The new guidelines allow companies to use Twitter, Facebook and other social media platforms to make key announcements as long as they tell investors which sites they will be using. This announcement is an effort to help companies navigate the new media age and clarifies the situation with personal social media accounts, suggesting that they should not be used for financial disclosure.

The SEC said in their recent announcement “In fact, we encourage companies to seek out new forms of communication to better connect with shareholders”. This is a significant step from regulators in the States and one that UK companies and media alike watched closely. This advice from the US financial regulators will have implications on the UK and its use of social media for IR. The debate therefore now appears to be ‘when’ the regulatory bodies will adapt to social media for financial disclosure in the UK and not ‘if’.

We are at the early stages of this new marketing media but companies should be asking themselves how they can use these new technologies to benefit their business.

Due to all this interest and excitement wallstreet branding have produced an interesting infographics about ‘the power and growth of mobile marketing’. This shows how consumers are currently using mobile technology to access all different types of information. This is a fascinating read for any company looking to develop their mobile marketing strategy in the coming months.

1. Social media provides the opportunity for B2B marketers to generate leads in a cost effective way. This will develop in 2013 but it will in no way become the norm.
2. B2B marketers that can create engaging and thought provoking content will forge better relationships with clients and prospects, leaving their competitors behind.
3. B2B marketers are slowly realising the opportunities of mobile and will continue to develop their mobile communications strategy in 2013.
4. As with 2012, the coming year will be all about ‘Data, data, data’. B2B will take the next steps in using social media and will start to use the data that it creates, in a responsive and creative way.

Although the rest of 2013 we will see a slow and steady growth in B2B online networking, this year in no way can be claimed as the tipping point in the execution of social media for B2B companies. B2B marketers still need to really understand the opportunity of social media, build some truly outstanding content and strengthen executive buy-in. This year may not be the tipping point but how the relationship between B2B marketers and social media develops will be fascinating to watch.

One criticism that surfaces most frequently is that of credibility. With the new addition of endorsements, anyone whether you have worked with them or not, can endorse your skills. This, in conjunction with CV information that is not validated (and often over stated) means that information can be misleading and therefore loses its credibility. Secondly LinkedIn appears to have become confused with its purpose. Originally it was a static tool where individuals could post and find information on other professionals. With the introduction of discussion forums and groups, members are confused about how LinkedIn fits in with their other networking activity. Finally, the site itself does not warrant engagement in the same way as other networking giants such as Facebook. The functionality has developed and changed over time and now appears disorganised and confusing. A design that is more focused on what it is trying to achieve would mean that members would feel more engaged and less inclined to criticise.

As with the other social media giants, LinkedIn can now compete in numbers with some of the world’s largest countries. This does not mean though that they need to keep adding functionality to attract new members. Clarity of focus and an understanding of what the site is trying to achieve means that LinkedIn will remain the preferred site for the business networking industry.

The results proved interesting reading for social media commentators and business leaders alike. Whilst investors to garner financial information use all aspects of technology, such as RSS feeds and email alerts, Twitter was found to be the social media platform of choice. What was surprising is once the professors had investigated relevant tweets over a 2 year period, and compared them to trading figures, they discovered that when smaller, lesser known companies tweeted their news, their bid-ask spreads narrowed significantly. It was found that tweeting ‘measurably increased the market liquidity of stocks’. Interestingly this was not found to be the case for larger companies, where tweets seem to make very little impact on investors.

As with the majority of social media research this report was produced in the States. It is still relevant for a UK audience who are learning from the US in how to use the opportunities of social media to benefit business users.

One of the most significant findings from the report was the result from the growth in the usage of corporate networking tools. The use of Facebook and YouTube, historically the most talked about popular social media channels, has declined in the past year. This may be due to the fact that as social media becomes the norm, companies are beginning to understand which platform works for their specific needs. In a study of corporate communications, companies are realising that there are specific channels that are better to use for communicating business information. Due to this the study found an increase in the usage of LinkedIn, perceived as the most corporate of all the social media platforms. Since LinkedIn revamped their corporate business profiles, it is not surprising that companies are becoming more interested in communicating with people via LinkedIn.

This trend from the US of starting to define social media platforms for their audience rather than companies just using all of the platforms available is bound to influence the way we all use social networking. To truly understand the audience types of different networking channels means companies can really focus their social media activity and therefore achieve a greater ROI of their efforts.

Not surprising therefore this subject was at the forefront of discussions held at the 4A’s Transformation Conference in New Orleans. One of the people involved in the discussions was Blake Chandlee, VP of Global Partnerships at Facebook. He noted that it was only 3 years ago that marketers were focused upon numbers of Likes, as success was seen as having more followers than your competitors. Chandlee went on to say “It’s not about the size of the community. It’s how engaged the community is and how that aligns with the brands strategy”.

Although this all makes sense, and is certainly the direction social media will take in the coming years, number of followers can still not totally be taken out of the equation. For example The New York Times has used the growing mass of followers on social media to build its brand, particularly during live events, such as the Republican National Convention last year. Although this is significant it does not mean that the size of audience will influence the editorial direction of the paper. With a truly engaged social media following, papers will become more aware of what is trending and what memes are taking off. It is this engagement that will influence editorial choices rather than just the numbers themselves.

This notion of engagement rather than just presence has been on the edges of social media discussions for the past couple of years. 2013 is certainly the year that a data driven social media society will really focus on the quality of engagement from their followers and how this influences how businesses behave as a whole.

Even though there has been a significant shift in power in the relationship between companies and their investors, the response to these attacks seems to have become more civil than in recent years. This may be due to the fact communications in an online digital world are more open and transparent and therefore the impact of these responses are greater. Companies are bracing themselves for the threat of the investor and how the investor landscape in the States is starting to change.

The survey results showed that 88% of IRO’s recognised the importance of mobile to their work as communications professionals and believe that public companies need to develop a mobile IR strategy in the coming years. In addition 57% of IRO’s believe that investors now require faster access to IR content via mobile devices as compared to traditional sources.

These results show a community of communications professionals who recognise the opportunity that mobile technology represents in engaging with investors. As with social media though the current usage is vey low with 78% of companies currently not using mobile technology for their IR communications. Their adoption in the future will be partially dependant upon the SEC, with 67% of those surveyed thinking the SEC will react in the near future to the use of mobile technology and apps for IR communications and for Reg FD disclosure purposes. The indications from the recently released social media guidance are that the SEC will certainly provide leadership on mobile technology usage at some point. Whether the SEC provides positive and effective guidance will depend upon how engaged IR communicators are with mobile technology in the future.