DRC 2022 Recap: Push reporting showcase: Schaeffler
Push reporting is a valuable tool in corporate reporting. At this year’s DRC Andreas Possel head of Schaeffler’s sustainability reporting team and Lisa Schwedes from nexxar were invited to showcase?Schaeffler’s communication campaign for the 2020 sustainability report.
What is push reporting?
In the past it was not uncommon that the annual report was the only source of information about a company thus creating a pull effect, automatically bringing stakeholders to the document. These days a report competes with multiple online information sources, like news sites, finance platforms, finance influencers, etc.
A report is not only a formal, mandatory publication, but also a valuable communication device. Push reporting, using a variety of social media posts to share all, or parts, of the report, can prolong the life span of your report and promote it any time it provides relevant information in a context. Creating a year-round communication plan ensures that relevant information is communicated actively to the stakeholders, like the financial community, employees, NGOs, and others. In addition to a variety of social media posts, a Google Ads Campaign is a great tool to push the report to new audiences.
The benefits of push reporting include increased reach, expanded audience, a higher return on the reporting budget and proof of relevance of reporting content, among others.
Showcase: Schaeffler- sustainability report 2020
Schaeffler is a German manufacturer of rolling element bearings for automotive, aerospace, and industrial uses. At the centre of their sustainability communication is the award-winning sustainability report.
For Schaeffler push reporting has three components – a Google Ads campaign following the publication of the report, social media posts and internal communication.
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Different formats and channels were used to share the story: The corporate website linked to the ?Sustainability Report. Various posts were created for social media platforms LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. The Head of Sustainability & EHS (Environment, Health, Safety) Thomas Fu?h?ller, was a guest on a Podcast. Even Schaeffler’s C-Level was involved in the social media campaign, including CFO Andreas Schick. In addition, employees shared posts on their own channels. Their active involvement created a whole new layer in corporate communication.
Internal communication played a big part, mainly via the company’s intranet. Employee engagement with posts concerning sustainability showed the importance of this topic. During Schaeffler’s Sustainability Week various events, discussions, and workshops helped raise additional awareness of the report.
General sustainability-related dates such as Earth Day, or World Water Day were selected for topic-related social media posts, along with significant events such as being included in the 50 Climate Leaders, or announcing a new target. LinkedIn was the main channel used, but attention was paid to posts across all platforms. The internal communication program ran throughout the course of the year. The Google Ads campaign was set from April until June.
For the Google Ads campaign 25-30 key words related to the sustainability report were selected. The campaign was launched a couple of weeks after the publication of the report, ran for 3 months, and generated over 9,000 visits.
Discussion
The Q&A Discussion centred around the use of C-Level profiles in social media, especially LinkedIn. A quick survey amongst the participants showed, that there is still a lot of unused potential in this field.
The organisers want to thank Lisa for presenting this session alone, after an accident prevented Andreas’ attendance.
In my optinion its really a paradox! Companies take an enormous effort to produce their reports. But as soon as they are published, stakeholders are expected to find the reports themselves. No other comparable cost-intensive product would be communicated so little.