Investor Relations and Twitter

March 24

2010 The following document is a summary of a Q4 Whitepaper: “The Current State of Social Media and Investor Relations”. You can download the full whitepaper at http://q4websystems.com/Whitepaper

Examples and Best Practices

Q4 Whitepaper: The Current State of Social Media and Investor Relations - March 2010 2

Investor Relations & Twitter

Contents INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................................. 3

TWITTER .................................................................................................................................................... 3

EXAMPLES ............................................................................................................................................. 3

TWITTER QUESTIONS & ANSWERS ....................................................................................................... 6

SOCIAL MEDIA BEST PRACTICES .................................................................................................................... 7

ABOUT Q4 WEBSYSTEMS .............................................................................................................................. 8

Please Note: The following whitepaper is a summary of a Q4 Whitepaper: “The Current State of Social

Media and Investor Relations”. You can download the full whitepaper at

http://q4websystems.com/Whitepaper/

Q4 Whitepaper: The Current State of Social Media and Investor Relations - March 2010 3

INTRODUCTION

On our most recent webinar “The Current State of Social Media & Investor Relations”, Darrell Heaps, Co-

Founder and CEO of Q4 took a large audience of IR professionals on a guided tour of which social

networks are being adopted by companies for IR and how these companies are specifically using their

channel of choice to broaden their reach to potential investors and enhance shareholder value. You can

view the entire webinar replay here: http://bit.ly/9XT9SY.

The webinar was filled with over 50 examples and case studies. This whitepaper provides a summary of

how these companies are using Twitter for IR and related questions and answers from the webinar.

TWITTER

More and more public companies are

adopting Twitter for investor relations – this

was evidenced in the research we

conducted last year which found that of 350

companies, 121 or 35% were using it for IR-

related purposes. The majority are using

the channel primarily for sharing previously

disclosed information such as news and

upcoming events. In general, it seems to be

one of the first social networks companies

try out as it has a very low barrier to entry.

EXAMPLES

1. GarminStock – Garmin uses a specific Twitter account for IR as their bio states “Investor

Relations news for Garmin Ltd. (NASDAQ: GRMN), the global leader in satellite navigation”.

They have a good mix of product/financial tweets and include hastags and stock symbols which

all help to increase their discoverability. Of interest, they handle their IR website in a unique

way; it is a hybrid of a blog and typical IR website: They use trackbacks for the website, but

don’t enable comments.

Q4 Whitepaper: The Current State of Social Media and Investor Relations - March 2010 4

2. China Wind Power – China Wind Power is doing some interesting things with social media. For

example, they are using socialurl http://socialurl.com/ChinaWindPowerwhich makes it easy for

people to find all the different social channels they are using. China Wind Power is also the first

company (we are aware of) using Posterous for their investor relations blog. Their Twitter and

Facebook pages are automatically updated with content from Posterous, but they also share other

content on these channels.

http://twitter.com/ChinaWindPower

3. BMC Software – BMC Software is part of a small group that live tweets their earnings. For

example, they recently reported their Q3’10 results and while they did not use hashtags, they

kept the commentary to a series of tweets that provided salient information about key metrics

such as number of license bookings, operating income and revenue:

http://twitter.com/bmcsoftware

Q4 Whitepaper: The Current State of Social Media and Investor Relations - March 2010 5

4. Brocade – Brocade used Twitter to solicit questions for their CEO in advance of their upcoming

quarterly call:

http://twitter.com/BRCDcomm

We are starting to see more companies particularly smaller ones proactively reach out and

engage their followers this way.

5. Westport – Westport is a good example of providing ongoing context for their business as they

have a balanced mix of company news, events and presentations. They also use Twitter as an

extension of their website strategy to share industry news and retweet content that has already

been shared. They even favourited a YouTube video which again provides greater context to

Westport’s business:

http://twitter.com/WestportWPRT

Q4 Whitepaper: The Current State of Social Media and Investor Relations - March 2010 6

TWITTER QUESTIONS & ANSWERS

Q1. What kinds of disclaimers are necessary or recommended for Twitter? What about tweeting

disclaimers before live tweeting calls?

