Top 5 Twitter Tactics That Can Get You More Readers and More Customers

As the most popular micro-blogging platform in the world, Twitter serves as an effective marketing tool for your small business. Not only can it get you noticed by more people, but it can also help you develop a relationship with those people and turn them into loyal followers who may eventually become loyal customers.

Before you get to that point, however, you’ll need to learn a few simple – but powerful – tactics. Unfortunately, it’s not as simple as just setting up a Twitter account and posting a link to your website or blog every day. Put these 5 tips into action, and see what Twitter can do for you.

1. Master the Art of Hashtags

Hashtags are a way to tag your tweets with keywords that make them easier to find via Twitter search. Additionally, a hashtagged word is automatically converted into an active link that leads to a search page displaying all tweets containing that keyword.

Click this link for an example: #blogging

By using hashtags, you can expose your business to people who might never find you otherwise. Also, it’s safe to say that people who use the same hashtag as you are interested in similar topics. Hence, they’ll likely find your tweets – as well as your products and services – useful.

Further, many people use hashtags to ask questions on subjects they know little about. That way, they’ll likely get responses from the general public, as well as their own followers. You can reply to those tweets, and position yourself as an expert on the topic. Just pick a hashtag, and start answering questions.

2. Schedule Your Tweets to Maximize Exposure

Very often you can tell the moment somebody signs into their Twitter account, because your feed gets flooded with responses and comments to tweets that happened during their offline time. With a big number of followers and a very active Twitter user, it sometimes borders on spam. In fact, some people get very irritated with accounts they consider “too active”.

At the same time, as a business owner, you can’t afford to spend your entire day monitoring your Twitter feed and allowing it to distract you from actual work.

A great solution to that problem is to schedule your tweets to space them in time, not only avoiding making your account “spam-like”, but also making sure your account will be promoting you and your business while you’re busy working.

While Twitter website doesn’t offer that feature yet, there are many free online services that can help you manage and schedule your tweets any way you want. Personally, I have very good experience with Tweetdeck.com and Hootsuite.com and I can recommend them to both new and experience Twitter users.

If you’re sharing links to content in your niche that your followers might find useful, or if you’re posting free tips, scheduling your tweets can be the answer to keep your account active and attractive to prospective clients.

3. Interact With Your Followers

That’s really the best and most important advice you will ever get regarding managing your Twitter account. And while you don’t have to thank them each time after they add you to their feed, it’s good to respond to their tweets if they’re relevant to your niche. You should also always respond if they mention you in their tweets. Answer their questions and be as helpful as possible.

The truth behind a successful Twitter account is to make it seem as personal as possible. It’s not a tool that favors hard sell techniques, at least not too often. It’s developing a loyal following that will get you the sales, the clients and the profits.

Additionally, loyal followers, people who feel they have a personal connection to you and your business will be more than happy to Retweet your tweets, promoting your content to a wider audience. They are more likely to respond to a promotional call to action and refer potential clients to you.

4. Synchronize Your Twitter Account With Other Services

The last thing you want to do is waste your time by cross posting updates to various social networking tools. You can easily avoid that by synchronizing all your social networks and other publishing tools so that one update shows up on every site you’re using to promote your business.

While there are a lot of networking tools, the most popular choice is to synchronize your Twitter account with the RSS feed of your website or blog, and with the Facebook page of your business.

By associating your RSS feed with your Twitter (I recommend using Feedburner.com as it offers many additional features), you ensure that every time you update your blog, your Twitter followers will get a notification in their Twitter feed. All because Feedburner will automatically post the update to your Twitter and you won’t even have to think about it.

If you decide to sync your Twitter and your Facebook, you will ensure activity on two biggest social networking sites, allowing yourself to engage your Twitter followers in Facebook polls and events and vice versa.

5. Polish Your Twitter Profile

And finally, a tip many people dismiss even though it’s crucial in the process of branding your business.

It’s true that your followers rarely view your profile, receiving your tweets directly in their feed. But it’s one of the first things a potential follower and a potential client see. Yet many businesses don’t care what their bio says, what picture they use as their avatar, or what their Twitter handle is.

Meanwhile, you should make sure that your Twitter is an extension of your website and your business, making sure your brand is promoted in both your Twitter handle and your avatar. You could say that in the micro-blogging world, it’s the little things that matter.

Take Twitter by Storm

Managing your Twitter account can be challenging, but it can also turn into an easy way to gain more exposure and provide your business with additional clients and supporters. All the tips in this post are meant to show you that you can achieve that by working smarter, not harder, allowing your Twitter to promote your business.

10 Ways to Generate Blog Topics for Your Small Business Blog

You got the memo about blogging LOUD and clear. You know that blogging can improve traffic to your site, build lasting relationships and help convert those relationships into sales. You even know that you should consistently create new content and use that SEO stuff.

