q4 whitepaper: ir website best practices to help improve online communications
DESCRIPTION
The IR website is a leading source for the investment community to learn, verify and stay up-to-date with company information. Because of the growing importance of the IR website, many leading companies are continuously looking for ways to do things better. The following report includes 100+ examples of best practices and how innovative companies around the globe are using the web to communicate more effectively with analysts, shareholders and the financial media. Download the ebook and you’ll learn how to: - Improve your homepage to provide easier access to key information. - Present a more compelling investment proposition. - Organize information to improve accessibility & effectiveness. - Integrate tools to aid relationship & brand building. - Use social media to expand your reach and increase website traffic. - Integrate new interactive technologies that will increase user engagement and add value.TRANSCRIPT
Summary Presentation: Download Complete Whitepaper
WINTER 2011
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Why Having a Better IR Website Matters
• 75% of institutional investors and analysts use corporate websites
on a weekly basis1
• 95% of financial journalists access corporate and investor websites
to research the companies they are writing about2
• Provides stakeholders with your company’s ongoing strategy for
creating value
• Gives stakeholders context, insight and interactive tools to clearly
understand your business today and in the future
Source: 1) Rivel Research2) Bulldog Reporter/TEKGROUP International
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Download Complete WhitepaperQ4 Whitepaper: IR Website Best Practices - Summary Slides
Six Categories of IR Website Best Practices
1. Make investor content easy to access
2. Convey a compelling investment proposition
3. Provide content in formats that engage investors
4. Be accessible and offer multiple ways to stay connected
5. Offer investor tools and package useful information
6. Highlight social media channels and embed multimedia content
Download Complete WhitepaperQ4 Whitepaper: IR Website Best Practices - Summary Slides
Download Complete WhitepaperQ4 Whitepaper: IR Website Best Practices - Summary Slides
1. Make Investor Content Easy to Access
• Companies should take into consideration three key audiences:
potential, new and long-term
• The investor site needs to consider all of these audiences in the way
that the site is structured and the manner in which content is layered
– from walking a potential investor through the investment
proposition to permitting long-term investors to get timely information
fast
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Make Investor Content Easy to Access - Example
• Homepage Integration of Investor Content
Teekay* uses their homepage to highlight key messages that take into consideration all key investor audiences.
For example, the ‘Why Invest’ targets potential investors, while current and long-term investors are given direct access to the information they seek through the ‘Latest News’ and ‘Events’ tabs.
*Q4 Clienthttp://www.teekaytankers.com/
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2. Convey a Compelling Investment Proposition
• Companies should be able to effectively articulate why a person
should invest in them
• More companies are incorporating a ‘Why Invest’ section on their IR
website
• Companies are also providing background and context on their
business in the ‘About’; ‘Our Company’; ‘Industry Overview’; and ‘At-
A-Glance’ sections
• Others are also detailing their ‘Objectives’; ‘Mission Statement’ and
‘Strategy’ overview
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Convey a Compelling Investment Proposition - Example
• Why Invest
‘Why Invest’ should tie together key information and connect the dots on the market opportunity and how the company stands out as a good investment in this particular industry.
Using visuals such as graphs, charts, videos and presentations will help tell the story.
http://agnico-eagle.com/English/Investor-Centre/WhyInvestInAEM/default.aspx/
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To see 5 more examples of this best practice download the whitepaper.
*Q4 Client
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3. Provide Content in Formats that Engage Investors
• Leading companies are making reports available in a variety of
formats such as summary quarterly reports, online HTML versions
and video updates
• ‘Fast Facts’ is a great feature to use on the company index or ‘About
Us’ page – imagery and relational links enhance this feature
• Scorecards (or some form of measurement over time) are
increasingly being used to show how effectively companies are
executing their strategy
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Provide Content in Formats that Engage Investors – Example
• Multimedia
We are seeing some interesting things on the multimedia front.
