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	<title>Q4 Blog &#187; Best Practices</title>
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		<title>Q4 Partners with StockTwits to Offer Public Companies Social Media Management and Distribution</title>
		<link>http://www.q4blog.com/2012/01/31/q4-partners-with-stocktwits-to-offer-public-companies-social-media-management-and-distribution/</link>
		<comments>http://www.q4blog.com/2012/01/31/q4-partners-with-stocktwits-to-offer-public-companies-social-media-management-and-distribution/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 31 Jan 2012 13:03:53 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Sheryl Joyce</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Best Practices]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Featured]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Financial blogs]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Partners]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Product]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[capital markets]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Social Media]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[StockTwits]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.q4blog.com/?p=5788</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[We are pleased to announce that Q4 has partnered with StockTwits to address the increasing demand of establishing direct communication and engagement between public companies and their key stakeholders. The partnership will provide Q4&#8242;s best-in-class corporate IR website and social media solutions and integrate StockTwits platform for sharing financial information and news directly with investors, and leveraging a broad distribution network where messages are disseminated across the financial web.
Howard Linzdon, co-founder and ceo of StockTwits had this to say about the collaboration:
Public companies are trying to find ways to connect ...


Related posts:<ol><li><a href='http://www.q4blog.com/2011/04/07/q4-partners-with-tmx-equicom-to-deliver-ir-websites-and-social-media-solutions-to-tsx-tsx-v-listed-companies/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Q4 Partners with TMX Equicom to Deliver IR Websites and Social Media Solutions to TSX &#038; TSX-V Listed Companies'>Q4 Partners with TMX Equicom to Deliver IR Websites and Social Media Solutions to TSX &#038; TSX-V Listed Companies</a> <small>We are pleased to announce that Q4 has forged a...</small></li><li><a href='http://www.q4blog.com/2011/06/08/q4-integrates-stocktwits-and-expands-real-time-social-distribution/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Q4 Integrates StockTwits and Expands Real-Time Social Distribution'>Q4 Integrates StockTwits and Expands Real-Time Social Distribution</a> <small>Q4 is the only IR vendor that integrates with key...</small></li><li><a href='http://www.q4blog.com/2009/06/11/slideshare-partners-with-q4-web-systems-to-help-bring-social-media-to-investor-relations/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: SlideShare Partners with Q4 Web Systems to help Bring Social Media to Investor Relations'>SlideShare Partners with Q4 Web Systems to help Bring Social Media to Investor Relations</a> <small>Yesterday, a press release was issued announcing that SlideShare and...</small></li></ol>

Related posts brought to you by <a href='http://mitcho.com/code/yarpp/'>Yet Another Related Posts Plugin</a>.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://www.q4blog.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/STlogo.jpg"><img class="alignright size-full wp-image-5792" style="margin-left: 6px; margin-right: 6px;" title="STlogo" src="http://www.q4blog.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/STlogo.jpg" alt="" width="150" height="150" /></a>We are pleased to announce that Q4 has partnered with <a title="StockTwits" href="http://stocktwits.com/">StockTwits</a> to address the increasing demand of establishing direct communication and engagement between public companies and their key stakeholders. The partnership will provide Q4&#8242;s best-in-class corporate IR website and social media solutions and integrate StockTwits platform for sharing financial information and news directly with investors, and leveraging a broad distribution network where messages are disseminated across the financial web.</p>
<p>Howard Linzdon, co-founder and ceo of StockTwits had this to say about the collaboration:</p>
<blockquote><p>Public companies are trying to find ways to connect directly with investors, analysts and other key constituencies as the number of potential communications channels expand dramatically. IR professionals at public companies are increasingly facing challenges in reaching all their key audiences in the most effective way, with limited resources. Our partnership with Q4 provides simple, time saving access to our solutions to public companies using Q4 products.</p></blockquote>
<p>Darrell Heaps, Q4&#8242;s ceo added:</p>
<blockquote><p>By integrating StockTwits Investor Communications Solutions, we help IR professionals build stronger relationships with their stakeholders across the financial web. We are a leader in optimizing investor relations websites and social media strategies for effective communication, and using StockTwits products has become a critical ‘best practice’ in helping companies attract and engage investors.</p></blockquote>
<p>Companies such as <a title="Teekay Corporation" href="http://www.teekay.com/">Teekay Corporation</a>, <a title="Ryder System" href="http://canada.ryder.com/">Ryder System, Inc.</a>, <a title="Shuffle Master" href="http://www.shufflemaster.com/index.php?option=com_content&amp;view=article&amp;id=338&amp;Itemid=2">Shuffle Master Inc</a>, and <a title="Vical Inc" href="http://www.vical.com/">Vical Inc</a>., all utilize Q4’s customizable IR website system, as well as StockTwits’ Investor Communications Solutions to optimize investor relations activities.</p>
<p>The video below shows how Q4&#8242;s platform integrates with StockTwits:<br />
<iframe src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/24783819?title=0&amp;byline=0&amp;portrait=0" width="400" height="225" frameborder="0" webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen></iframe>
<p><a href="http://vimeo.com/24783819">Q4 Web StockTwits Integration</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/user3190072">Q4 Web Systems Inc.</a> on <a href="http://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>.</p>
<p>You can read the release in its entirety here:<br />
<a href="http://www.marketwire.com/press-release/stocktwits-q4-web-systems-partner-address-growing-demand-direct-communication-between-1613032.htm">http://mwne.ws/zHVzvq</a></p>


<p>Related posts:<ol><li><a href='http://www.q4blog.com/2011/04/07/q4-partners-with-tmx-equicom-to-deliver-ir-websites-and-social-media-solutions-to-tsx-tsx-v-listed-companies/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Q4 Partners with TMX Equicom to Deliver IR Websites and Social Media Solutions to TSX &#038; TSX-V Listed Companies'>Q4 Partners with TMX Equicom to Deliver IR Websites and Social Media Solutions to TSX &#038; TSX-V Listed Companies</a> <small>We are pleased to announce that Q4 has forged a...</small></li><li><a href='http://www.q4blog.com/2011/06/08/q4-integrates-stocktwits-and-expands-real-time-social-distribution/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Q4 Integrates StockTwits and Expands Real-Time Social Distribution'>Q4 Integrates StockTwits and Expands Real-Time Social Distribution</a> <small>Q4 is the only IR vendor that integrates with key...</small></li><li><a href='http://www.q4blog.com/2009/06/11/slideshare-partners-with-q4-web-systems-to-help-bring-social-media-to-investor-relations/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: SlideShare Partners with Q4 Web Systems to help Bring Social Media to Investor Relations'>SlideShare Partners with Q4 Web Systems to help Bring Social Media to Investor Relations</a> <small>Yesterday, a press release was issued announcing that SlideShare and...</small></li></ol></p>
<p>Related posts brought to you by <a href='http://mitcho.com/code/yarpp/'>Yet Another Related Posts Plugin</a>.</p>]]></content:encoded>
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		<title>Best Practices for conducting one-on-one meetings with the buy-side</title>
		<link>http://www.q4blog.com/2012/01/27/best-practices-for-conducting-one-on-one-meetings-with-the-buy-side/</link>
		<comments>http://www.q4blog.com/2012/01/27/best-practices-for-conducting-one-on-one-meetings-with-the-buy-side/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 27 Jan 2012 18:57:27 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Sheryl Joyce</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Best Practices]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[buy-side]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Featured]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[investor relations]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Transparency]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.q4blog.com/?p=5772</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[An effective IR strategy has many components.  Such as setting measurable short and long-term goals and objectives and developing strategic messages and tactics to deliver the program.  The plan must also be monitored to measure its effectiveness and fine-tuned as needed.
Short and long-term goals and objectives can include identifying investors who are interested in your sector and/or known to have invested in your peers to meet with over the course of the year. (Although making sure you also meet with your current investors should also be a priority).
Okay, so you ...


