By Thomas Samuelson, CEO and founder of BRON
Individual investor influence over the trading volumes and price direction of listed companies is increasing. From GameStop to Tesla, individuals are become more interested in owning stocks than ETFs.
Social media can mean many things to many people. For IR, it should mean greater disclosure and exposure, as well as the best way to reach and organize individual investors.
In 2022 more than 95 percent of American citizens aged 13+ are active in social media and more than 50 percent of individuals say they use social media to find information. But only a small percentage of IR departments are embracing this new medium. Why? Incorporating new work habits is always challenging and social media remains misunderstood. IR budgets are stretched and the perception could be that social media is too time-consuming and the need to ‘dumb’ down content for individuals would be an additional burden.
All these concerns are valid, and yet there are many reasons to embark on a social media journey.
First is disclosure: in 2013 the SEC included social media as a Reg FD-compliant disclosure method. Monthly active users on social media dwarf traditional media ratings, making social media imperative to an integral component of corporate governance and transparency.
If an investor relations goal is to increase corporate brand awareness, then using social platforms could be the most efficient and effective way. Educating investors on your investment story is made easier with the deployment of social media. Another goal could be to drive traffic to an IR website.
Source: Statista
The time is now Email and newswires are no longer effective. The use of AI in all major financial media outlets discourages IR content from reaching investors through its embedded selective process.
The sheer volume of email and the aggressive use of email filters have rendered email marketing/distribution ineffective. Meantime, the use and engagement of social platforms is only growing, with no signs of slowing down. Investors are weary and tired of biased research, fake news and misleading data.
They need more effective ways to access corporate information. Direct outreach to both institutions and individual investors is a must – and social media is the only way to efficiently execute this strategy.
Jumping into social media can seem overwhelming at first but developing a strategy can help make the transition stress-free. Some key decisions should be: establishing the right platforms, assigning and training specific people to manage daily activities, incorporating more video content into IR activities, integrating the IR website and making sure content is mobile-friendly.
Measuring the ROI of the IR budget Today, measuring the return on investment (ROI) from distributing IR content through traditional PR newswires, email, broker research and via the investor relations website is very difficult, if not impossible.
Analytics on most social platforms make studying the ROI of an IR budget easier and more transparent, thus allowing IR professionals to allocate capital more efficiently while educating both shareholders and potential investors on the corporate brand.
BRON is the first social network community of investors and listed companies. It aggregates all IR content and makes for a better investor experience. Using more than one social platform is a must and we hope that incorporating the ideas around social media that are discussed in this article will help transform the way companies communicate with investors, which are looking not only for alternative research but also for alternative ways to access content.
BRON is positioned to be an integral tool to help IR professionals embrace social platforms.
BRON is a digital information and communications bridge for the financial community. Its investor network gives listed companies an unbiased place to share content and interact with stakeholders. Listed companies can now update both institutional and individual investors in one easy-to-use platform, as well as create unique interactive content not available from traditional news outlets. All company content is available in real time and on demand. BRON is available for mobile devices from the App Store and Google Play, as well as on the desktop.
