Proshare To Launch Version 5.0, Changes Approach To Social Media

Proshare has announced that ‘social media’ will be a big component of our overall communication matrix’, as part of its transformation plan to deliver its capital market information and support service for a new market.

The company announced today that it will be formally launching the Proshare 5.0 in June 2011; where amongst others it will reposition the deployment of its Twitter, LinkedIn, Scribd and new Facebook page to replace the newsletter service it hitherto deployed. The Newsletter service will be a periodic publication thereafter.

The new site and ancillary services will go live on a parallel run from April 2011 with new and specific sections including Inside Proshare, The Analyst, The Regulator, Investor Relations Services, The Share Support Services, The Investor Community, News & Investigations, Market Directory, and a Training & Education Section.

It will be recalled that the company embarked on a thematic restructuring of its market engagement(s) under a project titled “A different thinking for a different market” in October 2010 which should be completed by the end of April 2011.

According to Olufemi Awoyemi, Chief Executive, “This is not about improvements or upgrades but a completely new service that bridges the gap between where the market and service levels were and the market that is soon upon us”

He added “We do not envision that these changes will immediately alter attitudes and behaviours in the short term or their engagement approach to the capital market wholesale; but it will definitely alter how the participants in the market think, use information and deliver on their corporate responsibilities. The first phase should lay out the matrix we envision will impact on attitude to the regulators, customer service and investor relations – eliminating the usual excuse for sub-optimal engagements in our market”.

According to the Mrs Reshu Bagga, Chief Operating Officer of the company, this new platform offers a clear idea of and ushers in the dynamic era our markets will experience both in terms of information and engagement imperatives.

She is particularly excited about the opportunity to deploy new technology to a changing demography and hopefully attract a new set of retail investors in the market while providing the institutional investor an opportunity to feel the pulse of the market.

“With our newsletter and social media platforms, the feeds used mirror our top post selections, with automatic headlines and links which was helpful for some, but with something of a robotic feel. Now each section of the market will have editorial control and will be releasing their work individually”.

She goes on “further changes should see us eliminate duplications of posts (something of an issue on Facebook, lately), no more auto-capitalized headlines, and a chance for analysts to give their individual takes on a post so that we are truly sharing and not just reposting. At the end of the day, we should be able to deploy applications for ‘hand-helds’ that are suitable and easy for the market participant to get involved effortlessly.”

The Executive Director, Business & Markets, Alero Ogor revealed some insights into what to expect when asked about what this means for the firm. She said “The brand itself will change followed with changes in management, support staff, tools and most importantly, the alliances and relationships that have been assembled for the new service which offers us an opportunity to leverage best practice”.