Leeds-faculty.colorado.edu



Table of Contents

Tab 1: Summary of Changes Page 2

Tab 2: Schedule for Final Deliverable Page 3

Tab 3: Weekly Status Reports Page 5

Tab 4: Minutes of Meetings with Genesis Page 9

Tab 5: Updated Risk Management Plan Page 14

Tab 6: Quality Assurance Plan Page 17

Tab 7: Change Management Plan Page 18

Tab 8: Lessons Learned Page 19

Tab 9: Plan for Closing Project Page 20

Tab 10: Content Development Plan Page 21

Tab 11: Research of Webinar Platforms Page 24

Tab 12: Research of Social Networking Tools Page 28

Tab 13: Research of Blogs Page 36

Tab 14: Analysis of Competitors’ Websites Page 39

Tab 15: Resources Page 42

Tab 16: Email Correspondence with Genesis

Tab 17: Email Correspondence with Hitachi

Summary of Project since the First Deliverable

We made one large change between our first and final deliverable: the elimination of a deliverable. Originally we had planned on compiling a database of potential investors for Genesis Select’s clients. However, with Jim and our Hitachi mentors’ direction we decided to not complete this task. Genesis fully supported this decision because it allowed us to focus on the other components of our project: research of blogs, research of social networking sites, research of webinar platforms, and making suggestions to improve the company website. Then, we compiled all this work into one comprehensive Content Development Plan. We were thorough in these tasks and believe that because we eliminated the database deliverable we were able to successfully fulfill our commitment to Genesis.

Also, we had originally wanted to have Genesis Select’s company website updated with all our recommendations by the end of the semester. Unfortunately, at the end of the semester the website had not been updated. We found it very difficult to get in contact with Derek, Genesis’ IT contractor. We began trying to contact him November 19 but could not get him on the phone until December 2. On December 3, we gave him the outline of the website changes. As of December 9, Derek had still not updated the company website. The website should be updated no later than the end of the fiscal year. For more information on our website recommendations, see Tab 14.

Finally, due to lack of cooperation of one of their clients, Genesis decided not to move forward with the trial webinar but they will still take our recommendations into account with their future webinars. For more information, see the change management plan under Tab 7.

Tabs 10, 11, 12, 13, and 14 are the final research and recommendations that we provided our client. We gave them both a hard and soft copy of this information in one large document for reference.

Schedule for Final Deliverable

The following is our detailed schedule of work between our first and final deliverable. We had divided the project work among the team members and have noted the individual work loads on this document. Also, each row on the spreadsheet is a specific task we had to accomplish in order to reach our overall goals and deliverables. The schedule is included on the next page.

Weekly Status Reports

The following are our weekly status reports that we began starting with the period ending October 25, 2009.

Page 5 Period Ending October 25

Page 6 Period Ending November 1

Page 6 Period Ending November 8

Page 7 Period Ending November 15

Page 8 Period Ending December 6

Genesis Select

Status Report for period ending October, 25 2009

Work completed since last period:

• Conducted initial meeting with students and Genesis Select

• Reviewed outline and goals for project

• Identify webinar topic and desired participants for webinar

• Research and recommend social networking tools

• Analysis of competitors websites

• Research webinar platforms

• Began webinar content

• Began Social Networking tutorial for Genesis employees

• Conducted a meeting with Michael Thome, WebEx Regional Account Manager

• Met with Dave over the phone. Dave will be updated the content on any Genesis Blogs

Planned but not Accomplished:

• Tutorial of social networking tools and blogs

• Suggest website ideas for increasing viewer attention

Issues requiring assistance:

• Beginning webinar content will require communication with Genesis’ clients upper-management

Work to be completed during the next period [Oct 26–Nov 1]:

• Continue working on tutorials for social networking sites

• Weekly meeting with Hitachi consultants via phone

• Weekly meeting with Genesis Select at their office

• Weekly group meeting

Genesis Select

Status Report for period ending November 1, 2009

Work completed since last period:

• Completed all weekly meetings – Genesis Select, Hitachi Consultants and Group.

• Moving forward with the social networking tutorials

• Conducted a project Q and A with Hitachi Consultants

Planned but not Accomplished:

• Tutorials for social networking sites

• Website modifications

Issues requiring assistance:

• Making sure the Genesis employees have enough of a technological basis to understand the tutorials

Work to be completed during the next period [Nov 2–Nov 8]:

• Complete tutorials for social networking sites for Genesis Employees

• Develop an outline for website facial uplift

• Look into Stocktwit for areas to improve Genesis’ exposure

Genesis Select

Status Report for period ending November 8, 2009

Work completed since last period:

• Completed tutorial of social networking tools for Genesis.

• Developed an outline for website facial uplift.

• Researched StockTwit.

• Met with Acrobat Connect Representative to demo Webinar service.

Planned but not Accomplished:

• Present tutorial of social networking tools to Genesis – this was postponed due to inclement weather

• Present outline for website uplift

Issues requiring assistance:

• Need approval for website budget

• Finding useful blogs to follow

Work to be completed during the next period [Nov 9–Nov 15]:

• Set-up a Genesis Twitter account

• Set-up a Genesis Stocktwit account

• Work out a plan for a trial webinar

• Present outline for website uplift and discuss a budget

• Set up a face-to-face meeting with our Hitachi consultants

• Reschedule our bi-monthly conference call with Hitachi

• Meet with Genesis Select for our weekly meeting

Genesis Select

Status Report for period ending November 15, 2009

Work completed since last period:

• Presented outline for website facial uplift.

• Granted approval to move forward with a budget.

• Signed up for a Twitter account and found followers

• Signed up for StockTwits and found followers

• Found useful blogs to follow

• Researched Genesis clients

• Researched published IR practices

• Completed we 2.0 tutorials

• Got in contact with 3rd party web designer

Planned but not Accomplished:

• Decide on specifics for website facial uplift – logo, pictures and text.

• Set-up a face-to-face meeting with our Hitachi consultants

• Meet with 3rd party web designer

• Bi-weekly conference call with Hitachi

Issues requiring assistance:

• Determining what Genesis is looking for in a logo and getting budget approval

• Determine the exact pictures that Genesis would like to be used on their website.

• Determining group involvement for client webinar

• Able to correlate effectively with 3rd party web designer

Work to be completed during the next period [Nov 16–Nov 22]:

• Present newly designed logo, pictures and text for website.

• Present blog recommendations to Genesis

• Find and hire a graphic design company

• Compile draft presentations for Hitachi for next week (11/18)

• Create Genesis accounts for remaining social networking sites

• Work with 3rd party web designer to correlate social networking sites with Genesis website

• Meet with Hitachi consultants

• Schedule our bi-monthly conference call with Hitachi

• Meet with Genesis Select for our weekly meeting

**The reason for the long gap between the above status report, and the one below, is due to the students Thanksgiving Break, Genesis Select Employees traveling and businesses taking a Holiday Break**

Genesis Select

Status Report for period ending December 6, 2009

Work completed since last period:

• Finished Blog Tutorial for Genesis Select

• Edited website content as it relates to spelling, accuracy and modernity.

• Selected new images to post on the main page of Genesis Select website.

• Delivered mock presentation to Hitachi clients for input on final presentation to client.

Planned but not Accomplished:

• Final implementation of website layout. Full movement ahead with Genesis’ IT third party company. ie) pictures, blog, badges, logo.

• Make final adjustments to Genesis’ new logo.

