Members of the professional and capital markets ask me every day #whatworks in social media towards achieving effective market valuation with their publicly-listed companies. Few to none want to do the work. They want to hire someone, and they often extend this role to the junior part-time member of the company with no experience in writing, capital markets, or even – social media.

As with everything in life, you must do social media right from the onset or the damage can be irreparable. And equally as important (of course) is to ensure that when you market a public company via social media you’re erring on the side of compliance at every turn.

I remember when social media started. Firms out of Texas would charge US$10k a month, but here’s what we had right in the early days, an understanding that a great social media professional must be a great writer. But how many great writers have legal training and experience in the public market? Throw in tech-savvy, and well, over the years, many just gave up.

Today, believe it or not, social media for public markets is quite easy if you follow some simple rules:

1. Only publish News Releases.
2. Do not comment on share price or retweet anything at any time as a company unless you’re a partner with the company, and again – it’s a news release.

This morning, when I was meeting with a capital markets client, I decided, if I am going to write this down for him, why not share it with everyone? So here is my professional advice on how to deploy the minimum social media standards for your company online because you cannot be a public company and not have social media.

Why you ask? The real reason why social media is an absolute must is for emergencies. Social media is the only way to distribute news instantaneously and I have seen over the years, some extraordinary cases whereby the social media account may have saved the company. Misinformation is spread in real-time, and to counter these issues, one must be prepared.

The 1^st thing you must have in the capital markets is a Twitter and LinkedIn account for your company. You must also make sure that the CEO has a LinkedIn profile. This is the absolute minimum as most shareholders when doing due diligence on a company, take the time to review the background of the CEO.

And where do investors go to review a CEO’s background or the management team’s background? Yes, LinkedIn.

Here are the minimum requirements you need to have a social media presence in the capital markets. You must have:

1. Twitter for Company
2. LinkedIn for Company
3. LinkedIn for Company CEO

Then the strategy is simple.

1. Sell Line. Make sure the sell line you use to describe your public company is the same in your Twitter account as it is in your LinkedIn account. A sell line should be 5-7 words and quickly alert the viewer to what your company does or offers. A sell line should never be more than 7 words. While Nike is most famous for “Just Do It”, I recommend you select a sell line that integrates your SEO words. For instance, if you’re a gold company, you should include gold. If you’re a nanotech company, you should use nanotech.
2. Add Trading Symbols: It amazes me how irregularly I see trading symbols on a capital markets’ Twitter or LinkedIn account. Publish exactly like you do on a news release, so if your Jane Doe Corp. (NASDAQ: DOE | TSX: DOE), then publish it the way I just did and/or you may use the “$” prior to the symbol, but I urge you not to unless you get it right. For instance, a CSE-listed company would be $DOE.C.
3. Logo. Use the same logo on both Twitter and LinkedIn. You would be surprised how few people do this.
4. Banner Ads. Make sure that your Company Sell Line and Trading Symbol are displayed prominently on your banner ads. For Twitter, the banner ads are 1500×500 pixels and for LinkedIn, they are 1128×191 pixels.
5. Trading Symbols. Make sure that your trading symbols are prominently displayed on the banner ads on both Twitter and LinkedIn.
6. About Lines. The ‘About’ section in Twitter and LinkedIn are both approximately 12-15 words. Make sure that they are the same.
7. Add Twitter and LinkedIn logos to your website. There, you’re set up.

Now what do you post? This is where a lot of public companies get into trouble. If you’re short-staffed, create a social media protocol that reflects your schedule and need to stay active without driving your legal bills north.

What do you do?

Keep it simple and only publish your news releases within 1-hour of releasing your news through an authorized distributor. Publish the title and add a hashtag (#) before the keywords. So, if you’re an EV company, you would simply add a hashtag before EV, so you would write #EV.

Please ensure that you publish your news release within an hour of release and publish it the same way on both Twitter and LinkedIn.

I am certain you’re saying: is that it?

Almost, but you’re not quite there. To secure interest in your story, this is where someone must do some work. And allow me to explain what this means, 1 hour in front of the television with a glass of wine. Ask yourself, who do I want to read my news? If you’re a biotech company, make sure you’re following your favorite biotech journalists. You’re in the capital markets so follow the media you want following you. You cannot expect people to find you if you’re hiding.

