PLANNING YOUR 2022 IR CALENDAR
The past two years have brought great uncertainty, but one thing is for certain: a well-planned investor relations program is more important than ever before. When you’re fighting fires, it’s easy to neglect planning ahead for the year, but we promise that the efforts will pay dividends (no pun intended)! Your IR calendar can be as granular or broad, planned on a month-by-month basis, and should aim to include all your investor relations activities: list of press release to be expected (earnings, AGM results, etc.), social media, e-mail campaigns, earnings calls, AGM plans, investor days, public relations activities, shareholder meetings and more.
We’ve included some items to get you started:
Annual General Meeting – Your Version of Your Company Superbowl
It’s safe to assume that your 2022 AGM will, once again, be virtual (a hybrid meeting, if you’re lucky). While this doesn’t allow for the same in-person feel, it does provide many benefits for the company and its shareholders including cost savings, environmental benefits and increased shareholder participation rates. However, it’s important to bear in mind that everyone is suffering from Zoom fatigue, therefore we suggest considering unique ways to engage your audience.
Make it participatory and engaging! The AGM brings management to accountability and shareholders should be able to ask questions easily and freely. Your investors should be provided with detailed instructions about asking questions and you could even consider using a moderator to manage the Q&A process to show your shareholders and attendees that no questions will be removed or missed.
After the meeting, post all your questions and answers on your website. If there are questions you can’t answer, perhaps because they’re unrelated or require disclosure – simply explain why.
An investor’s understanding of your business is key and, depending on your industry, a good way to help investors engage and further their understanding and knowledge is by offering them a detailed look at the inner workings of your company. An exclusive “behind the scenes” tour gives investors a unique insight and can help create buzz and interest.
Finally, provide a virtual goodie bag! We’ve seen shared playlists, donation gift cards and exclusive discounts. Let the creative juices flow.
Social Media Calendar
Consistency is the key to engaging and retaining interest on social media. Posting regularly on social media requires effort and attention every single day (not just when you’re feeling inspired). While this may sound like a monumental undertaking, being proactive and planning your 2022 social media calendar will prevent any last-minute panic attacks and subpar content. Populating your social media calendar with posts ahead of time allows you to post consistently even if it’s a slow news week. Maintaining a social media calendar lets you plan ahead, avoid multitasking, and save all your creativity for later.
E-mail/Marketing calendar
E-blasts and newsletters have grown enormously in the past few years, particularly the latter. E-blasts are low risk/high reward as your mailing list is populated by people who have already expressed some level of interest in your business, and this presents an opportunity to enhance your company profile with high-quality content that keeps your investors informed. However, e-content should not be considered a replacement to your other outreach strategies. A newsletter builds on and enhances the other content you publish. A newsletter that provides exclusive and valuable information to subscribers and links back to content on your site will encourage customers to engage with your main offerings. Investors will also forward your newsletters, further helping you grow your audience.
Calendar
Finally, plugging your 2022 calendar with all the important dates, disclosures and meetings for the year ahead will help you stay on track. The start of a new year is the perfect time to map out your investor relations and disclosure schedule – work in board meetings and reporting deadlines, too. Also, challenge yourself, set a goal for a certain number of meetings and social posts a month and stick to it! Putting this in your calendar will help you stay focused and true to your goals.
Happy planning.