Issues requiring assistance:

• Getting in contact with the IT guys for website layout (been playing a lot of “phone tag”)

• Contacting graphic design guy to finalize logo adjustments

Work to be completed during the next period [Dec 7–Dec 9]:

• Implement Seeking Alpha

• Register and start a profile for all recommended social networking sites

• Finish content development plan

• Finish final deliverable

• Complete final presentation for client

Minutes of Meetings with Genesis Select

We took minutes at every meeting with had with Genesis Select. We found that taking minutes gave us a reference point when there was discrepancy over a decision made or a commitment we made to our client. It allowed us to all be on the same page as a group, and also be on the same page with our client. Here, we have included the minutes from the entire semester.

Meeting with Genesis Select 9/24/09 at Genesis

Budd – Matt – Isaac – Megan – Connor – Brad – Scott – Kim (via phone)

Introductions:

Who we (CU-Team) are.

Who they (Genesis) are.

Why are we all here?

Discussed overall project and expectations from Professors standpoint, CU Teams standpoint and Genesis Selects standpoint.

Will meet every Thursday at 3:45PM at the Genesis Select Office on Pearl Street (unless otherwise stated).

Kim lives in California and will be conferenced in weekly.

Best way to reach everyone is via e-mail – decision was made to always copy everyone on each email, and always hit ‘reply all’ so as to keep all in the loop

Discussed social networking site research and decided to select a few to focus on for next week.

Meeting with Genesis Select 10/1/09 at Genesis

Budd – Matt – Issac – Megan – Brad – Connor – Scott - Kim

Schedule:

Getting in touch with Liveperson – hard to pin-down….3 Weeks out

WANT: overview, profile, financials, etc…. a few takes, cut and edited

Retail Big Hitter Database

MonkMedia – SIC Code

Want to buy a list…not rent

Forbes/Wall Street Subscribers/Registered Rep/Brokers Contacts/Barrons – top broker issue…….buy 100,000 names across the country – want lunches/mtgs with 20 “heavy hitters”

What social networks are relevant and a tutorial on how to use them….the how to’s?

Database of CFO’s and/or CEO’s from small cap investor firms

Analytics on who is visiting, how many hits, a ping when someone important is visiting, a video on the home page…..all at once changes

Webinar – template to go to each client how it should be done so they can do it once a quarter. Chapt 1-4 intro, overview, financials…. – only need to change financials.

Live Webinar and one posted on the website.

Lippertheil… - –

Up-charge clients to 20% of the base charge – not more than 2K more than 1.5K

Who is going to do it, who to hire?

Measure cost benefit in market cap.

Project Fee’s:

Broker list

Subscription fees

Key is to own the names, not rent them

Website update – at most probably will cost 1k

10/8 Meeting at Genesis Select

Budd – Matt – Connor – Megan – Brad – Scott – Kim (via phone)

Review of the first deliverable

Scope is too big – need to prioritize the following:

• Web Layout/Website Analysis

• Blogging Analysis

• Webinar Content

• Social Networking Tool Assessment

• Database

o No longer focus efforts there, but keep an eye out for ways that it can be useful through our modified scope.

1. Blog Assessment (very important)

2. Social Networking Assessment

3. Website Content

4. Webinar

Genesis is a communications company and they are trying to figure out how to utilize all of these to help OUR clients achieve their goals. All of them apply to one another.

Content development is the “plug and play”

Goals:

• Identify the tools and figure out how to use – communications conduit

• Putting them to use – what to put in the conduit

• Reach more people in a more targeted way

• More specific niche areas – reach more people who go to Facebook pages and read the blogs – need to be able to tap into that

Look at:

• Google Ad-ware

• Getting a Facebook page for clients to “friend” and group with information

• Dissemination of specific info – client set a new milestone – new event = blogging

• Website – how to find out who is visiting website – what are they interested in – gaining contact information.

o Fact Sheet (opt in)– kept up on parts, news alerts, etc…

• Presentation for slideshow broken up into chapters, slide doesn’t not always = a chapter

Database – Tabled Item

• Want 100,000 names in the next year. 20 non-institutional people each road-show – through our research if something comes up that shows how to access that channel, we will recommend.

10/15 Meeting at Genesis Select

Budd – Matt – Connor – Megan – Brad – Scott – Kim (via phone) – Dave (via phone)

Website – come up with the design then we will go with budget

• .pdf to Genesis in Boulder to pick a design concept

• Will go over next meeting

• Contact IT with the final concept and move forward

E-mailing draft social networking tutorials to Genesis for review on content and layout

• It is a tool to teach Genesis how to use these social networking sites

• 5 most effective sites for the tutorial

o Linkedin

o biznik

o Facebook

o

o Twitter

• Start with Facebook with it being the most familiar

• Will help the dinosaurs do what they need to do.

Webinar

• Connor is working on the recommendations

• Compiled a tutorial on how to upload to sites, etc…

• Need create a template for clients to use for presentations – will need more input

• Genesis to send Connor what “slides” “chapters” they want/use

Dave with Blogging

• Benefits – insert himself (Budd) in public domain

Blogs

• Working on what to place in blogs, what words to use that “catch-the-eye”, what blog sites to use, how Genesis should use it, how often, where…

• Top blogging sites and how to get involved with them

Meeting with Genesis at Genesis Select 10/22/09

Megan – Brad – Connor – Scott – Matt – Budd – [Kim and Dave via phone]

Sent Status Report around for viewing and acceptance

CU Project Team is invited to sit in on earnings call next week and in two weeks – US auto parts next Thursday at 4PM. Issac will email out the conference line

Need one project member to make the WebEx presentation. – Connor

Team up with US Auto Parts to get the ball rolling.

Decision to make one Genesis Select Fan Page on Facebook

Notify the fans/friends of alerts, postings, etc…

Change the Logo – more modern Give it some depth. Blue and black 3 D triangle.

Kim will send contact info for possible Designers, Connor will look into a friend who is a graphic designer

Genesis will be able to increase their presence and awareness on the internet and on social networking sites

Genesis Meeting 10/29/2009 at Genesis

Budd – Matt – Issac – Kim via phone – Dave via phone – Megan – Brad – Scott - Connor

Research the 30 most actively and tracked blogs. Who is posting? When are they posting? How often?

Websites to check-out:

Alexa

Quamcast

Stocktalk

At the end of the day the goal is to make more money and get more business by increased exposure.

Worked on Facebook page

Genesis Select Blog – have it on their site, but have it pushed out to everyone’s prospect list. Need to give insight to IR firms, microcap investors, etc.

Genesis Meeting 11/12/2009 at Genesis

Budd – Matt – Issac – Kim via phone – Dave via phone – Megan – Brad – Scott - Connor

Brad assigned to set-up all remaining social networking sites with Genesis logins accessible to employees.

All team members were asked to email Genesis employees once a week and different days to remind them to post on their twitter and stocktwit accounts.

Scott will be in touch with Derek (IT contractor) to get the website re-formatted after pictures are decided on my Kim and CU Team.

Connor will be working on the class presentation

Megan will continue researching blogs and ideas for Genesis to move forward with as it relates to sites like SeekingAlpha.

Brad is looking into widgets and badges to put on the new website as opposed to just url links.

Still waiting on new logo proofs. Should receive updated versions by the weekend.

Genesis Meeting 11/30/2009 at Genesis

Budd – Matt – Issac – Kim via phone – Dave via phone – Megan – Brad – Scott - Connor

(Time lapse between meetings is due to Thanksgiving Break, Genesis employees traveling and Holiday break for companies)

Megan researched blogs in depth and gathered that SeekingAlpha is indeed a great source for blogging with many viewers. This will increase exposure to Genesis.

