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Small Cap CEO Lesson: Is YouTube Important To Investor Relations? Yes, Video Views Hit An All-Time High

Posted by AGORACOM at 1:06 PM on Monday, June 15th, 2009

If you needed more evidence as to the importance of integrating YouTube into your investor relations programs, then look no further than this recent report issued by NewTeeVee.   The report states that “Americans streamed 16,785,432,000 videos in April, according to comScore. That’s up 16 percent from March to what we believe is a new all-time record.”

Interestingly enough the number of online video viewers remains constant at about 78% of internet users – but that is still a huge number and we now know they are watching more video than ever.  A further note of interest comes from the fact much of the increased video comes from watching actual TV programs over the web, which further serves to support the fact that people/investors want to consume content at their convenience, not yours.

If ABC, CBS, NBC and Cable TV can’t get people to tune in to great content on a set schedule, what chance does your small-cap company have?

You either begin distributing information through the online stream, or get left behind.  Simple as that.

Regards,
George

Posted in Online Investor Relations, Small-Cap CEO Lessons, Web 2.0, 3.0, ... | 1 Comment »

AGORACOM Sponsors 2009 Reverse Merger Conference

Posted by AGORACOM - Mitch at 3:05 PM on Tuesday, June 2nd, 2009

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AGORACOM is proud to announce we will once again be sponsoring the Reverse Merger Conference being held this year at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, June 11 & 12.

 This conference is for serious professionals in the business of alternative IPO transactions. The two-day event covers all of the technical issues relating to reverse mergers, self-underwriting, and other alternative routes to the public market.

I will once again be providing the Investor Relations keynote speech.  This year, my speech will be called, “SEC Greenlights Blogs, Twitter and RSS Feeds For Investor Relations…But What Are They?” 

This speech is a ‘must attend’ if you are:
 
1. Public Companies and IRO’s:  You’ve ignored them as irrelevant and for having quirky names – but with tens of millions of investors using them and the SEC green lighting them for investor relations, you now need to understand how social media tools such as Twitter, Blogs and RSS Feeds can supercharge your investor relations.
 
2. Fund Managers and Investors:  Learn how to use social media to cut through clutter, connect with the smartest people around the world and create an international business network never before possible.

You can also watch my previous presentations using the following links:

PIPEs Conference 2006 – E-Mail Is Dead. How To Conduct Great IR In A Web 2.0 World

PIPEs Conference 2007 – How To Use The Web To Find New Investors And Turn Them Into An IR Machine

PIPEs Conference 2008 – Best IR Practices During Market Turmoil

Once again, we are very proud to be a part of these great Deal Flow Media Events and encourage you to participate if you fall into one of the following categories:

·       Structured Finance and PIPE Investors

·       Investment Bankers

·       Investor Relations Professionals

·       Private Company Management Teams

·       Accountants

·       Attorneys

·       Equity Analysts

·       Venture Capitalists

See you in Las Vegas!

Regards,

George

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Posted in AGORACOM News And Events, All Recent Posts, Online Investor Relations, Small and Micro-Cap Space, Web 2.0, 3.0, ... | No Comments »

AGORACOM Sponsors 2009 Vancouver Cambridge Conference

Posted by AGORACOM - Mitch at 2:55 PM on Tuesday, June 2nd, 2009

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AGORACOM is very proud to announce that we are once again sponsoring a Cambridge Conference. This time, we are sponsoring the 2009 World Resource Investment Conference on at the Vancouver Convention Centre in Vancouver, BC on June 7th and 8th.

The 2009 event promises to be an incredible conference for both investors and public companies as it features an world class line-up of speakers, covering all types of direct investments in resource public companies, speculative investing, resource exploration, oil & gas, world outlook, investment strategies and more.

AGORACOM is ideally situated in the middle of all the action at booth #131 so if you plan to attend please stop by.

SPEAKER WORKSHOP

In addition, I will also be conducting a Speaker Workshop on Sunday, June 7th at 12:30 PST called, “Learn To Use Blogs, Twitter and RSS Feeds To Make You A Power Investor”. For years, CEOs and IROs have ignored them as irrelevant and having quirky names, but with tens of millions of investors using them, public companies incorporating them and even the SEC green lighting them for investor relations, you now need to understand how social media tools can supercharge your market knowledge.
This workshop will teach you how to use social media to cut through clutter, get the information you need directly to you and connect with the smartest people on the planet.

