Zillow wins award for Best Use of Technology By a Corporate Secretary or General Counsel
Other firms complain about the potential risks associated with using social media to communicate with shareholders; online real estate database Zillow asked: what are the risks if we don’t?
Last April, Zillow became one of the first public companies to entertain questions from Twitter and Facebook during its earnings call, establishing a new avenue of shareholder communications that other companies may want to explore.
‘Social media is part of our DNA and part of how we connect with the consumer,’ says Zillow investor relations manager Raymond Jones. For leveraging social media with respect to its earnings calls and providing opportunities for deeper and broader engagement between management, shareholders and other stakeholders, Zillow has won the Corporate Secretary award for best use of technology by a corporate secretary or general counsel for 2013.
Like other companies, Zillow carefully examined how it would implement a social media shareholder communications plan before moving forward. ‘We sat down with the legal team and explained how we wanted it to happen and defined what success would look like,’ says Jones. ‘We took little steps to get there, but then when we got to the point where we wanted to jump in, everybody was on board and we really went for it – and it turned out great.’
The company has benefited from its embrace of social media in ways that weren’t always obvious. Questions with a sense of humor or different viewpoints often come in through the social media channels, for example, while analysts who weren’t covering the company have found another way to get involved, and shareholders can use it as a way to contact the company or individual board members more directly. ‘It’s a channel that allows us to experiment and think of new things to do in terms of disclosure and access to the company,’ Jones explains.
For those companies still questioning whether to use social media to communicate with investors, Jones emphasizes that the reach can be massive. Twitter and Facebook reach thousands of people who could be interested in learning more about your company, whether they are investors or consumers. Companies should figure out ways to take advantage of the medium instead of finding reasons to ignore it.
‘Treat it the same as any other channel,’ Jones says. ‘Whether you are in front of investors, in front of a television audience or being interviewed by a reporter, you follow the same rules of disclosure. You treat the channel with the respect it deserves.’
For photos of the awards, click here.