Derek (IT) is ready to go as soon as Genesis and the CU Team are ready to move forward – decision to hold off on moving forward with the new layout until logo was made.

It was then reversed to try to accommodate the CU Teams final presentation with a comparable for old and new website. Move forward with the layout and pictures and we can push the logo into the site upon completion.

Brad has set-up all social networking accounts for Genesis and will stay after the meeting to update Facebook and teach employees.

Brad and Scott will work together with Derek to get the website up and going with the layout, widgets, badges and pictures.

Connor will make one last run through current text on the website for edits and send all noticeable typos to Budd for verification and changes to later submit to Derek.

Final presentation is at 5:15PM at CU. Parking passes will be provided. Budd has a conflict, but Matt and possibly Issac will be in attendance.

Updated Risk Management Plan

This project is venturing into new territory for Genesis Select. We are experimenting with new ideas and hoping to come up with a result that leads into a successful component of Genesis’ business. There are many risks that we are trying to avoid; however, we have also developed plans in case these problems do arise. The following risks are listed in order from most likely to least likely.

|Risk |Analysis |Likelihood |Impact |

|Because members of our project team|Each of our project team members is becoming an expert in one | | |

|have limited knowledge of social |category and will teach the rest of the team what they |High |High |

|networking tools, blogs, webinars, |learned. We believe this will be an effective means of | | |

|and databases, we will have to |learning the details in each of these tools. We will also | | |

|spend more time researching which |double check each other’s work by doing additional background | | |

|could make us get behind on our |research on each of the topics. | | |

|deliverables. | | | |

|Genesis Select has a staff of only |We have an agreed upon weekly meeting with Genesis and | | |

|four people and each staff member |everyone has made the commitment of making the meeting a |High |High |

|has large demands on his/her time. |priority. In the case that each staff member is traveling | | |

| |during our preplanned weekly meeting, we have agreed to set up| | |

| |a different time to meet that week. | | |

|Coordinating with two Hitachi |We are trying to take a positive spin on this and think of two| | |

|mentors and keeping both informed |mentors as an opportunity to learn more. We are going to |High |Low |

|of our progress and activities. |schedule our conference calls in advance so all team members | | |

| |and both Hitachi mentors can be on the call and we are also | | |

| |going to cc: both mentors on emails. This way, both have | | |

| |complete knowledge of the current status of the project. | | |

| |Also, the Hitachi mentors have coordinated internally. | | |

|Falling behind on our project |We evaluate our past week’s progress at our Monday meeting and| | |

|milestones because our project is |also discuss the goals we have for the next week. Doing this |Medium |Medium |

|made up of four little projects to |on a weekly basis decreases the probability of falling behind.| | |

|be compiled at the end, and if one |If we catch it early that we are falling behind schedule we | | |

|of the four gets behind it affects |can minimize the effect and work hard the next week to catch | | |

|the other three. |up. | | |

|Each deliverable, although |To minimize this risk we will evaluate where the project is on| | |

|interdependent, is also a project |a whole biweekly, and the last two weeks of class we are going|Medium |Medium |

|within itself. There is the |to focus on crafting each component to complement each other. | | |

|potential that we focus too much on| | | |

|the details of each deliverable | | | |

|rather than remember how each | | | |

|deliverable fits into the overall | | | |

|project. | | | |

|Because our Hitachi mentors do not |We are going to have bi-weekly conference calls with Hitachi | | |

|meet regularly with Genesis, there |and also email them copies of our deliverables to help keep |Medium |Medium |

|is the possibility that they do not|them informed. | | |

|have the same understanding of the | | | |

|project as the project team. | | | |

|If we have trouble contacting and |Genesis is going to be involved in all of our decisions | | |

|communicating with Derek, the IT |concerning changes to the website; with their agreement |Medium |Medium |

|contractor, it could put us behind |beforehand it will allow Derek to quickly implement the | | |

|on the entire project. |changes to the website. | | |

|Performing the same research that |This is a concern we discussed with Genesis and they have sent| | |

|Genesis Select has already |us the research they have already completed and the |Medium |Low |

|completed, which adds more work to |information they have. | | |

|our project. | | | |

|One member of the project team does|We use our weekly meetings as an opportunity to evaluate each | | |

|not complete his/her portion of the|person’s work. So far, we have experienced no problems with |Low |Medium |

|project work, adding more work for |this. Furthermore, we are all able to be open and honest with| | |

|the rest of the team. |each other and have clear expectations that we want to succeed| | |

| |in this project. | | |

|Genesis’ employees have differing |The employees of Genesis have to work very closely together on| | |

|opinions over the project and it |a daily basis because there are only four of them. If their |Low |Medium |

|affects our communication with the |difference in opinions affects our project, we would work with| | |

|company. |our Hitachi mentors to come up with a contingency plan. | | |

|Genesis Select wants to increase |At the beginning of the project we added an additional | | |

|the scope of the project. |deliverable, and we have agreed with Genesis on the project |Low |Medium |

| |outline. If this risk occurred, we would remind the company | | |

| |of our agreement. | | |

|If one of Genesis’ clients doesn’t |Genesis had already discussed doing a trial webinar with their| | |

|agree to do a trial webinar it will|client LivePerson, which minimized this risk. |Low |Low |

|be difficult to teach them to use | | | |

|webinar software. | | | |

|Many differing opinions can lead to|Ultimately, the decision is within Genesis’ power so we have | | |

|coming to a consensus about a new |asked them to coordinate internally. |Low |Low |

|logo difficult. | | | |

|Kim lives in California which could|Kim was the first employee to research the idea of utilizing | | |

|affect our communication with her. |social networking and blog sites. When we have a question we |Low |Low |

| |will email her and she will reply promptly. | | |

Quality Assurance Plan

In order to monitor our progress throughout the second half of our project we continually updated a single quality assurance plan. We based it upon our weekly status reports and looked at more specifics within each of our weekly tasks: our verification method, defects or discrepancies within each task, the methods for addressing any defects or discrepancies, and the due date. As it is demonstrated in this plan our focus in November and December was aggregating all our research and working with Genesis to create the final recommendations for the website, such as selecting pictures and font. Included below is our quality assurance plan for the period beginning November 1 and concluding December 6.

|Objective/ |Verification Method |Defects / Discrepancies |Methods for Addressing |Status / Due Date |

|Deliverable | | |Defects / Discrepancies | |

|Social Networking Tutorials|Based on Employees |N/A |N/A |Open – delayed / November |

| |Understanding | | |1 |

|Website Modification Layout|Employee Acceptance |Waiting on approval from |Allot the time for a well |Open - delayed / November |

| | |final employee |informed decision |1 |

|Social Networking Tutorials|Based on Employees |N/A |N/A |Completed November 8 |

| |Understanding | | | |

|Website Modification Layout|Employee Acceptance |N/A |N/A |Completed November 8 |

|Blog Tutorial |Based on Employee |N/A |N/A |Open – on time / December |

| |Understanding | | |7 |

|Blog Tutorial |Based on Employee |N/A |N/A |Completed December 7 |

| |Understanding | | | |

|Set-up social networking |Employees ability to |N/A |If issues arise, the |Completed |

|sites for Genesis Select |maneuver through the sites| |tutorials should guide |November 15 |

| | | |employees | |

|Implementation of Website |Viewer population increase|Unforeseeable |Use Genesis to initiate |Open – delayed / December |

|outline |/ acceptable to employees |communication issues arose|contact and alert of the |6 |

| | |between CU Team and IT |time constraints. | |

| | |Contractor | | |

Change Management Plan

Throughout the life of this project, we have encountered several changes within our project. Luckily, our group collectively made these decisions and our client supported these changes as well. Having our client trust us and our decisions was awesome.

