Q4 Research: Public company use of social media for IR - Part 1 Twitter & StockTwits

Summary Presentation: Download Complete Whitepaper
June 2012

Q4 Whitepaper: Public Company Use of Social Media for IR – Part 1:
Twitter and StockTwits - Summary Slides
Why Social Media Matters For Investor Relations
• Social media has become one of the key methods for companies to
engage in discussion, share information, and connect with their
audiences.
• The number of users communicating on social media platforms is
also compelling; over 900 million on Facebook, 555 million users of
Twitter and over 150 million people on LinkedIn1.
• Research shows that:
– 49% of professional investors are reading blogs and 27% use YouTube2
– 3 out of 5 financial bloggers use Twitter as their primary news source3
– 63% of institutional investors believe social media will become
increasingly important to them4
Sources: 1. All Twitter Blog (Mediabistro), 2012 | 2. Rivel Research, 2010 | 3. Financial Media Conference, 2011 | 4. Brunswick Group, 2009
Download Complete Whitepaper

Overall Social Media Findings
• Q4 performs year over year reviews of social media is used for
Investor Relations by the companies in our sample. Our findings in
2012 reveal:
– slight increases in Twitter and Facebook use
– significant increases in use of SlideShare and corporate blogs
• Our study includes some new measurements for 2012:
– 64% of companies are listed on StockTwits
– 65% of companies have their social media links on their corporate
website
– 32% of companies have a social media summary page to help users
find the appropriate feed or page

2012 Research Sample
Q4 Web Systems’ research sample size for social media research has
grown from 80 public companies in 2009 to a total of 807 in 2012.
Airline, 16
Automotive, 12
Consumer
Goods, 114 Exchanges, 4
Financial
Services, 67
Industrial
goods/Basic
materials, 67
Media, 8
Natural
Resources, 134
Pharma/Healthca
re/Biotech, 43
Real Estate, 13
Services, 120
Technology, 139
Telecommunicati
ons, 30
Utilities, 40
Companies Included in Study by Sector

Twitter
• Twitter has the highest usage rates for IR of all the social media
platforms.
– Twitter has over 550 million users, and is available in 28
languages
– The average number of tweets per day is well over 50 million,
with an average of 182 million monthly visitors to their website.
– 74% of Twitter users are between ages 26-54

Twitter For Investor Relations
• Q4’s 2012 sample shows that 98% of companies have a Twitter
account. Of these, 63% use Twitter for Investor Relations, pretty
much on par with our 2011 statistics.
– By Sector – Top three sectors using Twitter for IR are Exchanges,
Natural Resources, and Technology, followed very closely by Industrial
Goods/Basic Materials.
– By Region - North American companies (US and Canada) in our
sample significantly outpaced the rest of the world, with European
companies (led by the UK and Germany) as the next highest.
– By Market Capitalization – Small and Large cap companies were
virtually neck and neck in their use of Twitter for IR (37 and 36 percent,
respectively). Medium cap came in a close third place.

Twitter Usage and Content
• Twitter is the most popular social media channel used by
public companies to share Investor Relations material.
• Companies use Twitter to share materials, providing
consumers and investors with information about their
organization, their industry and their markets.
– Commonly shared information includes: press releases, corporate
social responsibility updates, quarterly financial releases, annual
reports, corporate videos, interviews, media coverage and
information on conferences
– Related industry news content and market/analyst commentary is
increasing in popularity
– More companies are experimenting with the practice of live-tweeting
of earnings calls and AGMs

Twitter Best Practices
1. Sharing industry and sector news/media coverage
2. Providing photos and videos broadcast from conferences
3. Linking to analyst reports and trade information
4. Sharing corporate/company news
5. Enhanced quarterly reporting practices
6. Live-tweeting annual meetings or analyst/investor days
7. Proactively engaging followers with direct questions to stimulate
discussions
8. Directing followers to other social media channels they are using

Best Practices
1. Sharing industry and sector news/media coverage (traditional news
outlets, financial and industry blog content, etc.)
https://twitter.com/Novozymes/status/177558022019756032
Novozymes, for instance,
shared a news announcement
regarding new government
funding for initiatives in their
industry.
A development of this kind
could greatly impact the
fortunes of a biofuel company
like Novozymes, and would be
of keen interest to shareholders
or prospective investors.

