The post-Covid phase has drastically changed every industry. It was not ideal for businesses to grow, yet many emerged and grabbed the opportunities to be on the pivot. With that being said, the Investor Relations community had to embrace innovative technologies and digital trends to be creative and analytical in every aspect. The investor relations website was one of the platforms that had to catch up with the trends and adjust accordingly after the pandemic. A separate section for Webinars, webcasts, virtual events, online meetings with investors, etc., on corporate websites, is a result of a pandemic to keep in touch with the stakeholders and investors. According to the study, 59% of the IROs say their Investor Relation website impacts their IR efforts.
Data-Driven Digital Investor Relations
Lately, the data analysis approach has changed from traditional spreadsheets into digitally meticulous ways. Investor Relations have been significantly shifted to streaming-data solutions as their data needs to be available and easily accessible to everyone. It wouldn’t be surprising how beneficial it is for companies to have a transparent relationship with their investors and stakeholders through live-stream data analysis on digital platforms (like Investor Relations Website). Anatomization of a website can provide a better look at the targeted audience, communication barriers, and digital presence influence.
Digital Data Analytics
The impact of an Investor Relations website traffic is huge because it provides information about the visitors. Several tools are available in the market (Google Analytics, Alexa, Similar Web) that help analyze the information about the potential investors, where they are located, how often they visit your website, what are they actually looking for, the number of unique visits, and engagements, etc. As the saying goes, “You can only manage what you can measure.” Once you’ve measured all these analytics, it would be easy to edge your competitors to provide data, answers, content, profitable prospects, and luring potential investors.
Live Webcasting
Since the pandemic, the world has shifted to virtual interaction. Live webcasting, webinars, live-stream presentations, and virtual meetings have now become an essential part of Investor Relations as they need to discuss profit prospects, important company affairs, and regulation of data on a daily basis. Virtual events are critical for technologies and innovations, especially for Investor Relations to digitally evolve and adapt data-streaming solutions.
Digital Presence
Digital Presence is a way to interact and engage with investors. A solid and appealing digital presentation in the shape of an Investor Relations website can create a significant impact on your IR efforts. Content Management System (CMS) for Investor Relations can help create, manage, and edit the outlook of customized websites. Moreover, social media platforms are now the marketing hub for services and solutions. Setting up digital profiles on high standards can lead to investors approaching your company.
Embracing Technology and Innovations
As the world is evolving, new realities are coming to life. Especially after the COVID, it was needed to adapt to new technologies and innovations. For Investor Relations, it has become much easier to communicate and meet virtually with shareholders, retail investors, portfolio managers, analysts, executives, and the financial community. Embracing the technology saves time and money with an increment in engagements because one necessarily doesn’t have to travel but can quickly join meetings, conferences, or webinars virtually.
Data Automation and AI
Data automation for the Investor Relations website is the process of filing reports, stock prices, quarterly reports, etc., complying with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) automatically by the parameters set not to interrupt any policies rather than manually uploading every file. As the data is being scrapped from different platforms, automation provides it accurate and timely for the investors. On the other hand, Natural Language Processing (NLP) has been a part of the community for years now, and it is improving day by day. Artificial Intelligence integrated with market surveillance data can be a powerful tool in the future.
Focus on CSR and ESG
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Environmental, Social, and Governance are the essential part of Corporate Investor Relations. Corporate Social Responsibility indicates the companies’ sustainability, policies, and responsibility regarding employees, consumers, and investors. While, Environmental, Social, and Governance is priority factor for many investors to know what the company has been doing in terms of the Environmental and Social community. It reflects the investors if your company’s practices are worth their investment or not. For an Investor Relations website, it is a must factor to be transparent with their investors regarding CSR and ESG.
Impacts of COVID on Investor Relations
COVID has impacted every industry and business in different aspects. Some of them were financially affected, while others by the barriers of communication. For Investor Relations, it was both, but it managed to emerge and adapt technologies in the chaotic period to overcome the consequences of pandemics. Since the COVID, either the restrictions were banning or limiting traveling. Still, IROs and investors made progress by shifting Data analysis to live-streaming data. The meetings and conferences became virtual, and the communication gap was filled by accommodating new digital concepts. Investor Relations websites have played a significant role for investors to be timely and accurately informed about every critical affair of the company, even in COVID.
Conclusion
The Digital Investor Relations trends have changed post covid and will permanently impact the future. Due to circumstances, embracing technologies and innovations has become a part of Investor Relations. It has positively impacted companies and businesses after prioritizing digital media and marketing platforms to grow and transparently deliver data through automation. Investor Relations websites now have a strong influence digital presence of companies.
