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Small Cap CEO Lesson: Is Mobile Important To Investor Relations? Yes, US Mobile Internet Users To Reach 134 Million

Posted by AGORACOM at 10:43 AM on Thursday, June 18th, 2009

The idea that investors will remain tethered to their desktops and laptops is long gone.  Accessing e-mail from your mobile is already status quo and thanks to smartphones such as the iPhone, Blackberry line and others, people are are significantly increasing their mobile surfing.

More than just lip service, I posted a story on April 13th titled Mobile Internet trading and Research Skyrockets 188%.

Today, I provide you with further evidence.  According to eMarketer, the number of people surfing the web from their mobiles is going to skyrocket.  The graph to the left shows us that 59.5 million Americans were mobile surfing at the end of 2008, 73.7 million will be mobile surfing by the end of 2009 and 134.3 million will be doing so by the end of 2013.  We don’t have numbers for Canada but I think it is safe to use the same percentages.  Europe and Asia on the other hand are probably substantially higher due to mobile penetration and dependence in those regions.

UPDATE: Phil Barrett, vice-president of digital and mobile at B Street, noted that mobile devices have a 72% penetration rate in Canada and about four million Canadians are accessing the mobile web through their mobile device. (marketingmag.ca)

CONCLUSION

A mobile investor relations strategy is a must.  Having a website accessible via mobile phones is not enough.  Sending out IR communications via e-mail is not enough.  Why?  You aren’t reaching anybody new, you’re simply preaching to the converted.

You have to find a way to publish information into the web stream (if you don’t know what this means, stay tuned for webcasts of my presentations at the Cambridge and Reverse Merger Conferences).  Getting your information into the stream makes your IR communications more easily accessible to mobile investors.  There are a number of ways to accomplish it.  If you are an AGORACOM client, you will have a free mobile strategy by September.  If you are not an AGORACOM client, then your options are as follows:

  1. Build an application for iPhone and Blackberry that targets small-cap investors and your industry. A lot of expense for just one company’s IR stream.
  2. Start blogging.  Blogs are search engine friendly and allow you to tag your information for targeting mobile investors (and all investors) that are specifically interested in your industry.  Blogs also allow you to distribute your content via RSS Feeds.
  3. Start Twittering.  Twitter is extremely search engine friendly, including its own search engine that mobile investors (and all investors) are using to discover investments related to their specific fields of interest.

Admittedly, these are not easy things to accomplish for 95% of  small-cap companies.  You can bring in a local consultant – but make sure they understand both your business and the stock market.  Most tech geeks don’t understand both and could end up creating something that does not fit your goals.

On the other hand, you can contact us and have a turnkey online and mobile investor relations strategy created for you.

Regards,
George

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

Small Cap CEO Lesson: Is Search Important To Investor Relations? Yes, Total Searches Hit An All-Time High

Posted by AGORACOM at 8:05 AM on Thursday, June 18th, 2009

If you are a CEO of a small-cap company and don’t have a search engine strategy to target and attract new investors to your story, then are seriously hampering your company.  In fact, you are probably guilty of being downright incompetent.  (If you are an AGORACOM client, then you are a search engine wizard 🙂 )

If it’s empirical evidence that you are after (like there isn’t enough already), then you’ll be very interested to read the following quote from JP Morgan in reference to Comscore’s May search engine report:

“Total US core search volume increased 32.9% Y/Y in May. The total growth in the first two months of 2Q accelerated to 36.1% Y/Y.”

Translation?  People are using search more and more everyday.  Investors are people.  As a CEO, I guarantee you are using search engines to find information everyday.  If so, getting you to incorporate search engine marketing into your investor relations should not be difficult. Why? If you use search engines to find information, then simply start using search engines to be found.

Regards,
George

Posted in All Recent Posts, Online Investor Relations, Small-Cap CEO Lessons, Web 2.0, 3.0, ... | 5 Comments »

Summary Of Reverse Merger Conference

Posted by AGORACOM at 9:09 PM on Tuesday, June 16th, 2009

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AGORACOM was once again a proud sponsor of the Reverse Merger Conference held this year at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, June 11 & 12.  I didn’t have time to blog from the conference but I did manage to post some useful information via Twitter that you can see here.

Perhaps the most important tweet was my very first one where I stated as follows:

reverse-merger-09-tweet

It signaled to me that Web 2.0 had finally begun its penetration into the world of Reverse Mergers and small-cap investment banking.  It was also quite timely given the fact I was presenting the Web / Online Investor Relations Speaker Workshop called, ““SEC Greenlights Blogs, Twitter and RSS Feeds For Investor Relations…But What Are They?”

The workshop was the initial step in teaching bankers, fund managers and public companies about the advantages of  incorporating social media into their intelligence gathering to cut through clutter, get the information they need and connect with the smartest people on the planet.

Despite the fact it was the last presentation before lunch, the room was pretty full and – more importantly – alive with audience participation.  In order to avoid the “he’s the internet guy and I could never do what he does” syndrome,  I brought industry stalwart and early Web 2.0 adopter David Feldman of the Reverse Merger & SPAC Blog.  David discussed his overwhelmingly positive blogging experience, which opened up the floor to some great questions from the audience.

It was so well received that I am going to publish a webcast of the keynote and re-broadcast it here as soon as the good people from DealFlow Media send over the audio files.  In addition, I am also going to produce a series of short videos on iGoogle, Twitter, Blogs and RSS Feeds.

THE CONFERENCE

Overall it was an excellent conference despite the fact attendance was down due to market conditions.  Personally I didn’t mind it because it served to eliminate the weak players in the space and gave everyone in attendance more time to network with the best of the best.  Naturally, I’d prefer a bigger, more robust audience as a result of a healthy marketplace but the occasional quality over quantity dynamic does not hurt.

Look for those videos to begin in the next 10 days or so.  In the meantime, for those of you that have not seen my previous keynotes at DealFlow Media events over the past 3 years, you can 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

Regards,
George

Posted in AGORACOM News And Events, AGORACOM Presentations, All Recent Posts, Online Investor Relations, Small and Micro-Cap Space, Web 2.0, 3.0, ... | 2 Comments »

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 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, ... | Comments Off on AGORACOM Sponsors 2009 Reverse Merger Conference

AGORACOM Sponsors 2009 Vancouver Cambridge Conference

Posted by AGORACOM 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, ... | Comments Off on AGORACOM Sponsors 2009 Vancouver Cambridge Conference

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

Posted by AGORACOM 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

[email protected]

CORPORATE INQUIRIES

George Tsiolis, LL.B

President

AGORACOM

[email protected]

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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 | 9 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 Small-Cap TV, Online Investor Relations | 1 Comment »

AGORACOM Client Intelligence Report – April 2009

Posted by AGORACOM 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, 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? The Best Business Intelligence Tool Of All Time

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, Online Investor Relations, Small-Cap CEO Lessons, Web 2.0, 3.0, ... | 7 Comments »

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