A few weeks back the SEC (The Securities and Exchange Commission) ruled that public companies were now free to release their important information though social media channels. Since this ruling there has been a debate in the investment community as to what this means for the future of the industry. Some welcome the use of social media while others are continuing to lobby that the way things were worked just fine.

Because of this debate, we took to the street, Wall Street, to ask the people that this ruling will affect what they thought. We surveyed stock brokers, financial and market analysts, financial advisors, individual traders and fund managers, and made their results into the infographic below.

What we learned by doing this was that Wall Street, and investor relations in general, is changing. As the younger generation that embraces technology is coming into power in the workplace, we found that they are also the new workforce that embraces social media. And for more than just keeping in touch with friends.

We found that the investment crowd under 40 support the SEC’s decision to allow the distribution of information through social media. In fact, 60% of those surveyed and were under 40 said that they regularly consult social channels to research investments. But it’s not just the under 40 crowd. 40% of all survey respondents said that they were using social media to find information.

We also found that 49% of our responders companies blocked social media from the workplace, making it hard for them to use it as a source while at work. However, 48% of those people said that they had witnessed colleagues using personal devices, like a smartphone or tablet, to consult social media for investment information anyways.

It appears that the younger generation of investors is rewriting how business is done, and social seems to be part of it.

What do you think?

It’s an exciting day for all of us at Marketwired. Chief operating officer Jim Delaney has been promoted to CEO, and Michael Nowlan, who has served as CEO for the past 14 years, will remain on the Board of Directors.

Over the past year, Michael worked closely with the Board to ensure a smooth transition. In fact, when Jim was named chief operating officer, he filled a newly created role at Marketwired – one that was established in anticipation of this day. Over the past nine months, Jim and Michael have worked closely together to plan for an orderly, evolutionary change in leadership.

In the coming days, Jim will take to the blog to share more about his priorities with you. In the meantime, we’d invite you to read the release distributed earlier today. You can also join us on Twitter to wish Jim and Michael well in their new roles.

By Shonali Burke

Do you know what “neuroplasticity” is? It’s essentially the brain’s ability to “rewire” itself by forming new neural connections when it needs to. Or, in other words, it’s what happens when the neurons (nerve cells) in the brain start to find new ways to connect with and “talk to” each other, when the old pathways are no longer there (for example, because of injury, or disease).

If you read up on it (for example, via Wikipedia, the God of All Thesauri) you’ll learn that the concept of neuroplasticity is relatively new; up until the late 20^th century it was believed that after about early childhood, the structure of the brain didn’t change. That, basically, we were stuck with what we had as kids. Isn’t that a ghastly thought?!

One of the things I find most fascinating about the practice of PR in the digital age is how we are rewiring the discipline, our practice of it and some of the earlier assumptions that went unchallenged for a long time, much in the way the brain rewires itself when it has to. Because it knows the “old” way of life has disappeared, and in order to successfully function, it has to adapt to a new world.

However, in rewiring our discipline, I think sometimes we get a little too close to throwing out tried and true principles, simply because they’ve been around for a while. That’s a big mistake. Certainly, the tools and platforms we use on a daily basis are changing quickly. And, in fact, there is a fundamental shift in how we should be approaching building and maintaining relationships with our audiences. But one of the constants in creating and implementing effective PR programs, even in the 21^st century, is what the basis is for those programs in the first place.

And that is research.

With the advent of social media and digital platforms, I’ve seen far too many practitioners—and, frankly, companies too, some of them quite large ones—get extremely excited over the SNTs (shiny new toys). So much so, that they start to dream up public relations programs using X platform, or Y tool… forgetting that a good program needs to be grounded in research. That is the only way we can build solid programs that can grow.

One of the great advantages of living and working in the digital age is that now it is so much easier to conduct research, thanks to a plethora of digital tools. Now, I’m absolutely not saying traditional research methodologies should be thrown out, like the proverbial baby with the bathwater. But we have more ways to conduct research than ever before. Many of them are free, or low-cost… so why not take advantage of them? However, once again, how we use digital tools and channels for research should be determined by what exactly we are researching for. Here are just some ways (and reasons) to do this:

• Researching your content strategy: for many companies, a blog is a large part of that strategy. But you want to publish blog posts that resonate with your customers and prospects, right? So why not ask them what they want to hear about? If nothing else, they will appreciate the fact that you asked them… and that, in and of itself, goes a long way in building a relationship.

How to do this: you can do this on your Facebook Page (the Arment Dietrich “Facebook Question of the Week” feature is a great example), on Twitter, on Google+… anywhere you have built up a community that is engaged enough to reply to you. Use that intelligence to populate your posts. Go a step further by incorporating the authors of the responses into your posts (with their permission, if the conversation took place on a private forum). They’ll be thrilled, they’ll help you share and generate conversation around it, and are likely to become your staunchest community supporters.

