Q4 Research: Public Company Use of social media for IR - Part 2 Facebook

Summary Presentation: Download Complete Whitepaper
September 2012

Q4 Whitepaper: Public Company Use of Social Media for IR – Part 2:
Facebook - 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
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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 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

Facebook
• Though Twitter has the highest use for IR of all the social media
platforms, Facebook is too important a channel to be ignored:
– Largest networking site in the world, available in 37 languages,
with well over 900 million users
– Average age of Facebook users in 2010 was 38 years old
– Highest growth area by far was in Boomer segment (aged 50-64)
– Average users spend 23 minutes on each Facebook visit

Facebook For Investor Relations
• Q4’s 2012 sample shows that 78% of companies have a Facebook
account, slightly up from 2011. Of these, 40% use Facebook for
Investor Relations.
– By Sector - Top three sectors using Facebook for Investor Relations
are Technology, Natural Resources, and Industrial Goods/Basic
Materials.
– By Region - North American companies in our sample significantly
outpaced the rest of the world, with European companies (led by the
UK, France, Germany and Switzerland) as the next highest.
– By Market Capitalization - Small cap companies lead in use of
Facebook for IR, followed by Large cap and then Medium cap.

Facebook Usage and Content
• Facebook is the second most popular social media channel (after
Twitter) used by public companies to share Investor Relations
material.
• Companies use Facebook to share materials, providing consumers
and investors with information about their organization, their industry
and their markets. These include:
– press releases, quarterly financials, annual reports, corporate videos,
industry news, media coverage and information on conferences

Best Practices
1. Emulating the look and feel of the corporate website homepage
2. Pulling in RSS feeds from the IR website or blog to populate
Facebook pages
3. Using Notes and customizable pages to provide additional
information around company assets, highlight important events or
underscore sustainability initiatives
4. Precise commenting guidelines and terms of use
5. Directing visitors to other social channels
6. Linking to financial blogs
7. Expanded use of multimedia such as video and photos to highlight
particular aspects of the business

Best Practices
1. Emulating the look and feel of the corporate website homepage
http://www.facebook.com/Chesapeak
e
www.chk.com
Facebook’s Timeline format (new in early 2012)
allows companies to easily brand themselves –
logo, tagline, and stock corporate photography - as
seen in this example from Chesapeake Energy
(below).
Notice how similar the pictures and graphics are to their
corporate website landing page (above). It makes it much
easier for visitors to identify the company on Facebook.

Best Practices
2. Pulling in RSS feeds from the IR website or blog to populate
Facebook pages
http://www.facebook.com/Apachecorporation/app_23798139265
Using an RSS feed on Facebook,
like the one Apache Corp does
(left), keeps all their relevant
news in one place, so visitors can
more easily weed out other
Facebook activity, and scan news
to quickly find what they need.
Clicking on the titles brings
visitors to the source, usually the
corporate website. Visitors can
also easily subscribe to their RSS
feeds.
The same sort of technique can
be used to share a company’s
corporate blog posts.

Best Practices
3. Using Notes and customizable pages to provide additional
information around company assets, highlight important events or
underscore sustainability initiatives
http://www.facebook.com/opentext/app_56625786785
Rather than using just the Notes
section to highlight important
information, Facebook’s Timeline
format provides new applications and
tools that allow companies to group
and target their information better.
Many companies separate information
into various categories – news,
events, recruitment, blog entries, CSR
material, etc. – to allow visitors to
more quickly and easily find what they
need.
In the Open Text example (right), the
drop down menu allows visitors to
navigate directly to News, Blog or
Events.

Best Practices
3. Using Notes and customizable pages (continued)
http://www.facebook.com/SmithfieldFoods/app_4949752878
Many companies highlight their social,
environmental and charitable endeavors
with a dedicated Corporate Social
Responsibility page on Facebook.
Smithfield Foods (left) has a comprehensive
‘Responsibility’ Page, breaking out all the
relevant areas they focus on in their CSR
efforts and commitments including the
environment, employees, animal welfare,
communities and food safety. Every button
and link is interactive, allowing visitors to
easily get to the corresponding section on
their website.

Best Practices
4. Precise commenting guidelines and terms of use
http://www.facebook.com/Cenovus/app_139649419438726
We continue to see many
companies provide social
media terms of usage and
commenting guidelines. This
example to the left is from
Cenovus, who provide “House
Rules” and a “Disclaimer” about
how they use and expect
others to use their Facebook
account.

Best Practices
5. Directing visitors to other social channels
http://www.facebook.com/ittcorp
ITT Corporation (above) posts a SlideShare link on Facebook,
connecting visitors to the company’s latest earnings
presentation.
http://www.facebook.com/iberdrola
When companies spend time and resources on producing
regular blog content should be sharing the information on
any channels they are on. Iberdrola (below) directs visitor to
their newly launched corporate blog.

Best Practices
5. Directing visitors to other social channels (continued)
http://www.facebook.com/KimcoRealty/app_111087479007595
Many companies provide links
so specific social media apps
right on the main page of their
Facebook accounts.
Kimco Realty (right) has a
summary of all the social media
platforms they use on the
Welcome app of their Facebook
account. This easily connects
visitors to any platform they
themselves use.
Each of these icons – RSS,
Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, and
Flickr – is a hyperlink to their
specific pages on each platform.

Best Practices
6. Linking to financial blogs
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Quest-Rare-Minerals-Ltd/13932817609387
Some companies also link to sector-
related articles from financial blogs.
Being in tune with what is being said
on financial blogs about their company
and sector is an important
consideration for companies using
social media. It helps to inform
investors and add to the company’s
credibility.
Quest Rare Minerals regularly shares
articles (left) on their Facebook page
from Rare Earth Investing News. The
articles are not just focused on Quest,
but rather provides commentary on
several other companies in their
space.

Best Practices
7. Expanded use of multimedia such as video and photos to highlight
particular aspects of the business
http://www.facebook.com/Checkpointsoftware/photos
Sharing video of interviews with a CEO/CFO
commenting on their company’s strategy or results
is another way to provide visitors additional context
around earnings or acquisitions.An example of this
is Syngenta’s post below.
http://www.facebook.com/Syngenta
Many companies use various multimedia, repurposing
content, photographs and video in several places, such as
their IR website, YouTube and Facebook.
Check Point Software (above) posts photo albums from
events and conferences they participate in.

Facebook Engagement Increases
• Q4 also examined engagement practices of companies, how they
are interacting and engaging in conversation with visitors on
Facebook.
• Companies providing direct responses or referrals to IR contacts
has risen significantly in our 2012 sample, increasing by 13% since
last year.
• 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

Compelling Reasons To Use Facebook for IR
• Facebook has the highest number of users – well over 900 million
worldwide.
• The mistaken assumption that Facebook users are too young to be
consumers of IR material has proved false – average age is 38, and
highest growth demographic is aged 50-64.
• Early 2012 changes to Facebook’s format (Timeline) are making it
easier for companies to customize tools and applications to
organize, highlight and group content according to their needs and
activities.
• 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 to:
– How your peers are using Facebook to interact and engage with
investors
– What sectors, geographic regions and size of companies are leading
the way in adoption
– Innovative uses of video and photos to highlight particular aspects of
your business
– New ways companies are using Facebook tools (welcome, notes,
events and Corporate Social Responsibility pages) to group and
highlight information
– How to effectively integrate RSS feeds from your IR website or blog to
populate Facebook pages
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About Q4 Web Systems
Q4 is 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.

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Q4 Research: Public Company Use of social media for IR - Part 2 Facebook

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Q4 Research: Public Company Use of social media for IR - Part 2 Facebook