Social Media and First Financial Bankshares Dave Hogan September 21, 2009

What Is Social Media?

2  Community: Social media all about being connected with other people and building relationships  Conversation: Social media is about creating two- way dialogue with employees, customers, investors and other audiences.  Cost-effective: Social media expands the communication channels at nominal added cost.

The Social Media Revolution “Banks are increasingly realizing the need to implement a social media solution in order to differentiate themselves from the competition and to take an early stake in winning over the hearts and minds of the social network generation.” -- Jesse Torres, “Community Banker’s Guide to Social Network Marketing,” December

The Social Media Revolution “New media channels are changing everything … “These changes are even bigger than those of 1928 (radio) and 1960 (TV).” -- Merrie Spaeth, Spaeth Communications, Texas Banking Magazine, August

Social Media Revolution – YouTube video Social Media Revolution -- YouTube Video

 300 million users  Adding 800,000 new members per day!  Users post comments, photos, videos, profiles  Not just for college students anymore  Companies can post profiles, promotions on Facebook  Customers can (and will) talk back

First American Bank (Oklahoma)

Hancock Bank (Mississippi)

Corporate Uses for Facebook  Post a corporate profile  Post news releases  Announce marketing promotions  Post photos, videos  Recruit new employees  Link back to bank Web sites  Dialogue with customers 9

Arvest Bank (Arkansas)

Customer feedback makes this media “social”

Arvest Bank (Arkansas) Customer feedback makes this media “social”

Twitter Growing in Popularity  Comments limited to 140 characters  Similar to text messaging (“SMS of the Internet”)  6 million unique visitors per month; 55 million visits per month

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What can you say in 140 characters?  Banking story in Clarion Ledger: Many ways to avoid these fees - we can helphttp://tinyurl.com/ls2jhz  Check out 2Q earnings for RNST  Best of the Bunch- Renasant Bank ranks in Top 100 Mid- Tier Banks!  Renasant CEO Robin McGraw featured in Mississippi Banker Magazine: 24

What can you say in 140 characters?  free popcorn in North MS, fresh cookies in Nashville - get out of the heat and visit your local Renasant today.  Who knew paying bills and getting statements electronically could save some much...check it-  Ann Stanford has been w/ RNST in Tupelo 50 yrs! Celeb. tomorrow 4-5:30 pm at main office in Tupelo - and she is NOT retiring! 25

Corporate Uses for Twitter  Post existing disclosure items such as news releases, new PPT presentations and SEC filings  Draw traffic to corporate Web sites  Promote new products, services  Announce marketing promotions, contests  Respond to emergencies  Answer customer questions

 A business version of Facebook  More than 45 million users in 200 nations  A new member joins LinkedIn every second  Executives from all Fortune 500 companies are on LinkedIn  Useful for posting corporate profile, news releases

Social Media Best Practices for Investor Relations  Only disclose material information on social media that has already been disclosed through traditional channels.  Use Twitter and other social media to announce news releases, IR conference appearances, etc.  Monitor social media to watch for rumors, false information that could impact stock prices. 30

Social Media’s Role in Corporate Communications  Video  Intranet and Web sites  Newsletters  Financial education  Town hall meetings  Special events  Proactive media outreach Social media is part of an integrated, comprehensive, corporate communication plan

Social Media at FFIN – Recommendations (page 1)  Set objectives, strategy for social media at FFIN.  Secure our name on all major social media platforms.  Monitor social media sites, whether we participate or not. 32

Social Media at FFIN – Recommendations (page 2)  Establish a written social media policy.  Decide who will manage social media program and “speak” for us online.  Inform employees about online rules of engagement.  Incorporate rules into new-employee orientation.  Focus first on launch of Twitter, followed by Facebook and LinkedIn. 33