And do not forget the fin-fluencers! You’re a public company, which means you need to follow the movers and shakers online who can draw attention to your news. After all, this is the point of this practice. You’re public, which means – you need an audience.

Stepping sideways for a moment, I was reviewing a company’s social media the other day, and thought – “what is going on here?” It took me 5-minutes to discover that they had hired a social media company that handles restaurants doing their social media. There is nothing wrong with this if the professional offering the services has experience in the public markets, but in this case, it was clear by their website and work, they did not.

When you’re interviewing someone, ask them “What time does the stock market open?” You will be quite displeased by how few can answer this question. Frankly, I think all companies should be able to easily do this themselves because once you have the infrastructure set up, it takes less than 5 minutes to distribute. This said this process can help you ascertain if you can trust the service provider as there is nothing wrong with the answer: “I do not know.” At least this professional, you can work with.

Now, don’t get me wrong – you can go to town on social media, and do everything from a metaverse account to a YouTube channel; but today, I am sharing with you the minimum that you need. And to help you see that it is important to have, easy to set up, and relatively easy to do when set up right.

As always, we wish everyone the best in the public markets.

In this InvestorIntel interview, host Tracy Weslosky brings together Power Nickel Inc.‘s (TSXV: PNPN | OTCQB: CMETF) CEO Terry Lynch and Founder of Save Canadian Mining, a movement to stop predatory short selling, along with compliance expert and CBLT Inc.’s (TSXV: CBLT) President, CEO, and Director Peter Clausi to debate about whether the recently released IIROC (the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada) guidance on short selling has any teeth and will have any effect on short sellers or brokerage houses.

IIROC’s August 17, 2022 Guidance Note sets out the rule that a short seller must have a “reasonable expectation” that sufficient shares will be available to settle any resulting trade on settlement date. As Terry Lynch and Peter Clausi point out, this is not a new rule, but a restatement of a current prohibition under UMIR 2.2 – Manipulative and Deceptive Activities.

In the debate, which can also be viewed in full on the InvestorIntel YouTube channel (click here), Terry tells Tracy that the IIROC statement “has the potential to be big news,” because “the problem was it wasn’t well understood by the major investment banks, and so they didn’t adhere to the practices. So now I think IIROC has clarified this once and for all and has clearly moved the liability away from from them and onto the people that don’t follow the rules.”

Peter and Terry both agree that the recent IIROC guidance has shifted the responsibility for covering short selling from the individual investors to the brokerage houses who have to have a “reasonable expectation” that sufficient shares will be available to settle any resulting trade, but Peter Clausi points out that the IIROC guidance doesn’t itself prohibit naked short selling, which is a major problem in the market. He also points out that there is tremendous wiggle room in the words “reasonable expectation” used by IIROC to make enforcement difficult, and in reality protects brokerage houses from prosecution.

To access the full InvestorIntel interview, click here.

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About Power Nickel Inc.

Power Nickel is a Canadian junior exploration company focusing on high-potential copper, gold, and battery metal prospects in Canada and Chile.

Power Nickel is the 100-per-cent owner of five properties comprising over 50,000 acres strategically located in the prolific iron-oxide-copper-gold belt of northern Chile. It also owns a 3-per-cent NSR royalty interest on any future production from the Copaquire copper-molybdenum deposit, recently sold to a subsidiary of Teck resources Inc. Under the terms of the sale agreement, Teck has the right to acquire one-third of the 3-per-cent NSR for $3-million at any time. The Copaquire property borders Teck’s producing Quebrada Blanca copper mine in Chile’s first region.

To learn more about Power Nickel Inc., click here

About CBLT Inc.

CBLT Inc. is a Canadian mineral exploration company with a proven leadership team, targeting lithium, cobalt and gold in reliable mining jurisdictions. CBLT is well-poised to deliver real value to its shareholders.

To learn more about CBLT Inc., click here

Disclaimer: Power Nickel Inc. and CBLT Inc. are advertorial members of InvestorIntel Corp.