But, what on earth do you write about each day? How can you consistently come up with new material that your readers will actually want to read?

Take a breath. You are not alone. With minimal effort on your part, you are probably sitting on a gold mine of really great topics and you don’t even know it. When the ideas are running dry, try these 10  tips for generating blog topics for your small business blog.

1. Use the questions that your clients are asking.

The purpose of blogging is to provide information to a targeted audience. As a small business owner, you know your clients better than anyone, because you have spent time carefully developing those relationships. In your daily interactions, clients have surely posed questions about your products and services. Compile a list of the most frequently asked questions and craft your blog topics around providing answers or solutions. Not only will you solve the problem of a blog topic, but you will also have provided another invaluable service to your customers. This is also a great way to boost subscribers.

2. Draw from your peers/network.

Are you member of a small business association? You’ve paid the dues every month and bought the luncheon tickets, so use some of that valuable information that you’ve absorbed and deliver it to your audience! Many great ideas are birthed through a simple conversation about what’s taking place in your community. If social media is your primary method of networking, reach out to your “friends” and “followers” and ask for feedback. You glean some words of wisdom and build relationships with your colleagues at the same time.

3. Stop and think. No, really. Stop. Now think.

Sometimes we may be preventing our best thoughts from coming forth by being too busy to think. Grab a pad and give yourself a scheduled brainstorming session of five to ten minutes. Write whatever comes to mind and don’t worry about how well it will be written. Those details will sort themselves out. Get your creative juices flowing and be sure to jot down everything. You have good ideas. Let them out.

4. Review old topics and revamp.

Remember those first, few awkward posts that you wrote with great hesitancy and consternation? You have grown by leaps and bounds since your first encounter as a small business blogger. Consider your old posts excellent fodder for new and exciting content. Update information that may have changed and give those old posts a face-lift. Chances are many of your readers weren’t around back then and haven’t had a chance to check them out anyway.  Build on the foundation you have already created.

5. Tell ‘em what you do.

Every business follows a set of procedures to run smoothly. Give your readers some insight into the bigger picture of your industry. For example, a carpet cleaning company could tell readers about changes to health code that will impact cleaning products used in the future. A wedding vendor could share the importance of working closely with other vendors and assure a potential bride how well their special day will be managed. Provide more information about what you do best. Establish a genuine authority and earn the trust of those you would like to engage most.

6. Highlight your successes.

Have you recently closed a big deal or passed a significant milestone? Consider a post detailing your recent adventures with a high-profile client or a local business you would like to help promote. By tastefully celebrating the returns on your hard work, you give others a chance to see you at your best. Plus, passion is contagious. A passionate post can nudge others to confidently follow in your footsteps and spread the word about your success.

7. Turn your failures into an opportunity to learn.

Henry Ford said, “Failure is only the opportunity to begin again, only this time more wisely.”

You’ve already learned a great deal from that huge mistake you made last month. You have done the research and armed yourself with the information to never let it happen again. Share that education through a blog post! Blogging is about bringing a human perspective to the face of your business. When you admit your failures, you show that you are human.  Consider how many others will benefit from the knowledge you have to share and get writing.

8. Take a good look around your office.

Talk to your team. Who interacts most with your readers? Pick the brain of your receptionist or sales representative. In the spirit of writing what you know, encourage feedback by those “in the trenches”. This will eliminate guesswork and allow you to use your best resources more efficiently. Additionally, you are showing your employees that you value them – another point for you!

9. Find a blogging partner.

Plenty of folks are struggling to find blog topics. Identify a buddy and mutually benefit by collaborating on blog ideas. This is a great strategy for those in mentor roles. A newer counterpart often has a fresh perspective and can reach those you’ve been unable to access. Take it a step further and exchange posts on your blogs.  A guest post brings new insight and keeps your content fresh.

10. Subscribe to a service.

A quick Google search will reveal a number of options for purchasing a list of inspiring blog topics. You may want to consider this option if you don’t have the time or resources to spend on any of the previously mentioned tips. But keep in mind that you know your small business better than anyone else. By the time you customize a pre-made topic to fit your niche, you may have already put in the work it would take to thoughtfully craft your own.

Now, go forth and create. Your readers are waiting.

Greg has more than 25 years in consulting and financial services. He has run his own Investor Relations consulting firm for over 10 years where he has advised clients with respect to strategic investor relations and social media, including corporate disclosure and governance, regulatory issues, raising capital, social media programs, liquidity enhancement, structured finance, strategic business planning and IPO support. Mr. Bewsh has been a guest lecturer at the Schulich School of Business, York University, Seneca College and Humber College. In addition, he spent 11 years as Vice President, Investment Banking for a New York money center bank’s Canadian office and has worked at Canada’s largest Public Relations Agency. He holds an MBA degree from the University of Calgary in Marketing and is a candidate for the CFA designation.