For example, investors can download pictures; view videos of company assets and hear management provide color on the latest quarterly financials or commentary by the CEO in the form of a ‘Year in Review’ like BMO does in the image to the right.
http://www2.bmo.com/content/0,1089,divId-3_langId-1_navCode-5077,00.html
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To see 5 more examples of this best practice download the whitepaper.
Download Complete WhitepaperQ4 Whitepaper: IR Website Best Practices - Summary Slides
4. Be Accessible & Offer Multiple Ways to Stay Connected
• Companies are using many tools to make themselves more
accessible to investors and increase awareness about their brands
• Emerging best practice tools include interactive calendars; a
glossary of terms and a FAQ section
• RSS feeds and email alerts are more prevalent with the option to
subscribe to specific information such as news releases, events and
presentations
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Be Accessible & Offer Multiple Ways to Stay Connected - Example
• Email Alerts and RSS Feeds
More companies are
now offering
segmented email
alerts that allow users
to select the type of
information they want.
For example, TVI
Pacific* has a
comprehensive
‘Connect with Us’ page
with integrated RSS
feeds so investors can
sign up for news
releases, events and
presentations.
http://tvipacific.com/Investors/Investor-Connect/default.aspx
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To see 5 more examples of this best practice download the whitepaper.
*Q4 Client
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5. Offer Investor Tools & Package Useful Information
• The right investor tools can help to effectively aid communication
and engage users
• The Investor Briefcase is a common feature that lets investors
choose the items they are most interested in and view them in a
summary area
• Some emerging trends include analytical tools and historical lookup
that make it easy to download and analyze key financial information
• A number of companies are also using tools that allow users to sort,
filter and search information
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Offer Investor Tools & Package Useful Information - Example
• Sorting and Filing
We’re seeing a much
greater use of tools
that allow users to sort,
filter and search
information such as
News, Events, and
webcasts by date,
topic, and speaker.
For example, Adidas
Group lets users
search their Events by
topic, month and year.
http://www.adidas-group.com/en/investorrelations/events/default.aspx
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To see 5 more examples of this best practice download the whitepaper.
Download Complete WhitepaperQ4 Whitepaper: IR Website Best Practices - Summary Slides
6. Highlight Social Media & Embed Multimedia Content
• Incremental use of social media for Investor Relations has resulted
in an increase in the number of issuers integrating social media with
their website
• Some companies are posting social media channels on the
homepage of their IR website
• A number of companies are providing links to all of the social
networks via a ‘Stay Connected’, ‘Connect With Us’ or ‘Follow Us’
approach
• Some are also using SlideShare and YouTube to publish a
presentation or video and embedding it on the IR website
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Highlight Social Media & Embed Multimedia Content - Example
• Embed Social Media Content
Providing pictures and
videos can help
investors get a better
understanding of the
underlying business of
the company.
For example, Magma
Energy* makes good
use of multimedia by
displaying videos and
photos of their
operations in action.
These photos and
videos are also
published on social
media sites Flickr and
Vimeo.
http://www.magmaenergycorp.com/Properties/default.aspx
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To see 5 more examples of this best practice download the whitepaper.
*Q4 Client
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Download the Complete Whitepaper!
• See how leading companies use best practices
to separate themselves from their peers and
communicate more effectively with analysts,
shareholders and the financial media.
• Download and learn how to:
– Improve your investor homepage
– Present a more compelling investment proposition
– Organize information better
– Use social media to expand your reach and increase website traffic
• Download the Complete Whitepaper Now!!
Download Complete Whitepaper
Download Complete WhitepaperQ4 Whitepaper: IR Website Best Practices - Summary Slides
About Q4 Web Systems
• Q4 is the fastest growing IR website provider in North America
• Hundreds of public companies choose Q4 for their IR website and online communications because our web based platform is easy to use and helps them achieve results
• Everything contained in this paper is achievable if you choose Q4 for your IR website
Contact Us for a Demo Today!
www.q4websystems.com/ContactUs
Toll Free: 1-877-426-7829 www.q4websystems.com
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– www.q4websystems.com
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– www.q4blog.com
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– www.twitter.com/q4websystems
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– www.facebook.com/q4websystems
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