A1. There is no defined rule as to when you need IR disclaimers on Twitter. It is based on company

policies and how you are instructed by in-house legal. Ebay was one of the first to live-tweet and have

adopted standard disclaimers they tweet beforehand: Of interest, Walmart is a good example of a

company with Twitter External Discussion Guidelines: http://walmartstores.com/9179.aspx.

Q2: What is the view of using Twitter for multiple communications i.e. IR, marketing, product support.

Where do you draw the line and when do you provide multiple accounts - i.e. like Dell?

A2: The response you get will indicate to you when it’s time to move to a distinct account. For example,

if you are using Twitter for IR and are fielding a lot of questions regarding products (i.e. kudos and

support-related), then you should have a separate product account.

Q3: How do I attract more followers on Twitter?

A3: Focus on providing a consistent stream of quality content. You should also let people know

where/how to follow you. You can put social channels on your corporate/IR website homepage, list

them on your press releases and send out an email alert like Westport: http://www.q4blog.com/2009/12/02/case-study-westport-innovations-shares-tips-wins-pitfalls-of-using-

social-networks/#more-1294. You should also take the time to identify analysts/investors/bloggers in

your space and follow them, which (assuming they are interested in your company) will then follow you

back.

Q4: Do you have any examples of IR engagement/discussions on Twitter?

A4: In our research, we have not come across a lot of companies who are using Twitter for IR actively

engaging with investors on the channel. However, we have seen some interesting things in which

people have fielded an IR-specific question and have directed them to the IR department.

Q4 Whitepaper: The Current State of Social Media and Investor Relations - March 2010 7

SOCIAL MEDIA BEST PRACTICES

As most in the IR profession will agree, companies should adopt the social networks that are being used

by their key audiences. Of the examples we have provided, the channels specifically chosen are being

integrated well into their IR strategy, with all companies consistently populating with key information to

provide greater context about the company and the industry they are in.

Some trends emerged among all the channels which lead us to outline the following BEST PRACTICES of

using social networks for IR:

1. The objective of social media for IR is about building awareness for your company, industry and

your position on key topics. If you are a small company looking to effect change and grow,

social media is one of the most effective tools to help increase awareness. Similarly, if you are a

larger company looking to influence perceptions of your brand, position or operations, social

media is the most powerful way to do that.

2. Companies that integrate efforts across different social channels and their website are seeing

the most success – they don’t operate in a silo. For example, if you have a Twitter account then

ensure you are populating it with content. Integrate all the channels you are using and make it

known to your investors – this gives them a chance to choose what channel they want to use to

access information and engage with your company.

3. Engagement is still early on, but for small caps and retail audiences taking part in social

networks is a great way to build and maintain interest.

4. Blogs, Twitter and Facebook are being used to provide a broader context to the company

strategy and the industry they are in.

5. Video use is growing dramatically, get your own video online and share other relevant video

through your channels. We are seeing it being used more and in lots of innovative ways across

the market and from an investor perspective.

Social media success takes work and things don’t happen overnight. Once you have chosen to move

ahead and use social networks as part your broader communications strategy, you must be committed

to investing the time and effort and consistently be a presence on these channels.

Q4 Whitepaper: The Current State of Social Media and Investor Relations - March 2010 8

ABOUT Q4 WEBSYSTEMS

Q4 Web Systems (Q4) manages corporate and investor relations websites. Our customized web content

management system gives investor relations professionals the tools, flexibility and control to use their

websites strategically and be competitive in today’s capital markets. The Q4 Web platform works with

any website and includes best practice IR modules, Social Media integration, XBRL and numerous

features to help investors easily find information, subscribe to updates and share it through social

networks. Automated web records and a verifiable audit trail mitigate risk and ensure high quality

disclosure. Our products include Newsrooms, IR websites, Corporate Websites and Feeds & Quotes.

Using Q4 reduces risk and gives IROs the ability to build better relationships with investors and

stakeholders. To learn more please visit www.q4websystems.com or Q4’s blog at www.q4blog.com.

For more information please contact:

Toll Free: 1-877-626-7829

sales@q4websystems.com