Greg is a desired speaker for organizations, companies and students wanting to learn about Social Media to enhance their marketing efforts. He specializes in small to medium sized businesses and entrepreneurs.

416-305-7344

Branding and Social Media: Turning Facebook and Twitter’s Branding and Marketing Capabilities into Real Estate Lead Generators.

The key to success in social media marketing is to break out of the mould and differentiate yourself with your own personal brand. This is how.

We’ve all heard the Facebook horror stories: Profile pictures of so-called “professionals” with drinks in their hand or a goofy pose better reserved for private viewing, not public consumption.

In this social media-driven age, too many agents tend to get sloppy when it comes to their Facebook and Twitter profiles. Like any other marketing you do, the first impression you make on Facebook or Twitter is very important. If it’s not favourable, you’re going to repel people. Failing to take the time to really think about what your profile is conveying can be detrimental to your business.

The good news is that new graphic capabilities now allow for greater flexibility and increased professionalism and branding, and in this article, we’ll show you how to make the most of these new options.

Content is King

The first rule of thumb for social media marketing is to offer something of substance. Your Facebook and Twitter pages can’t be facades – they must deliver valuable information to prospective clients without being overtly “salesy.” They need personal content that is both professional and engaging.

Once you have and are offering good quality content and data, the next step is tying it all together with high-quality branding. Let’s start by taking a look at how you can convey your unique brand on Facebook.

Facebook Follies

For a site designed to express your individuality, Facebook itself sure lacks for personality. Think about it – for the most part, one person’s Facebook page looks pretty much like everybody else’s Facebook page.

Until now, that is.

Breaking out from Facebook’s anonymous aesthetic starts with the simplest of options, your profile picture. In the past, this image was limited to 200 x 200 pixels, but now it can be up to 600 pixels tall. An extra 400 pixels isn’t going to turn you into a social media dynamo, but it’s a good start to differentiate yourself, and it allows you more flexibility to convey your brand rather than just a square mug shot.

Here are a few examples of how to best take advantage of the extra territory:

Once you have updated your profile picture yet to include your branding, it’s time to get a little more involved. One great feature Facebook offers but not many people take advantage of is the “fan page.” This is a separate page from your profile page that allows you to customize the graphic appearance of your page. Check out what Dean Martin has done with the “Welcome” tab of his fan page:

This rich graphic presentation sets the tone for Dean’s Facebook presence and allows him to provide additional resources to the prospective clients who visit his page, all wrapped up with the high-quality graphics he uses on his marketing materials. Furthermore, a branded social media site indicates that you’re serious about your career and plays into the emotional connections people forge through social media. When someone finds you on Facebook, they feel a stronger connection to you. And when your Facebook is branded with professional graphics and contains quality content that sets you apart from others, it serves as validation of your quality as an agent.

Creating A Sense of Community

Your Facebook fan page also provides another benefit. Over time, as you drive more clients and past clients to your fan page, a group will form. Think of the impact of a prospective client discovering your Facebook fan page, only to find a collection of loyal fans all singing your praises. The “group” aspect will resonate strongly with that prospective client, causing a desire to join the community by becoming your client.

What’s more, the members of that group, who are all bonded by their common support of you, develops a sense of community. This allows you to “rally the troops” or disseminate valuable information to your most loyal clients and customers easily and effectively.

Joining the Tweet Elite

Twitter allows for a little more customization with templated background patterns and various color palettes to choose from. But even the best of those options can’t match up to a truly custom background image. Birmingham, Alabama’s Peggy Lucas has done an excellent job of integrating her brand into her Twitter page:

Keep It Simple

When branding your social media pages, don’t get too ambitious. Instead, keep things simple. Use a nice photo of yourself, your logo, your contact information and perhaps a recognizable graphic element from your campaign. The last thing you want to do is come on too strong and scare people off. If your branding is too garish or poorly designed, it will feel like an ad. In social media marketing, it’s essential that you remember the “social” aspect of it – your Facebook and Twitter pages shouldn’t feel like ads. You cannot try to sell people right away. You first need to earn their respect and trust, or you will be shunned if you come on too strong. Integrating your branding into your social media helps build trust faster by making you more credible.

Getting Technical

What prevents some people from customizing their Facebook and Twitter pages with their branding is that they simply don’t know how to create the files required by each platform. Some Facebook customization options do require what is known as “Static FBML” coding, so unless you’re a technical wiz, it’s best to leave your branding to an expert. Don’t let this be the cause for not customizing your page, however. (If you need help, call us.)

