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Posts Tagged ‘webcasting’

5 SIMPLE WAYS TO INCORPORATE MOBILE INTO YOUR IR PROGRAM

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MOBILE WEB USERS WILL SURPASS “TRADITIONAL” DESKTOP INTERNET USERS BY 2014*

With the rapid adoption of mobile technology, there is a sense of an always-online culture where the ability to research and communicate is never more than a click or swipe away. Investor Relations is no exception.

As an IR professional, you need to stay connected to events moving your company, peers and industry, even when you’re on the road. And your stakeholders are also increasingly becoming mobile.

Here are a few simple ways to incorporate mobile into your IR program:

1)  Optimize your IR website for your mobile stakeholders: By 2013, mobile is expected to be the first screen for all Web usage. What does this mean for IR? Well, it means your IR website will probably be viewed on a smartphone or tablet. And as the saying goes, first impressions matter. Ensure your IR website is optimized to be viewed not only on multiple browsers but also multiple devices including tablets and smartphones.

2)  Ensure your earnings and video webcasts are mobile-friendly: A report from Nielsen found that over 26 million U.S. consumers viewed mobile video in the last quarter. Ensure that you offer the same experience to your mobile audiences accessing your earnings & conference webcasts as to your desktop viewers. Learn more on how to optimize your webcasts and webinars for mobile audience by visiting our Multimedia Solutions blog.

3)  Arm yourself (and your team) with a tablet: According to a report by IDC, it is estimated that by 2014, 70% of employees will access company data from outside their office. Increase productivity and collaboration by using a tablet – ideal for when you’re on the road or in the office. Imagine not having to print a 30-slide investor presentation to prepare for a meeting because you can view it and add notes to it directly from your tablet. Or pulling up the most recent sell-side research report to understand investor sentiment from a cab on your way to an investor meeting. There is a lot you can do with a tablet – it’s worth the investment.

4)  Download market-moving apps: Ensure you stay connected to what could potentially be moving your stock and access critical market-moving information such as quotes, news, sell-side research, and estimates whether you’re in the office or away. A variety of news and market data companies have their own apps and mobile websites, but a couple highly rated apps that aggregate news and social media are Pulse News and Flipboard. Save frequently visited market news websites or download respective apps to your smartphone and tablet.

5) Synchronize your tablet and desktop information: Leverage a variety of applications that allow you to access your desktop remotely including GoToMyPC, LogMeIn and Screens VNC. Ensure you have access to the information you need when you’re on the road with content sharing apps including Dropbox and Google Drive.

 

Already have a mobile IR program or a favorite IR app? Tell us how you got started. We’d love to hear your story.

* According to Morgan Stanley


This entry was posted in Best Practices, Investor Relations, Mobile and tagged , , , , by Jenn Rothenberg. Bookmark the permalink. No Comments

The Budget Benefits of Webcasting

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International bank notesIf you’re like most business communication professionals today, you’re being asked to do more with less. Your responsibilities have increased, your budget has been slashed and the number of hours in a day has stayed exactly the same. You’ve had to take a hard look at your list of activities and evaluate which expenditures you can eliminate or scale back, and which are measurable. But taking a hatchet to your budget can leave you with a thin plan lacking the flexibility to invest in new opportunities as they come up throughout the year. Successful dieting (financially or otherwise) is not about how much you can cut back but instead, how well you make healthier substitutions. In terms of your communication strategies, what tactics can you replace with more cost-effective alternatives that deliver a more measurable impact?

In this post, we’ll show you how you can reduce your communication costs by 50% today by using webcasting as a replacement for large-scale teleconference calls and travel expenses associated with executive communications.

The Hang Ups of Teleconference Calls
How many times have you been on the receiving end of a teleconference call and spent your time on mute checking email or surfing the Web?  In many cases, unless you’re actively collaborating in a small group, it’s not a user experience conducive to message retention and interactivity. But this guide isn’t about engagement, so let’s consider a typical one-hour teleconference call with operator-assistance and look at the budget impact as your audience grows in size.

