Digital IR Communications Best Practices Guide 2018

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Nicholas Stevenson
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1 Digital IR Communications Best Practices Guide 2018 Nasdaq Corporate Solutions

2 Digital IR communications play a key role in connecting with current and potential investors. But as attention spans shrink and competition for attention increases, it s imperative for IROs to think ahead to ensure their message is heard. Smartphones and tablets are the preferred means to convey and access information. It s more important than ever for IROs to think digital and to use responsive technology that adapts to the ways people consume information. In this guide to digital IR CONTENTS 3 Elements of an Effective IR Website How to Deliver More Engaging IR Webcasts Social Media Tips and Trends 6 Ways to Optimize Press Releases communications, you will find the latest best practices in strategy, content, design and technology for a variety of communication channels, from websites to press release distribution. 3 Elements of an Effective IR Website: Design, Technology, Content Investors and analysts rely on your IR website for the latest financials and corporate announcements, but it s become increasingly important to spotlight other facets of your company, from your social responsibility efforts to executive thought leadership. Website visitors are on the move and multitasking, so you need to ensure your IR website can keep pace in a mobile-first world. Design Responsive design helps ensure visitors receive a consistent, positive user experience when accessing your IR website using a variety of devices. A grid or tiled layout incorporating white space is a growing trend in website design, making it easier to highlight featured assets while pushing lower-priority content to secondary pages (such as historical data). A featured content section that includes the latest quarterly results, SEC filings, webcasts, corporate presentations and news releases at the top of your homepage will help increase the visibility of your announcements and simplify navigation for users. Place call-to-action buttons, particularly those helping investors contact your company or sign up for news updates, in a consistent, visible location across your IR website (e.g., along the top navigation area). Use a clean, modern design with large images to evoke an emotional connection with your audience. Interactive slideshows provide variety and engagement. Technology Create an internal review and approval workflow for market-moving news that limits collaboration over and file saving on external hard drives (including USB). Consider a dedicated online collaboration platform which is designed to manage sensitive information. A website built on an open-source platform taps into a community of developers who are constantly creating new modules, identifying and fixing bugs and working to improve the user experience, enabling greater flexibility in building and maintaining the site, and accelerating innovation. Cloud-based infrastructure enables your website to handle millions of hits per month and scale up and down as needed. This kind of support can be especially helpful during high-traffic events such as earnings events. 2

3 Content A corporate profile should include your mission statement and describe what the company stands for and why shareholders and potential investors should care. It also helps support the non-financial tangibles which many investors care about. You can use the corporate profile to highlight your leadership team with management and director bios, videos, and interviews. Financial data is among the most sought-after content on your IR website, so feature your most recent earnings reports, fact sheets and presentations prominently. It s also helpful to provide fundamental data, ownership data and live stock data, and an archive of all materials for reference. A downloadable version of your company s latest earnings report makes it easier for visitors especially those using mobile devices to access financial information. Highlight marketing materials that provide insight into your company s strategy and value proposition to your customers. Think about how you can weave product marketing and thought leadership assets such as videos, guides and infographics into the IR story on your site. Integrate your company s social media feed to give visitors a real-time view into the latest happenings. An active social presence can capture the energy of your brand, keep visitors informed with up-to-theminute posts, and add context to your IR website content. Search engine optimization (SEO) is critical to improve the visibility of your content in search results and extend your reach to potential investors. Start with keyword-rich headlines and website content that align with the terms your audience uses in search. From there, work with your web team to improve crosslinking between your IR website and other sections of your corporate site, backlinking (increasing the number of external sites that link to your IR web pages), and optimizing the tags and descriptions on each page to ensure your IR website is indexed appropriately by search engines. Video Content By 2021, video-on-demand traffic will nearly double and a million minutes of video content will be posted on the internet every second. In fact, the average consumer with an internet connection watches more than 200 videos per month and is 30 percent more likely to share content if it s video*. When selecting which videos to share, consider: Design Message. A meaningful video will hit on key messages that reinforce the corporate story and provide insight into strategy. Duration. Shorter videos with a succinct message are better received than longer videos. On social, most videos are typically no longer than two minutes. Relevance. Ensure the subject matter featured in the video is relevant to your audience, with specific takeaways or action items. Presentation. Embed video to keep visitors on your site where you can serve up complementary content. HTML5 players and HTTP Live Streaming (HLS) can ensure your video is optimized for a variety of devices and connectivity. *Source: Cisco Visual Networking Index: Forecast and Methodology,

How to Deliver More Engaging IR Webcasts With the introduction of HTML5 players and HLS, the webcast experience for viewers of earnings, Investor Day and AGM events is better than ever.

4 How to Deliver More Engaging IR Webcasts With the introduction of HTML5 players and HLS, the webcast experience for viewers of earnings, Investor Day and AGM events is better than ever. As the video trend continues to grow, companies realize the benefits of featuring executive teams front and center to improve trust and engagement. Engagement/Interactivity Video is being used more by IROs who understand the benefits of personalizing their executive communications, adding a greater human element to IR events, and improving engagement with remote audiences. Today s webcast technology, which features adaptive streaming and HD-quality broadcasting, has vastly enhanced the video experience of years ago. Foster discussion with Ask a Question, survey and polling features. Particularly for non-earnings events like shareholder meetings, giving your webcast audience a platform to ask questions and submit feedback is a great opportunity to increase participation and create a dialogue. Technology Responsive HTML5 webcast players adjust your broadcast to the optimal size and layout of each user s device, from desktop to mobile. HTTP Live Streaming (HLS) detects a user s available bandwidth and automatically adjusts the stream to avoid interruption. Rather than facing the dreaded buffering wheel when dealing with a weak signal, the user will see a low-res video until the signal becomes stronger. Embed your webcast into your IR website to create a seamless user experience. Keeping your audience on your site can encourage them to explore related content after the event. Monitor analytics to get important insights into who joined your webcast (investor vs. analyst vs. journalist), how long they participated, and how engaged they were (e.g., did they ask a question or respond to a poll). 4

