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?

By Darin Wolter, EVP of Global Sales for Marketwired

By now, you have probably either read or heard about the SEC’s latest ruling regarding social media and how companies can disclose material information, such as earnings or market moving information via social channels. In an evolving age of social communication, this is an important step and a natural one. While the ruling came as big news to many, those of us at Marketwired were happy to learn the SEC is embracing options that make it easier for companies to share information with their stakeholders in ways that work for them.

We recognize that not every company is going to immediately turn to Facebook and Twitter to post their acquisitions and earnings, but if you are an IRO, Investor Relations Professional, you likely have questions, which is good, now is the time to begin planning. Here are a few guidelines we recommend following:

• All Smart Social Strategy starts with listening. Start monitoring social media if you aren’t doing so already. Watch for your company name and keywords related to your company and industry. Tune into what employees and executives are saying. Also tune into what your investors are reading on social channels (because they are paying attention.)_ It is likely your PR or Marketing Department is already listening, meet with them to discuss what information you need and how to monitor for IR’s interests.
• Join the conversation, begin to better understand what social disclosure strategy is best for your company and gain comfort with the process. You can start simple, by tweeting a link to your earnings press release.  The immediate benefit is to create a reputation, crisis and general risk management channel that is trusted by the organization’s top investors and analysts.
• Review your company’s social media policy. Make sure it covers disclosure issues and what to do if a mistake is made. Make it a point to educate executives and share updates.
• Register an Investor Relations (IR) Twitter handle and dedicate a portion of your Facebook page to IR. Your social channels should reflect your website and have a dedicated IR section.
  • The IR section of the newsroom has to reflect that a company uses its social handles to disseminate information.
  • Establish these social sources as credible, corporate social channels. This will decrease confusion if there are others.
  • Publish handles everywhere: on your website, on news releases, etc.
  • Use these handles to tweet links to releases and blogs.

• Educate investors on which social channels they can leverage and how to do so, then publish this information on your IR website. A thorough Q&A will help your analyst and financial community, as well as the general public, better understand the disclosure process.
• Spend time with top investors, prospects and analysts to understand their views on social channels as acceptable and useful forms of disclosure.
• Develop a solid social media crisis plan that addresses a range of “what if?” scenarios. It is critical to ensure there is a crisis plan in place for the company. From people to procedures, the planning should be proactive.

Ultimately, the market sets what qualifies as good communication and transparency for a publicly traded company. Companies have many options, which gives them the ability to develop a communication plan that works best for their stakeholders and investors. IRO pros should be motivated by the social demand of their key audiences, and inspired to embrace options that support effective, efficient communication. This isn’t a revolution; it’s an evolution.

Your investors are active on social channels, which means there is an increasing expectation that all of your company is represented in the social space as well. This expectation isn’t limited to IR pros, it extends to engagement, marketing, sales and customer service, too. Your investors want to see that you are accessible, engaged and a part of the conversation.

What is your company doing to prepare for distributing news over social channels? How are you complementing your existing disclosure practices? What are your next steps toward social disclosure?

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.

This past Sunday while you were curled up on your couch with Twitter in your hand and the Academy Awards on your TV, we were hard at work. We spent all night watching what the world had to say about the Oscars. From the red carpet to the best picture award, we saw it all. And today, we want to show you what we found.

First, we tracked the red carpet ceremony to see which celebrities and fashions were generating the most talk. Three glorious hours of finding out who was wearing what and then judging them. As soon as the red carpet ceremonies ended we took a look at the Twitter conversations that happened around it and put together the following infographic. In those three hours we found 403,862 tweets about the red carpet (this is not including tweets that only mentioned the Oscars and not the red carpet). From those tweets we were able to determine that the public at large thought that Jennifer Lawrence in her Dior Haute Couture and Bradley Cooper in Tom Ford were the best dressed woman and man, respectively, of the night. We also found that viewers at home weren’t huge fans of what Anne Hathaway decided to wear. You’ll also find some social media savvy bands, the top hashtags used around the red carpet and that women out tweeted men 69% to 31% when talking about the red carpet.

But we didn’t stop there.

