Today’s guest post is the final in a three-part series by Rob Berick, a senior managing director of Dix & Eaton, a communications consultancy that specializes in investor relations. Rob regularly writes on the capital markets and investors relations on his blog and on Twitter @robberick.

For the past two weeks, we’ve been talking about social media in the context of investor relations. We’ve talked about how to determine if social media makes sense for your IR program. We’ve also taken a look at how some companies are using it to reach and engage investors.

Now for the hard part – getting management’s approval.

For many senior leaders, social media and investor relations is an “unholy union” that conjures visions of selective disclosure lawsuits and other breaches of sound corporate governance practices (think: Enron) at the mere mention of the topic.

Frankly, their reluctance is understandable.

In many respects, social media requires a steady flow of new and differentiated content in order to be effective and impactful. To the ears of the senior management, the words “new” and “differentiated” sound a lot like “unstructured” and “unintended” — the types of things that can land them in big trouble.

So, how do you create the buy-in you need within your organization? Here are a few suggestions:

Do your homework. Rather than cataloging which companies are using social media, focus on how these tools could help you achieve programmatic goals (e.g., increase awareness among new investors, improve “customer service” with existing investors, etc.). Remember: you should be counseling your leadership team on how this will help your company, not showing them what “cool” companies are doing.

Be sure the usage of social media tools is clearly delineated in your overarching corporate disclosure policy. In other words, assure leadership that this new activity will be conducted well within the established guidelines for communications.

Make sure there are systems in place to monitor the ongoing conversations – both by the corporation and about the corporation.

Educate leadership on the existing social media conversation about the corporation. Capture examples of the conversation already taking place. That way, together, you can focus on what’s most important – namely, is the corporation safer or more vulnerable having no voice in this conversation?

Practice using the tools internally. Set up a private “beta” system, for internal audiences only, so you can demonstrate over a multi-month period how the tools would be used (and what the content might look like). Not only does such testing help to reduce the concern regarding content and usage, but it also allows you to avoid the risks or bungles that could come during a fast start-up (e.g., how you will handle quarterly “quiet” periods, how you will manage content in advance of major corporate events, how you will address criticism or rumors, etc.).

I truly believe that social media can provide substantial value to an investor relations program – but it requires clearly defined goals and well-conceived content. And, above all else, it requires rigorous oversight of the social media channels to ensure strict adherence to the rules of disclosure for public companies.

Well…before I go back to my world of spread sheets and stock charts, I’d love to know if there are things you’re doing right now on the PR side of the communications ledger that you think are “perfect” for IR applications.