Social Media For Investor Relations: Is It Worth Investing Time In?
Is your IR communication strategy lacking in engagement? In today’s ever-digital world, engagement is key to building strong investor relationships. Learn from Julia Stoetzel in this insightful Juniversity module as she discusses its potential in boosting your IR communication (and what you should watch out for.)
Picture this:
A LinkedIn post that sparks a lively discussion among investors.
A Tweet about your firm’s findings in the market that goes viral.
An Instagram story that offers a sneak peek into your company's latest initiative.
This is the new face of Investor Relations (IR), a landscape where social media platforms are not just additional channels, but powerful tools shaping the way companies and investors interact.
This shift is more than just a change in communication mediums—it's a fundamental transformation in the dynamics of investor relations. It's about fostering real-time dialogue, expanding reach, and building stronger, more transparent relationships with stakeholders.
With the investment landscape becoming increasingly-digital, it’s no surprise that social media is finding its footing in the priority lists of Investor Relations professionals. And as firm-investor relations grow less uptight in an era where people are more reliant on the web to carry out different tasks in their daily lives, doing something like posting a market recap in the form of an Instagram reel is no longer faux pas.
But is using social media as an IR professional as simple as writing a post and uploading it? Well, there’s no surprise here:
In an industry like Investor Relations where practitioners and firms are bound by cutthroat guidelines and strict regulation, there is a sense of complexity and heightened due diligence professionals need to uphold when using digital marketing.
Julia Stoetzel, founder and CEO of Junicorn Consulting, delves into this topic in Module 05 of Juniversity's eLearning course, designed to equip IR professionals with next-gen strategies. In this lecture, she explores the benefits, challenges, and potential of social media in the realm of investor relations.
Here are some of the most notable takeaways from this insight-packed module:
1. Social media's expansive reach across various platforms and account types makes it a versatile, cost-effective tool for investor relations that will become a necessity for years to come. And if you’re looking to broaden the scope and impact of your IR communications in the long run for better results and relevance in future generations of investors, then it’s a key tool you can’t ignore—as Julia explains:
“[By using social media, you have a] cost effective way to reach people. I mean, social media in general, we talked about this in the costs and Efforts section of module one of section one is that it's a very cost effective way, right? You don't really need to buy any equipment, you don't really need to buy access to certain tools. Social media is usually free because you are the product essentially, but you can reach your investors directly, communicate with them, you don't need to travel anywhere, you can just reach them by putting out content on your own channels and the only thing that costs you is really your time.”
With the help of social media, you can get more mileage out of your IR communication efforts and ensure that you serve a wider audience of both current and potential investors.
2. One of the biggest strengths of using social media for IR communication is the analytics that you have access to when carrying out campaigns, which facilitates more efficient and effective investor relations. Compared to traditional communications strategies, a more social media-forward communication approach allows you to determine who you’re reaching out to in an effort to ensure that your messages get to whoever needs to hear and read them.
Here’s what Julia had to say about it in this Juniversity module:
“[With social media in your IR communications,] you have analytics available, which is something that is really amazing and again something that I fail to see with other tools that we're using in investor relations such as press releases, right? You cannot see where people are from, how old they are, where they live, what they earn, what other content they look at. So you do have a function on social media specifically to target certain investors or target certain audiences and analyze and on the back of the analyzers do like tweaks in your strategy on how to reach them next time. Even better.”
Once you’ve bolstered your IR communications strategy with social media, you’ll have a much easier time targeting the right audience and gauging how you should be reaching out!
3. A strong social media presence can enhance a company's reputation—particularly with younger investors—because it demonstrates transparency and openness. And this works especially well for firms and IR professionals who want to better prepare their companies and causes for a transition into the future of the investment landscape—as Julia mentions:
“Next [benefit of social media for IR professionals] would be also transparency and in general your willingness to communicate. I think this is also an important one if you're present online. It also shows that you are willing to communicate very transparently and in the eyes of especially the next generation of investors, the younger investors, when you're present on social media it actually shows that you are open towards those channels and it can build trust and credibility with your stakeholders.”
Remember: being online isn’t just a way to reach more investors, it’s also a powerful and effective way to show them that you have no hidden agendas and are determined to maintain transparency.
4. When going online, IR professionals and companies need to manage their social media presence carefully to mitigate potential reputational damage. Unfortunately, most firms and professionals tend to overlook the need for meticulous moderation and find themselves in delicate positions where they’re facing backlash for careless posts or a lack of action on investor feedback.
Julia bears a warning on careless management and shines light on a pitfall of social media-forward IR communication strategies, saying:
“[One of the main pitfalls of using social media for IR work is the] reputational risk that you have, I mean putting something out there. Of course you can get a negative reaction if this is something that your investors don't really like. Maybe they lost some money on buying your stock and they are using social media as an outlet to get rid of their frustration. So that's obviously annoying and unnecessary maybe in your eyes, but also it's good and valid feedback to take in for your future work, right? So it's something that you need to know how to manage, how to manage these social media outlets that are more of a negative connotation.”
Before you post, comment, or reply, make sure that you’re treading as carefully as possible so as to ensure that you don’t invoke public backlash or create reason for investor dissatisfaction and distrust.
5. Companies using social media for their IR communications must ensure that whatever they post online is compliant with relevant regulations to avoid legal issues. And this is an especially point to consider as legal guidelines and financial regulators are especially focused on the online activities of firms and consider omissions on the internet as basis for scrutiny—as Julia advises:
“[Another pitfall of using social media for IR work is that there’s a] compliance risk. So, as we obviously have a lot of regulatory requirements and guidelines around the communication of investor relevant aspects, specifically inside information and ad hoc notifications, do comply with your legal department to make sure that there's nothing going out there in any department, whether that's for the marketing department or investor relation department that goes out that is not supposed to go out.”
When you use social media for your IR communications, ensure to double, triple—and even quadruple—check if what you’re about to upload or do online abides by current and future regulations!
Wrap-Up
Social media presents both opportunities and challenges in the world of investor relations.
The benefits of increased reach, real-time communication, cost-effectiveness, and enhanced engagement can significantly enhance a company's IR strategy. However, companies must also be mindful of the potential pitfalls and ensure they have robust strategies in place to manage these risks.
By understanding both the benefits and pitfalls of social media usage in IR, companies can better leverage these platforms to enhance their investor relations strategies, build stronger relationships with investors…
And, ultimately, achieve their business objectives.
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