Howard Lindzon: The Evolution of Reg-FD (Video)

Social media has changed investor communications. While the Reg-FD has a set of rules that are helpful, navigating them in the context of online media is not often undertaken. Co-founder of StockTwits, Howard Lindzon highlights these changes and how businesses can better communicate with their investors. Watch the full keynote below, and catch our analysis.

1. There is a place for investor communications in your brand.
There is a lot of possibility for change in your investor relations, just as there is with your consumers. Starting with Facebook. Facebook is all about brands and marketing. New companies and agencies have built their entire base around Facebook because of the influx of new brands coming on board. It is a major tool for support and engagement. But few brands are maximizing this new social exposure. Few brands’ homepages indicate if it is a public company and help consumers explore the options of becoming an investor. What’s more, stakeholders are paying attention to social media. 63% of institutional investors are paying attention to social media, with 65% of reporters and journalists. Brands are two degrees away from reaching everybody if they can use tools properly.
 

2. Add context to the conversation.
How do you distribute financial news to people who care? Context matters. One solution StockTwits developed is the dollar ticker. Using the dollar ticker helps separate out financial news from complaints and general conversation for brands.
 

3. Curation is an art not just a science.
Brands can’t curate with just machines. It’s nice to have GoogleAlerts but it’s not enough. Brands should look at community, team, technology and filters.

• Community: protect your community. Create a set of house rules for your site, and give everyone the power to flag/like/follow content. By empowering your community, you are protecting them and enabling them to help you curate.
• Team: tend your community. You can’t plant flowers and walk away. A community requires that you put time into it.
• Tech: it just keeps getting better and evolving. More tools are available for brands to help curate.
• Filters: help brands digest and weed out content.

To be effective, you need all four. And with all four, you can begin to reach investors where they are, focusing on the customer.
 

So, what does this all mean? With the new JOBS Bill passing in the US allowing for more crowdfunding options, communicating with investors is only going to become more important. I think we’ll be seeing more agencies helping brands navigate this space, setting up special platforms for investors. We’ll also start seeing more integration into current websites. Cultivating this community is imperative for public businesses and innovation in this space is prime. Over the next year, I have a feeling we’ll see some very interesting new models erupt.

 
Watch all our keynotes from February 2012, and don’t forget to share your thoughts on Howard’s presentation below.