Happy Holidays from PGi
December 21st, 2011 by Lea Green Posted in Featured, New Media, New Work Life, Social Enterprise, Social IR, Uncategorized
Share the vision of how PGi EVP of Strategy and Communications Sean O’Brien unifies social media tools with video conferencing solution iMeet to drive authentic, long-term relationships with the IR community. StockTwits founder Howard Lindzon discusses his “idea network” philosophy of how a new generation of IR professionals are breaking down walls and breaking the rules with social media tools and changing the game by sharing ideas using new technologies.
Social media is rapidly becoming a top-of-mind communications strategy for investor relations professionals looking to foster engaging, two-way dialogue with the investor community. 
Here are ten reasons why your company should consider adopting a social IR program:
- Social media is cheap and efficient. You can distribute updates or talk with your followers around the world for essentially no cost, in seconds. There are few technologies that offer that kind of speed and breadth for such little investment. The math is simple.
- You’re talking with people who want to hear from you. Social media is anti-spam, heard only by those who are intentionally listening. People are tuning in because they care what you have to say. So say something.
- Conversations are happening without you. Without you, the social media conversations about your company are one-sided. Why not pull a seat up to the table and have a voice in the conversation?
- Listening is good business. Investors truly have seen it all. And they can often provide good counsel on your strategic direction, business model and products. The advice is free to those listening.
- If you wait until you need to engage, it will be too late. Don’t let an event like a close proxy vote or a PR disaster be the reason you adopt social media. If you do, chances are your efforts will be met with skepticism. Authentic engagement takes time to build and cannot be reactive.
- Social media is here to stay – whether you like it or not.
Just like IR websites, electronic newswires and email before it, social media will eventually overcome the current fear, uncertainty and skepticism and be embraced as an integrated communications tool for IR. Be an early adopter. - Social media helps you cut through the clutter. Accurate, timely information is critical to the investor community. By helping them access it, you will help them do their jobs. And good things will happen.
- Social media is good for your image. Is your company pro innovation, pro advancement or satisfied with the status quo? Embracing a shift toward future communications tools and customer needs speaks volumes to your investors without saying a word.
- Meeting with investors in video scales your face-to-face engagement. Video conferencing is a simple and effective way to put a human face on your company without racking up frequent flier miles, depleting your budget or missing a parent-teacher conference with another non-deal roadshow or investor conference.
- Don’t let your marketing peers have all the fun. Just as they are converting customers into brand advocates through social engagement, the same can be true for you. Create an investor base that is not only aware of, but also actively engaged with your corporate and financial strategies.
One final note: an optimal social IR program transcends technology decisions and includes a commitment to open and transparent disclosure and dialogue with the investor community. It’s vital that your organization spends as much time crafting appropriate communications policies as selecting messaging platforms, in order to ensure your new social IR program is rewarding for all your stakeholders.
Converging Devices, Connecting Lives
October 11th, 2011 by Sean O'Brien Posted in Featured, Interviews, New Media, New Work Life, New Work Life, Social Enterprise, Social IR, Uncategorized
As we saw at our recent #ShiftNYC event, the unprecedented amount of information, connectivity, energy and creativity taking place is redefining how we interact in our personal and professional lives. Our home and work lives are converging as technologies, tools and trends have shifted the way we live and work — we’re experiencing a #shift to ONE LIFE. The changing workforce dynamic is in a continual state of evolution. To help bring this idea to life, we developed the following infographic to highlight this pivotal point in history. Work styles are transforming as people set their own standards. Mindsets are shifting—as roles, perceptions, media, methods and communication tools for work and life merge. And every day, our lives are transformed by the technology that makes it possible. How are you #Shifting?
Day 2, Part 1: #Shift Recap of the Social IR discussion
October 7th, 2011 by Sara Pilling Posted in Featured, Interviews, New Media, Social IR, Uncategorized
On day two of #Shift, a collaborative conversation on investor relations trends, including social media integration in IR communications, created a stir in this historically by-the-book segment. Moderated by Michael Santoli of Barrons, the panel pulled together some very forward thinking and social IR experts including Howard Lindzon, Joshua Brown, Barry Ritholz and Sean O’Brien.