Hosted by: George Tsiolis, Founder of AGORACOM.com

Panelist: Peter Grandich, Chief Commentator of AGORACOM.com

See you in Vancouver!

Regards,
George

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Posted in AGORACOM News And Events, All Recent Posts, Oil and Gas, Online Investor Relations, Small and Micro-Cap Space, Web 2.0, 3.0, ... | No Comments »

AGORACOM Ranks 57 In Profit 100 Ranking of Canada’s Fastest-Growing Companies

Posted by AGORACOM - Mitch at 10:31 AM on Monday, June 1st, 2009

http://blog.agoracom.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/p100_09_eng-193x300.jpg

TORONTO, June 1st, 2009 – AGORACOM North America’s largest online investor relations community and social networking website for serious small and micro cap retail investors, proudly announces that it has been selected by PROFIT Magazine as one of Canada’s fastest growing organizations.

Measured against a running five-year revenue growth, AGORACOM ranks 57th overall in the 21st annual PROFIT 100 ranking of Canada’s Fastest-Growing Companies by PROFIT Magazine using results reported for the period between 2003-2008.

“We are thrilled to have our company achieve the #57th position on the PROFIT 100, and honoured to have received this recognition in spite of a tough economy,” says AGORACOM Founder George Tsiolis. “We are especially proud of the fact we are a Web 2.0 organization that has demonstrated a successful business model beyond mere advertising, Web 2.0 is not just about Facebook, YouTube and social networking sites. We are using the web to deliver real services to real customers, while generating real revenues and profits. I hope others Web entrepreneurs can follow our lead.”

In 2008 over 1.3 million retail investors from more than 200 countries visited AGORACOM.com 7.9 million times to read 96 million pages of small-cap news and information.

“It was clear as day to me the investor relations model for small-cap public companies was inefficient and broken. Small public companies needed a faster, more cost-efficient way to communicate their message to current and prospective shareholders around the world. The Web was the solution,” added Tsiolis. “Today, that vision has translated into millions of investors communicating with hundreds of small-cap companies via a moderated online community. I want to deeply thank our clients for believing and now benefiting from this great model. We pioneered the space, are still the leaders and now expanding into Europe, China and a mobile platform, so I look forward to being part of The PROFIT 100 for many years to come. Finally, this achievement serves as a real credit to our management team, employees and families, all of whom have sacrificed so much to make this happen.”

Ranking Canada’s Fastest-Growing Companies by five-year revenue growth, the PROFIT 100 profiles the country’s most successful growth companies. Published in the June issue of PROFIT and online at PROFIT100.com, the PROFIT 100 is Canada’s largest annual celebration of entrepreneurial achievement.

“The PROFIT 100 are an inspiration to entrepreneurs at all stages of growth, from startup to major corporation,” says Ian Portsmouth, editor of PROFIT. “Their business practices and product innovations are exemplary of how businesses can succeed in uncertain times”.

About AGORACOM:

AGORACOM is North America’s largest online investor relations community for small-cap companies. We’ve partnered with the world’s biggest Internet companies, including Globe Investor, Yahoo, AOL, Google and Blackberry to market our clients to a massive audience of new small-cap investors. Over 300 small-cap public companies and their CEOs have trusted AGORACOM and our online investor relations model to reach millions of current and prospective small-cap investors from around the world. No rumours, profanity, stock bashing or hyping. Our traffic ranking is above the top 0.5% of all websites around the world. Visit AGORACOM online at http://www.agoracom.com or follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/agoracom.

About PROFIT Magazine:

PROFIT: Your Guide to Business Success, is Canada’s preeminent publication dedicated to the management issues and opportunities facing small and mid-sized businesses. For more than 25 years, Canadian entrepreneurs across a vast array of economic sectors have remained loyal to PROFIT because it’s a timely and reliable source of actionable information that helps them increase their revenues, boost their profitability and get the recognition they deserve for generating positive economic and social change. Published six times a year by Rogers Publishing Ltd., PROFIT is distributed almost exclusively to the chief executives of companies with 5 to 250 employees and annual revenue of $1 million to $25 million, reaching 306,000 readers across Canada. Visit PROFIT online at http://www.PROFITmagazine.ca.

