A SOCIAL DIVIDE IN THE CITY #2

TWITTER FOR FINANCIAL REPORTING: PERFORMANCE INDEX

AUGUST 2014

CRITICAL THINKING AT THE CRITICAL TIME™ nvestors and media say they find Idigital communications more insightful and more motivating than traditional communications such as press releases*. 40+ 88% Despite this, our initial Social Divide FTSE 100 companies chose not to use Twitter of media and in the City (published in February 2014) to communicate about their financial 50% highlighted that only a small number of results. of investors the FTSE 100 were effectively using Twitter agree or strongly agree that breaking news via social media to support their financial communications is useful*. For the 41 companies not tweeting this represents and only just over half used Twitter to a missed opportunity to exert influence and amplify key share their latest, half, or full year results messages to stakeholders in 2013.

Six months on and we’ve looked again at the performance of the FTSE 100.

Some companies have crossed the divide and joined the ranks of companies 59% of companies are now using tweeting. The number of companies the microblogging platform as a medium to communicate tweeting their financial results has risen their financial results. A total of 22 companies to 59. 21% tweeted at least ten times on increase in the total number of results day, led in volume terms results-related tweets by FTSE by , RSA Whilst those at the top of our leaderboard 100 companies on the day of Insurance and British Land the most recent half or full year who tweeted 41, 32 and 26 (see next page) have pushed on and are results announcement times respectively telling their stories in more creative and engaging ways, the divide is still apparent with over 40 companies not tweeting their results at all. *This research was conducted online by the Strategy Consulting & Research team at FTI Consulting from 3rd to 11th October 2013 with n=201 global institutional investors. Top performers

olume alone does not NO. OF NO. OF NO. OF COMPANY COMPANY COMPANY Vtell the whole story. Even TWEETS TWEETS TWEETS among the 59 companies using 1 Johnson Matthey 41 = 10 = Old Mutual 4 Twitter to support their results day communications there are 2 RSA Insurance Group 32 = WPP 10 = Shell 4 differences in approach and 3 British Land 26 23 Capita 9 = 4 apparent effectiveness. 4 Kingfisher 25 = Legal & General 9 44 3

Most of the companies that 5 BP 22 25 AstraZeneca 8 = Wolseley 3 actively use Twitter as a channel for financial communications 6 20 = Coca Cola HBC AG 8 46 2 share simple links to press Royal Bank of Scotland Standard 7 17 = 8 = Easyjet 2 releases or the corporate website. Group Chartered InterContinental Hotels Others go further, embedding = 17 28 Centrica 7 = 2 Group YouTube videos, infographics, 9 15 29 BAE Systems 6 retweeting positive commentary = Rexam 2 = BG Group 6 and engaging in conversations = 15 = Sage 2 with stakeholders. = Imperial Tobacco 6 11 Anglo American 14 51 1 32 Smith & Nephew 5 Here is a full list of active = GSK 14 = 1 companies and their respective = Land Securities 5 = Standard Life 14 tweet volumes. = 1 = SABMiller 5 14 National Grid 13 = 1 = TUI Travel 5 = Sainsbury’s 13 = G4S 1 = Tullow Oil 5 = 13 = ITV 1 37 Friends Life Group 4 17 HSBC 12 = Pearson 1 = 4 = Reed Elsevier 12 = 1 = Properties 4 = SSE 11 = 1 Stock Exchange = 4 20 BSkyB 10 Group Our guide to tweeting on results day

It’s important to remain flexible and reactive on the day, but there Use a #hashtag 05 06 Cross-pollinate across media channels is still a great deal of preparation you can do in advance. Hashtags are a useful way for your followers Retweeting commentary about financial results can help Key messages can be taken from the to track conversations about your company’s reinforce messaging and provide followers with useful context and release and scripts and turned into results. Using a hashtag or dollar sign also analysis. Additionally, if management are making appearances on tweets. Compiling the content ahead of provides context for the tweet without using broadcast media, make sure you alert your followers on Twitter in time will help ensure your messages are up too many characters. advance so they can listen in or watch. consistent and will help your sign-off process. 09 08 07 Plan your content Remember that for social media 04 to be an effective medium Think a tweet can only contain Reinforce your company’s key Provide links for building relationships and 140 characters? Think again. messages by live-tweeting 01 communicating your messages, Infographics are useful for telling through the analyst call. This There is only so much information you can companies need to be engaging complex number-led stories in provides those not present include in one tweet. Help your stakeholders in two-way dialogue — being truly an eye-catching and digestible on the call with a glimpse find more context and materials by including social. Make sure you’re listening way. When designing your into what has been discussed links to more content in your tweets. Consider to the conversations about your infographics make sure they while further amplifying your using a URL shortening service such as bitly company on results day so your are the optimal size for Twitter communications. which allows you to track traffic. communications stay relevant, timelines and that they are clear you’re able to join conversations and simple to understand. Be creative in real time and correct any 02 misinformation.

Twitter is increasingly used as an alternative newswire. Let your Beyond broadcast. Be social company’s followers know about 03 The CEO message the results timetable the day before Live tweeting from the analyst call the announcement. Tweet about Just as you will be planning for key messages the results immediately after the to be present in all results related materials, announcement has appeared on the ensure that your CEO has adequate airtime on stock exchange’s regulatory news Twitter through the use of key quotes, facts service (RNS) live feed. Most of the

Timing matters and soundbites. One of the first three tweets As financial reporting on social media channels continues to gather steam conversations about the results will around results should feature the overall key it is important to evaluate the success of any results campaign. Consider happen in the hours immediately message in one go. You’re likely to find this the reach, impacts and engagement around your content. Look at your key following the announcement — so is the tweet many of your followers will want stakeholders and how they have reacted. Consider how well your content to increase your share of voice and to share. supported the communications strategy, and feed back into the planning to wield influence, this is when your process for the next set of results. company should be tweeting too.

10 Evaluate and plan Methodology

his research paper was completed by FTI Consulting in July 2014 The data covers the most recent set of annual or half-year results for Tand covers an analysis of tweets published by companies in the each company prior to July. 1, 2014. The companies included were the FTSE 100 on the day of their most recent annual or half-year results constituents of the FTSE 100 index on June. 23, 2014. Only tweets on announcement. The research aims to balance the requirement for the day of the results announcement are included in the quantitative comparing like with like and the need for up-to-date data. In light of this, data, though we do note elsewhere in this research paper that some the authors acknowledge that comparing one company’s full-year results companies tweet about their results in the days preceding and following announcement with another company’s half-year results announcement the actual announcement. Similarly, only tweets directly related to the is not a perfect comparison, but it does mean that no data is more than results announcement have been included. The tweets analysed as part six months old. of this research are those by official company Twitter accounts.

Andrew Williams, Director Strategic Communications

+44 (0)20 3727 1530 [email protected]

© FTI Consulting LLP 2014 Dan Healy, Managing Director & Head of Research EMEA This document does not constitute professional advice and should not be +44 (0)20 3727 1239 relied upon as such. Specific advice should be sought regarding your specific circumstances in all cases. The views expressed herein are those of the author and [email protected] do not necessarily reflect the views of FTI Consulting or its other professionals.