2. Jeff Corbin
CEO, KCSA Strategic Communications
Founder, theIRapp
Jeff brings more than 15 years of integrated IR, PR and marketing experience to help
clients grow their businesses. He has lectured in the U.S. and internationally on building
relationships with Wall Street and is the author of the book, Investor Relations: The Art of
Communicating Value (Aspatore Books; May 2004 and February 2011). He has just
released the second edition of this book (February 2012) and has included a chapter
dedicated to social media and investor relations.
Most notably, Jeff has developed financial communications programs for the American
Stock Exchange and dozens of companies who have their primary listings on the NYSE
and NASDAQ.
Prior to joining KCSA, Jeff was a securities and corporate attorney in New York City,
specializing in corporate reorganizations, bankruptcy proceedings, transactional matters
and commercial litigation.
Jeff has a bachelor's degree in government from Cornell University and a law degree
from the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law. He is very involved in many philanthropic
and communal organizations and presently serves as Chairman of the Board of the BJE
of Greater New York as well as the Board of Directors of UJA-Federation of New York
3. KCSA Strategic Communications
Independent corporate INDEPENDENT AGENCY
43
YEARS
communications firm
specializing in the
integration of public
relations, investor relations
OFFICES
New York | Boston | Chicago | Tel Aviv
OLD and marketing services 35+ EMPLOYEES
AWARD
TOP 5 TOP 25
IR/FINANCIAL INDEPENDENT PR FIRM
WINNING
CREATIVE &
MARKETING
COMMUNICATIONS FIRM IN THE COUNTRY GROUP
corporate image,
EXPERTISE IN brand building and
product/service marketing
#smwIR
4. Agenda
1. Investor Relations
2. Steps to successful IR programs
3. Evolution of the Internet, IR and social media
4. IR challenges
5. Social media channels and best practices
6. Discussion of best practices for incorporating social media into an IR
program
6. Four Steps to Successful IR Programs
1 Determine the investment
proposition
2 Target the appropriate investor
audience
Develop the communications
3 platform
4 Build relationships with investors
7. Evolution of the Internet, IR and Disclosure
1966 1971 1989 1991 1995 1997 1998 2000 2001 2002 2004 2007 2008 2010
8. IR and Social
87% of
Fortune 100
on LinkedIn
StockTwits 3 of 5
saw 300% financial
rise in traffic bloggers use
from 2011 to Twitter as
Q3 news source
77% of
IR and 57% Fortune
Fortune 100
on Twitter
social 100 on
YouTube
media
1/3 IR pros
Blogs read
use social
by 49% of
media for
investors
info
61% Fortune
100 on
Facebook
8
10. Social Media as a Solution
• Amplify your message
• Correct misinformation, rumors, guilt by association
• Target the investor that’s impossible to reach
• Reach more retail investors
• Share news that you would not issue in a press release
• Attract media attention
12. Twitter
• Opportunity: Build a following of relevant financial media, traders, analysts and
industry influencers
• IR ROI: Increase the investment community’s conversation about your stock
Best Practices
• Use the $[Ticker] tag and cross link to Stocktwits
• Tweet about analyst/investor days and annual meetings
• Enhance quarterly reporting
• Live tweet earnings and ask shareholders to submit questions for Q&A
• Manage compliance statements and archiving (arkovi, cmp.ly, socialware, etc.)
13. LinkedIn
• Opportunity: Build your reputation as an industry expert
• IR ROI: Improve positioning and expand your investor network
Best Practices
• Create groups, events and polls around IR activity
• Lead discussion in groups and through Answers
• Organize contacts into downloadable investor database
• Incorporate keywords to improve SEO
• Promote with detailed products, services and banners
• Use modules to cross-promote social content
• Create a targeted investor page
14. SlideShare
• Opportunity: Disseminate content to a highly professional audience
• IR ROI: Increase brand exposure and understanding of the Company story
Best Practices
• Branded channel with corporate
and investor presentations
• Regularly share presentations
for analyst days, conferences
calls, etc.
• Host investor calls with Zipcast
meetings
• Create webinars with Slidecast
• Embed YouTube videos in
presentations
15. Facebook
• Opportunity: Showcase investor and corporate information in a multimedia format
• IR ROI: Improve your relationship with potential investors and brand advocates
Best Practices
• Custom channel with website branding elements
• Daily engagement with original industry content, polls, contests, etc.
• Post guidelines for social media usage and compliance
• Unique investor relations tab with feeds to earnings releases, stock charts, etc.
16. YouTube
• Opportunity: Expand your digital footprint
• IR ROI: Improve your SEO to reach a higher search engine ranking and be more
easily found by investors
Best Practices
• Take advantage of SEO opportunities by tagging all videos with keywords – consider
adding CC transcripts
• Cross-link to and promote across other social channels
• Shorten videos and add annotations for higher engagement
17. Blog
• Opportunity: Build your position as a thought leader in the industry
• IR ROI: Increase coverage of the company and build your leadership position in the
minds of investors
Best Practices
• Pitch company content and experts to financial and industry bloggers
• Develop a focused bi-monthly corporate blog with clear messaging
• Optimize with blogrolls and keyword tags
19. The Future of IR and Social Media
• Companies will start to write IR social media policies
• The SEC will issue new regulation
• More companies using social media for IR = recognition as a
communications vehicle
• Companies will build investor networks
• Example: DellShares community
• IR will go mobile
• Investors want direct access to customized real-time company
information
20. Social Media Policy
1. Define a clear social communication hierarchy within the company to establish who
is responsible for handling each aspect of a company’s social media effort.
2. Make recommendations on how employees should and should not use their personal
social media accounts for talking about their company.
3. Create a system for approving content. This can include content review by IR, legal,
PR, and marketing team members, as needed.
4. Outline expectations for the nature and frequency of posts. Content and consistency
are critical to success in social media.
5. Create guiding principles for acceptable content and conduct.
6. Set clear guidelines for tone. Any content that is predictive or that fails to remain
objective may be in violation of financial compliance.
7. Build in rules for archiving. Access to previous content is critical if compliance
questions or concerns are raised.
8. Implement a plan to provide disclaimers.
9. Establish rules for links to third-party content. A link is an unofficial endorsement of
that content.
10. Outline the response and consequences if the social media policy is violated.