CONTACT INFORMATION

MEDIA INQUIRIES

Mitchell Fanning

Director of Marketing / Communications

mitchf@agoracom.com

CORPORATE INQUIRIES

George Tsiolis, LL.B

President

AGORACOM

info@agoracom.com

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Posted in AGORACOM Awards, AGORACOM In The Press, AGORACOM News And Events, All Recent Posts, Canadian Economy, Online Investor Relations, Small and Micro-Cap Space | 6 Comments »

AGORACOM 100 Commercial Takes Online Investor Relations Results To Biz TV Audience

Posted by AGORACOM at 7:07 PM on Thursday, May 28th, 2009

Readers of my blog know that I often subscribe to the concept of PYMWYMI - Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is. Back in January we launched the AGORACOM 100, a limited marketplace of exceptional small and mid-cap companies that investors could use as their research starting point.  We felt so strongly about it that we reached out beyond online marketing and announced the launch on TV.

The concept behind the AGORACOM 100 is simple – Quality Over Quantity.  There are just too many small and mid-cap companies that do not deserve to be public, many of whom engage in nothing more but paper selling pump .and dump schemes.  Somebody had to create the filter.  Somebody had to start the process of separating the wheat from the chaff.  We stepped up.  There is a lot of work to do – but the process has begun.

5 months later, I’m proud to announce that we’ve recorded our second commercial.  It will begin airing in both the US (CNBC, Bloomberg) and Canada (BNN) on June 1.

The bottom line is that investors have embraced online investor relations.  They prefer companies that are transparent and open enough to make themselves accessible 24/7 via electronic shareholder forums in which they respond to questions posted for everyone to see.  Why wouldn’t they?  In this day and age where investors have lost confidence in blue chip stocks, openness and transparency is pretty much a requirement.

Kindly have a look and let me know what you think:

UPDATE: Sorry Folks. The online version is not available right now.  Check back shortly.

Regards,
George

Posted in AGORACOM News And Events, AGORACOM TV, Online Investor Relations | 1 Comment »

AGORACOM Client Intelligence Report – April 2009

Posted by AGORACOM - Mitch at 11:00 AM on Thursday, April 23rd, 2009

We’re pleased to provide you with the April 2009 edition of the AGORACOM Client Intelligence Report. For confidentiality reasons, all “Off The Blog” items mentioned in these reports are not mentioned in the blog posts.

WHY AN “INTELLIGENCE REPORT”

For the benefit of our new clients, we call this an “Intelligence Report” because it provides you with important information, data and trends that impact your business – information that you normally don’t have time to find.  We often write about these in The AGORACOM Blog, so we call these “On The Blog” Stories.  In addition, this newsletter gives you a chance to look into our crystal ball and know what AGORACOM is working on months before the general public.  You can’t find these tidbits on our blog, so we call them “Off The Blog” and ask that you keep them confidential.  As you know, we move faster than any IR firm on the planet, so knowing what we’re doing in advance helps both of us coordinate our activities.  This is especially true for what we expect to be an extremely fast moving and exciting year.

In short, greater market intelligence that puts you ahead of all of your peers.

I can’t stress enough my recommendation that you review our monthly newsletter carefully for the purposes of incorporating some of our market intelligence into both your IR and business initiatives.

AGORACOM is now the largest small-cap IR firm and site on the continent thanks to our effective use of web technology.  As such, following us will help you achieve your goals.

OFF THE BLOG … Shhhhh

**For confidentiality reasons, the “Off The Blog” items are not mentioned in the blog posts as they are only available to AGORACOM clients**

ON THE BLOG

What The @#$! Is Twitter?

You’ve heard about it.  It’s been on Oprah, but you’re not quite sure what Twitter is and how it can help you achieve your business goals.  Our founder George Tsiolis has prepared a 5-minute on Twitter to introduce to this tool and why you should use it.   This is a must see…

Small Cap CEO Lesson: Millionaires Are Now Trading Online

For those CEO’s who continue to believe online traders are – for the lack of a better word – flakes, you might want to take a look at this article in the Wall Street Journal…

Small Cap CEO Lesson: Mobile Internet Trading And Research Skyrockets 188%

If you are a CEO of a small-cap or mid-cap company and have been considering a mobile strategy, then you absolutely have to see the blow away numbers in a comScore report that came out in March.

AGORACOM Hold’em Night at the PDAC a Smashing Success

We’d like to thank all who attended the AGORACOM PDAC “Bay Street Hold’em” Poker Tournament last month making it a smashing success that surpassed all expectations. A new standard has now been set for all future PDAC parties.

Skyrocketing Social Media Growth = Skyrocketing Online Investor Growth

We’ve always known the web is big.  However, what many in the small-cap space don’t realize is how big social media is becoming, or what social media actually is.