Related posts:<ol><li><a href='http://www.q4blog.com/2011/07/19/new-rivel-research-buy-side-perspectives-on-best-practice-ir-websites/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: New Rivel Research: Buy-side Perspectives on Best Practice IR Websites'>New Rivel Research: Buy-side Perspectives on Best Practice IR Websites</a> <small>Rivel Research is well-known for their ability to gather, analyze...</small></li><li><a href='http://www.q4blog.com/2010/02/24/rivel-research-transparency-key-factor-in-buy-side-definition-of-superb-ir/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Rivel Research: Transparency Key Factor in Buy-side Definition of Superb IR'>Rivel Research: Transparency Key Factor in Buy-side Definition of Superb IR</a> <small>Earlier this year, I wrote a blog post that recounted...</small></li><li><a href='http://www.q4blog.com/2009/10/28/ir-best-practice-get-to-know-the-buy-side/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: IR Best Practice: Get to know the Buy-Side'>IR Best Practice: Get to know the Buy-Side</a> <small>Recently, I responded to a discussion on LinkedIN entitled “Required...</small></li></ol>

Related posts brought to you by <a href='http://mitcho.com/code/yarpp/'>Yet Another Related Posts Plugin</a>.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://www.q4blog.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/one-on-one-time.jpg"><img class="alignright size-full wp-image-5785" title="one-on-one-time" src="http://www.q4blog.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/one-on-one-time.jpg" alt="" width="150" height="150" /></a>An effective IR strategy has many components.  Such as setting measurable short and long-term goals and objectives and developing strategic messages and tactics to deliver the program.  The plan must also be monitored to measure its effectiveness and fine-tuned as needed.</p>
<p>Short and long-term goals and objectives can include identifying investors who are interested in your sector and/or known to have invested in your peers to meet with over the course of the year. (Although making sure you also meet with your current investors should also be a priority).</p>
<p>Okay, so you (the IRO) have your targeted list of investors, now what? What follows are some thoughts to help you and your management team make the most out of the one-on-one meeting.  I’d like to thank <a title="Rivel Research Group" href="http://www.rivel.com/">Rivel Research Group</a> as these ideas are derived from their best practice reports based on topics of interest from members of the <a title="Rivel Intelligence Council" href="http://www.rivel.com/our-programs/2-our-program/39-intelligence-council">Rivel Intelligence Council</a> (comprised of senior level investor communications executives) and assessed by buy-side investment professionals in both the US and Europe.</p>
<p>Adequately preparing the management team is essential. It may seem obvious, but having a discussion about Reg FD is important – as this meeting should not be used to divulge new information.</p>
<p>Another effective way to prepare management is compiling a list of questions and conducting a mock Q&amp;A. As the IRO, you should work with management to come up with a list. It can also be useful to go through transcripts from previous events such as an earnings call to ensure a good sampling.</p>
<p>Be sure to include tough questions and how you will handle them if asked.  It is important that management not get defensive if asked difficult questions and be conscious of not sounding too rehearsed. As a one-on-one may do more harm than good if management comes across as overconfident, hard selling or as setting overly aggressive goals.</p>
<p>You should also take into consideration who you are meeting with and tailor the information accordingly.  For example, if this is a new investor, you may want to give a bit more detail around certain areas than you would for someone you have met with before. That said, don’t get caught up in too many details – stay focused on high-level details such as the ‘how’ behind the strategy.</p>
<p>Insight and transparency into growth drivers and key business goals are preferred over a regurgitation of previously disclosed information shared via press releases and on earnings calls.</p>
<p>A decision should also be made as to whether using a powerpoint presentation to supplement the discussion will be useful.  If you do decide to use a presentation, make sure the slides have minimal text and instead whenever possible, use visuals. Doing so, will help alleviate the temptation to read directly from the slides.</p>
<p>If it’s possible, having an Internet connection will allow management to access the company’s website to show a video or other asset that is housed on there on the fly.</p>
<p>Bear in mind, that whatever additional materials you choose, that they are helpful and relevant to the discussion. Also have a few printed copies and/or a softcopy on a usb key to leave behind – just in case.</p>
<p>Lastly, if there is anything that comes out of the discussion that needs to be followed up on, do so.  For example, providing supplemental material to help address an unanswered question. It also doesn&#8217;t hurt to send a follow up note to thank them for the meeting.</p>
<p>The buy-side values one-on-one meetings as it gives them the opportunity to have direct interaction with senior management.  Companies can maximize this experience by considering some of the ideas presented above.</p>


<p>Related posts:<ol><li><a href='http://www.q4blog.com/2011/07/19/new-rivel-research-buy-side-perspectives-on-best-practice-ir-websites/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: New Rivel Research: Buy-side Perspectives on Best Practice IR Websites'>New Rivel Research: Buy-side Perspectives on Best Practice IR Websites</a> <small>Rivel Research is well-known for their ability to gather, analyze...</small></li><li><a href='http://www.q4blog.com/2010/02/24/rivel-research-transparency-key-factor-in-buy-side-definition-of-superb-ir/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Rivel Research: Transparency Key Factor in Buy-side Definition of Superb IR'>Rivel Research: Transparency Key Factor in Buy-side Definition of Superb IR</a> <small>Earlier this year, I wrote a blog post that recounted...</small></li><li><a href='http://www.q4blog.com/2009/10/28/ir-best-practice-get-to-know-the-buy-side/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: IR Best Practice: Get to know the Buy-Side'>IR Best Practice: Get to know the Buy-Side</a> <small>Recently, I responded to a discussion on LinkedIN entitled “Required...</small></li></ol></p>
<p>Related posts brought to you by <a href='http://mitcho.com/code/yarpp/'>Yet Another Related Posts Plugin</a>.</p>]]></content:encoded>
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		<title>IR Website and Social Media Best Practices</title>
		<link>http://www.q4blog.com/2011/12/15/ir-website-and-social-media-best-practices/</link>
		<comments>http://www.q4blog.com/2011/12/15/ir-website-and-social-media-best-practices/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 15 Dec 2011 20:04:24 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Sheryl Joyce</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Best Practices]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[IR Websites]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Social Media]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Twitter]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.q4blog.com/?p=5323</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Due to popular demand, you can now browse and download all of our whitepapers, webinars and presentations from our ‘Best Practices’ section on our website: http://www.q4websystems.com/Best-Practices/default.aspx.
&#160;

Using the social media publishing capabilities of Q4 Web, our market leading website CMS and social media platform, we tagged the videos and presentations so we could seamlessly integrate the content from Vimeo and SlideShare into our website.
We have some new and exciting whitepapers and webinars in store for 2012 – and we’ll update this section accordingly.


Related posts:SUMMER ’09 LAUNCHED – builds on IR Best ...


Related posts:<ol><li><a href='http://www.q4blog.com/2009/06/08/summer-%e2%80%9909-launched-%e2%80%93-builds-on-ir-best-practices-and-gives-companies-a-competitive-advantage-in-today%e2%80%99s-capital-markets/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: SUMMER ’09 LAUNCHED – builds on IR Best Practices and gives Companies a Competitive Advantage in today’s capital markets'>SUMMER ’09 LAUNCHED – builds on IR Best Practices and gives Companies a Competitive Advantage in today’s capital markets</a> <small> Read the full release!  We officially launched our Summer...</small></li><li><a href='http://www.q4blog.com/2011/03/24/webinar-replay-and-transcript-ir-website-best-practices-to-optimize-your-online-presence/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Webinar Replay and Transcript: IR Website Best Practices to Optimize your Online Presence'>Webinar Replay and Transcript: IR Website Best Practices to Optimize your Online Presence</a> <small>On March 22, Catherine Crofton, Q4’s VP Sales &amp; Marketing...</small></li><li><a href='http://www.q4blog.com/2010/01/15/webinar-replay-%e2%80%93-ir-website-best-practices/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Webinar Replay – IR Website Best Practices'>Webinar Replay – IR Website Best Practices</a> <small>On January 14, Catherine Crofton, Q4’s VP Sales &amp; Marketing...</small></li></ol>

Related posts brought to you by <a href='http://mitcho.com/code/yarpp/'>Yet Another Related Posts Plugin</a>.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Due to popular demand, you can now browse and download all of our whitepapers, webinars and presentations from our ‘Best Practices’ section on our website: <a href="http://www.q4websystems.com/Best-Practices/default.aspx">http://www.q4websystems.com/Best-Practices/default.aspx</a>.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><a href="http://www.q4blog.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Q4_Best-Practices_blog2.png"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-5329" title="Q4_Best Practices_blog" src="http://www.q4blog.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Q4_Best-Practices_blog2.png" alt="" width="600" height="600" /></a></p>
<p>Using the social media publishing capabilities of Q4 Web, our market leading website CMS and social media platform, we tagged the videos and presentations so we could seamlessly integrate the content from Vimeo and SlideShare into our website.</p>
<p>We have some new and exciting whitepapers and webinars in store for 2012 – and we’ll update this section accordingly.</p>


