Q4 2013 Research: Public Company use of social media for IR - Part 4: Corporate Blogs

Summary Presentation: Download Complete Whitepaper December 2013

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Q4 Whitepaper: Public Company Use of Social Media for IR

Part 4: Corporate Blogs - Summary Slides

Why Social Media Matters For Investor Relations

• The statistics on social media use continue to be very compelling:

– By the end of 2012, 67% of US Internet users were on one or more social

networking sites.

– One in four people worldwide will use social networks in 2013.

– Internet use (especially on mobile devices) is experiencing rapid growth,

with 27% of internet time in the US being spent on social networking sites.

• Research shows that:

– 49% of professional investors are reading blogs and 27% use YouTube.

– 3 out of 5 financial bloggers use Twitter as their primary news source.

– 52% of institutional investors use social media as part of their research

process, and 63% of institutional investors believe social media will become

increasingly important to them.

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Overall Social Media Findings

• Q4 performs year over year reviews of how social media is used for

Investor Relations by the companies in our sample. Our findings in

2013 reveal:

– significant growth in Twitter, YouTube, and corporate blogs for IR.

– increases in use of Facebook, SlideShare and StockTwits.

• Our study includes some new measurements for 2013:

– 50% of companies have a Google+ account.

– 11% of companies have a Pinterest account.

– 10% of companies offer a mobile IR application.

– 10% of companies provide a mobile IR website.





2013 Research Sample

Q4 Web Systems’ research sample size for social media research has

grown from 80 public companies in 2009 to a total of 890 in 2013.

Airline, 16 Automotive, 17

Consumer Goods, 119

Exchanges, 4

Financial Services, 78

Industrial goods/Basic materials, 76

Media, 13

Natural Resources, 144

Pharma/Healthcare/Biotech, 52

Real Estate, 15

Services, 127

Technology, 141

Telecommunications, 39

Utilities, 49

Companies Included in Study by Sector





Corporate Blogs

• Corporate blogs fill a niche that other social media formats do not. Rather

than being simply a broadcast tool, blogs provide a forum for longer form

content than other tools - opinion, analysis, and insight.

– In an average day, 1.8 million blog posts are written.

– 77% of Internet users read blogs.

– Corporate blog use is on the upswing: the University of Massachusetts

(Dartmouth) Center for Marketing Research indicates 28% of Fortune

500 companies hosted a corporate blog in 2012, up 5% from the

previous year.

– Blogs generate more inbound links for companies, and 61% of US

consumers have made a purchase based on a blog post.





Corporate Blogs for Investor Relations

• Q4’s 2013 sample shows that 38% of companies have a corporate

blog. Of these, 32% use it for Investor Relations, up 14% from our

2012 study.

– By Sector – Top sector using blogs for IR is Technology, followed by

Natural Resources and the Services sectors.

– By Region - North American companies (US and Canada) in our

sample significantly outpaced the rest of the world, with Germany and

Other Europe as the next highest.

– By Market Capitalization – Large cap companies are leading in use of

blogs for IR, with Small cap and Medium cap following behind at second

and third place.





Corporate Blog Usage and Content

• Blogs can be used to share written and visual materials to provide

information, links, commentary and opinion to consumers and investors

about the company, their industry and the markets.

• Corporate blogs are a significantly longer form content vehicle.

• Blogs have lower corporate usage rates than other social media tools,

often due to a need for a sustained effort (content generation, etc.) on

the part of the company.

• Blogs fill a unique niche in the social media landscape, and are

perceived by readers to have the highest value of any platform for

driving site traffic, brand awareness and lead generation.





Best Practices

• Providing insight and commentary to news, industry developments

and the company.

• Using the blog to solicit questions from shareholders in advance of

company events.

• Posting videos and photographs to provide additional context.

• Providing a “Discussions or Commenting Policy.”

• Adding a bio and/or avatar of the main contributor(s) to the blog.

• Emulating the look and feel of the corporate website, and linking to

other social media tools.





Case Study: UCB

UCB incorporates many best practices in their corporate blog use.

Website

Corporate Blog

UCB has chosen to incorporate their blog within

their corporate website. This ensures brand and

logo consistency because the header and footer

for each web page remains the same. Users

have a completely seamless experience.





Case Study: UCB (cont.)

UCB also uses best practices when it comes to

identifying blog authors. For example, in the R&D

section, they show the author’s name, division, and

geographical region: In this post below, in the Investors category, they’ve

identified Antje Witte from Investor Relations as the

author, and as for all authors, have provided a

picture.






This example from the Partners

category, shows how readers can very

easily identify the author of any post,

and decide more quickly if the content

will be something they want to explore.

A post from the Public Relations

department, for example, is going to

be very different in content and focus

from one written by someone in the

Neurosciences department.






UCB also does a great job of organizing their corporate blog to make content easier to find.

They use “Read more” tabs to help readers scan more quickly through posts to find content

they need. They also provide a variety of categories in the margin (above right), including

one especially for Investors, to help direct visitors, and a Tag Cloud (above left) to narrow

searches by keyword.






UCB offers content that provides readers with context around their business and industry.

Rather than simply re-stating what is in their earnings press releases, UCB IR contributor

Antje Witte gives results and reference links to earlier posts, and writes about what is

contributing to their earnings results. Witte discusses their project and development pipeline,

and their growth in emerging markets.

UCB had previously solicited feedback from users on its

annual report, and Witte takes the time to thank those who

contributed (below).





Compelling Reasons To Use Corporate Blogs for IR

• As of 2009, half of professional investors read corporate blogs. With

the release and adoption of tablet technology since 2010, that

number has risen considerably.

• Blogs generate more inbound links for companies, and 61% of US

consumers have made a purchase based on a blog post.

• Evidence continues to show that many public companies see value

in using social media to increase awareness and engage with key

constituents.





Download and learn:

• How your peers are using corporate blogs to interact and engage with investors.

• What sectors, geographic regions and size of companies are leading the way in adoption.

• Innovative ways to use of video and presentations to provide the investor community more company and industry context.

• Best practices for organization, grouping, and consistent delivery of IR content on blogs.

• How these social media platforms can fit into your overall IR communications strategy.

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http://go.q4websystems.com/2013FacebookWhitepaperDownload.html





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 http://www.q4blog.com/. For

more information, please email [email protected] or contact

us toll free at 1-877-426-7829.


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Q4 2013 Research: Public Company use of social media for IR - Part 4: Corporate Blogs

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Transcript of Q4 2013 Research: Public Company use of social media for IR - Part 4: Corporate Blogs