5 top tips for seeking out investment using social media

Many brands today are starting to appreciate the full extent of how social media can build awareness, loyalty and ultimately drive decisions through ‘no-holds barred’ conversation – welcome to the cocktail party of the Century!

Many of us marketers and business owners who are already using social media are experiencing a new found love for online marketing, engaging in friendly, limitless conversations with our clients and prospects anywhere and everywhere in the World. 

So what does this exciting communication revolution mean for those of us looking for investment? In essence it means that with some carefully planned activity and research seeking out relevant connections, finding that dream investor with a pot of gold has never been this accessible.

So, whilst we may not be able to guarantee you the investment you seek, we can certainly give you 5 helpful tips to help you on your path to finding it, starting from the more obvious ideas:

Step 1 - Social Network Platforms – Have you set up and branded a twitter page, Linked in page and/or Facebook page? If not then you may want to start here. Once you have established these pages (as your company – not you) it’s about not being too obvious about what you are after. Don’t paste it all over your tweets that you are after investment as it looks like you’re desperate and you’ll have investors running a mile. These platforms are what we call ‘housekeeping’ and you should make regular effort to alter your status on Linked in, twitter and Facebook that steers around the success of the company and the opportunities you are currently exploring. Subtlety is the name of the game initially.

Step 2 – Seek and follow – Once you’ve established your network pages and started regular, subtle micro blogging around the success of the business and opportunities opening up, it’s time to seek and winkle out those potential investors. Pro-activity is the name of the game here, log onto http://www.twellow.com and try searching for ‘tech investors’ or ‘property investors’ etc. You’ll be surprised just how many are listed. Choose carefully and using twitter, initially connect with the ones you feel are most relevant. You’ll alert their attention at which stage you can prioritise your approach by starting conversation and asking the question (through a direct message) around what they are currently investing in. Oh… and don’t forget to search for angel networks, private equity and VC companies through Google search and follow them if they have set up twitter accounts.

Step 3 – Get your head around Linked in. Whilst there are a number of social networks for business people popping up all over the place, we think the best one by far is Linked in for its ease of use and sheer amount of incredible contacts listed on the site. If you are a newbie to Linked in and are looking for an investment partner then we suggest you spend a little time getting to grips with the site and then start connecting with people who are either investors themselves or connected to one. The great thing about this site is that you can read a full bio of anyone listed on the site and can therefore connect with a click of a button – investors normally list themselves as so. Start a conversation with that person and see where it takes you… but just be sure to play it cool and don’t give the crown Jewells away at the start!

Step 4 – Change your pitch. With the emergence of social media we’re now consuming data in very different way to a few years ago. Appreciating this and the fact that investors still only give an idea just minutes before deciding to pursue or delete it, why not use social media to your advantage and make your pitch a little more interactive. Why not create a 2 minute ‘edgy’ film that demonstrates the opportunity (a teaser) and profiles the people behind it (personalities) – this is typically what some investors are initially looking for. Remember that this has to grab attention from the outset so produce it in a way that best reflects the business opportunity and personalities – but steer clear of talking money; the objective is to get to the next stage and a face to face meeting. Find a good videographer and let him work out the creative brief – but don’t forget to add your branding to it and contact details! You’ll certainly get points for originality.

Step 5 – Promoting your pitch. Once you’ve produced it, launch it on a popular web TV channel such as YouTube or Vimeo and tag it with your company details and other keywords around investment opportunities in your arena. Also, produce a written release supporting the movie pitch for those wishing for a little more detail to the opportunity. Now it’s a case of pro-actively promoting your pitch and we suggest the following two routes:

1.Direct email to the investment houses you have sought out, with a link to the movie within it. This will create intrigue and hopefully spur an action. Remember to follow it up with a phone call.
2.Seek out investment websites and blogs relevant to the industry you are in and ask them to feature it. You may be asked for a small fee to do so, but if the content is engaging then they will probably be happy just to feature it. Dependent upon just how good it is, it may go viral across the industry and end up being watched by a number of potentially interested parties.

The key to your success lies within your content. If you produce a boring, unprofessional, un-thought-out movie then forget it… however if you look to entertain, translate excitement, demonstrate values clearly and come across as someone they may want to invest in then you’re half way there!

If you’d like to define your funding strategy using social media and some of the elements listed above then we’d be very happy to talk to you. Please feel free to contact us.