<p>Related posts:<ol><li><a href='http://www.q4blog.com/2009/06/08/summer-%e2%80%9909-launched-%e2%80%93-builds-on-ir-best-practices-and-gives-companies-a-competitive-advantage-in-today%e2%80%99s-capital-markets/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: SUMMER ’09 LAUNCHED – builds on IR Best Practices and gives Companies a Competitive Advantage in today’s capital markets'>SUMMER ’09 LAUNCHED – builds on IR Best Practices and gives Companies a Competitive Advantage in today’s capital markets</a> <small> Read the full release!  We officially launched our Summer...</small></li><li><a href='http://www.q4blog.com/2011/03/24/webinar-replay-and-transcript-ir-website-best-practices-to-optimize-your-online-presence/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Webinar Replay and Transcript: IR Website Best Practices to Optimize your Online Presence'>Webinar Replay and Transcript: IR Website Best Practices to Optimize your Online Presence</a> <small>On March 22, Catherine Crofton, Q4’s VP Sales &amp; Marketing...</small></li><li><a href='http://www.q4blog.com/2010/01/15/webinar-replay-%e2%80%93-ir-website-best-practices/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Webinar Replay – IR Website Best Practices'>Webinar Replay – IR Website Best Practices</a> <small>On January 14, Catherine Crofton, Q4’s VP Sales &amp; Marketing...</small></li></ol></p>
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		<title>Case Study: Pacific Drilling &#8211; Best practice IR website</title>
		<link>http://www.q4blog.com/2011/12/02/case-study-pacific-drilling-best-practice-ir-website/</link>
		<comments>http://www.q4blog.com/2011/12/02/case-study-pacific-drilling-best-practice-ir-website/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 02 Dec 2011 14:53:31 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Sheryl Joyce</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Best Practices]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Featured]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[IR Websites]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Product]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.q4blog.com/?p=5244</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Pacific Drilling (NYSE:PACD) is an ultra-deepwater offshore drilling company that went public on Nov 17, 2011. As of today, their market cap is $1.8B, which puts them just inside the small cap definition.
Their new website was designed by Mentus, our agency partner based in beautiful San Diego.  It contains a number of great features that really illustrate that you don’t have to be a big company or spend a lot of money to have an impressive corporate investor website.

The first thing you notice about Pacific Drilling’s website is the large background ...


Related posts:<ol><li><a href='http://www.q4blog.com/2011/08/31/potashcorp-the-makings-of-a-best-practice-ir-website-part-2/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: PotashCorp: The Makings of a Best Practice IR Website &#8211; Part 2'>PotashCorp: The Makings of a Best Practice IR Website &#8211; Part 2</a> <small>This is the second part of an interview I conducted...</small></li><li><a href='http://www.q4blog.com/2011/08/24/potashcorp-the-makings-of-a-best-practice-ir-website-part-1/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: PotashCorp: The Makings of a Best Practice IR Website &#8211; Part 1'>PotashCorp: The Makings of a Best Practice IR Website &#8211; Part 1</a> <small>Through my involvement over the past 10 years as a...</small></li><li><a href='http://www.q4blog.com/2011/07/19/new-rivel-research-buy-side-perspectives-on-best-practice-ir-websites/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: New Rivel Research: Buy-side Perspectives on Best Practice IR Websites'>New Rivel Research: Buy-side Perspectives on Best Practice IR Websites</a> <small>Rivel Research is well-known for their ability to gather, analyze...</small></li></ol>

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			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://www.pacificdrilling.com/"><img class="alignright size-full wp-image-5251" style="margin-left: 6px; margin-right: 6px;" title="pacificlogo" src="http://www.q4blog.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/pacificlogo.jpg" alt="" width="150" height="150" /></a><a href="http://www.pacificdrilling.com/">Pacific Drilling (NYSE:PACD)</a> is an ultra-deepwater offshore drilling company that went public on Nov 17, 2011. As of today, their market cap is $1.8B, which puts them just inside the small cap definition.</p>
<p>Their new website was designed by <a href="http://www.mentus.com/">Mentus</a>, our agency partner based in beautiful San Diego.  It contains a number of great features that really illustrate that you don’t have to be a big company or spend a lot of money to have an impressive corporate investor website.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.q4blog.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Pacific-Drilling-Home1.png"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-5245" title="Pacific Drilling - Home1" src="http://www.q4blog.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Pacific-Drilling-Home1.png" alt="" width="580" height="366" /></a></p>
<p>The first thing you notice about Pacific Drilling’s website is the large background graphic. If you wait for a few seconds, you’ll see the entire site change to a new “slide”. At the moment, there are 4 slides that rotate, if you have a moment, take a look: <a href="http://www.pacificdrilling.com/">http://pacificdrilling.com/</a>.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.q4blog.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Pacific-Drilling-Home2.png"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-5246" title="Pacific Drilling - Home2" src="http://www.q4blog.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Pacific-Drilling-Home2.png" alt="" width="580" height="366" /></a></p>
<p>The homepage slideshow is quite striking and a great example of the flexibility of our platform. Everything you see in each slide is managed through the Q4 admin, so adding or changing an image or editing text literally only takes a few seconds.</p>
<p>Having worked with hundreds of agencies and designers over the last few years, we’ve learned a lot about what they want and need out of a corporate website platform. Including a system that is flexible and can work with their designs (no templates), as well as the ability to control the content, and not have to call our support desk to make a change.</p>
<p>Another benefit of Q4 is it can be used to run any portion of a website or the entire thing.  In Pacific’s case, Q4 is being used to run the entire site – not just the IR section. Running the entire site on Q4 allows Pacific to save the cost of paying for 2 systems (one for the IR site and one for the rest of the site).  It also cuts down on training and support costs.</p>
<p>As with every Q4 site, Pacific Drilling’s also includes a full set of automated IR content. So for example, Press releases, SEC filings, Stock Quote, Chart, Analyst Coverage, Email Alerts, RSS Feeds are all included as standard elements as shown in the image below:</p>
<p><a href="http://www.q4blog.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Pacific-Drilling-Investor-Relations.png"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-5247" title="Pacific Drilling - Investor Relations" src="http://www.q4blog.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Pacific-Drilling-Investor-Relations.png" alt="" width="580" height="371" /></a></p>
<p>An added benefit of using Q4 is that your website can have an unlimited number of pages. So you’re never stuck having to pay extra for the “Corporate Governance” section for example. So you can easily create as many sections and pages that you want for no additional cost.</p>
<p>The final and most impressive part of Pacific Drilling’s site that I wanted to highlight is the interactive map <a href="http://pacificdrilling.com/Operations/default.aspx">http://pacificdrilling.com/Operations/default.aspx</a>, which has details on their global operations.  Not only is the map very nice to look at, it’s built using HTML (no flash!) and is completely managed through the Q4 system:</p>
<p><a href="http://www.q4blog.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/PacificDrilling-Interactive-Map.png"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-5248" title="PacificDrilling Interactive Map" src="http://www.q4blog.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/PacificDrilling-Interactive-Map.png" alt="" width="580" height="364" /></a></p>
<p>The Pacific Drilling website is a great example of how a small cap company can have a highly effective and impressive investor website, that is easy and cheap to maintain.</p>
<p>Have a look and let us know that you think!</p>


<p>Related posts:<ol><li><a href='http://www.q4blog.com/2011/08/31/potashcorp-the-makings-of-a-best-practice-ir-website-part-2/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: PotashCorp: The Makings of a Best Practice IR Website &#8211; Part 2'>PotashCorp: The Makings of a Best Practice IR Website &#8211; Part 2</a> <small>This is the second part of an interview I conducted...</small></li><li><a href='http://www.q4blog.com/2011/08/24/potashcorp-the-makings-of-a-best-practice-ir-website-part-1/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: PotashCorp: The Makings of a Best Practice IR Website &#8211; Part 1'>PotashCorp: The Makings of a Best Practice IR Website &#8211; Part 1</a> <small>Through my involvement over the past 10 years as a...</small></li><li><a href='http://www.q4blog.com/2011/07/19/new-rivel-research-buy-side-perspectives-on-best-practice-ir-websites/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: New Rivel Research: Buy-side Perspectives on Best Practice IR Websites'>New Rivel Research: Buy-side Perspectives on Best Practice IR Websites</a> <small>Rivel Research is well-known for their ability to gather, analyze...</small></li></ol></p>
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		<title>CICA 2011 Corporate Reporting Awards &#8211; Winners</title>
		<link>http://www.q4blog.com/2011/11/30/cica-2011-corporate-reporting-awards-winners/</link>
		<comments>http://www.q4blog.com/2011/11/30/cica-2011-corporate-reporting-awards-winners/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 30 Nov 2011 14:15:31 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Sheryl Joyce</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Awards]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Best Practices]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Corporate Governance]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Featured]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[corporate reporting]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.q4blog.com/?p=5214</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Some of the Q4 team attended the CICA corporate reporting awards (CRA) last night at the Arcadian Court downtown Toronto. We were well represented with a handful of us making it out including: Catherine Crofton our VP Sales &#38; Marketing, who has been a judge in the electronic disclosure category for the past ten years, Darrell Heaps our CEO who has also been a long-time judge with seven years under his belt. As well as myself who has served as a judge for the annual awards for the past four ...