Our amazing Marketwire Reports team put together a full report around the 6.4 million tweets about the actual Academy Awards show. Inside this report you’ll find an analysis of almost everything that people were talking about during the Oscars. In this report you’ll find what people were talking positively and negatively about around the show. You’ll also find out that the highlight moment of the evening was when Michelle Obama presented the Best Picture award, which generated over 85,000 tweets per second. We’ll show you the talk around the #BestDressed hashtag. As well, we looked at the amount of conversation and sentiment around the Best Picture nominees leading up to Oscar night. Take a flip through the report below to see even more info from social media around the Oscars.

Does any of this information surprise you? We want to hear your thoughts in the comments.

I promise, this is the last you’ll probably hear about the Super Bowl, but we have something so great that we have to share it. Our fantastic Marketwire Reports team has put together a deep analysis of how Twitter played a role in this year’s Super Bowl.

Below you’ll find our Super Bowl XLVII Twitter Mention Report. Inside this report we’ve taken a look at the over 24 million tweets that we found associated with Sunday’s big game. We’ve gone through all of the tweets and broken them down so you can see what people were talking about in relation to the game, the teams, the halftime show and, of course, the commercials.

Inside the report we’ll show you:

• A breakdown of what the 24 million Super Bowl tweets were about
• The most used hashtags during the game
• What people talked about positively and negatively during the game
• How Beyonce was the single biggest talked about “event” of the entire Super Bowl
• How the Twitter followers of both the Ravens and the 49ers grew exponentially on game day
• How being “always on” helped get Oreo and Tide get over 100 million Twitter impressions
• Some of the most retweeted tweets about the game
• And much more

I had an awful customer service experience recently and while I won’t name the company, it certainly soured me on ever using their products again. It’s hard to believe that in the age of social media when reviews – good and bad – can be posted in seconds, some companies still haven’t invested in customer service.

I’m not the only one. Mark Evans points out how social media can affect a company. (Reposted from the Marketwire Small Business Blog). (more…)

Our latest round-up has some good stuff to help your social media planning and your small business.

Mark Evans asks on the Sysomos blog whether social media equals social sales. He explains that brands aren’t transparent about why they use social media and perhaps it’s time to readjust the return on social investment.  (more…)

The year is almost done so let’s take a look back at what you wanted to know from us and a few tips to get you ready for 2013.

How is your technology? Mark Evans takes a look at when to upgrade your hardware. 

He also offers some tips on how to stay savvy with your social media plans.

Speaking of social media savvy, one of the best campaigns run in 2012 was  f the RedBull Stratos space jump with Felix Baumgartner.

How good was it? We used Sysomos’ MAP tool to track the worldwide response.

MAP was also used by Mark Blevis to track the social media buzz around the US Elections.

Also on our greatest hits’ list is our webinar on How to Get Journalists to Call You. Lisa Elia, founder and CEO of Lisa Elia Public Relations took us through tips on how to lay the proper groundwork so journalists and bloggers are motivated to call publicists.

Our top searches included how to write a boilerplate and how to use a boilerplate to tell your company’s story. Many people looked up how to write a press release, how to write a press release for journalists, and how to write a social  media press release.

Enjoy the last four days of 2012!

This appeared on our Small Business blog but because it’s always relevant (and good) we’re putting it here as well:

By Mark Evans

The year is almost over and it’s time again for end-of-year lists. This one is most interesting for anyone in business, small or large. It’s a round up of social media blunders by big US corporations.

In the 7 Worst Tweets of 2012, Inc. outlines the big mistakes of the year and how they can be fixed.

While the stories are hilarious or worrisome, the solutions are a bit too high-end for a small business. But there are lessons to be learned that you can adapt for your own company. Here’s five ways you can avert social media faux pas: (more…)

Social media, digital analyst and public affairs expert Mark Blevis loves using Sysomos MAP and Heartbeat to discover what people are talking about in the social space. His blog looks at what’s currently going on, whether it be Quebec politics, the one-year anniversary of Jack Layton’s death or the US elections.

