Throughout the winter months, the mining industry gathers in different cities to participate in a wide range of conferences and association meetings. These are great opportunities to learn about different projects, trends and technology developments shaping the mining and resources market throughout the year.
One topic of conversation you may hear is undoubtedly repeated by many in the executive, finance and investor relations arenas of the industry is finding and engaging a new demographic of resource market investors. The junior mining market is unfamiliar territory for most young and novice investors. How is a junior metals company suppose to compete with investment dollars with likes of other big brands like Tesla, Facebook or Google?
We chatted with a young (millennial) resource market investor known as Nick "The Mining Book Guy" about his approach to resource investing and his thoughts on how junior mining companies can best reach a younger generation of investors.
Nick made his mark in the resource investment field not only through active and successful investments, but also by providing great video content through his YouTube channel. Here, Nick provides an editorial book review on some of his latest reads and how the topic of the book relates to investing and the resource markets.
So we asked Nick where he thinks the opportunities are for these companies to expand their shareholder networks.
"I've seen new, high production-value videos that have really worked to get the message out for a few companies," Nick says. "YouTube is nice because, I think, both younger and older generations appreciate the visuals, sound and higher production values. Brief videos can really work to get messaging out as well."
Nick made a point to state that modern communication tools, such as an updated web site and social media channels are important to engage all demographics, not just shareholders and investors.
"There are a lot of companies that could get a huge boost by communicating to younger generations by at least being on top of the new messaging through social media," Nick says, including, his favorite, CEO.CA.
"Going beyond CEO.CA," he said, "I think Twitter is also important. I think some companies use Twitter in the wrong way. They are not quite professional. But I've been impressed with how some companies have used it."
Instagram is also a great opportunity platform for resource companies. Not only can it have an immediate effect for market exposure, but it can also have a long-term effect for brand recognition and investment opportunities because of the lack of competition in the same market within the platform.
"Companies jut need to take advantage of the social media tools that younger people are influenced by."
Listen to our full conversation with Nick, "The Mining Book Guy" here. We chat about his investment decision process, attending investment conferences, and more about engaging a younger demographic of resource investors.