Related posts:<ol><li><a href='http://www.q4blog.com/2008/12/04/cica-2008-corporate-reporting-awards-winners/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: CICA 2008 Corporate Reporting Awards &#8211; Winners'>CICA 2008 Corporate Reporting Awards &#8211; Winners</a> <small>As a panel judge in the electronic disclosure category, I...</small></li><li><a href='http://www.q4blog.com/2009/12/08/cica-2009-corporate-reporting-awards-%e2%80%93-winners/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: CICA 2009 CORPORATE REPORTING AWARDS – WINNERS'>CICA 2009 CORPORATE REPORTING AWARDS – WINNERS</a> <small>The Q4 team attended the CICA corporate reporting awards (CRA)...</small></li><li><a href='http://www.q4blog.com/2007/02/12/ir-magazine-awards-winners/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: IR Magazine Awards &#8211; Winners!'>IR Magazine Awards &#8211; Winners!</a> <small> Congratulations to all of the IR Magazine Canada Awards...</small></li></ol>

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			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://www.q4blog.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/cica-logo.png"><img class="alignright size-full wp-image-5294" style="margin-left: 6px; margin-right: 6px;" title="cica-logo" src="http://www.q4blog.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/cica-logo.png" alt="" width="231" height="231" /></a>Some of the Q4 team attended the <a href="http://www.cica.ca/news/corporate-reporting-awards/index.aspx">CICA corporate reporting awards</a> (CRA) last night at the Arcadian Court downtown Toronto. We were well represented with a handful of us making it out including: Catherine Crofton our VP Sales &amp; Marketing, who has been a judge in the electronic disclosure category for the past ten years, Darrell Heaps our CEO who has also been a long-time judge with seven years under his belt. As well as myself who has served as a judge for the annual awards for the past four years and Karen Adams who been served as a judge for the past five years. Sabrina Colturi of our implementations team rounded out the group.</p>
<p>The CRA is in its 60th year and presents awards for excellence in financial reporting, corporate governance disclosure, electronic disclosure and sustainable development reporting to companies listed on the TSX and to federal Crown corporations.  Separate excellence and honourable mention awards are also presented to reports that are judged to be the best, regardless of industry sector, in each of these four judging areas.  Lastly, among the industry winners, one company is given the overall award of excellence for corporate reporting.</p>
<p>A lot of the companies were repeat winners from last year and Q4 would like to take this opportunity to extend our congratulations all of them!</p>
<p><strong>Awards of Excellence for Large and Small Federal Crown Corporations</strong>:</p>
<ul>
<li>Large Crown winner — Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation</li>
<li>Small Crown winner – Defence Construction Canada</li>
<li>Provincial Crown winner – SaskTel</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Awards of Excellence for Corporate Reporting: Industry winners</strong>:</p>
<ul>
<li>Communications &amp; Media – TELUS Corporation</li>
<li>Consumer Products – Tim Hortons</li>
<li>Diversified Industries – SNC-Lavalin Group Inc.</li>
<li>Financial Services – BMO Financial Group</li>
<li>Forest Products – Catalyst Paper Corporation</li>
<li>Life Sciences/Technology – Newalta</li>
<li>Mining – PotashCorp</li>
<li>Oil &amp; Gas – Suncor</li>
<li>Real Estate/Utilities &amp; Pipelines – Enbridge</li>
</ul>
<p>These industry winners received the highest average rankings in the four judging categories: financial reporting, electronic disclosure, sustainable development reporting and corporate governance disclosure.</p>
<p>An Award of Excellence was selected in each of the four judging categories and an Honourable Mention was given for financial reporting, electronic disclosure, sustainable development reporting and corporate governance disclosure.</p>
<p><strong>The judging category winners are</strong>:</p>
<p><strong>FINANCIAL REPORTING</strong>:</p>
<ul>
<li>Award of Excellence – PotashCorp</li>
<li>Honourable Mention – BMO Financial Group</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>ELECTRONIC DISCLOSURE</strong>:</p>
<ul>
<li>Award of Excellence – Agnico-Eagle</li>
<li>Honourable Mention – PotashCorp</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT REPORTING</strong>:</p>
<ul>
<li>Award of Excellence – Suncor Energy Inc.</li>
<li>Honourable Mention – TELUS Corporation</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>CORPORATE GOVERNANCE DISCLOSURE</strong>:</p>
<ul>
<li>Award of Excellence – TD Bank Financial Group</li>
<li>Honourable Mention – Nexen Inc.</li>
</ul>
<p>The Overall Award of Excellence for Corporate Reporting was presented to the most outstanding industry winner in 2011: TELUS Corporation.</p>
<p>Congratulations to all of the winners from the Q4 team!</p>


<p>Related posts:<ol><li><a href='http://www.q4blog.com/2008/12/04/cica-2008-corporate-reporting-awards-winners/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: CICA 2008 Corporate Reporting Awards &#8211; Winners'>CICA 2008 Corporate Reporting Awards &#8211; Winners</a> <small>As a panel judge in the electronic disclosure category, I...</small></li><li><a href='http://www.q4blog.com/2009/12/08/cica-2009-corporate-reporting-awards-%e2%80%93-winners/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: CICA 2009 CORPORATE REPORTING AWARDS – WINNERS'>CICA 2009 CORPORATE REPORTING AWARDS – WINNERS</a> <small>The Q4 team attended the CICA corporate reporting awards (CRA)...</small></li><li><a href='http://www.q4blog.com/2007/02/12/ir-magazine-awards-winners/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: IR Magazine Awards &#8211; Winners!'>IR Magazine Awards &#8211; Winners!</a> <small> Congratulations to all of the IR Magazine Canada Awards...</small></li></ol></p>
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		<title>Agnico-Eagle Wins First Prize at Esteemed IR Website Awards Ceremony</title>
		<link>http://www.q4blog.com/2011/11/29/agnico-eagle-wins-first-prize-at-esteemed-ir-website-awards-ceremony/</link>
		<comments>http://www.q4blog.com/2011/11/29/agnico-eagle-wins-first-prize-at-esteemed-ir-website-awards-ceremony/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 30 Nov 2011 02:36:31 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Sheryl Joyce</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Awards]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Best Practices]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Clients]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Featured]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[IR Websites]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.q4blog.com/?p=5181</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[We’re pleased to announce that our long-term client, Agnico-Eagle Mines, has been awarded first prize in the electronic disclosure category of the 2011 Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants (CICA) Corporate Reporting Awards (CRA) for their investor website: agnico-eagle.com.
This is the second year in a row, that Agnico-Eagle has been recognized at the CRA for their best practice IR website, securing an Honorable Mention in the electronic disclosure category in 2010 – with first place awarded to Potash Corp., a winner in the electronic disclosure category multiple times.
Companies eligible for the ...


Related posts:<ol><li><a href='http://www.q4blog.com/2010/11/25/q4-client-agnico-eagle-wins-prestigious-ir-website-award/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Q4 Client, Agnico-Eagle Wins Prestigious IR Website Award'>Q4 Client, Agnico-Eagle Wins Prestigious IR Website Award</a> <small>Today I’m happy to announce, Agnico-Eagle Mines (a long-time Q4...</small></li><li><a href='http://www.q4blog.com/2006/10/19/agnico-eagle-chooses-q4s-disclosure-products/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Agnico-Eagle Chooses Q4&#8242;s Disclosure Products'>Agnico-Eagle Chooses Q4&#8242;s Disclosure Products</a> <small>After a few short development weeks Q4 has rolled out...</small></li><li><a href='http://www.q4blog.com/2011/07/11/q4-client-ryder-system-wins-three-awards-for-their-ir-website/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Q4 Client, Ryder System Wins Three Awards for their IR Website'>Q4 Client, Ryder System Wins Three Awards for their IR Website</a> <small>We are pleased to announce that Ryder System, a client...</small></li></ol>