From his blog:

A lot has been written about the role of digital in the current US election, and how it differs from 2008. There are many media pieces and blog posts about which candidate is out-digitizing the others, and others which look at which candidate is the most talked about.

What about issues?

I’ve been using Marketwire/Sysomos Heartbeat to capture and analyze online chatter about the US election and using manually selected keywords to identify key election-related conversations. Based on my analysis, I’ve identified the top six most-discussed election issues during the first 19 days of this month… find out the top six most-discussed elections issues at Mark’s blog.

By Sheldon Levine

The Olympics are starting tomorrow, but if you look in the social world you’d think they had already begun. London 2012 is already being dubbed the first ever “social Olympics.” And with very good reason.

This will be the first Olympics where people from around the world will take to social channels to discuss what’s happening at the Olympics while also being embraced by the games themselves. They’ve even gone as far as turning the London Eye ferris wheel in to a giant mood ring that displays Twitter sentiment around the games. (Read more at the Sysomos Blog)

Aaaaah, the business blog. A welcoming destination where visitors get to glimpse behind the velvet ropes and experience your organization’s unique business personality. Where they’re drawn to captivating content that speaks to them. And where feedback and conversation are encouraged. Do these statements describe your organization’s blog? Or is it a foreboding place that posts business updates and pushes corporate propaganda? If it’s the latter, or if you want to improve the results of a so-so blog, take a few tips from Jeff Ente, publisher of “Who’s Blogging What?” and Mark Evans, award-winning blogger and journalist.

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A great team is one with incredible personality, strong spirit and an obvious sense of camaraderie.   Meet the Sysomos team;  the folks who create, support, sell, market and manage the industry’s best social media monitoring tools.  But don’t just take our word for it – watch the video and discover how intelligence, agility and good old-fashioned street-smarts can conquer almost anything.  And, like our team in Chicago, it’s proof positive that when your company is supported by great employees, it shows.

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Because bloggers are often considered the journalists of the Internet, it’s no wonder many professional communicators are turning to them to pitch ideas, events or products. Depending on the blogger, he or she can leave either a positive or a negative impression about your pitch to his or her many faithful subscribers. Let’s not forget that influential bloggers also receive many pitches – sometimes up to 100 a day – from organizations promoting their products, services or the organizations themselves.  So how do you successfully pitch a blogger?

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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 many of us think about buying a product or service, whether we’re in the consumer or B2B space, there is no better source for insight and opinion than a “trusted advisor” or colleague. We can ask what their experiences have been with a similar product, how it excels (or falls flat) in the marketplace, etc.   Yes, we can go to a company’s website or talk to a sales rep for information (or a competitively slanted response), but at the end of the day, that kind of research might not really help us make decisions.  In the past, when I needed to find information, get reviews or decide on the brand or product I wanted to buy, Google was my first choice. Today, though, for me and many others, this isn’t always the case.  Social media – and social search – are changing the way we find vendors, get advice and eventually make purchasing decisions.

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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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We’re inundated with stories about the failure of mainstream media to rise up to the challenge and expectation of social media stakeholders and digital consumers, and with accounts of iconic enterprises scrambling to find a way to deal with steadily declining paid subscribers and advertisers.  There are, however, nimble adapters – even media icons – that are not only learning to survive in the new media era—they’re thriving in it.  Some even lead the charge when it comes to breaking ground in innovative uses of social media techniques to gather, report, publish and distribute the news.

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Many North American employees spend as much time (if not more) at the office as we do at home, so it’s little wonder that we want our workplace to be more than a sea of cubicles bathed in fluorescent light and muzac.  But what makes a great space?  We set off in search of the coolest PR and marketing agency reception areas knowing we’d see some pretty incredible spaces:  exposed brick, funky artwork and open, welcoming interiors. We didn’t expect to see the utterly amazing, quirky, and just plain fun alternatives to traditional office design, including an antique carousel, a barista bar and even a “WOW” bell for clients to ring when they experience great service.  Equally impressive was the extent to which these agencies and their employees personified the social media ethos: collaborative work environments, Wi-Fi lounges, breakout spaces that foster creativity and sharing.  Let’s take a look at ten of the places some very fortunate and creative people call “the office.” 

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