The summer means one thing: you’ve hit the midway point of the year. And although it may seem like you have plenty of time until the end of the year, Q4 will be here before you know it.
At this halfway point to Q4, it’s an opportune moment to check in with your investor relations platform to assess your performance. In particular, your IR website could use some polish.
As an IR tool that should never collect dust, your investor relations website needs constant attention to ensure you showcase investor-grabbing information that meets compliance. Here’s what your site needs to remain relevant today.
Accessible Content
First and foremost, you need to make sure your IR site is both inclusive and compliant. In 2023 and beyond, there are no excuses. By now, there are extensive accessibility laws and regulations instructing investor relations teams on how to curate their virtual spaces.
Roughly 1.3 billion people have disabilities, according to the World Health Organization. That works out to be about 20 percent of adults living in North America.
In other words, a good chunk of your audience may face challenges navigating your site if you don’t tweak your UX with a range of visual, auditory, motor, and cognitive disabilities in mind.
Here are two indispensable resources helping you understand your responsibility:
- Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG)
- European Standard for Digital Accessibility (EN 301 549)
You can also find accessible investor relations solutions from consulting firms that design accessible website templates. Look for consulting firms that can boast a partnership with eSSENTIAL Accessibility, an auditing service that ensures virtual spaces conform with the WCAG as well as local disability legislation.
An ESG Sister Site
Sustainable funds had an explosive growth spurt over the pandemic, accounting for one-third of all global assets in 2021. With no signs of stopping, Bloomberg forecasts ESG funds could surpass $41 trillion by Q4 2023 and $50 trillion by 2025.
As sustainable and ethical funds gain traction on the market, investors demand to see transparent ESG disclosures from nearly all IPOs and publicly listed companies. Those that buck the trend could expect a fate like Exxon Mobil and Chevron, whose boardrooms fell to activist takeovers when they failed to adopt sustainable policies.
Even if you’re willing to tempt fate, the SEC is in the process of establishing new ESG disclosure regulations. Once these go through, you’ll have to report how your operations affect the climate.
With such a focus on sustainability, you may want to create a dedicated ESG IR website. This ESG website gives you space to share your initiatives in detail. Speak with an ESG consultant to understand how you can underscore your eco value proposition in a branded and compliant destination.
Integrate Social Media on Your IR Site
No business should be a stranger to social media in 2023. Your IPO or publicly listed company should already have all your socials running consistently, giving investors and analysts multiple channels to engage and interact with your brand.
Take this, however, as a sign that you need to streamline integration, making sure your socials and website work in perfect tandem. The following social media integration tips can help you increase engagement with your investor relations site:
- Include a social media post on your pages with a clear call to action, like “Follow us on Social Media”
- Installing a Twitter timeline widget so that investors can follow your account and retweet content without leaving your site
- Create content policies to ensure your social team creates dynamic, sharable quotes with digestible infographics and quotes pulled from press releases, reports, and capital markets events
The Takeaway
Your IR website is a living, breathing thing that evolves with time. Take this as an opportunity to check in with your site, making sure it’s still relevant to today’s investors.