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			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://agnico-eagle.com/"><img class="alignright size-full wp-image-5183" style="margin-left: 6px; margin-right: 6px;" title="AEM_logo" src="http://www.q4blog.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/AEM_logo.jpg" alt="" width="150" height="150" /></a>We’re pleased to announce that our long-term client, Agnico-Eagle Mines, has been awarded first prize in the electronic disclosure category of the 2011 <a title="Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants" href="http://www.cica.ca/">Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants</a> (CICA) <a title="Corporate Reporting Awards" href="http://www.cica.ca/news/corporate-reporting-awards/index.aspx">Corporate Reporting Awards</a> (CRA) for their investor website: <a href="http://agnico-eagle.com/">agnico-eagle.com</a>.</p>
<p>This is the second year in a row, that Agnico-Eagle has been recognized at the CRA for their best practice IR website, securing an Honorable Mention in the electronic disclosure category in 2010 – with first place awarded to Potash Corp., a winner in the electronic disclosure category multiple times.</p>
<p>Companies eligible for the electronic disclosure award were judged on specific content relevant to investors, navigation and usability, innovation, overall effectiveness and IR website best practices.  This year, companies were also evaluated on how well they integrated social media into their sites.</p>
<p>Agnico’s long-standing commitment to continually improve the investor experience on their IR website is focused on achieving a global standard in best practices. An additional goal is to limit the effort required to update site content.</p>
<p>The strategy for the site evolved from a comprehensive IR website best practice audit of the Agnico site conducted by Q4 and provided to both the client and their design firm, <a title="The Works" href="http://www.worksdesign.com/">The Works</a>. This document detailed key recommendations, which were adapted in the redesign. A strong collaboration between Q4, The Works and Agnico-Eagle throughout the design and development of the site helped ensure that all key communications objectives were met.</p>
<p>What follows are some of the features that make Agnico’s site exemplar of best practices:</p>
<p><strong>The Design</strong></p>
<p>The talented team at The Works created a clean, progressive design that provides numerous ways for investors to easily navigate the site to not only find the information they are looking for, but to also ensure that they encounter the information Agnico wants them to see. For example, right from the home page the rotating images in the masthead highlight key content and events, and the drop-down main navigation prominently singles out one specific piece of content in addition to providing links to all sub-section information. The navigation also makes it easy for users to see where they are, where they want to go and how to make their way back. The site also brings key content forward by prominently displaying frequently sought information such as news releases and presentations, as well as providing lots of quick links:</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.agnico-eagle.com/English/Home/default.aspx"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-5200" title="AEM_home_blog" src="http://www.q4blog.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/AEM_home_blog.png" alt="" width="600" height="394" /></a></p>
<p><strong>Integrated Social Media Galleries</strong></p>
<p>Agnico was interested in making their information more interactive and easily accessible &#8211; not just on their site, but in alternate channels as well. The multimedia galleries offer an extensive collection of Vimeo videos and Flickr photos, which Q4’s platform automatically pulls in from the social channels and integrates into their site. Some of these assets are also displayed elsewhere on the site in context with specific information:</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.agnico-eagle.com/English/Investor-Centre/Multimedia-Gallery/default.aspx"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-5201" title="AEM_flickr_blog" src="http://www.q4blog.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/AEM_flickr_blog.png" alt="" width="600" height="373" /></a></p>
<p><strong>Follow Us Page</strong></p>
<p>The ‘Follow Us’ page on the site provides a number of ways to stay connected to the company such as email alerts, RSS feeds, Facebook, Twitter and Vimeo. In today’s multi-channel world, public companies must ’be where their investors are’ to stay connected. Prominently featuring ‘Follow Us’ as a universal link in the site header makes it easy for investors to find this information:</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.agnico-eagle.com/English/Follow-Us/default.aspx"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-5202" title="AEM_followus" src="http://www.q4blog.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/AEM_followus.png" alt="" width="600" height="385" /></a></p>
<p><strong>Quarterly Report Summary Page </strong></p>
<p>Agnico&#8217;s quarterly summary page provides an aggregate view of all quarterly related materials in a single page. It includes the press release, conference call, webcast, report and financials. Agnico also provides a brief video of their CEO, Sean Boyd who provides commentary on the quarter. (Much of the information in this video is scripted in advance of the earnings call and Agnico’s video production company Silverpoint is able to shoot and produce the video to ensure that this information is on the site on the day of their earnings call.) The right rail in this section is entirely driven by tags. So each time the company reports their quarterly results, the tag on this page (for example Q22011) is updated to the next quarter i.e. Q32011.  To address Agnico’s goal of minimizing manual updates, Agnico touches the content once and the information automatically aggregates on the quarterly page (and other pages, such as the Investor Briefcase, Presentations etc.).</p>
<p><a href="http://www.agnico-eagle.com/English/Investor-Centre/Financial-Reporting/Latest-Quarterly-Report/default.aspx"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-5209" title="AEM_quar_summ_page" src="http://www.q4blog.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/AEM_quar_summ_page.png" alt="" width="600" height="574" /></a></p>
<p><strong>Interactive Financial Data</strong></p>
<p>The interactive financial data also called the &#8216;operational database&#8217; on the Agnico site, is an innovative investor service that gives analysts a full set of interactive quarterly financials and fundamentals. Provided by our partner, <a title="Virtua Research" href="http://www.virtuaresearch.com/">Virtua Research</a> the financial database permits customized charts, excel downloads and the ability to share content from the model through email and social networks:</p>
<p><a href="http://interactive.indigotools.com/indigoweb/default.aspx?ticker=aem&amp;type=3&amp;exchange=tsx"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-5210" title="AEM_Interactive Anal Center" src="http://www.q4blog.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/AEM_Interactive-Anal-Center.png" alt="" width="600" height="273" /></a></p>
<p>This award underscores the commitment and effort Agnico puts into continually making their IR website an integral part of communicating their story to investors.  Congratulations from the team at Q4 to everyone involved!</p>


<p>Related posts:<ol><li><a href='http://www.q4blog.com/2010/11/25/q4-client-agnico-eagle-wins-prestigious-ir-website-award/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Q4 Client, Agnico-Eagle Wins Prestigious IR Website Award'>Q4 Client, Agnico-Eagle Wins Prestigious IR Website Award</a> <small>Today I’m happy to announce, Agnico-Eagle Mines (a long-time Q4...</small></li><li><a href='http://www.q4blog.com/2006/10/19/agnico-eagle-chooses-q4s-disclosure-products/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Agnico-Eagle Chooses Q4&#8242;s Disclosure Products'>Agnico-Eagle Chooses Q4&#8242;s Disclosure Products</a> <small>After a few short development weeks Q4 has rolled out...</small></li><li><a href='http://www.q4blog.com/2011/07/11/q4-client-ryder-system-wins-three-awards-for-their-ir-website/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Q4 Client, Ryder System Wins Three Awards for their IR Website'>Q4 Client, Ryder System Wins Three Awards for their IR Website</a> <small>We are pleased to announce that Ryder System, a client...</small></li></ol></p>
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		<title>New Goldcorp Corporate Website &#8211; Powered by Q4</title>
		<link>http://www.q4blog.com/2011/11/28/new-goldcorp-corporate-website-powered-by-q4/</link>
		<comments>http://www.q4blog.com/2011/11/28/new-goldcorp-corporate-website-powered-by-q4/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 28 Nov 2011 15:35:29 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Sheryl Joyce</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Best Practices]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Featured]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[IR Websites]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Product]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Social Media]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.q4blog.com/?p=5168</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Darrell walks viewers through the new Goldcorp.com website that leverages the capabilities of the Q4 platform.  It was designed by the talented folks at ZU.com.  The video highlights a new homepage slider and extensive data content management capabilities.  It also showcases Goldcorps extensive use of video to help tell their investment story.
Let us know what you think in the comments!



Related posts:New Aimia.com corporate website showcases the power of Q4 and social media Aimia (previously Group Aeroplan) is a global leader in loyalty management...PotashCorp: The Makings of a Best Practice IR Website ...