Attendees (lines)

Cost per minute, per line (USD)*

Total cost (60 minutes) (USD)

50

$0.43

$1,290

100

$0.43

$2,580

250

$0.43

$6,450

500

$0.43

$12,900

1,000

$0.43

$25,800

As you can see, it can get quite expensive paying for each individual line on a per minute basis. And you won’t know the exact cost until you receive the total from your provider after the call is complete. Conversely, webcasting allows you to reliably predict your costs with flat pricing that is independent from the quantity of viewers (i.e. whether you have 100 viewers or 1,000, the price is the same).
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This entry was posted in Best Practices and Tips and tagged , by Matt Raymond. Bookmark the permalink. No Comments

How to Retain Investor Confidence During A Crisis with Webcasting

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Is the old adage “Any publicity is good publicity” always true, especially in a field such as Investor Relations? I’d like to suggest that quite often an IR Officer (IRO) would prefer to not be faced with the negative publicity.City after a rain storm

If you’ve been reading the business news lately, you may have noticed an increase in claims of fraud and mismanagement, especially affecting foreign-listed Chinese companies. In many cases, once the accusations are made a sharp decline in share price follows immediately.

Should such a situation arise at your company, you must be prepared to communicate to key stakeholders without hesitation. Preparing a plan for responding to negative publicity is indispensible as you do not always have the luxury of time when faced with such a crisis.

Recently a webcasting client of ours was faced with such negative publicity. The company responded by hosting a live in-person conference and invited the investment community to attend virtually via webcast. Hundreds of investors tuned in to watch the CEO respond in his own words. Management walked investors through each of the claims and countered them, providing much needed transparency to strengthen investor confidence. What was critical was that the companies had a response plan in place that allowed them to deliver the webcast within 24 hours of the negative event and take control of the message. Months later, the share price has rebounded and analyst sentiment has improved.

Here are 4 ways you can plan for a negative event and retain investor confidence:

1. Know whom to call when you need to schedule a last minute webcast to reach your community of stakeholders. Choose a trusted, 24/7 global provider that you know is able to react quickly and can deliver within hours when necessary. It would be ideal to identify a communications partner in advance of needing to prepare a crisis response.

2. Ensure your message has global reach. In today’s networked world, the negative news will be distributed and discussed across the Web; therefore you must ensure that your message can reach the same audience. Notify the market of your webcast via a press release, and distribute your webcast not only on your corporate website but also via social media sites and targeted networks.

3. Be as transparent as possible. The management discussion must be thorough in disproving the allegations. In the case study discussed above, the client used an accompanying slide presentation as part of the webcast to add clarity to the speaking points on why the allegations were false.

4. Monitor social media activity. While I believe that many companies will be hesitant to respond on social networks, you must be aware of what is being stated in the Twitterverse and blogosphere, as there will undoubtedly be discussions of the issues on these channels. Coordinate with your PR and marketing teams to understand your corporate social media policies and establish an action plan to respond in a crisis.

In times of crisis, responding quickly and providing transparency through a webcast will help you deliver your message to the marketplace, increase confidence and stabilize sentiment. Communicating via webcasts is not just effective in a crisis but as part of an ongoing IR program that values keeping your investment community engaged with a higher level of frequency for all types of investor communications. This also helps to familiarize your audience with the technology when you do need to reach them during a crisis.

How are you using webcasting to inform and engage the investment community?


This entry was posted in Best Practices and Tips and tagged , , , by Rachel Adams. Bookmark the permalink. No Comments

Best Practice Guide for Using Video on Your Corporate Website

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In light of our best practices webinar, How to Use Video on Your Corporate Website to Increase Demand Generation, I thought a refresher might be in order on effective use of video on your company’s website.
Jackson video webcast

Today’s corporate websites have become flashy, multimedia-rich versions of their former Web 1.0 selves, complete with multiple tabs and a myriad of links to social networking sites. But in the rush to add video content to their site, many firms have opted for quantity rather quality, and have lost sight of the reasons why video is so important for creating and inviting and interactive experience for visitors, prospects, investors and clients.