• Keyword research: this continues to be important for search engine optimization (SEO) when you’re building your website or blog—that’s a given. But it’s also a great way to learn what other, relevant bloggers are writing about. In other words, smart keyword research is at the core of your listening program.

How to do this: for starters, Marketwired has some excellent tools to help you with your listening program. You can also set up a regular email or RSS alert for the relevant keywords (try Talkwalker, it’s great), and that comes to your inbox on a regular basis (I was also able to tweak Talkwalker so that the results are fed to Feedly, which is my preferred alternative to Google Reader now that the latter is being sunset). This is now a triple threat: you a) stay abreast of what is being published; b) put your own, unique stamp on the subject when you write your posts; and c) build relationships with said other bloggers by commenting on their posts… all of which form a three-pronged approach to building thought leadership in the digital space.

• Focus groups: when you launch a new product or service, you want to make sure it will be well received by the target market, right? And the best way of estimating the response once you actually get to market is to try and approximate that market ahead of time.

How to do this: ask a few people whose opinions you respect (and who are representative of your target audience) if they would be willing to act as a beta testing group for you. Create a private, invitation-only forum in a social space they are comfortable in, e.g. a Facebook Group or a Google+ community, and make that where you show them what you’re working on, and secure their feedback. I actually recently went through this process myself as I was getting a makeover for the online home of my social PR micro agency, and it made a huge difference to the final outcome.

There are several other tools you can use, from Twtpoll, to online surveys (I imagine you’re familiar with Survey Monkey and Zoomerang, but there are several others; Qualtrics is a platform I like very much), to everything in between.

The key is to use the right tool for the right kind of research. So what might work really well for editorial calendar, or a blog post, research, might have disastrous results if used to generate “data” about how Americans feel about apple pie (for example). When in doubt, commission a “real” researcher or research firm to help you out; but please don’t avoid the initial, research phase of your PR planning.

That’s one type of rewiring we’ll be better off without.

Shonali Burke is president and CEO of a micro PR agency that successfully helps businesses take their communications from corporate codswallop to community cool. She founded and curates the popular #measurePR Twitter chat, is an adjunct faculty member at The Johns Hopkins University’s M.A./Communication program, and blogs at Waxing UnLyrical.

You’ve already heard a lot this week about the evolution of our company. Our CEO, Michael Nowlan, wrote about what this change means and our COO, Jim Delaney, wrote about how these changes reflect a changing landscape for our customers and how we’re here to help you. Well, today we thought instead of telling you more, we’d actually show you.

Below we put together an infographic that shows how certain industries and business functions have changed over the years. Things like PR, marketing, customer service and reputation management have changed significantly just in the past 10 years alone. In order to help you do these things better, we as a company had to evolve as well to grow with you.

Take a look at the infographic to see how the industry used to operate (Then) and how our Marketwired suite of products, powered by Sysomos, can help you do your job better today and make smarter decisions for the future (Now).

We’ve evolved from a wire company to a wired company and we want to help you do the same.

Today’s post is courtesy of our COO Jim Delaney

For me, one of the highlights of this time of year is college basketball’s March Madness. This year’s tournament has been particularly exciting because of its mix of traditional powerhouses – like Duke and Michigan – with upstart programs, like fan-favorites Florida Gulf Coast University, Virginia Commonwealth and Wichita State. Every year, I find myself drawn to see which up-and-comers will reshape the basketball landscape and which powerhouses will continue their domination.

Business experiences similar ebbs and flows. We have reliable, mega-brands brands that we can count on to consistently deliver top-notch products and services, just as we have startups seeking to disrupt “the way its always been done.”

What happens when brands embrace the entrepreneurial spirit and forward-thinking ideas found in startups and combine that with the acumen, resources and experience embedded in long-standing, successful companies?

This is the opportunity for today’s brands – big and small, established and emerging.

Our industry talks a lot about social business and the need to incorporate social technology throughout the enterprise. Well, we’re practicing what we preach. Over the past few years, we’ve been quietly embracing social technology to become an “open business.” In the process, we’ve transformed how we work, how our clients reach their customers and how we help them do it.

We’ve evolved from a wire service to a wired company. This week, we debuted a new brand. More than just a new name and fresh logo, this evolution reflects our commitment to blending old and new. Incorporating best practices with fresh practices. Combining tried-and-true reliability with nimble flexibility.  It’s about partnering with our clients to ensure they are “wired, plugged in, and connected” to the voice of their customers.   By harnessing the customer’s power of influence, our clients will fundamentally rethink how they design, develop, market, sell and service their products for their customers.

Today, Marketwired is an innovative, social communications company offering best-in-class news distribution and reporting and state-of-the-art social media monitoring and analytics. Need a game plan to stay ahead of the curve? We’ve got you covered.