Small CAP CEO Lesson – Issue Press Releases By 8:30 AM EST

Why putting your news out by no later than 8:30 AM EST still makes the most sense…

Harvard Business: “Communities Of Stakeholders Will Help Shape Managerial Decisions”

If you don’t think creating a shareholder community is important read the following article from Harvard Business…

Online Investor Relations Model Makes AGORACOM ‘Greenest’ Firm In The Industry

AGORACOM is proud to announce the results of our Carbon Footprint findings in recognition of ‘Earth Day‘.

CONCLUSION

We hope you found this edition of the AGORACOM Client Intelligence Report to be helpful.  If you have any questions or comments, please do not hesitate to contact us or your AGORACOM representative for further assistance.

Thank-you and have a great day.

Yours truly,

George Tsiolis

Posted in AGORACOM Client Intelligence Report, AGORACOM Mobile, All Recent Posts, Online Investor Relations, Small and Micro-Cap Space, Small-Cap CEO Lessons, Web 2.0, 3.0, ... | 6 Comments »

What The @#$! Is Twitter?

Posted by AGORACOM at 2:27 PM on Wednesday, April 22nd, 2009

Don’t laugh at the title.  When CEO’s, investors, lawyers, brokers, friends and family hear me talk about Twitter, the overwhelming response I get is “What The @#$! IS Twitter?” In fact, it has become so prominent that I purposely set people up by asking things like “What’s your firm’s Twitter policy?” / “How often do you post to Twitter?” and – my favourite – “How many Twitter followers do you have?”

At that point they just burst out about how they keep hearing about it but don’t know what the hell it is.  Within a few minutes I’ve got them breathing easier.

Given the number of times I have to explain what Twitter is, I decided to post a screencast that will be mailed to our clients, prospects, partners and members.  Why talk or write about it, when you can actually demonstrate it.

Feel free to use this to help answer the questions in your circle – but keep in mind this is targeted to:

  • Non-users or novice users
  • A financial audience.  CEO’s, investors, brokers, etc.

Nonetheless, the underlying principals are the same, so it can be used by anybody.

UPDATE: Ironically enough, within hours of posting this, AdAge published an article titled The Rise Of The C-Tweet. Must Be an Issue on Everyone’s Mind Lately.

NOTE:  CLICK ON “FULL SCREEN” MODE FOR A BETTER VIEWING EXPERIENCE.  TO DO SO, SCROLL OVER THE SCREEN AND CLICK ON THE TV IMAGE IN BOTTOM RIGHT HAND CORNER

Regards,
George

Posted in All Recent Posts, Gold $1,000, Online Investor Relations, Small-Cap CEO Lessons, Web 2.0, 3.0, ... | 7 Comments »

Online Investor Relations Model Makes AGORACOM ‘Greenest’ Firm In The Industry

Posted by AGORACOM - Mitch at 1:23 PM on Wednesday, April 22nd, 2009

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AGORACOM is proud to announce the results of our Carbon Footprint findings in recognition of ‘Earth Day‘.  Our digital delivery of investor relations makes AGORACOM the most ‘environment-friendly’ investor relations firm in the industry.

In 2008, we delivered investor relations on behalf of 85 companies to more than 1.3 million investors in over 200 countries -  and we did it without having to take planes, trains and automobiles to meetings all over the world.  In addition, the digital delivery of investor relations means we didn’t need to senselessly cut down a single tree to produce collateral materials that unfortunately end up in a recycling bin within 24 hours.

AGORACOM CARBON FOOTPRINT

The results from an online Carbon Footprint calculator show that AGORACOM has a carbon footprint of 76.7 tonnes per year, which translates into 5.11 tonnes per employee.  To put this number into perspective, the average Torontonian’s carbon footprint measures 8.6 tonnes per year, lower than the average American’s footprint, which measures at about 11.9 tonnes.

 ”While we realize online calculators measuring carbon footprints only offer an approximate indication of an organization’s emissions output, the results are relative and we challenge any investor relations firm with more than 50 clients to beat us”, Tsiolis added. “As a pure online investor relations firm, I am very confident that our carbon footprint is significantly lower than any traditional IR firm. Our use of Web 2.0 tools such as electronic shareholder forums, blogs, webcasts, video and other tools allow AGORACOM to fill the information void created by the lack of small-cap coverage in the media while keeping our carbon footprint to a minimum.”

