Twitter And Investor Relations Examples

Investor March 24 Relations and Twitter 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 Examples and whitepaper at http://q4websystems.com/Whitepaper Best Practices

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 2

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 3

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 4

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 5

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 6

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 7

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

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Twitter And Investor Relations Examples

by Darrell Heaps on Mar 31, 2010

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