The Financial Services industry is looking at the social media phenomenon and trying to weight the risks and rewards of embracing this relatively new form of communication. In a heavily regulated industry there can be many pitfalls to be aware of and should be considered by any company before venturing into a communication strategy. With almost 100 people in-person and 30 tuning in via webcast, the social media event held at the offices of Heenan Blaikie in Toronto was a well-attended event. Portfolio Managers, Chief Compliance Officers, Marketing professionals and a variety of other industry specialists made up the attendees and it was clear that the financial services industry is wanting to find its way through the grey areas that exist in social media.

Ryan Glasser, CEO and Founder of Orefront Communications opened with the 2013 Social Media Revolution Video by guru Erik Qualman. After 3 minutes of sensory overload and constant flashing of big numbers relating to social media, Mr. Glasser went into a 20 minute presentation designed to share the power of social media and how it relates to the financial services sector. A quick overview of how social media is building on all other forms of mass media and the effects that search engines have on social media, lead the presentation to an explanation of the big 4 networks (Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Google+) with some methodology on why some are better outlets than others. Compliance being one of the key topics and concerns, the Hootsuite Social Compliance tools powered by Global Relay were offered as a solution to companies who have multiple contributors to their social media campaigns. For people in the audience who are more interested in listening in on the conversations and making sense of what is being said online, the MyViralWeb social media monitoring tools were showcased.

From a legal perspective David Palumbo of Heenan Blaikie gave an in-depth presentation that highlighted the rules and risks associated with any outgoing communication from a registered financial firm. The financial services industry has unique issues regarding outgoing communication and must adhere to securities commission guidelines.

The expert panel was made up of a diverse group who each had their own ideas and recommendations on how to best use social media. David Kilburn, First Vice-President at CIBC Private Investment Counsel was moderating the session and asking thought provoking questions like “What do you see as the top-of-mind concerns when a firm is developing a social media strategy?” Tom Bradley, President at Steadyhand Investment Funds had great insights on how his firm is using social media to establish their brand and compete with some of the larger entities in the space. He commented that social media allows them to “level the playing field.” Tom also writes a column for the Globe and Mail and suggested to keep content interesting and engaging. John Salloum also from Heenan Blaikie gave insight to the new rules regarding email marketing and reminded the audience that the grey areas that exist with opt in email marketing can also apply to social media. The communication landscape is changing quickly and regulators are adjusting the rules of compliance to ensure that investors and the public are protected from misleading or harmful communication. Vipool Desai, President at Ara Compliance Support shared some of his experiences that related to policies that should be included in any organization.

Overall the panel did a great job addressing the risks and opportunities of embracing and ignoring social media. Orefront Communications would like to thank the Portfolio Managers Association of Canada for extending an invitation to Ryan Glasser and we look forward to future events.

To watch the full presentation click on the image below.

The Portfolio Managers Association of Canada (PMAC) has invited Ryan Glasser, President and Founder of Orefront Communications to speak at a panel discussion about social media on May 1st, 2013 in Toronto.

The Portfolio Management Association of Canada represents an influential membership of 150 portfolio management companies that manage more than $750 billion in assets for over one million institutional and private clients. Originally established in 1952, PMAC is a forum for Investment Management Firms to share best practices and industry knowledge.

Social media in the investment world has become an even hotter topic after the SEC announced a new policy saying it is okay for a company to use sites like Twitter or Facebook to release key information. The disclaimer to using these social media platforms is that companies must tell investors in advance which social media tool they’ll be using.

Mr. Glasser is looking forward to sharing his knowledge and insight during the panel discussion with the members of the PMAC. After the panel discussion, Mr. Glasser will also be leading a social media workshop which will give hands on training along with tips and tricks on how to set up accounts, improve profiles and use dashboards and tools to maximize online presence.

OREFRONT Communications Inc. is excited to exhibit and attend the upcoming Cambridge House International Resource Investment Conference on January 20 – 21, 2013. The OREFRONT  team will be there taking photographs of the exhibitors, speakers and workshops over the 2 day event.

ABOUT THE CONFERENCE

The Vancouver Resource Investment Conference is the world’s largest investor focused resource exploration conference and the largest of all annual trade shows held in Vancouver, Canada. At the 2012 conference, over 500 companies, upwards of 60 expert analysts and 11,000 delegates gathered to network and share ideas. Companies covering every corner of mineral exploration sector are represented along with metals dealers, oil & gas, renewable energy, media and financial services companies. The annual event is a must attend for investors and participants in the global mining industry.

For more information visit www.cambridgehouse.com

With the price of Gold North of $1,700/oz it is amazing to see The Bank of England’s Gold Bullion Vault to show you what $315,000,000,000 worth of gold bars looks like.

The Bank of England protects about £197 billion ($315bn) worth of gold, according to the most recently published figures.