5 Answers to the Question: “Why Video?”

Let’s start by taking a step back – to think about what makes video so much more compelling to add to your website than text or even audio alone.

  • A significant portion of the world’s population is now online—more than two billion users worldwide. Approximately 70% of global online consumers watch online video, streaming an average of more than 200 videos per month in the US alone.
  • Consumption of video across multiple platforms is now a global phenomenon—marketers and media companies should be leveraging all opportunities to capture consumer attention.
  • Younger consumers have grown accustomed to accessing video whenever, wherever they want it, while cross-platform events, such as the Olympics or the Royal Wedding, show a spike in usage across all demographics. This underscores the value of making the content once reserved for television available across a number of mediums, including the Internet and mobile devices.
  • Online video can help your firm reach a larger audience and more effectively engage with customers and key stakeholders by providing complete control over how and when to communicate your message. Including video as part of your website strategy can help promote your brand and generate more business by improving your site’s search engine optimization, in turn increasing web traffic and driving lead generation programs.
  • Video not only, improves communications and saves your company money by reducing travel and teleconference costs, but it is also completely measurable. It generates tangible results and proven ROI for senior stakeholders, while enabling content creators to monitor effectiveness and easily adapt to emerging audience trends.

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This entry was posted in Best Practices and Tips and tagged , , , , , by Nikkole Couture. Bookmark the permalink. 2 Comments

Case study: Jackson Uses Online Video to Educate Financial Advisors on Investment Choices

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While many financial services firms are just beginning to integrate multimedia into their communication strategy to improve audience engagement, some have fully embraced this medium and are already looking for ways to build upon years of success.

Jackson video webcast“We’ve been using multimedia to educate advisors and wholesalers on our products for years,” said Luis Gomez, Vice President of Marketing Strategy at Jackson National Life Distributors, an industry leader in variable, fixed and fixed index annuities, also offering life insurance and institutional products. “If we relied solely on email or mailings to deliver those messages it just wouldn’t be as effective. We’re always looking for innovative ways to differentiate ourselves. Expanding the use of video was the next step in the evolution of our marketing program.”

After discovering Flash-based presentations and video email were more effective than text-based materials in educating advisors and wholesalers about complex products, Gomez sought to develop a library of online videos to provide an even richer experience. “We found that text-based communications led to a lot of confusion as they left room for interpretation and weren’t very dynamic. Video not only helps in simplifying products which are often complex, but it also communicates body language and tone so advisors and wholesalers can really understand how to deliver the message.”

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This entry was posted in Case Studies and tagged , , , , , , by Matt Raymond. Bookmark the permalink. No Comments

3 Essential Webcast Planning Tips

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Historically, in-person meetings have been the preferred way to communicate critical information. But as travel budgets are slashed in today’s challenging economy, holding face-to-face meetings has become inefficient in terms of both time and cost—particularly when addressing a geographically dispersed or global audience.

Webcasting is one response to the twin pressures of delivering effective communications and reducing travel and venue costs. It is being used more and more for all business-critical communication across a corporation, from product marketing to employee communication. But the benefits of webcasting extend beyond global reach and cost savings.

Three workers paint a wallSophisticated webcast providers can offer detailed reporting and analytics that give managers ways to quickly gauge the success of a webcast by examining audience activity such as length of attendance, supporting material downloads, questions submitted during live Q&As and feedback through post-webcast surveys, in addition to overall viewership. These reporting tools help deliver a more clear assessment of the ROI impact webcasts can have compared to other communication formats.

There are several webcast solutions available, from live audio webcasts that allow audiences to view synchronized slides as they listen to the presenter’s message to on-demand presentations that integrate high-definition video and Flash animation. The solution that’s right for you will depend on your strategic and budgetary needs.

