Social media management for public companies and corporate issuers

These days, social media management isn’t a part-time proposition.

It takes experience, good judgment, grace under pressure, and a passion for problem-solving to defend and promote corporate brands on social media.

Investor-Oriented Social Media Platforms

Sky Alphabet is a leading social media agency for public companies

When it comes to managing a client’s social media, there are several platforms that require attention. And by attention, we mean monitoring and very possibly, engagement.

Investors maintain multiple social media accounts across several platforms, usually no fewer than three and as many as six.

Twitter is the king when it comes to content about corporate issuers, but there are many other niche (and not so niche) social platforms that are used by investors in different ways.

Twitter

Issuers that disseminate 8-K’s and other regulatory documents should post this same content to Twitter. This makes it easier for investors that don’t have a Bloomberg Terminal or subscribe to the company’s e-mail list to get the news at the same time as everybody else. Also: algorithms love Twitter.

LinkedIn

We recommend that all legitimate companies maintain a professional, up-to-date profile on LinkedIn. This is especially important for small and mid-cap issuers where credibility is an important driver of the investment criteria. Similar to Twitter, LinkedIn allows issuers to post their latest news releases without paying a wire service. We handle this on behalf of many of our clients.

StockTwits

When a stock gets hot, many social media users turn to StockTwits to see what the sentiment is in real-time. StockTwits allows users to label their posts as simply “Bull” or “Bear”, which sends a strong signal to hedge funds and other market participants about which direction the stock is headed. Combined with a growing number of “watchers”, StockTwits is one platform most equities should monitor to understand what people are saying.

CEO.CA

Before the rise of Twitter, stockbrokers and traders populated the “message boards” at sites like CEO.CA and InvestorsHub. These sites still play an important role in understanding the sentiment of more sophisticated investors that participate in private placements and work in trading environments.

Reddit

A relatively new social network for investors, Reddit became red-hot in 2020 after one of its users built a community around GameStop, a security that was being heavily shorted. Reddit was a natural fit for tech and crypto stocks because of its male dominated, gamer-oriented user base. The platform became known for its ability to host lengthy posts featuring amateur research that others in the community could add to.

InvestorsHub

Similar to CEO.CA, InvestorsHub is frequented by an older demographic that may not be as comfortable with Twitter and the other modern social networks. Still, for issuers that want to get the whole picture on what people are saying about their stock, this is a social network that has to be on the radar.

Social media management process:

Here's what happens when a news release goes out:

01

If a non-disclosure agreement is in place, we will write two or three variations of a Tweet ahead of time to announce that a news release has just been issued.

02

If a non-disclosure agreement is not in place, we will wait for the release to hit the wire, and will then write and produce a post on the fly. In most cases, we will send posts to our client contact for approval. Even if it is 4:30 in the morning.

03

The post is double and triple checked for errors before it goes out. The link to the press release is tested, and the copy is pasted into a text file to make sure there are no extra spaces. Finally, we check the graphics, alt-text, and audio if there is a 4K video component (common with our posts). We also ensure the client’s cashtags and hashtags are being used correctly.

04

Only after all pre-production checks and approvals have been gained can we hit “Tweet”. We are different than other firms because we insist on a human actually hitting the Tweet button. We believe this not only reduces erros, it increases the quality of the post and increases reach. In our opinion, we believe that using Hootsuite and other scheduling programs.

05

Monitoring. We utilize a variety of monitoring systems that scan for a variety of essential items. These include client mentions, competitor feeds, influencer posts, industry news and emerging topics. We also monitor the stock price and the stock price of key peers. Any of these signals can give us a daily edge if we catch something in real-time. Monitoring and responding to mentions is the most obvious thning to look for, but there are always topics that traders and analysts discuss that can form the basis for future Tweets.

06

Screenshots. During the day, our social media managers take screenshots of relevant tweets and analytics so that our end of month reports tell the true story of how the month went. These reports become a valuable reference once the stock catches some wind at its back, as the turning points are likely to exist in a screenshot.

07

Stock price. As a public company, the day-to-day gyrations of a stock’s price can feel like a rollercoast ride: one day it’s up, the next it’s down. But as a social media manager, you have a duty to monitor for certain situations because you have a duty to do something in the event a threshold is crossed. You’ll have to be a client to know what that means, but suffice it to say it’s important to fulfilling our role as social media managers.

Award-winning social media management

Managing a growing community of retail investors requires vigilance. That’s why our social media managers play defense and offence equally well. Every day, there are new situations. But with us you’ll be ready.

Negative comments

Unfavourable comments are something every brand has to deal with. There are a range of approaches depending on the circumstance, but ignoring comments is not one of them.

Outright attacks

What if several people launch a coordinated attack on your social channel? This can be a sign a short seller or competitor is involved. Such attacks require a sustained commitment to limiting damage.

Trending topics

Every day there are new topics and voices that emerge on social media. The thing is, brands have to be listening to so that today’s news isn’t tomorrow’s missed opportunity.

Mentions

Replying or engaging with those that mention your brand is fundamental to social media management. People want to know if they’ve mentioned you, that you’ve noticed.

A day in the life of a social media manager

The trading day starts at 9:30 AM eastern time.

This means we’re up at 5:30 AM every trading day on the westcoast.

And if there’s a pre-market news release, we’re up even earlier to make sure it hits social media at the same time.

Social Media Management Packages

Whether you’re NYSE, OTCQB, TSX-V or somewhere in between, we’ve got a social media management package that’s right for you.

Got questions?

We’ve got answers. Get in touch today.