Online Investor Presence

Everyone has a website, right? But does everyone have a consider online presence for investors?

Whats the difference?

A website is a place where you put stuff. Brochureware, directory information, news, reports, contact details. So that when people turn up at the site they might be able to find what they want.

An online investor presence understands the online touchpoints used by investors in various stages of their investor journey. It presents different messages in different places, and pulls traffic to the website, where their information needs at that stage of the journey are fulfilled quickly, easily and on time.

It then encourages them to take the next step on their journey, to become a committed shareholder.

Here’s some theoretical examples of the difference:

1. Let’s say an investor knows nothing about the company – not even that it exists – but is interested in say oil and gas in the Philippines. A website might have the information there if the investor can find the company, find the web site, and then successfully navigate to the page containing the information. A strong online presence has arranged the SEO (search engine optimisation) on the website to make sure that the projects page about Philippines oil and gas responds well to the keywords most likely to be used in searches this type of person uses.
2. Someone on Twitter sees a negative tweet. A corporate website might have the answer on it if the Twitter member bothers to look there and can navigate easily to the news. An online investor presence will have a timely earlier tweet with a link to the particular new announcement on the website, so there are facts to start the conversation, instead of the uninformed opinion of the critic.
3. A shareholder wants to change their address. A website might have the name of the share registry, or the shareholder might have to call the company to find out. An online investor presence will provide a great link directly to the registry’s online services, and maybe some downloadable forms.
4. A shareholder wants to know where and when the AGM will be this year. A website might have the ASX announcement of the date of the AGM somewhere in the announcement list. An online presence will have a calendar entry the responds to a google search of ticker-code + “AGM” and give a downloadable diary entry with date time and place of the meeting, or even a whole dedicated page about the AGM highlighted with a tile on the home page.

We can’t anticipate every possible need of every investor at every touchpoint at every stage of their journey. But we can seek to address the main ones first and then keep adding to the online presence as funds and technology permits. It becomes a journey in itself.

Or we can put up a few pages of brochureware on a website, guess, and hope.

And remember, investors don’t know whether they are supposed to behave differently because they are “retail” or fund managers – they are just people, almost certainly with a web connected device in their hands.

At IRM we have a deep understanding of the investor journey. We know which pages investors want, and why sometimes they don’t find them, and what companies have done in the past to make it better. We also understand budgets are limited, and can provide best value for any size budget.

We help listed companies deliver an online investor presence that reaches investors at the online touchpoints they use. We understand the success factors involved in making it work.

Contact us today to upgrade your investor website from “just a website” to an effective investor relations tool fitting with a whole online investor presence.