Don’t Get Left Behind

More and more major companies are turning to social media integration to connect with prospective clients and build strong fan bases. A television campaign for Del Taco leads viewers not to the company’s website, but their Facebook page, where you can access additional, exclusive content. Starbucks and Coca-Cola are huge players in social media as well.

The moral? Social media is here to stay, and it’s not good enough to simply have a generic Facebook , Twitter page or Blog anymore. Integrate your brand into your social media and use it to truly differentiate yourself from the competition.

Greg Bewsh has more than 25 years in consulting and financial services. He has run his own Investor Relations consulting firm for over 12 years where he has advised clients with respect to strategic investor relations and social media, including corporate disclosure and governance, regulatory issues, raising capital, social media programs, liquidity enhancement, structured finance, strategic business planning and IPO support. Mr. Bewsh has been a guest lecturer at the Schulich School of Business, York University, Seneca College and Humber College. In addition, he spent 11 years as Vice President, Investment Banking for a New York money center bank’s Canadian office and has worked at Canada’s largest Public Relations Agency. He holds an MBA degree from the University of Calgary in Marketing and is a candidate for the CFA designation.

Greg is a desired speaker for organizations, companies and students wanting to learn about Social Media to enhance their marketing efforts. He specializes in small businesses and entrepreneurs.

Email: socialmedia@bell.net

Website: www.socialmediacanada.blogspot.com

Social Media Marketing - Is It about Lead Generation or Branding?

I hear my fair share of four-letter words. In fact, I utter many of them myself. But there’s one word in particular that has come to dominate my (professional) conversations, thoughts and planning more than any other word: lead. Web-to-lead, lead generation, lead nurturing, lead scoring, qualified lead, lead management…the list goes on.
Leads are critical because of how they interact with our business and contribute to our company’s bottom line. Leads visit our website, download our white papers, ask for a product demo and, when all goes right, they pass through that all-important sales funnel and become a client.
Marketing budgets, which have shifted and transformed so dramatically over the last few years, are being weighed ever more heavily in favor of lead generation and new client acquisition. According to CSO Insights, more than 91 percent of companies worldwide reported increasing new customer acquisition was one of their top strategic marketing objectives for 2011.
But what happens to the branding of a company? Surely something that is often intangible in its immediate ROI and too “qualitative” to really measure has to play a backseat role to the more tactical and metrics-based practice of lead generation. Should you sacrifice branding efforts in the almighty quest for leads? In a word, no. You can indeed build and maintain a strong corporate brand while driving and nurturing leads. Not only can you do these things in tandem, but you should.
Here are three reasons not to ignore your branding efforts:

1. Brand experience: When you think of your company, what is its personality? Perhaps more importantly, when others think of and interact with your company, what is their user experience? What is your brand persona? Why should someone choose your company or product over another? Think of a company with a great brand persona: Apple. There are many companies that can sell you an mp3 player, right? Not taking away from Apple’s technical fortitude, but if brand experience didn’t matter to consumers, would Apple be as successful? When companies are confident in what they are doing, selling and saying to their customers, it shows.
2. Brand recognition: In the wild, wonderful world of Google and all things “search,”what’s most familiar is often most welcome. Type “diamond engagement ring” into Google and you get millions of results from hundreds of thousands of sites. So much information can leave a searcher overwhelmed, disconnected and frustrated. But, if a brand is known, trusted and familiar, like the Tiffany & Co. brand, it might just make the difference between a lead who heads to that site over the less familiar, less recognizable site. (Important note: SEO strategy is a smart part of any online branding strategy.)
3. Brand loyalty: Think of the shopping you did over the recent holiday season, and chances are good that a lot of it was done with brands you’ve dealt with and trusted for a long time. Loyalty is based on many things, of course: great products, stellar customer service, competitive pricing, etc. But a strong brand is also a major factor in keeping current customers tied to a company.

While there is no doubt in any marketer’s mind that lead generation and metrics-based reporting is critical to organizational success, we can’t forget that branding and corporate personality still matter. After all, when you drive those leads to your doorstep, it’s important to welcome them with a recognizable, trustworthy face.