The biggest change in our project was the elimination of a deliverable. In the beginning of the Genesis Select project, we had included a deliverable to create a database of potential investors. However, after submitting our first deliverable we quickly realized that if we decided to go through with creating the database that we would not be able to effectively complete all the other deliverables. We decided to eliminate this deliverable in order to concentrate on the other deliverables and ensure that we did a great job for our client. Looking back on this decision, we are very glad we made this choice. We were able to be thorough in our other deliverable and meet our client’s expectations. We suggested that if Genesis wanted to move forward in creating the database, they employ another project team to construct it.

Also, we decided to not develop a practice webinar for Genesis. We had originally agreed to create the layout, and with the direction of Genesis create the content, to do a practice webinar for one of their clients. We were going to create a webinar using WebEx for LivePerson. However, LivePerson never internally coordinated within their company to set a date for the trial webinar. Genesis concluded that LivePerson was not the right client to do their first webinar with and we eliminated this task. Also, they decided that the webinar would follow the client road show outline that was already in use, so an outline was not needed. Genesis will create the webinar on their own in the new year.

Lastly, we decided to not use Biznik for one of the social networking tools that we have implemented into Genesis’ business model. We had originally recommended Genesis utilize Biznik as it increases a company’s Google PageRank, which ultimately increases the amount of traffic to a website. However, after further research we revoked this recommendation for two reasons: one, this website does not receive a great amount of traffic compared to similar websites; and two, the traffic it does receive is not our target audience.

Although we did have three substantial changes to our project, we were able to discuss each of the changes with our client and successfully manage the changes as a team.

Lessons Learned

Throughout this project, we have learned many invaluable lessons. Having class work that provided hands-on experience has definitely been the best way to learn, both in terms of project management and also working within a professional setting. In addition to learning about the investor relations industry we have learned numerous lessons that we will take into our future endeavors.

1. Set measurable goals. Measurable goals allow you to determine if you met your goals or not.

a. As we moved forward in our project, we found it difficult to measure the progress of the project and also to determine whether we met our goals.

2. The time horizon does limit the work to be accomplished. We were overly ambitious in what we wanted to accomplish in the beginning of our project; limiting our goals let us do a really great job on what mattered most.

a. Originally we had agreed to develop a database and it took us half of the project length to discover this was out of scope.

3. The more people involved in a decision, the longer it will take to make. For an important decision, it probably is best to have all stakeholders involved. However, it is not necessary to have everyone involved in a smaller decision. It just makes it drawn out with probably the same end result.

a. It took us weeks to pick four images for the company website when it should have taken

4. Remember the game telephone from childhood? It happens in the workplace also. When information is passed from person to person, the truth gets distorted.

a. Our original graphic designer was speaking with Connor instead of Genesis employees and Genesis’ goals for the logo were misstated. This resulted in a logo the company was not happy with.

5. Sending an agenda before the meeting makes it more efficient.

a. Once we began emailing agendas before our meetings, we decreased meeting time while increasing meeting productivity.

6. Write it down. With documentation comes more accountability and disagreements are more easily solved.

a. The CU project team was able to hold each other accountable to their tasks.

Activities Necessary to Close the Project

We have worked steadily on our project throughout the course of the semester. Each of the four main tasks we have completed: perform research on blogs, research and register on various social networking sites, make recommendations about webinar platforms, and update the company website to make it more interactive.

However, there are still few small tasks we have yet to accomplish as of class on Wednesday, December 2. The following is a comprehensive list of all the steps we must take to successfully complete our project before the final presentation.

- Leave our contact information with Genesis Select.

o In case our final recommendations are not detailed enough, we would all be happy to answer a quick email if the company has further questions.

- Do further research about Seeking Alpha.

o We read a blog a week before our final deliverable was due that gave some staggering statistics about the effectiveness of Seeking Alpha, so we want to set up an account with this website which we had not originally planned on doing.

- Update risk management plan.

o We identified further risks that we did not include in our first deliverable.

- Update change management plan.

o We had several changes in our project, the biggest being the elimination of a deliverable. We have not yet documented these changes.

- Compile status reports.

- Compile meeting minutes.

- Compile email correspondence for documentation.

- Work with Derek, Genesis’ IT contractor, to complete the changes to Genesis’ website.

o We have all the changes that need to be made to the company website; Derek will spend a few hours in our last week of class implementing the changes.

- Update Powerpoint slides per Hitachi’s suggestions.

Content Development Plan

We wrote a brief summary of the actions we recommended that Genesis Select complete on a regular basis based upon our research throughout this semester. Genesis will use this as a weekly reference to ensure they are comprehensively completing all our recommendations.

Genesis Select Content Development Plan

Ultimate Measures of Success:

- Increased web exposure

o Measured by Google Analytics

- Increased revenue from existing clients from additional services and fees

- New clients

- Increased communication with potential clients and investors

o Measured by an increase in contact information

Website:

*see page 39 of final deliverable for further details

Measures of success:

- Click-stream data from Google Analytics

- Client feedback

Necessary Actions:

|Action |Details for Action |

|Finish website makeover |Detailed on page ?? |

| |Update weekly at minimum |

|Website blog | |

|Update client facts |Have current links to earnings reports |

| |Update client biographies at the end of each year |

Blogs:

*see page 36 of final deliverable for further details

Measures of success:

- Quantity of people reading the Genesis blog that will be disseminated to the social networking site profiles and on the Genesis Select website

o Measured by click-stream data from Google Analytics

- Number of articles published by Seeking Alpha

o Measure available on Seeking Alpha

- Number of individuals who read Seeking Alpha articles

o Measure available on Seeking Alpha

Necessary Actions:

|Action |Details for Action |

|Submit an article to Seeking Alpha to |Detailed on page ?? |

|become an approved contributor | |

|Submit articles to Seeking Alpha |Submit bi-weekly |

| |Can be similar to article on blog |

|Update company blog |Update weekly at minimum |

|Read relevant blogs |Comment when you have something to add to the commentary |

| |See StockTwits tutorial for help finding relevant material |

Webinars:

*see page 24 of final deliverable for further details

Measures of Success:

- Client road show presentations

o Reduced cost of travel

o Reduced time expended

o Increased client exposure measured by live views

o “Hits” to web archived client road shows

- Genesis webinars

o Increased information in investor and potential client database, collected through webinar registrations

o Acquired clients

Necessary Actions:

|Action |Details for Action |

|Client Road Shows |Demo virtual client road shows to current clients for add-on service |

| |upgrade |

| |Create virtual road show with clients |

| |Arrange for multiple live webinars and invite normal road show attendees |

| |Archive these virtual road shows on client’s website and social media for |

| |later viewing |

|Genesis Webinars |Schedule webinar |

| |See webinar report for possible webinar topics |

| |Invite a large range of views |

| |Focus on potential investors whose information you would like to acquire |

| |Archive webinar on website and social media for later viewing |

Social Media:

*see page 28 of final deliverable for further details

Measure of success:

- Quantity of friends on Facebook

- Quantity of followers on Twitter

- Quantity of members on Ning network

- Quantity of connections and recommendations on LinkedIn

Necessary Actions:

|Website |Action |Details for Action |

| |Participate regularly on all aspects|Participate in forums |

|Ning |of Ning to establish a presence |Add blogs |

| | |Add comments |

| | |Join groups |

| |Constantly attempt to gain as many | |

| |members as possible on Genesis’ | |

| |network | |

| |Create a group |Constantly attempt to gain more members for the group |

| |Participate regularly on all aspects|Constantly attempt to gain more connections |

|LinkedIn |of LinkedIn to establish a presence |Constantly attempt to gain more recommendations |

| | |Constantly update the Genesis group, just like the Facebook |

| | |fan page |

| |Update status |At minimum, Monday/Wednesday/Friday |

|Facebook | | |

| |Actively pursue friends | |

| |Frequently comment on relevant | |

| |friend and group pages | |

| |Enforce pay-per-click ad campaign |Will help gain a bigger fan base |

| |Tweet regularly |At minimum, Monday/Wednesday/Friday |

|Twitter | | |

| |Gain as many followers as possible |Become a part of a ‘list’ to help gain followers |

| |Follow people relevant to industry | |

| |and potential/current clients | |

Research of Webinar Platforms

The following is a copy of our research of various webinar platforms. After doing much research, we recommended to Genesis Select that they use WebEx due to its ease of use and wide-spread use within the financial industry.

The color coding is for easier readability. The boxes that are green are a good feature of a platform, yellow is an okay feature, and red is a drawback of a particular platform. The boxes that are not colored are features that are not an important detail in our decision of which platform to recommend because Genesis is willing to pay for the best platform to have the most efficient meetings.

|  |WebEx |Acrobat Connect |Microsoft Live Meeting |GatherPlace |GoToWebinar/ GoToMeeting |

|Presenter Operating |Windows, Mac, Linux, |Windows, Mac |Windows |Windows, Mac |Windows |

|Systems Supported |Solaris | | | | |

|Guest Operating Systems |Windows, Mac, Linux, |Windows, Mac, |Windows, Mac |Windows, Mac, |Windows |

|supported |Solaris, Iphone, |Linux, Solaris | |Linux | |

| |BlackBerry | | | | |

|No software downloads |Yes |Only flash, on 98% |No |Yes |No |

|required for guests | |of computers | | | |

| | |already | | | |

|Desktop showing and |Yes |Yes |Yes |Yes |Yes |

|sharing | | | | | |

|Application Showing and |Yes |Yes |One Window |Yes |Yes |

|Sharing | | | | | |

|Slow Participants do not |Yes |N/A |Yes |Yes |Yes |

|impact experience of | | | | | |

|others | | | | | |

|Set up meetings in |Yes |Yes |Yes |Yes |Yes |

|advance | | | | | |

|Basic Voice |Yes, extra |Yes, extra |Yes, Free |Yes, Free |Yes, extra |

|teleconferencing (dial-in| | | | | |

|support) | | | | | |

|Advanced Teleconferencing|Yes |Yes |Yes |Yes (Premium |Yes |

|(VoIP) | | | |Version) | |

|Optional Toll-free |Yes |Yes |Yes |Yes (Premium |No |

|teleconferencing (VoIP) | | | |Version) | |

|Video Playback |Yes |Yes |Yes |No |Yes |

|Video Conferencing |Yes, up to 6 cameras |Yes |Yes |No |Yes |

|Session Recording |Yes |Yes |Yes |Yes (Premium |Yes |

| | | | |Version) | |

|Color Quality |16 bit |16 bit |24 bit | 8, 16, and 24-bit|16 bit |

|Add a join form to your |Yes |Yes |Corp Edition |Yes |No |

|own web site | | | | | |

|Participant List |Yes |Yes |Yes |Yes |Yes |

|Text Chat |Yes |Yes |Yes |Yes |Yes |

|Polling |Yes |Yes |Yes |No |Yes, with GotoWebinar |

|Q & A |Yes |Yes |Yes |No |Yes, with GotoWebinar |

|Usage Reports |Yes |Yes |Corp Edition |Yes |No |

|Pass presenter |Yes |Yes |Yes |Yes |No |

|capabilites to others | | | | | |

|Grant guests remote |Yes |Yes |Yes |Yes |No |

|control of shared | | | | | |

|applications | | | | | |

|Lock Conference |Yes |Yes |No |Yes |No |

|Security |WebTrust |SSL and TLS |SSL and AES encryption |McAfee Certified |Advanced Incription |

| |Certification, SAS-70|incription | | |Standards, NIST |

| |Certification, ISO | | | |Certificate #175, and |

| |177990 Attestation, | | | |other measures |

| |DIACAP/FISMA | | | | |

| |Certification | | | | |

|Trial period |14 day |30 days |30 days |14 days |14 days |

|  |  |  |  |  |  |

|Webinar Pricing |500 attendee capacity|Annual Contract $50|Professional User: up to |$427/mo unlimited |GoToWebinar: $99/mo |

| |$495/mo, 1000 |per seat/200 |1,250 participants |webinars with up |unlimited Webinars with |

| |attendee capacity |minimum |$15.42/mo per user (5 user |to 1000 attendees |up to 1000 attendees (20%|

| |$695/mo |($833.33/mo); |min., so $77.10/mo min.) |(15% discount with|off with year contract) |

| | |Monthly Contract | |year contract | |

| | |$10 per seat/200 | | | |

| | |minimum ($2,000/mo)| | | |

|Meeting Prices starting |$69/mo unlimited |$500 per year per |Standard User: up to 250 |29/mo unlimited |$49/mo Unlimited Meetings|

|at |meetings for up to 25|license (Named |participants 4.58/mo per |meetings with up |up to 15 attendees (20% |

| |participants ($59/mo |Organizer), for 100|user (5 user min., so |to 5 guests ($39 |off with year contract) |

| |with year contract) |participants. |$22.9/mo min) |for 20 guests, $49| |

| | | | |for 100) (15% | |

| | | | |discount with year| |

| | | | |contract | |

|Alternate Meeting Plans |Pay-per-use option @ |Pay-per-use is $.32|  |Premium starts at |  |

| |$0.33/min per |per min per | |$43/mo for 5 | |

| |participant |participant | |guests, $58 for | |

| | | | |20, and $73 for | |

| | | | |100 guests | |

|Other Promotions |One month free |  |  |  |  |

|Conclusion |Industry leader, |Easy for |Great, moderatley priced, |Very simple and |Simple, Cheap webinars |

| |great customer |participants to |but lacks |ideal for small | |

| |service and training |enter because |flexablility/compatability |meetings | |

| |included, best |Flash-based and | | | |

| |security |competitively | | | |

| | |priced | | | |

Analysis of Webinar Platforms

Five of the leading Webinar services were evaluated: Webex, Acrobat Connect, Microsoft Live Meeting, GatherPlace, and GoToMeeting/GoToWebinar.

As can be seen in the attached Excel document, they were evaluated on cost, compatibility, features, etc. The Webinar service providers are ordered in the Excel document from left to right based on their performance in the evaluation (left being the best, right being the worst).

The following is a report on each provider’s strengths and weakness to supplement the Excel chart.

WebEx

WebEx by Cisco is the clear industry leader. It performed best in the evaluation, setting the standard for the other services to be evaluated against. It is the most compatible with different operating systems, allowing for the presenter to operate on Windows, Mac, Linux, and Solaris and for the Guest to participate from all of those systems plus the iPhone, Blackberry, and other “smart phones”. WebEx integrates easily into operating systems, and is compatible with most Microsoft software, allowing for instance, the user to utilize their Outlook contact list to invite participants to a webinar. WebEx provides training and live customer support included in the basic service package. The security is also the best of the services evaluated. It is much cheaper than the next best performer, Acrobat Connect.