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			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><img src="http://www.q4blog.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/goldcorplogo.png" alt="" title="goldcorplogo" width="150" height="150" class="alignright size-full wp-image-5179" />Darrell walks viewers through the new Goldcorp.com website that leverages the capabilities of the Q4 platform.  It was designed by the talented folks at ZU.com.  The video highlights a new homepage slider and extensive data content management capabilities.  It also showcases Goldcorps extensive use of video to help tell their investment story.</p>
<p>Let us know what you think in the comments!</p>
<p><iframe src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/32761031?title=0&amp;byline=0&amp;portrait=0" width="581" height="363" frameborder="0" webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen></iframe></p>


<p>Related posts:<ol><li><a href='http://www.q4blog.com/2011/10/06/new-aimia-com-corporate-website-showcases-the-power-of-q4-and-social-media/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: New Aimia.com corporate website showcases the power of Q4 and social media'>New Aimia.com corporate website showcases the power of Q4 and social media</a> <small>Aimia (previously Group Aeroplan) is a global leader in loyalty management...</small></li><li><a href='http://www.q4blog.com/2011/08/31/potashcorp-the-makings-of-a-best-practice-ir-website-part-2/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: PotashCorp: The Makings of a Best Practice IR Website &#8211; Part 2'>PotashCorp: The Makings of a Best Practice IR Website &#8211; Part 2</a> <small>This is the second part of an interview I conducted...</small></li><li><a href='http://www.q4blog.com/2011/12/15/ir-website-and-social-media-best-practices/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: IR Website and Social Media Best Practices'>IR Website and Social Media Best Practices</a> <small>Due to popular demand, you can now browse and download...</small></li></ol></p>
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		<title>Best Practices for live-tweeting investor events: Part 2 using disclaimers</title>
		<link>http://www.q4blog.com/2011/11/16/best-practices-for-live-tweeting-investor-events-part-2-using-disclaimers/</link>
		<comments>http://www.q4blog.com/2011/11/16/best-practices-for-live-tweeting-investor-events-part-2-using-disclaimers/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 16 Nov 2011 19:19:29 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Sheryl Joyce</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Best Practices]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Featured]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Social Media]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Twitter]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Reg. FD]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Regulation]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.q4blog.com/?p=5074</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Last week, we outlined several observations we have made through our research on how public companies are using social media for investor relations and shared some best practices for live-tweeting investor events such as an earnings call, annual shareholders meeting and analyst/investor day including:

Preparing tweets in advance of the call.
Providing a link to the materials associated with the live event.
Proactively soliciting questions in advance.
Consistent use of #hashtags.
Appending tweets with your ticker symbol.

As I mentioned last week, I thought a separate post on disclaimers was warranted.  So this post is dedicated ...


Related posts:<ol><li><a href='http://www.q4blog.com/2011/11/09/best-practices-for-live-tweeting-investor-events/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Best practices for live-tweeting investor events'>Best practices for live-tweeting investor events</a> <small>Twitter is increasingly being used by public companies to share...</small></li><li><a href='http://www.q4blog.com/2010/08/13/best-practices-for-organizing-an-investor-day/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Best Practices for Organizing an Investor Day'>Best Practices for Organizing an Investor Day</a> <small>Whenever my good friend Dan Dykens aka @meetthestreet is unable...</small></li><li><a href='http://www.q4blog.com/2011/07/27/combatting-compliance-issues-of-using-twitter-for-investor-relations/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Combatting Compliance Issues of Using Twitter for Investor Relations'>Combatting Compliance Issues of Using Twitter for Investor Relations</a> <small>A while ago I published a blog about the risks...</small></li></ol>

Related posts brought to you by <a href='http://mitcho.com/code/yarpp/'>Yet Another Related Posts Plugin</a>.]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://www.q4blog.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/disclaimers.jpg"><img class="alignright size-full wp-image-5095" title="disclaimers" src="http://www.q4blog.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/disclaimers.jpg" alt="" width="150" height="150" /></a>Last week, we outlined several observations we have made through our research on how public companies are using social media for investor relations and shared some <a href="http://www.q4blog.com/2011/11/09/best-practices-for-live-tweeting-investor-events/">best practices for live-tweeting investor events</a> such as an earnings call, annual shareholders meeting and analyst/investor day including:</p>
<ol>
<li>Preparing tweets in advance of the call.</li>
<li>Providing a link to the materials associated with the live event.</li>
<li>Proactively soliciting questions in advance.</li>
<li>Consistent use of #hashtags.</li>
<li>Appending tweets with your ticker symbol.</li>
</ol>
<p>As I mentioned last week, I thought a separate post on disclaimers was warranted.  So this post is dedicated to some specific examples from our research on how companies are <strong>using disclaimers</strong> for live-tweeting events.</p>
<p>We’ve been conducting our research on how public companies are using social media for investor relations for the past few years now. So we’ve had quite a few discussions with IROs and IR professionals. More often than not, the conversation begins with questions about the compliance issues and potential risk of violating Reg FD using social media to share investor information.</p>
<p>We’ve also had many conversations with legal representatives such as Caroline Clapham who have taken the time to share their thoughts and insights on the topic of social media for investor relations.  Caroline is a securities and M&amp;A lawyer at Fasken Martineau in Vancouver, Canada.  I met <a href="https://twitter.com/#!/CarolineClapham">Caroline on Twitter</a> earlier this year after reading an article she wrote for her firm on how companies can use social media and maintain compliance with Canadian securities laws. Since then, we have stayed in contact.</p>
<p>Caroline feels that the best practice is to have a general disclaimer in a company’s Twitter profile (usually by link), and then include shortened links within tweets that require disclaimer language, whether triggered by National Instrument 43-101 or by the inclusion of forward-looking information in the tweet itself.</p>
<p>Caroline said:</p>
<blockquote><p><strong>because tweets can be searched and located as stand-alone statements, the conservative approach is to include appropriate disclaimers embedded by link in each tweet. This minimizes the risk that an investor or potential investor might come across an individual tweet and rely on it as a hard fact.</strong></p></blockquote>
<p>To-date, I haven&#8217;t seen anyone use disclaimers as outlined above, but in my opinion this is a logical approach.</p>
<p>Now for some examples of how companies are using disclaimers to live-tweet their earnings call, annual shareholders meeting and analyst/investor day on Twitter&#8230;.please note that we are not saying one way or another that any of the following examples we provide are right or wrong.  Instead, as usual, we are merely sharing some observations from our research on this front to inform the IR community.</p>
<p><strong>Earnings Call</strong></p>
<p>In our research, we are seeing companies provide a link to their FLS before they begin tweeting their earnings call and then one more time when the event is over.  For example, before Polycom begins live-tweeting their earnings, they issue a tweet (like the one below) that links to forward-looking statements:</p>
<p><a href="http://www.q4blog.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/Polycom_42561.png"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-5077" title="Polycom_4256" src="http://www.q4blog.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/Polycom_42561.png" alt="" width="600" height="261" /></a>Once they are done live-tweeting the earnings call, they finish off the sequence of tweets reiterating where their forward-looking statements can be found:</p>
<p><a href="http://www.q4blog.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/Polycom_tweet-finishing-off-sequence.png"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-5078" title="Polycom_tweet finishing off sequence" src="http://www.q4blog.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/Polycom_tweet-finishing-off-sequence.png" alt="" width="600" height="265" /></a></p>
<p>Companies are also using StockTwits to provide real-time earnings news. In addition to appending their tweets with their $TICKER tag and #hashtags unique to their earnings announcement,  companies often use a disclaimer at the start of the session for compliance, comprising of a Safe Harbor and non-GAAP Financial Measures Statement.  For example, like the LivePerson message below:</p>
<p><a href="http://www.q4blog.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/Liveperson1.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-5109" title="Liveperson" src="http://www.q4blog.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/Liveperson1.jpg" alt="" width="600" height="131" /></a></p>
<p><strong>Annual Meetings </strong></p>
<p>Johnson and Johnson also incorporate disclaimers for live-tweeting their annual meeting.  After an initial tweet that provides a link to the annual meeting webcast details: <a href="https://twitter.com/#!/JNJComm/status/63603179081834496">http://twitter.com/#!/JNJComm/status/63603179081834496</a>,<br />
as they discuss their first quarter earnings at the annual meeting, they provide a link to the forward-looking statements in their quarterly earnings release:</p>
<p><a href="http://www.q4blog.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/JNJ_2896.png"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-5079" title="JNJ_2896" src="http://www.q4blog.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/JNJ_2896.png" alt="" width="600" height="255" /></a><strong>Analyst/Investor Days</strong></p>
<p>More companies are also tweeting about meetings with analysts and institutional investors. For example, Exxon Mobil invited followers to listen in to their analyst meeting being held at the New York Stock Exchange:</p>
<p><a href="http://www.q4blog.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/Exxon_disclaimer-tweet.png"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-5081" title="Exxon_disclaimer tweet" src="http://www.q4blog.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/Exxon_disclaimer-tweet.png" alt="" width="600" height="226" /></a>The url provided in the above tweet: <a href="http://ir.exxonmobil.com/phoenix.zhtml?p=irol-eventDetails&amp;c=115024&amp;eventID=3646666">http://bit.ly/hjeaZV</a> links to the webcast notice, presentation and forward-looking statements that all reside on the company’s website:</p>
<p><a href="http://www.q4blog.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/Exxon_website-view.png"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-5080" title="Exxon_website view" src="http://www.q4blog.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/Exxon_website-view.png" alt="" width="600" height="330" /></a></p>
<p>In addition to live-tweeting, I thought it would be useful to provide some other examples of how companies are using disclaimers on Twitter.</p>
<p>As we know, Twitter is limited to 140 characters, so we are seeing companies include a shortened disclaimer which links back to the full disclaimer (which is housed on their website). For example, Zimtu Capital Corp. provides a ‘Terms of Use’ link in their bio which links to their website:</p>
<p><a href="http://www.q4blog.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/Zimtu_Twitter-disclaimer.png"><img class="size-full wp-image-5082 aligncenter" title="Zimtu_Twitter disclaimer" src="http://www.q4blog.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/Zimtu_Twitter-disclaimer.png" alt="" width="495" height="249" /></a></p>
<p>As you can see, they prominently display the link to their disclaimer in their company bio at the top of their Twitter profile.  Doing so, helps make it easy for followers to see the link and subsequently read the terms.</p>
<p>Potash Corp. also provides a disclaimer on their Twitter profile page.  Although instead of linking to it on their website, they have written out the entire disclaimer as it relates to their tweets on the left-hand side of their Twitter profile:</p>
<p><a href="http://www.q4blog.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/Potash_Twitter-disclaimer1.png"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-5084" title="Potash_Twitter disclaimer" src="http://www.q4blog.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/Potash_Twitter-disclaimer1.png" alt="" width="600" height="233" /></a></p>
<p>Note: you can see the disclaimer in its entirety by viewing their <a href="https://twitter.com/#!/PotashCorp">@potashcorp</a> account on Twitter.</p>
<p>I’d love to hear of any other examples of how disclaimers are being used by public companies on Twitter. Please let me know in the comments section.</p>