Your customers are telling you – directly and indirectly – what they want and expect. Powered by Sysomos, the Marketwired product suite provides decision makers like you with real-time data, actionable insights and the confidence to make informed decisions. Analyze online conversations and data points to create and build influence. That’s what we call turning influence into opportunity.

Or, in the spirit of March Madness, it’s a slam dunk.

Community managers are becoming a big part of most brands’ communication and marketing teams. Over the years we’ve seen this role expand from just a few companies to almost any company that has an online presence. Not that online dealings are the only thing a community manager is charged with, but in today’s online economy, the online aspect does play a huge role.

But don’t let me tell you what a community manager should or shouldn’t be (even though I’ve been doing it for a few years myself). We actually want to know your thoughts on being a community manager.

Today we’re happy to tell you that we’ve teamed up with TheCommunityManager.com in preparation for Community Manager Appreciation Day (which is coming up on January 28th). On Community Manager Appreciation Day (#CMAD) we want to release an ebook on thoughts, tips and advice about being a community manager and we want your help to populate it.

Below is a link to a survey that we’re asking community managers to fill out so we can highlight you and your thoughts on being a great community manager. It’s not long, only about 7 questions, and would greatly help us, TheCommunityManager.com and your fellow community of community managers. So, if you’re a community manager, please take a few mins to fill out the survey.

Even if you’re not a community manager but you know one (maybe a friend, a colleague, a person behind a brand’s Twitter profile that you love talking to) please pass this along to them.

CLICK HERE TO FILL OUT

THE COMMUNITY MANAGEMENT SURVEY

Thank you in advance and we’re really looking forward to seeing your responses!

We’ll also be sure to alert you when we release the ebook on Community Manager Appreciation Day.

The biggest amateur sporting event in the world is here! We can’t really called it by name thanks to the branding rules set out by the International Olympic Committee but you know what we’re talking about. We wanted to participate in our small way so the marketing team at Marketwire built this really cool dashboard so you can keep track of the buzz surrounding the Games.

We’re not keeping track of medals, what we’re doing is using Marketwire’s social media monitoring platforms, MAP and Heartbeat, to find out the true stories behind the games – what’s happening, what are the hot topics, who’s saying what? Where is it being said? What country is chatting the most?  That means the data is aggregated from global social media discussions.

We’re going to get really granular in the next two weeks. Feel free to suggest topics and use the information.

Related links:

Brilliant sporting event but safety still top of mind in London

The Social Olympics Ramp Up

Gus Fosarolli, Marketwire Ambassador. (Photo courtesy of Gus)

Marketwire recently announced its new Internal Brand Ambassador, Gus Fosarolli. Gus has been with Marketwire for 12 years, starting in the Rapidcast division and moving to the Editorial department.

As Ambassador, Gus will be the man to bring you the behind-the-scenes activities of Marketwire. He’ll introduce you to the people behind Marketwire  but before he can do that, we have to introduce him. We asked Gus a few questions about whether he had to complete a quest before he got his new role. Here’s Gus in his own words:  (more…)

This new look and brand promise is the first step of our next journey as a company- we refer to this as our “Brand New Day” at Marketwire. Our vision is to inspire and empower the world’s communicators to achieve greatness. We are not just about issuing press releases for our clients nor are we just about social media monitoring and analysis software. We are about powerfully simple communication solutions. We are about technology and great design. We are about our customer service. We are about living up to all that our great brand promises for our clients.

To do this we are launching our new Marketwire Resonate platform in the next few weeks.  Our platform will align the business intelligence extracted from the social web with the ability for our audiences to connect with all their audiences.

At Marketwire we have worked hard over the past 29 years to build a reputation for our company, to stand for all the good things we want our clients, prospects, partners and employees to think of when they hear the name “Marketwire.”   They know that Marketwire is recognized for the innovative offerings and tremendous client service that we have delivered over the years, but as with all markets, technology is changing how we communicate. The world of social media is transforming the way people access, consume and interact with information and each other.

So today we are introducing our new brand identity. This new identity represents a refreshing of our brand.  We want to ensure our brand is identified with social media communications, and speaks to a marketing communications audience as well as our traditional public relations and investor relations customers.   Our service is Beyond Words in every respect and we will be working to develop our brand presence that matches our movement beyond traditional communications, beyond just social media communications and is actually recognized as the leading authority in bridging these two worlds of communication.

We would like you to join us on this journey.

Tech toys are big business and it seems that the coolest, fastest, smallest, smartest, most multifunctional or just plain “gotta have it” products are particularly popular around the holiday season.  But just because something is cool doesn’t mean it can’t also be useful, and some of the best digital tools are those that are equal parts play and productivity (smartphones, anyone?).  With this week’s Pulse, we asked ourselves one simple question:  What fun and functional gadgets would make great gifts for the busy MarCom or PR professional in your life?  We searched the e-shelves and found ten, any of which are bound to please.