Acrobat Connect

Acrobat Connect is the next best competitor from a functional and compatible standpoint. It offers similar features to WebEx, but is not as compatible with different operating systems and is more expensive. One important note is that it is flash based, which is a strength and also a weakness. As most computers come with flash installed, there is rarely the necessity for participants to download any software. The problem is that for the presenter all files must be converted to flash compatible formats, which is somewhat tedious despite what Acrobat has done to facilitate this.

Microsoft Live Meeting

Live Meeting is very functional and cheap, but is not very compatible, and is more focused on meetings than webinars. This evaluation was done before the release of Windows 7, and it is possible that some improvements have been made. The pricing is a fraction of the WebEx and Connect without sacrificing functionality. If the presenter plans to use a Windows operation system and wants to save on cost, this is a fine choice for Webinars. The only problem is that the somewhat rare potential participant on Linux of Solaris will not be able to participate.

GatherPlace

GatherPlace is similar in price to WebEx, but lacks many of the functions that WebEx offers. It does not allow for video playback or conferencing, nor polling and Q&A. It is a simple solution for small meetings within a company, but is less than ideal for Webinars.

GoToWebinar/GoToMeeting

GoToWebinar is basically GoToMeeting with more features. GoToWebinar is a very cheap, simple option for Webinars, but lacks some features of other providers and is only compatible with Windows operating systems for hosting and participating in Webinars. Live Meeting is cheaper, slightly more compatible, and has more features, so in this price range/compatibility level, Live Meeting is the better provider. GoToWebinar has different features than GatherPlace, such as video and polling,. For smaller meetings, GoToMeeting may be the better provider compared to GatherPlace, if video and polling are important to the customer.

Research of Social Networking Tools

After conducting online research of various social networking tools, we were able to narrow down our suggestions to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Ning. We came to the conclusion to use these four sites in terms of the number of users as well as how business oriented the social networking tools are. Facebook has more than 250 million users worldwide with over 300,000 businesses using Facebook to expand their online presence. The number of users from the baby-boom generation on Facebook is increasing substantially, making it an even more attractive tool to use. Twitter has about 40 million users and is a great tool in discussing brief success stories and micro-blogging. It can also be used to follow influential people in the investment industry, thus proving mass potential for relevant influential people to follow Genesis. LinkedIn has more than 43 million registered users and over 365,000 company profiles that compile up to 170 different industries. We also decided to use Ning because it has 33 million users and 1.5 million Ning networks, with a great deal of these networks pertaining to business.

Below is an overview of our initial research, followed by our Web 2.0 Tutorial of the social networking sites we recommended for Genesis to use in their business.

Overview of Research

Why should a company adopt social networking into their marketing strategy?

- In 2008, 35% of Americans 18 and over used social networking

- Social networking allows CEOs to directly contact stakeholders

- 75% of men 18-34 spend most of their time in front of a computer

- 30% of Europeans use social networking

- The social networking industry market is expected to become $3.3 billion by 2013

- Only 4% of Europeans have clicked in a banner ad

-

- For entrepreneurs and small businesses

- Client and customer searches

- Video profiles

- Messaging

- Along with every other business social networking site you can upgrade your membership for extra features. For as little as ten dollars per month you can get extra visibility in Google rankings when people search your name or business, you can be listed in multiple categories, you get three times more traffic to your site (instead of 8 visits from the standard profile you get 26!), you can upload videos, and check who is visiting you profiles.

-

- Free web-based financial services social network for individual investors

- Individuals can track all their investment portfolios in one place

- Can share stock portfolios and performance with other members

- Independent and unbiased

- Also has a Facebook page: Cake Investment Club

- Been recognized by Forbes, Kiplinger, BusinessWeek, Barrons

-

- Entreprenuers, programmers, designers, and investors

- Good for finding clients, business partners, and investors

- General business networking

-

- Prides itself on “connecting business people”

- Online network, blog, message-board chats, and marketplace

- Can request introductions of a friend-of-a-friend

- Can join business networking groups based on various topics or expertise

- Can post unlimited adverts in the Marketplace

- Seen by other Ecademy members or those who visit the website

- Gives higher visibility on search engines

- Disadvantage: “…mainly comprised of slightly weird people…not recommended for serious business people” ()

- (E.Factor)

- Entreprenuers and investors

- Global marketplace

- Free information

- Live networking events

-

- Social networking site

- More than 250 million users worldwide

- Has over 300,000 businesses with presence

- Parents and professionals are rapidly adopting Facebook: 35-54 year old demographic is growing the fastest, and the 25-34 year old demographic is doubling every six months

- “Fan page”

-

- Business professional networking

- Video and audio profile capabilities

- Track who visits your profile

- Text advertising

- Live chat

-

- Aimed at entrepreneurial university students

- To connect student entrepreneurs with each other and also with mentors, investors, and professionals

- Provides student entrepreneurs the framework to start new companies

- Has other features also, including: articles, case studies, small businesses, mentors, project tools

-

- Owned by Google

- Allows people to have conversations through the web, AIM, or SMS

- Comparable to Twitter: Share short messages

-

- More than 43 million registered users

- Over 365,000 company profiles

- Has users working in up to 170 different industries

- To maintain detailed contacts with people users know in business

- Allows people to stay connected with the people they know and trust in business

- Pertains to anyone who wants to be connected with the corporate world

- Demographics: Recent graduates, business associates, professionals

-

- Blogging site

- Almost 20 million accounts

- Collects most recent journal entries from the people on your list

- Great place to track top influential bloggers

- Nearly 300,000 entries every 24 hours

- Demographics:

- Two thirds of the users are female

- Age: 17-25

- Mainly domestic

-

- 33 million registered users

- 1.5 million Ning Networks

- Social networking site that allows you to join networks of interest

- Many business related networks

- Can create own unique social network for organization

- It is free to run your own network, yet Ning controls the ads on your network

- There is a monthly fee if you want to control the ads

-

-

- Entrepreneurs and small businesses

- Training courses

- Startup funding

- Help business plan building

-

- “See how the crowd rates your favorite stocks”

- Provides stock sentiment data to make better investment decisions

- The average of a crowds guess is surprisingly accurate – often more so than an expert’s prediction

- Five types of stock sentiment data: price directional, price specific, demographic, relative (stock vs stock), and time based

- (Present.ly)

- Microblogging service

- Great security and privacy

- Employees can send files back and forth to each other

- Similar to Twitter, but real-time updates are shared only with employees of a company and not with the outside world

-

- Launched February 2009

- “Users are given a set of tools to promote their business online, to keep their clients and business partners up-to-date with their work and to research new clients”

- Mainly smaaaaall businesses

-

- Links business professionals

- Over 500,000 members in over 200 countries

- Can join various networks, including networks related to your industry

- More than 1,000 organizations host a network to help their members interact

- Recognized by , Newsday, The New York Times, The Boston Globe, and USA Today

-

- Business-to-business networking tool

- Shows how your connected to other members – demonstrates “6 degrees of separation”

- Three main areas of service

- Business networking services

- Business enablement services, including web conferencing, data storage, calander, etc

- Marketplace services

- Truly is a business application

- Competitor with LinkedIn

-

- About 40 million users

- Social networking and micro-blogging service

- Good for telling brief success stories

- Follow influential people in the investment industry

-

- Blogging site

- Can subscribe to other “xangas” allowing you to stay up-to-date to whom they are subscribed to without manually visiting the site

