In the days of Web 1.0, organizations just posted the print version of their annual reports on their websites. With the advent of Web 2.0, industries need to take their investor relations a step further and create interactive annual reports.

An interactive annual report doesn’t just include financial information in new, digital formats, but also includes the traditional print materials as well. IBM’s 2008 annual report is a great example of an interactive annual report, complete with multimedia.

The Interactive Annual Report Company, based out of the U.K., is a company devoted to building annual reports in multimedia formats for other organizations. An annual report developed by the Interactive Annual Report Company includes a video letter to shareholders from the CEO or Chairman, video case studies, interactive click-through financial charts, as well as downloadable print formats.

However, the annual report also includes a small, pocketsize booklet of the annual report in print format. The booklet has colorful graphics and investors can carry it around anywhere.

Take a look at the video below. Dave Werner has created a multimedia annual report for Brinker International.

Many companies have only taken the first step to transparent investor relations with key publics. Posting annual reports in PDF format on corporate websites won’t foster the trusting relationship that an interactive report may. Current and potential shareholders might trust a company more if they’ve seen a video statement from the CEO, have easy access to a decade worth of financials all on one page, or can link to the corporate investors’ blog from the annual report (check out Dell’s investor blog to see an example).

Though interactive financial reports require extra time and money, the resulting investor relationship could make up for the funds taken from the bottom line anyways.