Some Social Media Trends to Watch

1. Video Snacking: According to Fred Singer, CEO of Grab Networks, nearly 180 million Americans are “video snacking,” or watching short video clips on, rather than sitting down to an entire video “meal.”What can you do to take advantage of this opportunity?  Feed the beast.  Give audiences brief, engaging and optimized videos that convey your message in an attractive format and share it on YouTube, or any other video-sharing site, and watch it take off!
2. Proliferation of Generation C (Connected Collective Consumers, or native social networkers):  The new digital consumer exhibits a tribal mentality, derives his social status based on the credibility of what he shares, consumes a minimum of 13 hours of content daily, and participates in your conversations.  Generation C, according to Nielsen, is not defined by age group but a state of mind…and they’re not going anywhere.What can you do get Generation C’s attention?  Become a social media expert so you can interact and engage with those consumers.
3. Print media continues along its path toward its demise:  Does this really need any explanation?What can you do to prevent your own untimely death?  Optimize your content for digital platforms by including multimedia elements like hyperlinks, images, video and social networking options.
4. Let’s make a deal:  Sites like Groupon, Woot!, and YouSwoop have made coupon-clipping en vogue and have enjoyed gargantuan success, and will continue to make an impact on consumer shopping in 2011.What can you do to get in on the game?  Announce a new product or service!  Offer a discount to the individuals who mention it.
5. Hyperlocalization: Hyperlocalized sites like Patch.com limit their coverage to a small area to capture the entire audience.  People want to read about what’s near (and dear) to them.What can you do to make yourself more accessible?  Be a hometown hero. Get involved in community events. Sponsor a local 5K run or volunteer at a local charity, and then let the local press know about it. Read more on two other hyperlocal examples: CivilBeat.com and TBD.com.
6. Fragmentation:  Instead of relying on one publication for its online news, content consumers utilize a variety of different sites to meet their needs. They especially depend on niche sites like mashable.com (a leading technology blog) to provide them with the most accurate and in-depth content, but might also visit NYTimes.com to get a broader perspective on national and international events and issues.What can you do fragment yourself?  Target the creators of these niche sites.  This is where eyes are landing and staying these days.

Step by Step Plan for the Absolute Newbie Real Estate Social Media Marketer

I created this step-by-step plan for the absolute beginner.
If you’re a real estate agent and you now that you need to market on social networks, but don’t know where to begin, this short guide is absolutely perfect for you.
Just follow the steps and you will be able to set up the core accounts you need to start marketing through social networks.
Prelim - Join Social Media Advocate
Social Media Advocate is a free real estate social media site full of ebooks, videos and fellow real estate professionals. Join now.
Prelim - Set up a Blog
If you do not already have a blog you can set up a free blog at www.wordpress.com.
Set Up Social Network Accounts
1. Open one account in your name at www.facebook.com
2. Open one account in your name at www.linkedin.com
3. Open two accounts at www.twitter.com
a. The first account must be for your name
b. The second account must be for your local area
4. If you are a real estate agent open an account at www.activerain.com
5. If you’re a real estate investor open an account at www.biggerpockets.com
Real Estate Domains
6. Open an account at www.godaddy.com and register two real estate domains ($7.67 per domain per year)
a. The first domain must use the keywords your “local town or neighborhood” and “realestate”. If it is unable use variations of real estate, like “homes” etc.
b. The second domain must include your name.
c. Do not forget to use the code NING1 to get a discount. You can also do a Google search for discounts by entering the search term “Go Daddy Discounts Coupons”. Go Daddy always has some kind of discount so look around.
7. Forward the domain to you blog or website.
Software and Services
8. Open an account at www.hootsuite.com (free). Hootsuite is a social media dashboard that will allow you to manage all your social networks from one location.
9. Open an account at www.realbird.com (free version). Realbird is a real estate listing tool that you can use to add listings to your blog. If you already have an IDX plugin or a link to your IDX site, you do not need Realbird.
Email Manager
10. Open an account with www.aweber.com ($19 per month). If you already have an email manager (like Top Producer) then ignore this step. THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT STEP. You absolutely positively must build an email list. You will add email capture forms on your blog and social network accounts so as to convert visitors into contacts and clients.
Reports
11. Publish a 3 to 5 page report on your local market (here are a few ideas)
a. Recent Sales and Statistics
b. Neighborhood report
c. Schools and Parks report
d. Curb Appeal Report
Single Daily Task
12. Invite 30 people a day to “be your friend” on Facebook. A “friend” is someone in your local area who you think may be a potential client. The easiest way to find friends is do a simple search using the name of your town, find a group or fan page for your town and start following existing group members or fans.
That is all you need to do for the first 30 days. Spend time playing around online and getting to know how social networks work.


socialmedia@bell.net

Social Media has Created New Investor and Public Relations Rules

The “New Rules Investor/Public Relations” for a private or a public company is designed to guide either a privately-held or public company in dealing investor relations needs through effective use of PR, the business news media and the Internet. This plan builds on both my nearly two decades of effective investor relations and investor public relations experience, along with the “New Rules” approach to public relations and marketing.