Best Practices
2. Providing photos and videos broadcast from conferences
https://twitter.com/ittcorp/status/198099598231863296
Companies are also providing
more than a link to the press
release announcing an upcoming
conference.
In the ITT Corporation example
(left), they’ve augmented the
tweet with a picture of their
conference exhibit booth,
showing off their latest
technologies at the Offshore
Technology Conference.

Best Practices
3. Linking to analyst reports and trade information
http://www.twitter.com/germantrader71/status/202333130034642944
Many companies are also using Twitter
to share information that is not
technically considered “material,” but
nonetheless could be deemed important
for shareholders, such as analyst
coverage and trade information.
For instance, we frequently see
companies posting tweets regarding
Moody’s or Standard & Poors ratings,
like CIT Group’s tweet (top left).
Another example is from Jabil Circuit
Inc., who monitor analyst commentary
on its stock, and retweets information
and announcements to its own Twitter
feed (bottom left).
http://twitter.com/citgroup/status/170245927041380352

Best Practices
4. Sharing corporate/company news (new products, press releases,
corporate social responsibility information, new IR tools and apps,
etc.)
http://twitter.com/ACE_Group/status/155505952316080128
Many public companies are also
providing links to other news on
their Twitter feed that investors
might find interesting, like news on
corporate social responsibility
practices, awards won, external
recognition received. Often the
news is not material to investors, but
can provide a great deal of context
around the company, its market, and
its practices.
In this example (right), ACE Group
tweets the press release on a recent
acquisition.

Best Practices
5. Enhanced quarterly reporting practices (eliciting questions in
advance of the call, including disclaimers during the live-tweeting
session)
http://twitter.com/NISSAN_GLOBAL/status/200821282118447105
A common piece of investor-related information that
companies share on Twitter relates to the quarterly
conference call. Many companies tweet details for
accessing the call or webcast, as well as the quarterly
financial release that typically includes the financial
tables, etc. Nissan’s 2011 fiscal yearend press
conference is a great example.
First, they tweeted the announcement of the live
streaming (through Ustream) the event (right). Then,
they tweeted over 30 separate posts on highlights,
CEO quotes, 2012 plans, and financial markets
commentary. Nissan then tweeted an announcement
that the press conference was at an end, and then a
link to a YouTube video of their CEO providing
commentary and context about the 2011 yearend
results.

Best Practices
6. Live-tweeting annual meetings or analyst/investor days
http://twitter.com/arcresources/status/202496175885131776
Arc Resources is a great example (left).
They recently live-tweeted their Annual
Meeting using StockTwits’ platform
(with some tweets on Twitter). They
tweeted the time, date and link to the
live feed, and directly following that,
provided a link for a webcast.
In the two weeks leading up to the
AGM, they tweeted resource materials
for review (onlineAnnual Report, a
press release outlining Q1 2012 results,
and a video update from their COO).
On the date of the Annual Meeting,
their StockTwits feed had over 15
tweets, and the official Twitter feed by
comparison, had 5 tweets, providing
just the AGM highlights.
As companies become more comfortable sharing their financial information
and subsequently live-tweeting their earnings calls, we are seeing
companies extend both of these practices to their annual meetings and
investor/analyst days materials.

Best Practices
7. Proactively engaging followers with direct questions to stimulate
discussions
https://twitter.com/Fiserv/status/200223755430137856
Another way companies are using
Twitter is to help engage those people
following their feed with questions or
offers. It gives followers (especially
shareholders) a sense that they are “in
the know,” part of the discussion, that
the company is listening. It also
provides transparency – they can see
the call for questions, see the
questions come up, and see them
fielded by Executives during the
meeting.
Fiserv (right) recently solicited
questions from followers about the
housing market to field with leading
American Economist David Stiff.