Webcast planning tip No. 1: Identify your target audience
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This entry was posted in Best Practices and Tips and tagged , , , by Shaun McIver. Bookmark the permalink.

3 Factors To Consider When Choosing a Webcast or Web Conferencing Platform

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The most basic objective for delivering any online event, whether it’s a webcast or web conference, is basically the same—to engage a geographically dispersed audience leveraging the world-flattening power of the Web. However, the platform on which you choose to present your content can have a staggering impact on the success of your online event.

AMD Video Webcast

When assessing whether to use a webcast or web conferencing platform, there are three business factors to consider (if you need a refresher on the difference between a webcast and Web conference, view our recent post on the topic):
• Audience
• Presentation quality
• Budget

Audience
Is your audience concentrated in larger enterprises, smaller businesses, or home offices? Are they in one country or dispersed around the globe? These questions are important to determine how your audience will be able to access your online event.

For example, when using or viewing the application (desktop) sharing feature, most web conferencing tools require the use of java-based software which presenters and audience members must download. But in larger organizations, most IT managers prohibit employees from downloading software which has not been approved by the corporation for security-related reasons. Therefore, application sharing may not be accessible for all enterprise users.

Most webcasting suppliers rely only on the software that is already bundled into common Internet browsers. The intention is to remove any barriers to participating in an audio or video webcast.
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This entry was posted in Best Practices and Tips and tagged , , by Shaun McIver. Bookmark the permalink. 1 Comment

Webcasting, Webinars, Web Conferencing: What’s the Difference?

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What’s the difference between webcasting and web conferencing? And what’s a webinar?! These have been some of the most confusing questions in the online events marketplace for the past decade. Unfortunately, some vendors are only adding to the confusion. I recently Googled the keyword “webcast” and most of the companies who ranked highest under the paid search category were, by definition, web conferencing providers!

As the world’s largest webcasting provider—and after answering these same questions from curious clients for fifteen years—I thought it was time for Thomson Reuters to join the conversation and help clear up the confusion about these terms.

A webcast is a live or on-demand presentation streamed in audio or video over the Web, often accompanied by synchronized PowerPoint slides. Ideal for engaging larger online audiences, webcasting is a “one-to-many” (one speaker—or panel of speakers—presenting to many attendees) broadcast over the Internet which can accommodate thousands of simultaneous viewers. Webcasts are browser-based, require no additional software download, and audio is integrated into the platform so no phone line is needed—a user can listen to the presentation through speakers or headphones. A webcast is typically a professionally produced program in itself or coverage of a live event, streamed with almost any combination of interactive features, from Q&A tools to surveys, polls and social media sharing.

A web conference is an online meeting typically conducted by a combination of Web browser and telephone lines. You can share your computer’s desktop with other users to present a demo or slide deck. Audio is captured and transmitted through your phone line or by Voice over IP. In some circumstances, video can be captured using a desktop webcam. Web conferencing is ideal for smaller, “few to few” collaborative meetings where most if not all participants are communicating (i.e. collaborating) with one another. In most cases, a web conference platform also requires users to download proprietary software before accessing the presentation and/or share content.

A webinar is a seminar delivered over the Web and refers to a strategic application (often for marketing and demand generation) of a webcast or web conference platform. Webinars are typically used to deliver thought leadership content and include interactive features to allow viewers to submit questions to the speaker and participate in polls. Other tools relied on in developing a webinar include a registration page to capture audience information, reminder emails to promote attendance, source tracking URLs to monitor how users are finding your program, and an exit survey to collect immediate feedback from attendees. All of these features should be integrated into any webcast or web conference platform you consider.

I hope these definitions have helped you better understand these terms which are so often used incorrectly and interchangeably. I encourage you to leave a comment with your thoughts or additional questions.


This entry was posted in Best Practices and Tips and tagged , , , , by Shaun McIver. Bookmark the permalink. 5 Comments