- Another good place to track the top influential bloggers

Web 2.0 Tutorial

Twitter

• Click “sign up now” and fill in basic information

• Whatever name you use for your username is what you will be identified by on Twitter

• In order to change profile information click on the “settings” link at the top right corner of the page

• To find people on Twitter:

o When your account is created, search for people by their name or username

o You can also search for friends on other networks through gmail, yahoo, or AOL

▪ You will type in your email address and password and twitter will go through your address book to see if anyone in your contacts list has a twitter

o Or invite by email

• Tweeting:

• In essence you are creating your own blog with a bunch of mini posts, called tweets

o Must be 140 characters or less

▪ You can see this blog on your profile

o You can post these tweets in that status bar on the top of the home page

o Once a tweet is posted, you can’t edit it

• Following:

o When you follow someone, you will receive their Twitter updates

▪ Their updates will appear on your home page

o When someone is following you, they will receive your Twitter updates

▪ An email will be sent to you notifying you when someone is following you

• Direct Messaging:

o to send a follower a direct message, click the drop down menu next to the follower’s profile and click direct message

o form this drop down menu, you can also do a # of actions pertaining to that follower

o You can do the same exact thing to the people you are following

• Twitter Widgets:

o To add a widget to your website:

▪ Log in

▪ Click on “goodies”

▪ Select “widgets”

▪ Select “my website”

▪ Select a profile widget to show your tweets or select a search widget

▪ Profile widgets show tweets from anyone

← Yet, you can enter the name of the user who you want to be displayed on the widget

← You can loop the tweets as well

▪ Once you are all finished setting up the widget, click “finish and grab code” and add this code to your site

o Add widget to facebook

▪ Follow same instructions above but instead of clicking “my website” click facebook and then click facebook application

▪ Then, click “install twitter in facebook”

▪ You will then be redirected to facebook to complete the easy process

• Hashtags:

o If you add a hashtag to your tweet and you have a public account, anyone who searches for that hashtag can find your tweet

o Increases SEO on Twitter

o To create a hashtag:

▪ Place a # in front of the word you want to be a hashtag

▪ EX: #investment

← Now the keyword investment will be hashtag linked to your tweet

o

▪ Use this site to get an idea of what the popular hashtags are on Twitter

▪ You can also search to see if the potential #hashtags you want to use exist

LinkedIn

• Profile:

o Sign up/ profile creation is simple

o To edit profile:

▪ Click ‘edit my profile’ on left side of your home page

▪ To make profile public:

← Click “edit public profile settings” on top right corner of the profile edit page

← Then it will ask you to create a URL to make it public

← Below you can adjust your public profile settings

o On the right hand side of your homepage, you can see who has viewed your profile

o Add additional applications to your profile by clicking “add an application” on the bottom right hand side of your homepage

• Company Profile:

o Allows users to find companies to work for/do business with

o Create Profile:

▪ Click “companies” on top bar of home page

▪ Click “add a company” found on upper right of page

▪ Here you can type in your company name and email address at the company

← You will be sent an email confirmation that you must respond to in order to active this

▪ Next you will be directed to the ‘create a company’ page

▪ Click “create a company” when finished

▪ To edit profile:

← You need a confirmed company email address registered to your account in the ‘email addresses’ part of your ‘account & settings”

← Must have position currently held at company on profile

• Find people:

o Click the down menu on the people tab at the top of the page and click “advanced people search”

o Use any of the options to find the person your looking for

▪ I.E. name, industry, title, keywords, company

o You can also click the “add connections” link on the left hand side of your homepage

▪ You can then use your email provider (hotmail, yahoo, gmail) to see who has a LinkedIn account in your email contacts

▪ Click on the colleagues tab on the top of the page to find your current colleagues or all of your past colleagues from your previous jobs

• Events:

o On right hand side of page, click events

o Here you will see what events your connections are attending

o You can search for events

o Add an event:

▪ Click add an event on the tabs on the top of the event section

▪ Then it will take you through an easy event set up process

▪ Click “add more details” to further customize your event

← Can customize who you want to invite but their job titles

← Add keywords, known as tags, to help people find events based on what the event is about

▪ Once you have finished the details you can then share the event with your contacts

▪ The last step is to advertise your event with a step by step process

← These ads will show up above the fold on LindedIn’s site in front of highly engaged professionals

← Also show on LinkedIn Profile and home pages

• Service Provider:

o Take advantage of becoming a service provider as it is a great way to get noticed on LinkedIn, because people can find you through your expertise and see what others say about you

o The more recommendations you have the more your profile will stand out on LinkedIn

o Click the down menu on the “companies” tab on the top of the page

o Then click “service providers”

o Then click on “request a recommendation”

o Then you will be taken through a step by step process to send out requests for recommendations by the people who know you best to endorse you on LinkedIn

▪ Establishing credibility

• Groups:

o Helps you stay informed with people that share your interests

o Click “Groups” on the left hand side of the home page

o Then click “create group” tab on the top of the page and follow the step by step instructions

o Could create a Genesis group here and add updates like the facebook fan page

• Membership Upgrade: business recommended

o Difference from personal to business membership:

▪ Cost

← Personal- free

← Business- $250/ year

▪ Visibility

← Business- reach over 50 million users

← Personal- no visibility

• Twitter

o To share your tweets in your linkedin status

▪ Only tweets that contain #in will show up

Ning

• Sign up is very simple

• Network sign up:

o If you see a network you want to join, click “sign up” at the top right of the page

• Creating a social network:

o On the home page, click “create a new social network”

o Then, you will name your network and pick a web address, then click “create”

o Then, you choose privacy, description, keywords, etc.

o Next, you can format your layout by dragging from the list on the left to layout on the right

o Then you will choose a theme for your appearance

o Premium services – monthly fees

o Network Keywords:

▪ investment, wall street, relations, money, communication, shareholder, portfolio, stock, micro, small cap, advisory, firm, investor, venture, capitalist, analysis, market

o Badges to promote your network:

▪ Find social network badge on right column of your network

▪ Click “get more badges”

▪ Determine the badge you would like to use and its size and color

← Customize colors by clicking on the color bars

▪ Click “share on facebook” to add your badge to one of those services

▪ Also, to put it on your own website, copy the HTML code to add the badge to your site

▪ To make appearance changes, click the manage tab on the top section of your network

▪ Click manage to do any administrative or editing work on your network

• Friends:

o Click “friends” on top of the page

o You can find friends by using your AOL, Gmail, Yahoo, Windows Live, or Hotmail accounts

o Type in your email and password and ning will search your contacts for potential friends

o Or you can just search for a friend with their name or email

• Being an active member:

o It is important to participate all over Ning in order to establish a present on the networking site

o On your network and other networks:

▪ Participate in forums

▪ Add blogs

← Go to your network profile page and find the “blog posts” module in the middle column

← Then lick “add a blog post” link

▪ Add comments

o Join or create a group

▪ Use groups on your social network or other social networks to meet people with common interests

o Create Events

▪ On your social network, you can create events

▪ To create an event, go to events tab on the top of the page and click the “add an event” link

Facebook

• Creating an ad for your fan page:

o Go through the basic set up process

o You can pay by PAY FOR CLICKS

o Ad will show up on the ad column on the right hand side

o Targeting:

▪ Create keywords in order to segment your target market

▪ These keywords will correlate with information users list on their Facebook profiles

• Add a fan box:

o Add a fan box to Genesis’s website

• Add a badge:

o Add a badge to Genesis’ website

Research of Blogs

To research blogs, we did several things. First, as a starting point, we read books about blogging to understand the background and purpose of blogging. From there, we began thinking about how Genesis Select could incorporate blogging into their business. We also talked to an industry expert, Dave Evanson. He is doing consulting work for Genesis and has experience working with blogs. Next, we made recommendations to Genesis on how they could best utilize blogs. We took into account the time cost of blogging versus the benefit the company will receive. Finally, we looked at a variety of different blogs and compiled a list of blogs they should follow. These recommended blogs were based upon the blog readership and the relevance to Genesis’ target audience.