3 KEY AREAS THAT MAKE AGORACOM ‘GREEN‘:

  1. No Micro Meetings -Thousands Of Investors Amalgamate and Communicate In Online HUBS.
  2. No Traveling – Clients Are Not Forced To Travel Around The World To Meet Investors.
  3. No Printing – 99% of Collateral Information Is Produced and Consumed Digitally.

For those whose inner environmentalist speaks loudest on April 22, visit the Earth Day Network to make a public commitment to take an environmental action.

Happy Earth Day,

George

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Posted in All Recent Posts, Off-Topic, Online Investor Relations | 4 Comments »

Skyrocketing Social Media Growth = Skyrocketing Online Investor Growth

Posted by AGORACOM at 10:50 AM on Wednesday, April 22nd, 2009

“The growth of nearly every aspect of social media has and continues to be
enormous. We’ve dug up some amazing statistics and numbers from this realm.”

Mashable – The Web In Numbers and The Rise Of Social Media

We’ve always known the web is big.  Nothing new there.  However, what many in the small-cap space don’t realize is how big social media is becoming, or what social media actually is.  Click on the story and you will see the numbers are ginormous and growing.

However, for small-cap CEO’s to really understand the significance of these numbers and the trend, you  must first understand what social media is.

WHAT IS SOCIAL MEDIA?

In layman’s terms, social media is the process of people amalgamating around content that is created by the people.  From kids sharing home made videos, to wickedly smart financial bloggers sharing charts, trends, analysis and information.

The common denominator in social media is that you no longer have to be employed by a media conglomerate to publish your views.  If you have something intelligent to say, simply publish it and people will flock to you.  Previously unknown people from all walks of life are literally becoming super stars in any and every vertical, including finance.

WHAT DOES SOCIAL MEDIA MEAN TO YOUR SMALL-CAP PUBLIC COMPANY?

Wikipedia says “At its most basic sense, social media is a shift in how people discover, read and share news, information and content.” I’ll break that down further and say you can no longer keep your company in the shadows.  If you won’t lead the conversation about your company and choose to stick to press releases, others certainly will.

On the other hand, social media can turn out to be an incredible investor relations asset if you choose to accept and engage.  How you do that is material for another post where I teach you how to use blogs, Twitter, YouTube, photos and audio to get your message out.

Regards,
George

Posted in All Recent Posts, Online Investor Relations, Small-Cap CEO Lessons, Web 2.0, 3.0, ... | 2 Comments »

Harvard Business: “Communities Of Stakeholders Will Help Shape Managerial Decisions”

Posted by AGORACOM at 8:59 AM on Wednesday, April 22nd, 2009

Smart CEO’s are starting to realize the importance of online investor relations. Starting. If they are, it is only from the point of using search engines and other online tools to target new investors.

However, very few realize the importance of speaking, collaborating, sharing and listening with those shareholders once you have attracted them.  They’ll do it on the phone, they’ll talk all day at a booth – but they suddenly stop at the web. The one place where they would have the farthest reaching impact.

Unfortunately, their failure to do so adds up to a massive lost opportunity to gain the loyalty and trust of shareholders.  it In fact, it is going to be the basis of an upcoming post titled “Why Aren’t You Talking?” in which I’ll debunk some of those fears and show how simple, yet powerful, it would be.

In the meantime, as a pre-cursor, have a look at the following quote from a post on the Harvard Business Blog titled The Finance 2.0 Manifesto:

“Stakeholder communities. Institutional investors are so 20th century. Centralizing control over our biggest corporations in the hands of a bunch of old dudes asleep at the wheel was as good an idea as the spork: interesting in theory, useless in practice. Tomorrow’s radical innovators are already updating corporate governance for the 21st century, by letting communities of stakeholders shape managerial decision-making. Think mega-Etsy.”

Now, I’m not willing to go as far as shareholder communities shaping managerial decision-making – but I am willing to say that CEO’s that engage shareholder communities will see tremendous impacts on their business.  How? Engaging thousands of investors gives you:

  • Thousands of IR evangelists to help you gain more shareholders
  • Instant feedback on the effectiveness of your message
  • Mass competitor intelligence gathering by a motivated and passionate shareholder community
  • …More

Unless you think you are the perfect CEO that has hired the perfect team and getting advice from the perfect board, you need to start giving this some serious thought. Investor Relations 2.0 is coming whether you like it or not.

Regards,
George

Posted in All Recent Posts, Online Investor Relations, Small-Cap CEO Lessons, Web 2.0, 3.0, ... | 2 Comments »

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