Investor Relations (IR) Blogs: Exemplary Practices
The following article has been posted on
The Actionable Ideas Blog by
Julie Huang, President of
Kaimen Company.
Corporate investor relations blogs (IR blogs) have been employed as a tool by a handful of publicly-traded companies. The most popular reason for not having an investor relations blog is disclosure. Most companies believe that a press release or a publicly-announced webcast or a 8K filing with the SEC would be enough to establish full and fair disclosure. So where would an investor relations blog stand and why should any company want to do it? Corporate IR blogs are probably not going to replace these traditional corporate disclosure practices. Instead, we see IR blogs as another way for companies to enhance a connection with current and potential investors, employees and business development prospects. Other companies use these blogs as way to bolster their corporate reputation.
Here's a summary of how two publicly-traded companies use their Corporate IR blogs. These two examples are not in the life sciences industry but their practices are worth mentioning:
Mobile TeleSystems OJSC ("MTS"), is the largest mobile phone operator in Russia and the CIS. Together with its subsidiaries, MTS services over 97 million subscribers. MTS trades under the ticker MBT on the New York Stock Exchange and is listed under the symbol MTSI on the Moscow Interbank Currency Exchange (MICEX). MTS has a corporate blog on the Investor Relations (IR) section of its corporate website. It offers good examples on how a corporate IR blog could be. MTS had three months worth of blog posts covering various topics. MTS uses its IR blog to:
1. Present Clips of Media Interviews.
The site posted clips of MTS' President and CEO, Mikhail Shamolin, in his interviews with The Street.com, Sky News, and Global Telecom Business magazine.
2. Recap Analyst/Investor Day.
MTS included recaps with audio recordings of each session and links to investor presentations. This is especially helpful to those who could not attend the event.
3. Post Awards and Honors.
MTS has received several honors for its investor relations practices. MTS uses its blog to announce its receiving IR Magazine Russia and CIS' best overall IR award of 2009. In 2008, MTS received the award for Best IR by a Russian company at the IR Magazine Continental Europe Awards.
4. Add Commentary to the News.
MTS included additional recaps and commentary to earnings and joint projects/deals that were already disclosed.
Dell has a corporate IR blog which is called Dell Shares and uses it like an alternative media source. Dell uses its Corporate IR Blog to
1. Interview with Executives.
Dell Shares Blog hosted a video interview with Peter Altabef, President of Dell Services, to provide his views on the overall IT services opportunity, our new services organization, our approach to providing services, and the financial impact of the Perot acquisition. The blog post directed readers to its full press release, presentation, and conference call. The video with Peter was uploaded/hosted on YouTube and then fed through to the Dell Shares blog site.
2. Summarize Conference Participation and Learnings.
Dell's Director of Investor Relations Robert L. Williams provided a recap of his participation at the SRI in the Rockies event where he met with many socially responsible investors and stakeholders. Dell was a sponsor of the event in support of the SRI at the Rockies' 20th anniversary. Using the Dell Shares blog was a nice way to reiterate Dell's commitment to corporate responsibility.
3. Answer Common FAQs from Investors.
Dell used its Dell Shares Blog to answer a popular question from investors. Dell was asked if the launch of Windows 7 will generate an upgrade cycle for Dell. It was nice to see that Dell went public with its views on how the launch of an operating software might impact its revenues. A post like this will help investors appreciate Dell even more for its thoughtfulness and openness in sharing in great detail their answer to a common question from its investors.
These two companies, MTS and Dell, offered two international perspectives on how IR blogs are being used by publicly-traded companies. Although these two companies are not pharmaceutical or biotechnology companies, these two companies are indeed leading the social media change in investor relations with exemplary blogs that can help encourage investor interest and support that are worth a look.
@2011 Kaimen Company.