  Are you still sitting on the sidelines wondering how to get involved with those conversations?  Social media is a great way to increase your audience reach, empower people to engage with your company and give them a better understanding of your investment proposition.
This Wednesday February 16 @ 4:00 p.m. EST, join Q4′s CEO and co-founder Darrell Heaps as he and other panelists discuss how you can use social media to support your company’s IR and communication objectives.
Register now and you will also learn …