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Presentation given to the Board of Directors of the Cherokee Water Company in Longview, TX on January 11, 2014.
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Communicating with Shareholders
Using Social Media
Cherokee Water Company January 11, 2014
Agenda
Social Media Overview
Most Common Social Media Platforms for Shareholder Communications
Best Practices and Examples
Planning for Effective Shareholder/Customer Communications
Social Media Overview
Photo: Fristle on Flickr
Keep It Simple • Remember: It’s just a conversation
• We can either engage in the conversation with our customer (or shareholder), or they will have the conversation without us.
Flickr: Search Engine People Blog
Why Social Media Matters
• By the end of 2012, 67% of US Internet users were on one or more social networking sites
• 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 investors use social media as a part of their research process
Source: Q4 Web Systems
Why Implement Social Media?
• Social media encourages dialogue
• Technology drives greater transparency
• Multiple channels reinforce the message
• Social media is a high ROI strategy
Source: http: //www.brandchannel.com
Twitter Leads the Pack
• More than 1/3 of US public companies use Twitter for IR
• Typical uses include announcing news, such as corporate earnings
• Helps drive traffic back to corporate website
• Few companies use Twitter for value-added discussion or to engage audience in two-way dialogue
Source: NIRI 2010 study
Primary Functions of Social Media
• Share – inform shareholders of services and company news
• Listen – observe, analyze, and understand what shareholders are discussing to improve services
• Engage – respond, collaborate, and create with shareholder to improve services.
Source: http: //www.howto.gov
What Are Your Goals?
• Provide additional channels for shareholder input and other potentially affected interests
• Increase the transparency of the Board’s decision-making process
• Facilitate a sense of community
• Reach new audiences with messages and information
Why Is Social Media Scary?
Someone could say something BAD about you!
Remember: Social media
is not an island.
Photo: lisbokt
Your website should be the hub of your online communications
Social Media Brings Users To You!
Integrate Social with Web
From this …
Integrate Social with Web
… to this.
Things To Consider
• Records retention
• Legal issues/constraints
• Transparency
• Terms of use
• Social media policies
Common Social Media Platforms Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube
What Is Facebook?
• Social networking service that allows users to connect to friends and businesses
• Share content, links, photos, and videos
• Comment on others’ activity
• Remember: Personal profiles are for people, not businesses. Develop a fan page instead.
Facebook Stats
• Over 1.1 billion active users
• Average user is connected to 40 pages
• Smartphone mobile users check Facebook an average of 13.8 times a day
• 751 million users access Facebook from a mobile device
Source: IDC; expandedramblings.com
What Is Facebook?
Facebook Benefits
• Low cost
• Engage with fans of your page
• Fans receive your updates and can upload comments, photos, and video
• When fans engage you on your page, their activity shows up in their friends’ streams
Facebook Benefits
• Can incorporate content from other social media platforms
– Ex: blog posts, updates from Twitter, pictures from Instagram, videos from YouTube, etc.
• Targeted advertising opportunities (cheap too!)
Facebook for Shareholder Comms
• Companies use Facebook to share the following types of information to shareholders: – Press releases
– Financials
– Annual reports
– Corporate videos
– Company/industry news
– Media coverage
– Event information
Source: Q4 Web Systems
What Is Twitter?
• Free social networking and micro-blogging site that allows users to send and read messages known as “tweets”
• Tweets can have no more than 140 characters & are delivered to the author’s subscribers, known as “followers”
Twitter Stats
• 500 million users
• 60% of active users use their mobile phone to tweet
• Average number of followers per Twitter user is 208
• Twitter engagement rates for brands are 17% higher on Saturdays and Sundays
Source: Linchpin SEO; expandedramblings.com
What Is Twitter?
Twitter Benefits
• Low cost
• Speed of feedback
• Potential reach of message
• Customer engagement/service
• Track what people are saying about you
• Create buzz around upcoming events
• Promote the city and other content you create
Twitter for Shareholder Comms
• Companies use Twitter to share the following types of information to shareholders:
– Industry/company news
– Photos and video broadcasts from conferences
– Linking to reports and trade information
– Live tweeting annual meetings
– Engaging followings by asking direct questions to elicit discussion
– Directing followers to other social media channels
Source: Q4 Web Systems
What Is YouTube?
• Allows people to discover, watch, and share originally-created videos
YouTube Stats
• More than 1 billion unique users visit YouTube every month
• 100 hours of video are uploaded every minute
• 6+ billion hours of video are watched each month
• YouTube reaches more adults ages 18-34 than any cable network
Source: http://www.youtube.com/t/press_statistics
Best Practices and Examples
Share Information
Ask Questions
Be Helpful
Show, Don’t Tell
Integrate
Link To Website
Plan Content
Planning for Effective Shareholder Communications
Shareholder Communications
=
Customer Communications
Traditional Communications
How do you currently communicate with your
shareholders?
Social Media and the SEC
Source: HootSuite
American companies can now post important business information onto social networks like Facebook and Twitter, as long as investors are made aware of which sites they’re going to be posting to. April 2, 2013
Launching a Social Media Communications Program
1. Planning
1. Planning
A. Determining marketing/communications goals
B. Creating a social media policy
C. Creating a social media terms of use
2. Assessing Resources
2. Assessing Resources
A. Is there staff available?
B. Does the staff have the resources they need?
C. Does the staff have the time to devote to making the program successful?
3. Developing Strategy
3. Developing Strategy
A. Who is the audience?
B. What are your key messages?
C. What is your tone of voice?
D. How often will you share it?
E. Monitoring and moderating
F. Content posting schedule
4. Listening
4. Listening
A. What channels are your shareholders using?
B. What topics are meaningful to them?
C. How can you address their needs and concerns?
5. Training
5. Training
A. Train staff on initial social media tools
B. Involve them in the planning process
C. Keep staff current on social media channels and trends
6. Creating Content
6. Creating Content
A. Develop and use a content calendar
B. Post frequently
C. Make content engaging and “likable”
D. Engage with fan base
7. Measuring
7. Measuring
A. Create metrics that are tied to your goals
B. Track metrics over time
8. Adjusting
8. Adjusting
A. Review metrics and look for trends
B. Take action to improve results
Can I Help?
Call Me!
Follow Me
Linkedin.com/in/sarahpage
Facebook.com/SarahTPageConsulting
@pagetx
Sarah Page, Principal Sarah T. Page Consulting, LLC
http://sarahtpage.com [email protected]
512.914.8873
Instagram.com/stpconsulting
Pinterest.com/sarahtpage
Thank You! Questions?
