Best-practice examples of Twitter and investor relations

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The number of publicly-listed companies using microblogging tool Twitter as a communication channel to investors and the financial community is on the rise, with more than 150 such companies announcing their financial results and tweeting highlights from their earnings calls on Twitter, according to IR Web Report.

[…] While it’s still early in the evolution of investor relations communications on the social web, it’s clear that Twitter is going to be a major channel. Of course, most companies are still learning what works, taking cautious steps. They’re issuing a token tweet, often generated automatically from their website news release feeds. Others, however, have clearly committed themselves to using Twitter to keep investors – and other weird sorts who find earnings interesting – in the loop. They are planning their sessions, carefully scheduling and compiling their tweets, using hashtags and StockTwits tickers, and even actively engaging with their followers.

Twitter is an ideal tool for this type of communication that complements other channels. It enables the tweeter to broadcast simple messages to those who have opted to receive that tweeter’s content, such as the examples shown above from consumer products giant Procter & Gamble, healthcare company Roche, glassmaker Corning and chemical company BASF.

In regulated environments under which many publicly-listed companies operate, great care has to be taken that rules aren’t broken in how, what and when you communicate with the financial community, whether via Twitter or any other means.

The examples IR Web Report’s Dominic Jones highlights of ten companies in different industries who actively use Twitter to tweet to investors, the media and anyone else interested in what those companies have to say illustrate what you can do successfully in such circumstances, and serve as terrific best practice for others to emulate.

The ten companies that Jones examines (with links to their Twitter handles) are:

Some will be familiar names, others may not be. No matter: if they can use Twitter effectively, imagine what you can do.

Related: In March 2010, Darrell Heaps, founder and CEO of Q4 Web Systems in Toronto, Canada, posted a concise deck on Slideshare highlighting five companies using Twitter as part of their investor outreach and engagement.

The deck – embedded below – also includes an outline of social media best practice in investor relations.

Twitter And Investor Relations Examples

View more documents from Darrell Heaps.

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Neville Hobson

Social Strategist, Communicator, Writer, and Podcaster with a curiosity for tech and how people use it. Believer in an Internet for everyone. Early adopter (and leaver) and experimenter with social media. Occasional test pilot of shiny new objects. Avid tea drinker.

  72. Allan Schoenberg

    I think we are just at the beginning of the prospects for combining Twitter and IR. This is a great post and Dominic has been a leader in looking at this part of social media. I would also suggest people start to seriously look at StockTwits.com — particularly if they work for a public company or have clients that are publicly traded (US only). The site is starting to seriously target CFOs and IR officers and their partnerships with Bloomberg, MarketWatch and CNN Money help broaden their exposure to investors. We’re a partner with StockTwits and have been leveraging their work and innovation at the exchange for more than a year. If they start to expand outside of the US their offering will continue to make financial executives seriously look at Twitter as part of their communication strategy.
    Allan

    @allanschoenberg
    @CMEGroup

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