The vaults are off limits to patrons, but the Bank of England Museum will let you lift a real gold bar: http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/education/Pages/museum/default.aspx

Want to see what the latest World Official Gold Reserves are? Click here to see the official numbers from the World Gold Council (you will need to sign in using a Free account): http://www.gold.org/government_affairs/gold_reserves/

Gold Bullion Vault – Periodic Table of Videos

Film by Brady Haran. Featuring Professor Martyn Poliakoff.

Ryan Glasser, President and Founder of Orefront Communications was invited to speak at the British Columbia Securities Commission Outreach Workshop in November 2012. The topic of  Mr. Glasser’s presentation addressed “Ways to Use Social Media in your Business” and was designed to highlight the evolution of social media, the importance of an online presence, social media platforms  and why you would choose one over another. By using real world examples, Ryan showcased how social media is impacting the world of finance and how to use the online conversations as a research tool, in addition to sending outgoing messages.

The workshop was presented to a packed house and via Webcast for those who were unable to attend.

Presenting along side some the most knowledgeable experts in the industry Ryan Glasser (President of Orefront Communications Inc.), Sandy Jakab (Director, Capital Markets Regulation, BCSC), Jason Brooks (Partner, Borden Ladner Gervais LLP) and Sandy Martin (Sr. VP and Chief Compliance Officer, Raymond James) each spoke about the pros and cons to social media. The Finance industry is a heavily regulated sector and each speaker had an opportunity to share examples and recommendations on what they experiencing in the industry and some simple guidelines to adhere to.

Industry Conferences and Trade Shows are one of the best places for investors to discover companies and speak directly with management.

The Small-Cap Conferences are prestigious, informative conferences that focus on quality companies and quality investors in an intimate one evening event. Each presenting company has the opportunity to present a 10-20 minute presentation from the podium to the entire audience, which is generally 125 to 150 active small-cap investors. One-on-one time with management is available during the refreshment break as well as before and after the event. Following the conference, the organizers go one step further and post a corporate summary and presentation on both The Small-Cap Conference and QIS Capital websites.

Click here to register for this FREE event

Thank you to InvestmentPitch.com for the video above.

OREFRONT worked in close collaboration with the VP of Corporate Affairs to create the Nickel North Exploration website.

Click here to see the website

Nickel North Exploration (TSXV: NNX) is a Canadian based explorer focused on defining a Ni-Cu-PGM resource at our Hawk Ridge Project in Northern Quebec. The board of directors, advisor committee and management team are experienced mine finders. The Hawk Ridge Property, with an option to earn 100% control, is a 50 km belt of Ni-Cu-PGM deposits over 18,000 hectares in size and is located on tidewater. Over 23,000 meters of drilling to date has defined four zones of known mineralization. Quebec is a mining friendly jurisdiction. Nickel North is conscientious corporate citizen, maintains good relations with first nations, and is committed to sustainable development.

Nickel North Exploration Corp. is the resulting issuer from a Qualifying Transaction for a TSX Venture Capital Pool Company named Orient Venture Capital completed in August 2012.

Google AdWords (those sponsored links that appear alongside search results and web content) can be one of the most cost-effective ways to advertise on the web. Your ads are highly targeted based on keywords, and you only pay when an ad is clicked. Unfortunately, some businesses set up a campaign and load it with relevant phrases, only to see little or no results. Or worse, they get clicks (which cost money) but aren’t converting them into sales. If you’re just starting your Google AdWords campaign, or you’re interested in signing up but not sure where to start, take some cues from the below ideas.

Set a Budget and Stick to It

Set a budget you feel comfortable with and stick it out. Until you’ve significantly increased your sales, you won’t accurately be able to increase your adword campaign. Spending your entire budget in one week won’t help when you don’t have any money left to advertise for the next three. Track how much each click is costing you compared to the profit you make from your product. Aim to create repeat customers so you don’t have to keep spending money each time you get a visitor, just to sell them the same product again.

Misspelled Keywords

Benefit by selecting a commonly misspelled variation of a popular word. People make typing mistakes all the time; try out different misspellings and take advantage of this common mistake. The misspelled variations of keywords will cost much less than the actual word and it makes sense to save money rather than buying expensive keywords that do not earn a profit.

Use Long Tail Keywords

Long tail keywords can be inexpensive and work great in the long run. Long tail keywords are a type of keyword phrase that has at least three and some times as many as five words in the phrase. Long tail keywords are used when the website wants to refine search terms to the web page, as well as when the searcher is looking for something rather specific. These keywords are highly specific, and draw less traffic for the website, but tend to draw more quality traffic, which leads in more conversions than normal keywords.

Include a Call to Action

Add keywords such as free shipping, act now, and limited time offer, which will add a sense of urgency. An urgent offer will put the visitor on high alert to react before time runs out.

Download Your Keywords to Excel

A record of all of the keywords you have used in your ad campaigns and how they performed can be invaluable. Keep a record of any price changes and when to expect a rise and fall in costs. Keep track of all campaigns you’ve created. Some ideas that didn’t work months before may be a hot keyword today. Adjust your ads based on what you’ve learned from your records.

Use Questions To Engage Users

Use a question to catch the eye of the consumer. Asking questions like, “want to save money?” will probably have people wondering what you are talking about, making them click through.