What this means is simple: New Rules Investor/Public Relations blends an innovative and aggressive implementation of a distinctive form of investor relations – IR outreach run along public relations lines along with a keen insight into how the emergence of social networking and social marketing on the internet can enhance Investor Public Relations, taking it to an entirely new level of successful implementation.

A key element of this “New Rules” approach is that social marketing is all about the conversation, the discussion, the free give-and-take of information, rather than the “hard sell” typifying both conventional IR and traditional PR. Top-down lecturing (the typical IR approach taken by most companies) does not work in the New Rules arena of the Internet. Facebook and YouTube invite comments; Twitter demands discussion. To be successful, the company with investor relations aspirations needs to be part of that discussion.

The blending of the most innovative approach to conventional investor relations with the most aggressive and visionary use of the Internet sets New Rules Investor/Public Relations apart from all other approaches to investor relations.

This New Rules Investor/Public Relations plan, when executed, will ensure that either a public company or a private company (which may intend to become a public company) remains OSC/SEC-compliant. This plan will raise the IR profile of company and enhance the company’s position in the equity and investment markets.

The ultimate intent in this New Rules Investor/Public Relations program is to provide information to current and potential investors, as well as to the various investor marketplaces – primarily through the media and the Internet, but also through all other appropriate communications channels – that will lead to the legal and ethical growth of the stock’s value in the marketplace.

Under this plan, even the company’s PR activities which are primarily focused on product- or service-line promotion, business development – even image or issue management – will have an underlying IR purpose. The reverse is also true – in the age of the Internet, it is no longer possible to silo information programs for “just employees” or “just customers” – or even “just investors.” Investor PR communications will also reach clients and employees and regulators, and it is therefore essential that the programs themselves not be siloed off to “investor relations” and “public relations” and “social networking” service providers or internal divisions within the company – for maximum benefit and minimum blow-back, these programs must be integrated at both the management and implementation levels.

What follows are some overview strategies and tactics that can be used – and, properly implemented, will work – to help a private company attract the attention (or position itself to attract the attention of) investors, and for a public company to see its stock rise to its appropriate and market-determined value. New Rules Investor/Public Relations is investor relations, but with a twist.

New Rules Investor/Public Relations requires standard outreach tools which include formalized OSC/SEC RegFD-compliant press releases, media pitches and pitch-tip sheets, white papers and case investor outreach communications and targeted work with appropriate business and financial analysts. It also requires a parallel campaign making use of the technologies and tools of social networking, including FaceBook and Twitter, YouTube and blogs, and a host of other technologies and tools. These must be integrated, conventional with social, to create a consistent message across media platforms and to reach and favourably influence the maximum possible number of clients and customers, influencers and investors.

However, effective New Rules Investor/Public Relations, especially for less well-known companies, must also involve a heavy dose of aggressive, brand-building public relations – PR programs that on the surface seemingly has little to do with stock prices or institutional investors, angels or VCs. However, below the surface, these brand-building PR programs are essential to overall investor relations success.

Before traditional and standard market-making or VC-attracting IR efforts can hope to work for smaller companies, these firms must first become better-known in the marketplace. In addition, when potential investors first show some interest, they’ve got to be able to find motivational information that will “sell the company” without crossing the investor inducement line. Positive information about products or services, as well as news of marketplace success, can be made to fill this need.

This initial New Rules Investor/Public Relations approach is designed to elevate a company’s media and marketplace “position” with key target audiences, including:

· Business and Financial Analysts who cover the market space

· Individual investors and potential investors – including, for private companies, angels and incubators and VCs of all kinds

· Institutional investors

· Referral sources and other influencers

· Business media pundits, including the growing number of influential online media (including blog media) pundits whose opinions and coverage of companies can dramatically increase public awareness, which is the first necessary step in effective investor relations programs

A strategy note: Every growth-oriented private company is a potential public company. It has been our experience that private companies with public company aspirations should, to the greatest extent possible, follow the OSC/SEC RegFD guidelines while still a private company. Adopting and following these OSC/SEC guidelines is recommended both for “just in case” reasons and because it will project the private company as more mature (and therefore more worthy of investment) by savvy angels, incubators, VCs and other “flavours” of private-company investment capital. This plan follows this bias toward compliance.

Website

Public and private companies need to have effective investor-oriented websites that provide a wide variety of information required (of public companies) by the OSC/SEC and desired by investors and potential investors.

In addition, the company website should include an “affinity group” section – a closed-panel social networking site which will allow clients and constituents, as well as investors and potential investors, to communicate with the company (and the company with them) as well as with one another.

Why have this feature? Realistically, every public company and – ultimately – most private companies will spawn independent websites, blogs, bulletin boards and/or discussion groups which will critique the company (and which will be monitored by the company). By having an internal site which fulfills this function, the company can both more easily monitor the “chatter” and more plausibly participate in the discussion.