The group discussed the importance of using social media as a channel for IR message distribution and investor engagement. Admittedly, social media adoption in the investor relations space lags behind because of the conservative bent of most in the IR field. However, one of the panelists noted that if the Federal Reserve just issued an RFP for social media monitoring, the industry will soon rally to get on board with this shift.
Our panelists and fellow #Shift attendees shared their views on how to deliver real-time quotes and communicate breaking news while establishing a new authenticity in investor relationships. One of the current roadblocks to IR social media adoption is the question of making legal teams more comfortable with social IR. But as social media takes hold in many other departments, it’s just a matter of time until the IR community embraces this vital trend toward the future.
After all, in the ‘90s, email was not allowed for use in broker/client communications until someone figured out that the whole email thing was here to stay.
This debate continues here on the #Shift blog with our panelists sharing their insights, predictions and social outlooks on the future of “Social IR.” Join the conversation and stay tuned.
If you think that Millennials thrive on social media, you’re right. If you think that the Baby Boomers haven’t tuned in as well, you’re in for a surprise. Social media has cross-generational appeal and forms the demographic heart of the investor community.
Platform of the People
More people are using social media than ever, and the bulk of those users are adults. According to the Pew Research Center, 65% of all U.S. adults now use social-networking sites, up from 61% a year ago and just 5% in 2005.
Social media has become pervasive across all generations and demographics – providing a tremendous new platform for IROs to inform and engage with the investor community. However, a 2010 study from IR Web Report highlights a surprising lack of uptake of social communication by IR professionals—despite growing evidence that social media can deliver serious benefits to corporate stock, up to 90% of IR pros fail to engage in social media, even when their company promotes these channels through other areas on their website.
Traditional marketing practices just don’t cut it anymore. Participating in Twitter, Facebook, blogging, and a host of alternative mass communications platforms have become standard practice for businesses in today’s digital age. Certainly, marketers have had to evolve their strategies and messages to create compelling brands that last and resonate with customers, but with the advent of social media and more and more channels coming each day how do brands stand out from the noise? Is there a new “magic formula,” or can we still rely on branding fundamentals?
While no one can claim to have the perfect social media recipe; some brands clearly do a better job than others and perhaps everyone can learn a thing or two from them. Two brands in particular stand out as having astoundingly successful social media campaigns, Proctor and Gamble’s Old Spice and Domino’s Pizza. Each campaign can teach us an important lesson for engaging customers over the social media highway: Originality and Transparency
The investor community, once a vision of charcoal-gray suits and stiffly pressed white shirts, is starting to loosen its collar. Due to the inherent conservatism of investor relations professionals – many of whom come from an investment background themselves – social media has needed more time to take root in their office than in other areas of corporate communications. But the buttoned-up business class has finally begun to realize the many advantages of getting social.
Pioneers like Howard Lindzon, founder of StockTwits, and Joshua Brown of TheReformedBroker, have identified the key advantages of social media tools and are applying them to the investment business. And as with Felix and Oscar, the combination of these two unique forces is producing extraordinarily original and compelling results.
Breadth and depth of engagement
If social media is anything, it’s pervasive. It seems like everyone – young and old, business and consumer, blue chip and start-up – is connecting with social these days. Companies are communicating with customers, prospects, stakeholders, thought leaders and other businesses worldwide at lightning speed using social engagement tools like Twitter. Facebook is enabling businesses to “put a face” on their brand and engage customers in more genuine dialog. LinkedIn provides opportunities to network and dig deeper through targeted group conversations. By taking advantage of these same tools for real-time, two-way social IR, companies can better understand what matters to investors. And by employing innovative tools like StockTwits, IR pros can pinpoint messaging and target IR engagement, overcoming the primary issue of information glut on the internet. By meeting the investment community where they are and on their terms and increasing distribution through a unique set of tools beyond the newswires, companies can expand their reach exponentially as well as monitor their presence to better understand impact of this engagement.
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