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As the month of November comes to close we bid a fond “adieu” to all the wild moustaches that show themselves but once a year. That’s right, by the time this post is up MOvember will officially be over (but I’m sure you can still donate). For those not in the know, all the creepy moustaches you’ve seen over the past month have been part of a worldwide charity effort to raise money for prostate cancer research, while having a little fun.  Well, we started off the month with a MOvember blog post, so I thought it only fair to close it the same way.

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Let’s face it.  In the business world, despite every terrific tweet, luminous LinkedIn recommendation and fantastic Facebook post, sometimes a little quality time and face-to-face action is just what it takes to really connect with your clients and get the job done.  With this week’s Pulse, we step away from our usual online and social media focus in order to highlight offline hot spots — specifically, some of the best-recommended restaurants from around the world for hosting agency clients.   We know that online presence and audience engagement across the social sphere are critical for public relations and marketing professionals today, but we also recognize that offline “real life” is where some really great stuff happens. After all, contracts aren’t signed on Twitter, and most new business pitches are still sealed with a handshake and a smile.  Here’s a list of ten sit-down social hot spots.

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What is the “X-factor” for excellence in corporate reputation? Is it simply how a brand is perceived by the public? Is it company culture? What about charitable activities, community engagement, corporate leadership and work-life balance? It’s all of these things, but we also believe corporate reputation starts closer to home, with employee brand ambassadors who best represent the company online and offline, at work and at home, and via social or traditional media. In our list of ten companies with stellar reputations, you’ll find some unsung heroes—and one guaranteed surprise—in this refreshing collection of small and large companies who value and foster brand ambassadorship.

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With its highly engaging environment and 800 million-plus user base, Facebook represents unlimited opportunity for companies looking to establish brand presence and develop long-standing relationships with customers and fans.  Many public relations and marketing professionals have found success in building communities around their brands (and their clients’ brands) and adapted their communication strategies to be more “Facebook-friendly.”  In this week’s Pulse, see if you can glean some tips from these world PR agency leaders who also lead in connecting, contributing and communicating online. We think you’ll find plenty to learn from here, and even more to “like.”

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When it comes to work, money means a lot – but it doesn’t mean everything. That’s why, in our quest to find the leading “money meccas” for public relations, we chose our top ten cities based not only on highest salaries, but also on the concentration of available jobs and quality of (city) life. The resulting list reveals PR-rich cities, where an exciting variety of opportunities is available to upwardly mobile communications professionals. You’ll discover what U.S. cities have a three-fold greater availability of PR jobs compared to the national average, and which cities have the highest concentration of “PR specialist” jobs. You’ll even learn more about the “2011 Eastern European Consultancy of the Year,” and the top “2011 PR Agency in Europe.” Grab your passport and work permit, and take a look at the 10 best cities for top-paying PR jobs.

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There are a lot of PR blogs and bloggers out there – and that’s a good thing.  From Richard Edelman to Brian Solis, many are RSS and TweetDeck mainstays, and whether you follow industry giants or niche writers, some of the most insightful and foreward-thinking blogs about communication, social media and audience engagement are authored by those in the PR space.    With “The New Breed,” we set out find ten PR blogs we could recommend to you that offered a unique mix of content and personality, and gave you some new ideas and fresh thinking when it comes to public relations. 

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The term “emerging market” is vague enough that it could have a variety of meanings. Are we talking business verticals or Whole Foods’ newest rival? Actually, neither. An emerging market is any nation that is experiencing rapid growth, usually with regards to society and business, while undergoing political reforms. Or, so says Wikipedia. For example, China and India are emerging markets. (more…)

As 2010 draws to a close and we look to the promise of 2011, I’d like to reflect on “the year that was” to share some highlights of where we’ve been, and insights into where we are headed. (more…)

It was made abundantly clear in discussions at the fifth annual IR Magazine Canada Think Tank, held October 1 in Toronto, that social networks, Web 2.0, and our real-time, mobile nature of communicating with each another have radically changed the practice of investor relations.   A growing percentage of the Canadian financial community is embracing social media and reaping its rewards.  They are tapping into channels like Facebook and Twitter to listen to and engage stakeholders, employees and analysts, and they are utilizing digital channels like YouTube, SlideShare, and podcasts to expand the reach of corporate messages and materials. (more…)

Together with PRSA, Marketwire hosted “The Shift of Advertising and the Creative Renaissance: Leverage Digital Trends to Reach Your Audiences” on Tuesday, September 29, 2009. The hour-long webinar was presented by Rebecca Lieb, vice president of North American operations for eConsultancy and former journalist. (more…)