Best Practices
8. Directing followers to other social media channels they are using
(cross posting of content, raising awareness of new channels and
feeds, etc.)
https://twitter.com/ErsteGroupIR/status/174759135299125248
Many companies continue to link from Twitter to
their blogs or other social channels such as
Facebook, YouTube and SlideShare. This latest
batch of research continues to support this trend.
Jabil (left) announces a new dedicated Twitter feed
for Healthcare & Life Sciences topics.
https://twitter.com/JabilCircuitInc/status/195255465872076800
Similarly, Erste Group posted several tweets during
the 2011 yearend results conference call, and then
tweeted this post (right), directing followers to their
SlideShare account for a presentation copy of the
results and a great deal more information, including
detailed breakdowns of the results and contacts.

Twitter Engagement
• Q4 also examined engagement practices of companies, how they
are interacting and engaging in conversation with visitors on Twitter.
• 2012 engagement remains at the level of 2011 (measured through
companies’ use of “replies,” “retweets,” and “#hashtags”).
• Engagement percentages have remained consistent, but level of
sophistication has risen.
• Increased engagement with visitors can:
– show the company as responsive, adding to their credibility
– show that the company regularly monitors their social channels,
providing another source of quick, reliable information

StockTwits
• StockTwits is a social media platform that allows the investor
community to share real-time information and ideas, discover
relevant content, and connect with a global network of financial
influencers.
• Well integrated with Twitter, StockTwits is used by more than
150,000 investors, market professionals and public companies to
share information – whose feeds are viewed by an audience of over
40 million.
• According to Q4 research, a full 64% of companies in our sample
have a presence on StockTwits.

StockTwits Best Practices
• Some of the Best Practices identified for StockTwits include:
– Appending $TICKER
– Appending Tweets with Unique #Hashtag
– Live-tweeting Earnings Calls
– Posting Earnings Q&A
– Virtual Investor Days
– Including Disclaimers & Safe Harbors
– Augmenting News Distribution
– Publicizing Upcoming Events
– Highlighting Videos and Presentations
– Sharing Annual Report

Compelling Reasons To Use Twitter for IR
• Twitter has a significant number of users – well over 550 million
worldwide.
• By far, Twitter has the highest rates of usage rates of all the social
media platforms for Investor Relations purposes. An increasing
number of companies are incorporating the use of StockTwits by
including their $TICKER symbol.
• There is an increased sophistication in many companies’ Twitter use
(better targeted, more pertinent, higher volume of announcements,
and more integrated with other social media platforms with re-
sourcing and cross-posting).
• Evidence continues to support the fact that many public companies
see value in using social media to increase awareness and engage
with key constituents.

Download and learn:
– Best practices for live-tweeting quarterly conference calls, analyst/investor
days and annual meetings
– How your peers are using Twitter to elicit questions in advance of an
earnings call or annual meeting
– Tactics to proactively engage followers to stimulate discussions
– Innovative ways to share content from conferences and industry-related
news/media coverage
– How StockTwits is emerging as a viable social channel that public
companies are using to share their financial information and corporate news
in real-time
– How to effectively integrate Twitter and other social media with your IR
website
Download the Complete Whitepaper Now!!
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About Q4 Web Systems
Q4 is the the leader in corporate websites and social media solutions
for public companies. Hundreds of IR professionals rely on Q4 for their
IR website, social media and mobile applications. Using Q4, public
companies of all sizes increase awareness, reduce risk and build better
relationships with their investors. Through active best practice
research, Q4 has earned a position at the forefront of the investor
relations market, sharing knowledge through webinars, whitepapers
and articles on on http://www.q4blog.com/.For more information,
please email sales@q4websystems.com or contact us toll free at 1-
877-426-7829.

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Q4 Research: Public company use of social media for IR - Part 1 Twitter & StockTwits

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Q4 Research: Public company use of social media for IR - Part 1 Twitter & StockTwits