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

Summary Presentation: Download Complete Whitepaper

December 2013

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.

Q4 Whitepaper: Public Company Use of Social Media for IR
Part 4: Corporate Blogs - Summary Slides

Download Complete Whitepaper

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.
Companies Included in Study by Sector
Utilities, 49

Airline, 16

Automotive, 17

Telecommunicatio
ns, 39
Consumer
Goods, 119
Technology, 141

Exchanges,
4

Financial
Services, 78

Services, 127

Industrial
goods/Basic
materials, 76
Media, 13

Real Estate, 15
Pharma/Healthcar
e/Biotech, 52


Natural
Resources, 144


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.
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.

Website

Corporate Blog


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 had previously solicited feedback from users on its
annual report, and Witte takes the time to thank those who
contributed (below).

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.


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.



Get Your Free Whitepaper Today
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.



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 sales@q4websystems.com or contact
us toll free at 1-877-426-7829.



Visit Us Online
• Web: www.q4websystems.com
• Blog: www.q4blog.com
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Q4 2013 Research: Public Company use of social media for IR - Part 4: Corporate Blogs

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