A new survey of investment bankers and asset managers provides food for thought for investor relations officers – finding that only 16% of European listed companies use social media for investor relations purposes.

The 38th annual Thomson Reuters Extel Survey also found suggestions that the investment community still prefers face-to-face meetings with senior management than any other form of engagement.

The pan-European benchmarking study for investment banking and asset management is designed to highlight achievement and emerging trends across the buyside, sellside and corporate communities.

The 2011 survey identified a number of industry trends, including the fact that fund managers place a great reliance on CEO and CFO meetings to better evaluate companies and want those meetings to take place at the buysides' offices.

Meanwhile, it found that 84% of companies in Europe do not currently use social media in their investor relations programmes but 34% believe it will become increasingly influential in the future.

The 2011 Survey captured more data from market practitioners than ever before. Voting was conducted primarily online and reflects the contribution of over 2,250 buyside firms, 2,500 analysts from 240 brokerage firms/research houses and nearly 750 of Europe's largest quoted companies worldwide.

"Every year we see participation in Extel increase as measuring the value and impact of the interaction across all three sides of the investment community becomes more and more important," said Steve Kelly, MD of Extel with Thomson Reuters. “The increase in data - up over 20% this year alone - reflects the competitive industry environment in which companies seek investment dollars, brokers chase commission fees and the buyside compelling investment ideas.”