Analysts

Business and Investment Analysts can have a profound impact on potential investors, market makers, VCs and others. It is vital to find them and court them, then include them in the discussion. Databases such as Big Dough, while not inexpensive, are essential to finding the right analysts – the ones most likely to cover a company’s market space, the most likely to be enlisted as an ally in efforts both online and off-line to participate in the discussion.

With this information about analysts who can influence stock value or lay the groundwork for courting a VC or other investor, a company will be able to communicate (in a PR fashion, using PR tools) directly to the targeted analysts help build their awareness of the company and its news. The goal here is to put the company on their radar screens for the first time, and to show company as a viable candidate for future investment.

In addition to its other obvious benefits, for public companies, this approach will help to influence these targets to include company in their future Buy-Side research reports. In the event the company does a road show to the investment community, this groundwork with analysts may prove decisively helpful.

IR-Focused PR

New Rules Investor/Public Relations efforts will include both product/service-oriented and company performance (IR-focused) information.

Plan: The core of IR/PR efforts – whether traditional or New Rules – for any company is built around a plan, which is an integral part of a larger strategic plan which includes business development, marketing, investor relations and issues management goals and objectives.

Some companies prefer detailed and polished strategic planning documents that will be shown to the board and shareholders, to private-placement or public-company investors, to institutional investors or other third parties. Others, however, prefer a back-of-the-envelope plan – bullet-points that allow both company and its communications agency to know where they’re going, when they’ll get there, what it will cost and what success is likely to look like.

Implementation: No matter how big the plan becomes (in terms of activities), the plan should always include the following core activities:

1. An ongoing series of press releases (for release to the Web, as well as to specific reporters and editors) to carefully-selected targets.

2. An ongoing series of press pitches, which will be pushed into the world via email, making use of carefully-crafted media contact lists.

3. An ongoing series of phone pitches or even (when opportunity and need arises) face-to-face pitches with identified individual reporters and editors to generate highly-focused press coverage.

4. An ongoing series of efforts to create opportunities to have the company spokesperson featured as a guest on radio (BNN, NPR, Bloomberg and syndicated programs focused on business or on issues touched by the company’s business model)

5. An ongoing series of efforts to create opportunities to have the company spokesperson featured as a guest on Television (BNN, PBS, cable news, Cable business news, etc.)

6. A social media support strategy that will reinforce every press outreach with blogs, Facebook posts, tweets and – where possible – YouTube videos (and video-embedded “smart” press releases) to ensure full integration between conventional and New Rules PR and Investor PR efforts

7. An “Off-Broadway” media strategy, at least at first, seeking coverage early-on in second-tier and third-tier business, trade and investment media.

8. Create and implement an investor-focused media release distribution strategy – a “bread-crumbs” strategy designed to get the word out in the marketplace so that when prospective investors (including VCs and angels and others seeking out private investment opportunities) want to conduct their own due diligence – or who are just “shopping” for that next opportunity, they will find the company.

9. An ongoing series of activities to create opportunities for other media placements (through editorial calendars and focused “reconnaissance” of the media marketplace)

10. Insert key words into wire releases as well as blogs and other efforts to start the reinforce conventional investor/public relations with the ongoing online social networking process.

11. Integrate conventional IR/PR and social networking – using blogs, YouTube videos, Facebook posts, tweets and other online communications to extend the reach of each conventional IR/PR effort

12. Reach individuals directly, over the web, via “news” releases

While “press” releases target media gatekeepers, “news” releases distributed via Business Wire or other media distribution tools which have guaranteed placement agreements, allowing the company to reach directly to individuals via keyword searches.

13. A multi-market media tour (including both a “virtual tour” of reporters and editors in smaller or out-of-the-way markets, as well as in front of them in larger markets)

14. Search Engine Marketing using key words to attract interested individual investors, as well as investment decision-makers (useful for both public and private companies seeking investment funding).

15. Create a prominent position for the Spokesperson (as well as the company) on the wide range of online social media (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.) to dramatically increase the company’s visibility when the name is Googled.

16. Positioning company spokesperson as “thought leader”

17. A weekly, bi-weekly or monthly press advisory document pitching series of new story angles reporters and editors will want to consider.

18. Integrating the Website into PR and Investor Public Relations goals – The company website needs regularly (at least weekly) updates of information that will enhance the Website’s utility.

19. A crisis communications strategy that will be standing by, ready to go on a moment’s notice.

20. An online market research strategy which will poll targeted audiences with from five to 20 questions, then create press coverage based on the findings. This is a very powerful tool to create media interest (the polling itself can generate online interest).

