For an industry that often eschews web sites and even names on their office doors, hedge funds remain loathe to broadcast their thoughts and strategies on social media.
According to a recent survey of hedge funds about their communications strategies, only 11.1 percent of the 314 largest hedge funds profiled have a social media presence (excluding LinkedIn). This is figure is just slightly up from 9.9 percent in 2014.
Thanks to the proliferation of social media, the once private world of hedge funds is becoming more public every day, said Jacqueline Kolek, Partner at Peppercomm, the communications firm that conducted the hedge fund survey.
Kolek added, But while the public commiserates about fund closures, industry asset growth and the political leanings of the big-name managers, the firms themselves remain virtually silent. Every time hedge funds shy away from the social media conversation, they throw away important thought leadership and content opportunities for themselves and for the industry.
According to a Peppercomm press statement about the survey, Total social media mentions in 2015 topped 1.1 million, up 46 percent from 2014 levels. Social media discussions about hedge funds exceeded 100,000 in five of the months in 2015, and September broke all records for the industry with 116,600 mentions in a single month.
The press statement added, That low number includes many now-inactive hedge fund social media accounts, leaving consistent, active participation to a few of the largest financial institutions.
Other key findings of Peppercomms research include the fact that mentions of hedge funds in top-tier traditional media have plateaued in recent years. An estimated 38,827 articles mentioning hedge funds appeared in 2015, compared with 37,367 in 2014 and 39,449 in 2013.
Likewise, Google searches for hedge funds have dropped sharply in recent years. After peaking in late 2008, Google searches had fallen nearly 75 percent by 2015, and are forecast to decline further, according to Google Trends.
There is one slim oasis for hedge funds who venture online. The LinkedIn presence among hedge funds ticked up slightly in the past year. Approximately 73 percent of the largest hedge funds are on LinkedIn, according to the latest Peppercomm survey, up from 66 percent the previous year. Only a small portion of this group (18), however, participate with any regularity, as measured by a least one post per month.
Among the top 100 US-based hedge funds, nearly half have closed or client-only websites, which is similar to findings from 2014. Only 36 percent of hedge fund websites include investor relations and press releases. Among the largest hedge funds, 3.8 percent have a YouTube presence, attracting an average of 775,800 total views. Peppercomm reports that this result is heavily skewed by nearly 4 million views for videos from just the two largest firms, Blackrock and Bridgewater; others show less than 25,000 views.