5 Social Media Tips and Trends Social media can be a powerful platform on which to tell your company s stories and monitor the conversations about your company in real time. Whether your IR department has already embraced social media or is still deciding the best way to join the conversation, consider these tips: Ask your internal experts about how to best weave IR-related content into your social strategy. Your CorpComm leaders will provide advice on what messages and content are best and how your company s social accounts are organized. Drive traffic to your IR website. Include IR website links on all relevant social posts, such as major changes in company leadership or marketmoving news. Direct people to key digital assets, such as financial data, earnings reports and presentations. Publish announcements and promote events. Use social posts to highlight upcoming announcements and IR-related content, but remember this approach does not meet regulatory requirements for disclosure. Monitor perception. Pay close attention to the social conversations about your company. Use this to inform your IR communications strategy. Integrate social media feeds on your IR website. If your company has an active Twitter account, add a widget to give visitors a real-time view from product-related posts to thought leadership. If your social platforms aren t updated daily, think twice about giving the feed real estate. 28% of IR practitioners now make social media part of their strategy, according to a recent survey by the National Investor Relations Institute (NIRI). 77% of investors and analysts have investigated an issue based on information viewed on digital and social media, according to a Brunswick Group survey. 5-Step IR Social Media Check-up 1. Assess your goals Are you looking to build awareness through social media, engage in a conversation or promote an upcoming event? Proceed with caution when it comes to two-way engagement, as it comes with additional regulatory risk. 2. Collaborate with corporate communications Get together with your CorpComm colleagues to determine how to weave IR content into the pipeline, such as product launches and plant openings, to interest investors. 3. Make sharing easy Make sure you ve added like and share buttons to your press releases, blog posts, reports and videos. Empower your audience to amplify your messages. 4. Consider guest posts Find an influencer or analyst to create a regular stream of content to spotlight the expertise of your subject matter experts, increase the visibility of your IR website, and keep visitors returning between corporate announcements. 5. Create posting guidelines What are your social media do's and don'ts? What is appropriate for social posting, and what should be reserved for the IR website? Make sure everyone involved in posting IR content is trained on disclosure rules. 5

6 6 Ways to Optimize Press Releases Though the type of information it provides may be predictable, an IR press release can be optimized for its audience beyond the financial community. To help ensure your release has the greatest impact, pay attention to these features: Headline Write a clear, concise, and keyword-rich headline, and include two subheads that summarize the news to make it easier for outlets to use your words in their own news summaries. Headlines and quotes that are verbose force journalists to interpret your news in their own words which can lead to a gap between your message and how it s conveyed to the marketplace. Language Use simple language and lists. Write in a conversational manner but get right to the point. Your audience wants quick access to the numbers and drivers, especially in an earnings release or money market transaction. Bullet points of need-to-know information make it easy for a reader to identify the key points. Website Links Ensure you have links to your IR website, webcasts and multimedia content (e.g., high-resolution images, logos and videos). Social Media Channels Link to your corporate social media channels to offer access to what your company is promoting for the moment, corporate news and events. Translations Consider translating your release to accommodate the regional preferences of investors and media in markets across the globe. Translations are more common in Europe and Asia than they are in North American markets. Experienced Editors Tap the talent of your provider s experienced editors who can help with proofreading and formatting. Write in a conversational manner but get right to the point. By optimizing your release for search engines, you can help increase the discoverability and reach of your financial news. Your Partner for Digital IR Communications Let us help you tell your investment story and meet regulatory requirements with a suite of powerful communications solutions that target the right audiences, reach across multiple channels, and monitor the impact of your messages. Websites and Newsrooms Webcasting Press Release Distribution and Regulatory Filing This communication being is provided to you by Corporate Solutions, a business of Nasdaq, Inc. and certain of its subsidiaries (collectively, Nasdaq ), for informational purposes only. Nasdaq makes no representation or warranty with respect to this communication or such content and expressly disclaims any implied warranty under law. At the time of publication, the information herein was believed to be accurate, however, such information is subject to change without notice and Nasdaq makes no representation or warranty as to the correctness or completeness of the information. Nothing herein shall constitute a recommendation, solicitation, invitation, inducement, promotion or offer by Nasdaq for the purchase or sale of any investment product, nor shall this material be construed in any way as investment, legal, or tax advice or as a recommendation, reference or endorsement by Nasdaq. Any content not owned or controlled by Nasdaq is provided for your convenience and information only and is not an endorsement by Nasdaq of such third party content. Any use of, and/or interactions with third party content, is strictly between you and the applicable third party in all respects, including, without limitation, compliance with such applicable third party s terms of use and privacy policies. Nasdaq shall have no liability, obligation, or responsibility for any such third party content or activities by you relating thereto. Nasdaq, the Nasdaq logo and Nasdaq Corporate Solutions are registered and unregistered trademarks, or service marks, of Nasdaq, Inc. or its subsidiaries in the U.S. and other countries. Nasdaq, Inc All rights reserved Q18 6

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