This interview, which was produced by InvestorIntel Corp., (IIC), does not contain, nor does it purport to contain, a summary of all the material information concerning the “Company” being interviewed. IIC offers no representations or warranties that any of the information contained in this interview is accurate or complete.

This presentation may contain “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. Forward-looking statements are based on the opinions and assumptions of the management of the Company as of the date made. They are inherently susceptible to uncertainty and other factors that could cause actual events/results to differ materially from these forward-looking statements. Additional risks and uncertainties, including those that the Company does not know about now or that it currently deems immaterial, may also adversely affect the Company’s business or any investment therein.

Any projections given are principally intended for use as objectives and are not intended, and should not be taken, as assurances that the projected results will be obtained by the Company. The assumptions used may not prove to be accurate and a potential decline in the Company’s financial condition or results of operations may negatively impact the value of its securities. Prospective investors are urged to review the Company’s profile on Sedar.com and to carry out independent investigations in order to determine their interest in investing in the Company.

If you have any questions surrounding the content of this interview, please contact us at +1 416 792 8228 and/or email us direct at [email protected].

“Compliance and social media is really easy. People get carried away because it is a new platform of communicating but the old rules (of compliance in communication for public companies) still apply.” States Peter Clausi, InvestorIntel’s Advisor stated in an interview with InvestorIntel’s Tracy Weslosky during PDAC 2020.

Peter went on to say that public companies report on Sedar through press releases, financial statements, material change statements, etc. If a piece of information is in those documents, is factually true and has been publicly disclosed, companies can share it on social media. He also said that public companies should not share any news on social media before they have made an official public announcement.

To access the complete interview, click here

March 28, 2018 – “My practice is corporate finance securities, M&A. I work with all kinds of companies helping them raise money, go public.” states Jason Saltzman, Partner at Gowling WLG, in an interview with InvestorIntel’s Peter Clausi.

Peter Clausi: Gowlings is a law firm. It used to be Gowlings Lafleur Henderson. Now the formal name is? 

Jason Saltzman: Gowling WLG. Gowling WLG Canada is the Canadian version, but we are now a global law firm.

Peter Clausi: How many lawyers do you have globally? 

Jason Saltzman: 1,400 give or take.

Peter Clausi: I bet you are covering all sectors.

Jason Saltzman: Covering all sectors.

Peter Clausi: You had a big Russia office at one point.

Jason Saltzman: We still do. The roots of the Gowling law firm go way back to IP and Russia and that office is still thriving.

Peter Clausi: Wow. Good. What is your practice like?

Jason Saltzman: My practice is corporate finance securities, M&A. I work with all kinds of companies helping them raise money, go public.

Peter Clausi: Any one sector or across the board?

Jason Saltzman: Doing a lot in mining, doing a lot in cannabis, a lot in cryptocurrencies these days and alternative finance, but just a general securities practice. In Canada, mining is obviously a big part of that.

Peter Clausi: Were you bored out of your mind between 2013 and 2015?

Jason Saltzman: That is when we started getting into some of the exciting stuff in the Fintech space, but definitely we like the more robust markets that we have today.

Peter Clausi: Do you think a lot of the risk capital went into those projects during the nuclear winter of mining finance and has not come back yet?

Jason Saltzman: It is starting to come back. Certainly those projects are still quite popular with investors, but we are definitely seeing more excitement in the mining sector.

Peter Clausi: Are you on the board of anything these days?

Jason Saltzman: No not in the mining sector.

Peter Clausi: In anything?

Jason Saltzman: Yeah, I am on the board of a couple of crypto companies.

Peter Clausi: We had talked about a marijuana project a couple of years ago.

Jason Saltzman: Yeah.

Peter Clausi: Did that work through?

Jason Saltzman: Yeah. I am doing lots of work in the marijuana space. Have a company that is going public. They just raised $30 million dollars in a brokered financing and the public transaction will be finished at the end of this month.

Peter Clausi: Do you find that the cost of compliance is getting too high within the mining sector?

Jason Saltzman: Yeah certainly. I mean it is not easy to be a public company these days in any sector, but particularly in mining with the extra reports and whatnot that are required. For a small company it is very taxing on their resources both in terms of financial resources and just time and bandwidth…to access the complete interview, click here