<p>Related posts:<ol><li><a href='http://www.q4blog.com/2011/11/09/best-practices-for-live-tweeting-investor-events/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Best practices for live-tweeting investor events'>Best practices for live-tweeting investor events</a> <small>Twitter is increasingly being used by public companies to share...</small></li><li><a href='http://www.q4blog.com/2010/08/13/best-practices-for-organizing-an-investor-day/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Best Practices for Organizing an Investor Day'>Best Practices for Organizing an Investor Day</a> <small>Whenever my good friend Dan Dykens aka @meetthestreet is unable...</small></li><li><a href='http://www.q4blog.com/2011/07/27/combatting-compliance-issues-of-using-twitter-for-investor-relations/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Combatting Compliance Issues of Using Twitter for Investor Relations'>Combatting Compliance Issues of Using Twitter for Investor Relations</a> <small>A while ago I published a blog about the risks...</small></li></ol></p>
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		<title>Best practices for live-tweeting investor events</title>
		<link>http://www.q4blog.com/2011/11/09/best-practices-for-live-tweeting-investor-events/</link>
		<comments>http://www.q4blog.com/2011/11/09/best-practices-for-live-tweeting-investor-events/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 09 Nov 2011 17:52:05 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Sheryl Joyce</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Best Practices]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Featured]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Financial blogs]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Reporting]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Social Media]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Twitter]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[corporate reporting]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[StockTwits]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.q4blog.com/?p=5034</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Twitter is increasingly being used by public companies to share key messages via live-tweets from their earnings call, annual meeting or analyst day.
As we are in the midst of earnings, and as annual general meeting season is just around the corner, I thought I would share some thoughts on best practices for live-tweeting.  Note: these best practices have been put together based on observations we have made through our research on how public companies are using social media for investor relations.  Here is a list of what we will cover ...


Related posts:<ol><li><a href='http://www.q4blog.com/2011/11/16/best-practices-for-live-tweeting-investor-events-part-2-using-disclaimers/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Best Practices for live-tweeting investor events: Part 2 using disclaimers'>Best Practices for live-tweeting investor events: Part 2 using disclaimers</a> <small>Last week, we outlined several observations we have made through...</small></li><li><a href='http://www.q4blog.com/2010/08/05/effective-uses-of-hashtags-on-twitter-to-attract-investors/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Effective Uses of Hashtags on Twitter to Help Attract Investors'>Effective Uses of Hashtags on Twitter to Help Attract Investors</a> <small>Our latest whitepaper has revealed that Twitter is the most...</small></li><li><a href='http://www.q4blog.com/2011/10/25/case-study-how-novagold-uses-social-media-to-augment-their-quarterly-reporting/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Case Study: How NovaGold Uses Social Media to Augment Their Quarterly Reporting'>Case Study: How NovaGold Uses Social Media to Augment Their Quarterly Reporting</a> <small>NovaGold Resources Inc. (NYSE-AMEX, TSX:NG) is a precious metals company...</small></li></ol>

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			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://www.q4blog.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/live-tweeting.jpg"><img class="alignright size-full wp-image-5059" title="live-tweeting" src="http://www.q4blog.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/live-tweeting.jpg" alt="" width="150" height="150" /></a>Twitter is increasingly being used by public companies to share key messages via live-tweets from their earnings call, annual meeting or analyst day.</p>
<p>As we are in the midst of earnings, and as annual general meeting season is just around the corner, I thought I would share some thoughts on best practices for live-tweeting.  <strong>Note</strong>: these best practices have been put together based on observations we have made through our research on how public companies are using social media for investor relations.  Here is a list of what we will cover today (in no particular order):</p>
<ol>
<li>Preparing tweets in advance of the call.</li>
<li>Providing a link to the materials associated with the live event.</li>
<li>Proactively soliciting questions in advance.</li>
<li>Consistent use of #hashtags.</li>
<li>Appending tweets with your ticker symbol.</li>
<li>Linking to disclaimers.</li>
</ol>
<p>One additional note, before I get started. I’ve left disclaimers until the end, as I feel this warrants a post on its own.  So that said, I’ll be putting together some thoughts (with the hope of having some experts weigh in) on the appropriate placement of disclaimers on Twitter.  As usual, I’ll provide some examples.  You can look for this post the week of November 14, 2011.</p>
<p>1.    <strong>Preparing tweets in advance of the call</strong>. This is easily accomplished by extracting key messages from the release and the script. Compiling the information for the tweets prior to the call will ensure consistent messaging and help mitigate the risk of tweeting anything that was not previously released over an approved disclosure channel.  It would be wise to also share this information with your legal counsel in advance and obtain their sign-off.</p>
<p>2.    <strong>Providing a link to the materials associated with the live event</strong>. For example, providing a link to the event well in advance (common practice is at least one week prior), and letting investors know that you’ll be live-tweeting is a good best practice. Johnson and Johnson did this as shown in the tweet below:</p>
<p><a href="http://www.q4blog.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/JNJ_4496.png"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-5042" title="JNJ_4496" src="http://www.q4blog.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/JNJ_4496.png" alt="" width="600" height="242" /></a></p>
<p>Similarly, sending out a tweet the morning of the event and re-sending the link to the notice of call will serve as a reminder.</p>
<p>Also sending out a link to any additional materials relating to the specific event such as a press release or presentation as soon as it has been disclosed over the appropriate disclosure channels will equip followers with the information they need.  This can be especially useful in the case where a company holds an investor/analyst day to update the investment community on a merger.  For example, Constellation Energy sent out the tweet below to inform the financial media and bloggers with a link to a website that houses more information related to the merger:</p>
<p><a href="http://www.q4blog.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/ConstellationEG_5200.png"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-5043" title="ConstellationEG_5200" src="http://www.q4blog.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/ConstellationEG_5200.png" alt="" width="600" height="277" /></a></p>
<p>3.    <strong>Proactively soliciting questions in advance</strong>.  If you are going to allow investors to submit questions in advance, you should have an appropriate system set up where investors can submit them.  For example, we have seen companies proactively ask their investors to post questions on their blog like Microvision does below:</p>
<p><a href="http://www.q4blog.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/Microvision_3152.png"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-5045" title="Microvision_3152" src="http://www.q4blog.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/Microvision_3152.png" alt="" width="600" height="258" /></a>We’ve also seen TVI Pacific provide a link to their website where the instructions are easily found in the upper right-hand corner:</p>
<p><a href="http://www.q4blog.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/TVI_Pacific.png"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-5046" title="TVI_Pacific" src="http://www.q4blog.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/TVI_Pacific.png" alt="" width="600" height="245" /></a></p>
<p>In general, if you’re going to allow investors to submit questions in advance, ensure that they are properly informed. This can be easily accomplished by using your website and social media so everyone has an equal opportunity to have their question addressed.</p>
<p>4.    <strong>Consistent use of #hashtags</strong>.  If you’re going to live-tweet an event (and you intend on continuing the practice each quarter or annually for your shareholders’ meeting), we recommend that you use consistent #hashtags. For example, when Polycom live-tweets their earnings calls, they incorporate their stock symbol (PLCM) along with the current quarter (i.e. Q1, Q2&#8230;) and append every tweet with the appropriate #hashtag like they did below for their Q1 results:</p>
<p><a href="http://www.q4blog.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/Polycom.png"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-5047" title="Polycom" src="http://www.q4blog.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/Polycom.png" alt="" width="600" height="252" /></a></p>
<p>Using consistent #hashtags helps followers identify the event being discussed. It also helps anyone who was not able to follow along the ‘live’ event, to search for and read the tweets at a later time.</p>
<p>5.    <strong>Appending tweets with ticker symbol</strong>. IR teams who are live-tweeting events – particularly earnings are also appending their tweets with their ticker symbol, like American Electric Power does below:</p>
<p><a href="http://www.q4blog.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/AEP_1824.png"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-5048" title="AEP_1824" src="http://www.q4blog.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/AEP_1824.png" alt="" width="600" height="224" /></a></p>
<p>StockTwits invented the $TICKER which was built to aggregate messages around tickers.  As such it acts as a search engine that gathers all messages that include common messages using the $TICKER tag (e.g. $AAPL). Appending the $TICKER will not only ensure message discoverability across StockTwits, but also on Twitter and the wider social sphere.</p>
<p>6.    <strong>Linking to disclaimers</strong>.  As mentioned, stay tuned for an upcoming post dedicated to the use of disclaimers on Twitter.</p>
<p>Let me know if I&#8217;ve overlooked anything in the comments below.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>