21. An ongoing plan to capitalize on media trends – putting the company spokesperson forward to provide commentary on all appropriate breaking-news stories.

Integration

To be effective in a competitive media and investment marketplace, New Rules Investor/Public Relations is, at the core, an integrated program that links traditionally-separate functions such as PR, IR, Marketing and Issues Management into a single co-mingled function that delivers investor support at every level while continuing to provide effective branding, business development, marketing and issues management functions.

Gone are the silos that limit integration – to win in the 21^st Century, integration must be the guiding principle of communications. This even extends to employee communications because, on the Internet, no message is private, and no communications effort is isolated.

Such an integrated plan includes:

· Effective, aggressive and technically competent compliance with both the letter and the spirit of all relevant OSC/SEC rules and regulations regarding the release of information by public companies. This is the foundational touchstone of all of effective New Rules Investor/Public Relations activities on behalf of the company.

· Public Relations integration into every “pure” Investor Relations press release. This needs to be done well before release, in order to ensure maximum PR impact (while maintaining full OSC and SEC compliance)

· Facilitating media distribution of all IR-focused, as well as all PR-focused, press releases. Even purely Investor-oriented releases will go to targeted market niche and mainstream business media (as well as to purely IR media) targets, including effective wire release distribution.

· Effective and aggressive press clipping service (at least capturing online clips) to monitor and evaluate both the PR and IR value/impact of all Investor/Public Relations press releases

· Targeted e-mail outreach to the media, as well as to potential (and current) investors, highlighting company’s success – sticking to subjects already covered in OSC/SEC-compliance press releases and formal reports

What New Rules Investor Public Relations “Should” Deliver: There are a number of responsibilities of any investor public relations agency has to their clients:

1. Provide a range of services, such as strategic counsel, corporate governance counsel, OSC/SEC compliance counsel and shareholder relations counsel. To this is added specific communications training focused on the IR markets: Shareholders, fund managers, investment analysts, financial media and other key audiences.

2. Create – then distribute – as part of a broader investor relations program, specific IR-focused messaging designed to play well with both shareholders and investment analysts, with reporters and funds managers.

3. Aggressively seek out opportunities to (in a positive context) put the client’s name before analysts and financial media, as well as potential investors (critical for private companies as well as public companies) – this can be done via press releases, via one-on-one contacts or e-mail or phone pitches.

4. Advise and ensure that the client is in compliance with all appropriate public-information requirements promulgated by the OSC/SEC; and, whenever possible, to do more than the required minimum.

5. Effectively “crisis-manage” (in an IR context, as well as in a PR context) any blow-ups that impact the company, the shareholders, the board or other factors that might impact stock prices.

6. Maintain regular contact with potential investors, as well as to shareholders – as a group, as well as individually – including monitoring the “boards” when appropriate. Provide events support for annual meetings and other shareholder activities

7. Provide counsel on approaching specific markets – fund managers, side-sell facilitators, etc.

Investment Analyst Tour: An investment analyst/media tour (perhaps conducted separate from the IR/PR-oriented business analyst/media tour recommended elsewhere) has real merit for both public and private companies seeking investors. While the two kinds of tours (media and analyst) serve largely the same purpose (though with different audiences), if budget is no consideration they should not be combined. However, if budget is an issue, combining them can be an effective use of available resources. For budgetary reasons, a media tour and an analyst tour can be successfully combined.

Shareholder Relations In addition to the online captive social networking site noted above – which is a hugely powerful tool for communicating with and relating to investors, online market research can be used to communicate with (and find out the concerns of) shareholders and other stakeholders. This will be built around a questionnaire that will be designed to give the company a profile – a useful “snapshot” – of the shareholders.

Shareholder Education: Shareholders (as well as potential investors) are typically unaware of company’s vision – informing them, helping them to see the benefits of this vision – that’s a key role for both IR and PR to ensure that shareholders or potential investors are “on board” – and to achieve that requires ongoing shareholder education.

Conclusion

In today’s increasingly-integrated communications media world – a world where the Internet is supplanting traditional media as the primary tool for reaching individuals – there is no room for a company seeking to enhance its investor relations for arbitrarily-separated functional silos – IR, PR, Marketing, etc. Instead, success will go to those companies which understand that an integrated Investor/Public Relations approach is critical to their ability to reach investors.

This applies to private companies seeking venture capital every bit as much as it does to public companies seeking positive relationships with investors and potential investors, be they individual or institutional investors.

What's It All About?

A lot of things may have changed in the field of social media marketing but one thing still remains the same – true social media engagement success is founded on gaining the trust of one’s followers. This cannot be achieved by entertainment alone. When it comes to brand marketing, trust is built via positive transactions. In this case, transactions involve the manner by which brands gain and respond to feedback from their consumers.