Not following orders

When you look at the IR website of Türk Telekom Group, you get a true sense of what is possible online: with visual impact, interactive features and contact information that is easy to find, the company sets the standard for user-friendly – and useful – IR web tools.

A clean design and salient structure facilitate both aimless exploration and the quick location of specific information.

Türk Telekom’s IR website demonstrates a commitment to transparency at the most fundamental level: beyond simply making information available, the company actually helps you find it.

At the same time, it has committed to providing an enjoyable and productive user experience, setting the standard for web-based IR communications around the globe. It also invites direct feedback from visitors about their satisfaction with the website.

But not all IR websites are equal. After thumbing through a number of them, including those of some of the most prestigious companies in the world, the similarities soon outnumber the minor differences.

Even Google, winner of this year’s IR Magazine US Award for best use of technology for IR, offers little in the way of extended functionality and tools.

It’s clear from this cursory view that institutional investors and analysts have set the bar very low for the IR community. They neither want nor expect much, one can gather, making substantial investment in IR websites at best unnecessary and at worst a waste of money – so when you look at Türk Telekom Group, you start to wonder why the company has made such a commitment to its site.

You can do better

The answer may seem counterintuitive, but it fits: ignore the stated interests of investors and analysts. Developing a robust IR website can help your company engage with investors more effectively, regardless of what they say.

Take a look at what is available, and you’ll soon understand the tangible advantages that accompany enhanced online IR.

There are a number of reasons for the lack of differentiation between corporate IR websites. For some companies, quite simply, a bare-bones online program reflects their commitment to shareholder communications; it isn’t a priority for everyone.

Others seek to address the basics of compliance, while keeping expense to a minimum. Since basic needs are more or less uniform within compliance jurisdictions, working to this standard naturally leads to a pervasive ‘sameness’ across the sites of a given region.

Demetrios Skalkotos, senior vice president of global corporate solutions at NASDAQ OMX, says as much. Referring to Shareholder.com’s client base of 1,500 firms, he notes that budget is a considerable driver of simple, straightforward IR websites that don’t offer additional features for users.

This doesn’t mean more isn’t possible, however, even with the tools already available to IROs from Shareholder.com and similar providers. ‘The technology is available,’ Skalkotos says. To take advantage of it, he explains, IROs need to see it as a way to ‘differentiate themselves from the 42,000 other [publicly traded] companies around the globe.’

In Europe, particularly, Skalkotos sees video as an area of increasing differentiation, a trend consistent with other corporate communication disciplines, including marketing, around the world.

The ‘continuous integration of video content’ is more prevalent in Europe, but it is gaining momentum in the US, with firms like PrecisionIR launching rich-media portal products that companies can use to communicate their stories more effectively to investors with greater visual impact.

The strength of video is undeniable, especially given that, ‘as human beings, we’re visually focused,’ says Skalkotos. He sees IROs becoming more proactive in driving the use of video content.

The key, especially to minimize costs, is to pull video from other areas of the company and reuse (or repurpose) it for the IR website.

‘It’s really about aggregating and using more of the video content [that has been produced for other reasons],’ Skalkotos adds.

Of course, budget remains a constraint: without committing sufficient capital to building an IR website, the range of features available is, in effect, irrelevant.

And clearly budget includes the time an IR team is allowed to commit to the deployment of its websites. Even if the cost of video and other forms of content is too high for IROs, small investments in other areas can yield substantial returns.

In it for yourself

But while additional features such as video can lead to a better end-user experience and a more informed visitor, the value still isn’t immediately evident. If investors and analysts don’t want more, why would an IRO lobby the CFO for the resources to invest in them? Rather than think of the benefit to your IR constituency, think of yourself. Let your natural greed prevail, and feed your hunger for information. 

One of the hidden truths of the web is that what people say and what they do often have nothing to do with one another. Every time an investor or analyst clicks on one of your links, he or she is telling you something with the sort of honesty that could never be concealed. You have the opportunity to capitalize on this, and you don’t have to spend a dime doing so. 

The solution is a web analytics platform. These online solutions provide a wealth of information about who is visiting your website and what they are viewing. Shareholder.com has analytics tools built in, and free tools, such as Google Analytics, are widely available for those without analytics capabilities built into their IR websites.

Already, IROs are taking a look at web analytics. ‘They all want to know who’s coming to their site and what they are looking at,’ says Skalkotos – not to mention where they are coming from.

The information about which visitors are viewing what can be particularly helpful in targeting investors, understanding their interests and tailoring both online and offline messaging to them. In some cases, IROs present these analytics to the CFO or board of directors and use them to help plan non-deal roadshows. 

Useful, important information is waiting for you to take advantage of it. With little (or no) incremental investment, you can get a sense of what your investors and analysts find interesting, and put those data to work for tangible returns.

This is only part of what’s possible, though. Increase the content you offer on your website and you can start getting the intelligence you want from your audience – even answers to specific questions.

Drive the conversation

There’s just one problem with that: content is costly. An IR blog, for example, calls for regular articles that take time to produce. The demands on an IRO already leave little time for more work, and engaging freelancers means a hard-dollar cost. Moreover, the conventional wisdom around IR websites basically cuts increased content production from consideration. 

This sentiment was summarized by an IRO at a recent IR Magazine Think Tank. ‘Most people just look at the stock price,’ he declared. If this is true, does it make sense to invest in anything else?

Perhaps the problem is that investors and analysts might not know what they are missing. By adding regular content to your site – text, video or charts – you can satisfy latent demand and generate more intelligence for use in IR planning and execution.

So what content should you produce? Put yourself (and your company) first. Think about the issues affecting the company and its industry. Use this as a de facto editorial calendar for videos of your C-suite, blog posts and other content.

After producing your content, return to your analytics and watch what people click and view. Take a look at the viewing of specific content, and try to identify any trends. 

Through this process, you’ll be able to develop a more complete profile of the investors and analysts who are interested in your company. The intelligence you gain can provide value all the way to your board of directors.

What’s more, the response to different content will show you what you should produce in the future: more on the topics that resonate with your audience, less on those that don’t get much attention. 

Put your needs first. The generally praiseworthy notion of focusing on your investors and analysts when developing an IR website may actually cost you an edge in the market. 

Through the use of rich-media features on your website, targeted content and web analytics tools, you will be able to gain valuable information that can be used in one-on-one meetings, roadshows and regulatory filings. Instead of listening to your target viewers, watch them – and see what their online activity tells you.