Howe Street Goes Digital
Imagine if Murray Pezim in his heyday had Twitter? As Howe Street goes digital, sleaze and boosterism may jump, but the web has one weapon to hold them in check.
Imagine, for a moment, the Pez on Twitter. The fabled mining promoter was a social guy and made a career of talking up his latest mining play over a few drinks in his favorite bar. Just think what he could have done with social media. Some of today's promoters are doing just that.
Vancouver junior stock promoters, stalwarts of the Vancouver business scene for decades, are enjoying one of their periodic renaissances at the moment. High commodities prices have created a demand for their securities and injected a wave of cash into their coffers.
This appears to be the first mining bull market of the social media era
As a result, some of the best are learning that the digital age presents an entirely new channel for them to promote their projects.
Of course, the dark side of stock promotion still lives in the form of phone rooms and spam email blasts. And undoubtedly, as Howe Street goes digital, sleaze and boosterism may jump. But the Web has one weapon to hold them in check: A digital paper trail that makes it very difficult for manipulators to cheat the system. No doubt security commissions will make good use of this.
Meanwhile, companies who "get it" are starting to figure out that going digital will help them build credibility and establish more relationships with potential investors.
Other legitimate strategies to use include:
A simple, compelling story
Mining legend Ian Telfer, who has raised more money over the years than the church, is known to keep his investor presentations very simple. If people can't get it right away, Telfer believes, they're not going to write a cheque. The communications coming out of Sandstorm Resources provide a good example of this.
Web strategy
The structure of most public companies' websites are the same; it's really only the content and a bit of styling that's different. Blender Media, a Vancouver web development firm with over 200 public companies as clients, offers infrastructure and support for investor focused websites. With Twitter & Facebook being free and obvious places to distribute news and connect with investors, there are hundreds of websites that allow companies to promote their explorations to an investor audience. Vancouver's own VantageWire offers an excellent example.
Touchpoints
Investor Relations people are learning from digital marketers in creating strategies with multiple touchpoints. An email or a tweet about a junior mining company's stellar results likely isn't going to be enough. But when a tweet is combined with email news dissemination, media mentions, a successful presentation at a conference, and a following of a renowned newsletter like Casey Research or ResourceOpportunities on the same day, well then there's a good chance brokers will be talking about the story to their clients.
Accountability, with a grain of salt
While the web brings accountability and transparency to capital markets, investment in Vancouver's junior miners is very speculative; new media does not fundamentally change that. When the market's appetite for junior mining stocks falls again, which it will, investor websites will be better off advertising grief counseling than new mining companies. Murray Pezim made money when he sold paper, so remember the old broker adage: Never let the sun set on a bid! It might not be there tomorrow.
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