<p>Related posts:<ol><li><a href='http://www.q4blog.com/2011/11/16/best-practices-for-live-tweeting-investor-events-part-2-using-disclaimers/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Best Practices for live-tweeting investor events: Part 2 using disclaimers'>Best Practices for live-tweeting investor events: Part 2 using disclaimers</a> <small>Last week, we outlined several observations we have made through...</small></li><li><a href='http://www.q4blog.com/2010/08/05/effective-uses-of-hashtags-on-twitter-to-attract-investors/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Effective Uses of Hashtags on Twitter to Help Attract Investors'>Effective Uses of Hashtags on Twitter to Help Attract Investors</a> <small>Our latest whitepaper has revealed that Twitter is the most...</small></li><li><a href='http://www.q4blog.com/2011/10/25/case-study-how-novagold-uses-social-media-to-augment-their-quarterly-reporting/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Case Study: How NovaGold Uses Social Media to Augment Their Quarterly Reporting'>Case Study: How NovaGold Uses Social Media to Augment Their Quarterly Reporting</a> <small>NovaGold Resources Inc. (NYSE-AMEX, TSX:NG) is a precious metals company...</small></li></ol></p>
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		<title>IR 101: provide contact information for a &#8216;real&#8217; person on your IR website</title>
		<link>http://www.q4blog.com/2011/11/02/ir-101-provide-contact-information-for-a-real-person-on-your-ir-website/</link>
		<comments>http://www.q4blog.com/2011/11/02/ir-101-provide-contact-information-for-a-real-person-on-your-ir-website/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 02 Nov 2011 18:15:07 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Sheryl Joyce</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Best Practices]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Featured]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[IR Websites]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.q4blog.com/?p=4992</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[If you’re not familiar with TekGroup’s research you should be.   For example they conduct regular surveys about what journalists expect in a company’s online newsroom and the feedback and stats they gather are useful – especially if you’re in corporate communications.
While their surveys are typically geared towards PR professionals, I’d like to highlight an important finding that should also resonate if you’re an IRO: 98% of journalists said it was somewhat important (8%), important (24%) or very important (66%) to find PR contact information within an online newsroom.
This stat has ...


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			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://www.q4blog.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/Contact-Us.jpg"><img class="alignright size-full wp-image-5032" style="margin-left: 6px; margin-right: 6px;" title="Contact Us" src="http://www.q4blog.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/Contact-Us.jpg" alt="" width="150" height="150" /></a>If you’re not familiar with <a href="http://www.tekgroup.com/">TekGroup’s</a> research you should be.   For example they conduct regular surveys about what journalists expect in a company’s online newsroom and the feedback and stats they gather are useful – especially if you’re in corporate communications.</p>
<p>While their surveys are typically geared towards PR professionals, I’d like to highlight an important finding that should also resonate if you’re an IRO: <strong>98% of journalists said it was somewhat important (8%), important (24%) or very important (66%) to find PR contact information within an online newsroom</strong>.</p>
<p>This stat has relevance to IROs as you can easily insert ‘investor’ where you see the word journalist and ‘IR’ where it says PR. As it doesn’t matter who your audience is, companies should provide contact information for a ‘real’ person.</p>
<p>In a <a href="http://onlinenewsroomresearch.com/2010/12/contacts-in-an-online-newsroom/">blog post</a>, TekGroup says this about the finding:</p>
<blockquote><p><strong>What might be more telling is the difficulty with which this impossibly simple task is executed in online newsrooms across the web.</strong></p></blockquote>
<p>The aforementioned statement also supports research we’ve conducted on IR website best practices – i.e. it is not uncommon to find a generic email address such as info@company.com on a company’s website.</p>
<p>While we continue to see companies who do not provide the IR contact on their website, this practice is slowly becoming a thing of the past.  That said, I thought it would be useful to reiterate some of our thoughts on how to make your company more accessible to investors along with some company examples.</p>
<p>We are seeing a surge in more detailed ‘Contact Us’ pages.</p>
<p>For example, Chesapeake Energy (NYSE:CHK) offers explanations for why/where/who to contact along with links to resources:</p>
<p><a href="http://www.q4blog.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/Chesapeake.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-4993" title="Chesapeake" src="http://www.q4blog.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/Chesapeake.jpg" alt="" width="600" height="508" /></a></p>
<p>We are also seeing companies provide complete contact information such as title, direct phone number and email address, along with a photo, like Bayer does below:</p>
<p><a href="http://www.q4blog.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/Bayer.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-4996" title="Bayer" src="http://www.q4blog.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/Bayer.jpg" alt="" width="600" height="498" /></a></p>
<p>Aviva also provides a picture and a bio for their IR contacts:</p>
<p><a href="http://www.q4blog.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/Aviva.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-4997" title="Aviva" src="http://www.q4blog.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/Aviva.jpg" alt="" width="600" height="509" /></a></p>
<p>Photos add a personal touch as they humanize the person behind the contact information.</p>
<p>Potash Corp. has incorporated a ‘Frequently Asked Question’ (FAQ) link into their Contact section and has segmented specific FAQ’s depending on the department you want to contact:</p>
<p><a href="http://www.q4blog.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/Potash_1.png"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-4998" title="Potash_1" src="http://www.q4blog.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/Potash_1.png" alt="" width="600" height="509" /></a><a href="http://www.q4blog.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/Potash_2.png"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-4999" title="Potash_2" src="http://www.q4blog.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/Potash_2.png" alt="" width="584" height="493" /></a></p>
<p>FAQs are often confined to the investor section but by incorporating them like Potash does above, can help reduce calls and help site visitors. Potash includes an aggregate of FAQs for Investors, Customers, Sustainability, Careers and ties this into their Contact Us page as well.</p>
<p>Providing contact information to a ‘real’ person on your IR website is one way you can help make yourself accessible to your investors.  It may seem like an obvious thing to do, but somehow it gets overlooked.  The examples I provided are a small sampling of some easy ways to help your investors contact you if necessary.</p>


<p>Related posts:<ol><li><a href='http://www.q4blog.com/2010/12/02/tools-to-aid-relationship-brand-building-with-investors-on-your-ir-website/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Tools to Aid Relationship &#038; Brand Building with Investors on Your IR Website'>Tools to Aid Relationship &#038; Brand Building with Investors on Your IR Website</a> <small>Today we are going to talk about some best practice...</small></li><li><a href='http://www.q4blog.com/2011/08/31/potashcorp-the-makings-of-a-best-practice-ir-website-part-2/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: PotashCorp: The Makings of a Best Practice IR Website &#8211; Part 2'>PotashCorp: The Makings of a Best Practice IR Website &#8211; Part 2</a> <small>This is the second part of an interview I conducted...</small></li><li><a href='http://www.q4blog.com/2010/06/10/q4-announces-new-upgrades-focused-on-real-time-integration-of-social-media/' rel='bookmark' title='Permanent Link: Q4 Announces New Upgrades Focused on Real-Time Integration of Social Media'>Q4 Announces New Upgrades Focused on Real-Time Integration of Social Media</a> <small>We&#8217;re excited to announce the release of a number of...</small></li></ol></p>
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