Written by: Amanda Duckworth Brunswick, San Francisco Jason Golz Brunswick, San Francisco Graeme Trayner Brunswick Research, London
Trusted media brands still matter While analysts and investors are increasingly turning to the online outlets of traditional media brands (wsj.com, nytimes.com, ft.com, among others) they are not yet turning significantly to new media, defined as blogs, social networks and message boards. Across geographies, analysts listed these sources as the least influential on their investment decisions. Those who do not use new media for work purposes argue that the information is not reliable or valuable. One US-based investor we spoke to said, “Using new media isn’t worth my time to derive what would be the 50th data point of incremental value.”Another, a US-based hedge fund investor, said, “The problem with new media is that the intellectual honesty of the source is unknown and there’s no fact checking going on.” The only blog this investor reads is one where its contributors are known financial experts.
According to our survey, most analysts and investors anticipate that new media will become increasingly important to investment decisions in the future, with US-based analysts and investors currently more optimistic about its future role than Europeans. As expected, age also colors opinions – the younger the analyst or investor, the more likely that he or she believes new media will play a greater role.
Among new media categories blogs are the most used medium for respondents, as well as the most likely to be a source of data points that leads to further research and ultimately an investment decision. One UK-based sell-side analyst said, “For me, there remains strong differentiation of new media between social networks and blogs run by professionals. The latter sounds interesting if run by someone influential or considered to have good knowledge.” One in five has made an investment decision or recommendation after initially sourcing information from a blog, which led them to conduct additional research. Conversely, social networking services are infrequently referenced and much less used for investment decisions or recommendations. One US-based hedge fund investor said, “I use Facebook all the time, just never for business.”
The message for communications We believe the findings have important implications for corporate communications and investor relations. They emphasize, for example, why companies should never underestimate the influence on the investment community of information that they communicate directly. Companies should constantly review the allocation of resources, both time and financial, to different channels, and remain open-minded about the appropriate split.
It is not only that analysts and investors want their information primarily from companies. Direct communication gives companies greater opportunity to manage their own reputations by providing maximum control of the message and information flow. Direct communication, moreover, should no longer be seen as just meetings and speeches. Companies’ own digital content can be much more powerful than online news and views, notably those expressed on blogs that lack authority and brand recognition and that therefore do not in most cases influence major investors.
At the same time, with the acknowledgement that new media’s influence will become more important, the growing power of the new channels is indisputable. Companies should not be timid. Corporate blogs and wikis1, for example, present new opportunities for the company’s voice to be heard beyond traditional media and to deliver unique content to important audiences. Analysts and investors may still largely distrust many of the new sources, but the traditional publications in print and online that they do turn to scrutinize news leads and often follow up those that turn out to be reliable.
While the survey’s findings contain a hint of changes to come, the investment community is sending a reassuring message to the C-suite: companies are in charge of their reputation destiny and will enjoy a significant return on investment if they direct resources to the development and delivery of substantive corporate content for investors and analysts.
1 A collaborative website which can be directly edited by anyone with access to it.