Use ellipses (…)

Leave a trail in your ad. This is a great way to tell a bit of a story, making the user interested in the rest of the story. An ad such as “I was broke from horrible debt, but once I discovered the secret to…” gets users engaged.

Include your Phone Number

Add your phone number into your adword campaign. If you are doing a local adword campaign, when users see that you are a local company, they may pick up the phone to give you a call, saving on the adwords click. You can also interact quickly with interested parties.

Your iPhone, iPad, or iPad Touch can be a wealth of information about the gold industry at your fingertips by taking advantage of some useful mobile applications available. From news on the gold industry to mining environments, these apps are some of the most useful we found.

Gold Tracker

• Gold Tracker, by Hearn Apps, is a highly rated gold app for the iPhone and iPad. Gold buyers like the calculator feature, available in over 150 currencies. Enter any custom purity value into the calculator and get the pricing you need, available in troy ounces, grams, kilograms, or pennyweights. Another feature of use to gold buyers is the Kiosk Mode feature, which allows you the ability to make calculations in front of a customer while hiding the percent of spot value you pay. The recently added Vault feature allows you to keep track of your calculations. See current value, profit levels for each of your metals individually, and your average cost. Large, clear landscape charts for all metals are also available.

Gold Price

• Gold Price, by Kris Jenkins, is a free app available on the iPhone and iPad. It provides live gold pricing from around the world. Get market quotes from London, New York, and Zuric, as well as spot rates in dollars, euros, sterling, and yen. Available in six languages, this app caters to a variety of users. Jenkins has several mining applications on the market, including Gold Chart, which puts up-to-the-second interactive gold price charts on your iPhone or iPad.

The American Precious Metals Exchange

• The American Precious Metals Exchange (APMEX) Gold and Silver app is available on the iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch. One of the world’s leading precious metals dealers, APMEX Gold and Silver provides free, up-to-the-minute prices on gold, silver, platinum, and palladium 24 hours a day. In addition to gold and silver pricing, the app provides buying and selling prices on at least 40 of the top selling precious metal products.

Gold Fortune

• Gold Fortune, by Gold Lion Apps, is available on the iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch. Novice gold investors will find what they need to get started, including access to top investment resources, links to safe sources to buy and store gold bullion and coins, and analyst recommendations for gold mining stocks. The current spot price of gold is also accessible, updated every two minutes. A unique feature is the in-app gaming section, where users can access their “lucky numbers” and a play a slot game. There has never been an easier way to access information about the mining industry, and there is no shortage of applications that help you do this. Check out user reviews, features, and highlights of several different applications before deciding which one works best for your needs.

Guerrilla Marketing takes consumers by surprise, makes an indelible impression, and pops up where and when people least expect it. Guerrilla marketers are able to make a lasting impression without spending a lot of their marketing budget by being a little clever and more unpredictable than their competition. With the artful use of imagination mixed with hard work, you can maximize your marketing and reach your target audience. Guerrilla marketing is all about efficiency, but that doesn’t always mean spending less. The real investment here is the time and sweat spent understanding the needs of your customers and coming up with creative ways of communicating the value you offer. Here are some killer guerrilla marketing tips for your business, large or small.

Offer free information

Offering free information is a relatively inexpensive way to build and keep relationships with your customers. For example, if you have a restaurant, offer free tastings on the weekend. You might also consider offering seminars on wine and food pairings–the perfect segue for selling both.

Practice public speaking

Youth groups, churches, community organizations and special interest groups are hungry for speakers. Answer all questions directly and soft sell what your company can offer. If you can’t help, direct the person to a competitor who can. Your honesty will astound.

Write a column for the local paper

Own a nursery? Write about seasonal plantings, low-maintenance landscaping, and how to keep your garden green. The local paper won’t pay, but it will give you a one-sentence signer at the end of the column. Plus, your customers will see that you are involved and care about the community.

Attack the stacks

Tucking fliers under windshield wipers is annoying. A better trick: stuff business cards into industry related books at the library. One company providing investigative services to law firms slipped its cards into law books at the courthouse library. Attorneys and paralegals assumed that other firms used the company, upping its credibility.

Write expert tutorials

If there’s one thing that will showcase your skills, writing tutorials is it. The benefits for writing tutorials are that you get to show potential clients you know so much about your business that you can, literally, “write the book” on it. It’s ok to boast your knowledge a little bit – and best of all, it only costs you time.

Partner with a company outside of your niche

There’s a lot of talk about building relationships within your industry, but you should also step out of your niche and find friends elsewhere. The benefit is that you can help them help you, and you’re not competing with them for clients. Think outside the box and get some business cards from people you normally wouldn’t talk to – it’ll definitely pay off.

Hold a benefit dinner

Doing this shouldn’t be about you, but should be about a special cause that you’d like to raise money for. However, the promotion from having your name side by side with the benefit could do really well for your business and also show your local community that you’re a business that cares about others. Plus, people attending the event will remember your interest in their cause.