The next few pages are a copy of the tutorial we provided to Genesis.

Blog Tutorial

➢ According to the DalmoWorks survey, here’s how people find Websites

o 88% followed a link from another website

o 85% used a search engine

o 65% got a suggestion from a friend

o 63% found a site in printed material

o 58% found a site in a web directory

Blog features

- Interactive: Allow readers to leave comments

- Combine text, tables, graphs, links

- Always include link back to website

Suggestions on how to utilize blogs

- Have a blog on Genesis’ website

o Update weekly

o Have a link to the three most recent blogs from the homepage

o Blog about any of the following…

▪ News stories

▪ Updates on Genesis

▪ Updates on clients

▪ Links to PR/articles about clients

- Comment on an article by a well-read blogger

o Don’t insult the author

▪ They can delete your comments

▪ Develop friendly relationships so they may blog about clients

o Add additional information to be seen as an expert in the field

o Add something to the commentary

o Keep blog responses short and open ended

o Include a link back to Genesis’ website

- Email blog owner to ask for a mention in his blog

o Explain why you like their blog, why your clients matter to their readers

o Always say thank you, no matter their response

- “Bloggers often exchange links to each other’s sites or blogs. Do it! Links to your Web site from a blog make your site seem relevant and might enhance your search engine ranking.” (Web Marketing for Dummies)

- “If you put a blog on your own Web site, submit it to as many directories as possible.” (Web Marketing for Dummies)

o A web directory is a compilation of websites organized by topic. It specializes in linking to other websites and categorizing those links. For example, you can go to directory. and search for web pages about financial planning. This particular web directory pulls up web pages in the order of their Google PageRank.

o There are different features in listing: Free submission, reciprocal link, paid submission, bid for position. You probably want to look for free submission directories to submit to.

o Popular web directories:

▪ directory.

▪

▪

▪ dir.

Blogs to follow: When generating this list, we looked at the relevance of blog information, the amount of people commenting, and the ease of posting to your own Twitter and blog.

-

o The largest stock market blog – publish about 250 articles daily

o A service designed specifically for investors

o 52% of readers bought stocks in the past 30 days (#1 website for readers purchasing stocks)

▪ Primary readership is money managers, research analysts, and investment bankers

o

-

-

-

o Click on ‘link’ below the blog post to get a URL that you can post on your Twitter, company blog

-

o 26% of readers bought stocks in the past 30 days (#2 website for readers purchasing stocks)

-

o To continue learning about social media with regards to IR

-

o A few interesting posts about social media

StockTwits

- “Global live trading desk”

- Traders sharing ideas, advice, information with other traders

- Rather than following the news, follow what people are saying about the news

- Find people who think the same way you do, or perhaps people who don’t think like you

Other things to think about

- Message boards

- Inbound link campaigns: Can be valuable. Some Web sites charge for links. Yield visits from pre-qualified prospects and increase search quality ranking

o Industry-based business directories

o Colleagues

o Trade associations

- Have one common name that everyone uses when they comment on blogs. For example, do you want to have your signature be Genesis Select? Budd Zuckerman, CEO? This will help readers start to recognize the name.

- Companies using Twitter for IR has grown 175% between the 2nd and 3rd quarters of 2009

o 53% provide a link to their earnings release only

o 48% actively engage with their followers through @replies and retweets

Analysis of Competitors’ Websites

Genesis is positioned in a highly aggressive and growing market that is ever changing. To stay competitive in the Investor Relation field, Genesis will need to find virtual corridors and social mediums to embrace small cap clients and attract investors. With technological advances, Genesis will be able to enhance their website and cater to the needs of young clients and investors with strong technological backgrounds who prefer online business. Below is a list of IR competitors, an overview of what their website contains, and a recommendation to Genesis Select on how to improve their individual website to promote their clients.

|Competitor |Website |Analysis |

|Cirrus Financial | |Easily navigable |

|Communications | |Not very eye-catching |

| | |Offers link to their blog with option to comment |

| | |Offers ticker on front page of their clients stocks |

| | |Option on front page to subscribe to emerging growth stock |

| | |ideas from Cirrus. |

| | |No more than two per client per year |

| | |One investment opportunity overview per client |

| | |Quarterly Cirrus newsletter |

| | | |

|Capital Insight | |Clip of blog on their hompage |

| | |Link within blog clip directing viewer to SEC key performance |

| | |indicators |

| | |Also, link taking you to an 18 slide, 36 minute Webinar |

| | |Reviews of company and company in the media page |

| | |Highly interactive and busy homepage |

| | |Very informative |

| | |Shortcuts links to: |

| | |LinkedIn |

| | |Bank News |

| | |The |

| | |Seeking Alpha (website for market opinion, analysis and |

| | |discussion |

|Investor Awareness, Inc | |Easily accessible |

| | |Client “Success Stories” tab |

| | |With each client, there is a link directing viewers to their |

| | |stock analysis on Yahoo, company website and/or company |

| | |profile |

| | |Nothing out of the ordinary – plain and simple |

|CCG Investor Relations | |Success Story Client Page |

|Strategic Communications | |Highlighting the problem, strategy, measurable result and |

| | |media releases |

| | |All else - standard |

|Hayden IR | |Homepage directin viewers to Hayden Newsletter |

| | |Success Story Page |

| | |Resource Page |

| | |Nasdaq |

| | |SEC |

| | |NYSE |

| | |Looks like a start-up page |

|Liolios Group Investor | |Standard who we are and what we do page. |

|Relations | | |

| | | |

|MKR Group Investor Relations | |Success Stories/Case Studies for clients |

|Shelton Group | |Standard who we are and what we do page. |

|Blue Shirt Group | |Standard who we are and what we do page. |

|TMX Equicom | |Link to their Twitter on their homepage |

| | |Looks to be updated multiple times per day – disseminating |

| | |client news releases |

| | |Link to Market Pulse Newsletter |

| | |Events and Roadshows Tab |

| | |Case Studies and Success Stories |

| | |Investor Presentations |

| | |Slideshows of Clients – built for the client by TMX Equicom |

|The Equity Group | |Provide a link to a testimonials page on their homepage |

| | |Case Studies |

| | |What’s in the News |

| | |Case Studies |

| | |Broken down by client |

| | |Can add yourself to various e-mail lists |

| | |Can opt-in to meet with management of certain companies |

| | | |

| | |Ticker at the bottom of the homepage |

| | |Companies in the News section on the homepage. |

***Standard who we are and what we do page = Overview, Services, Clients, Teams and Contact Us tabs.

Recommendation

After much review of numerous IR competitors’ websites, it is strongly recommended that Genesis Select ‘upgrade’ their website to accommodate the ever-changing technological advances and viewers demands. One recommended change is to post a real-time ticker of clients’ stock prices and other companies that Genesis is following closely. Another recommendation is to start a company newsletter that highlights clients’ successes, companies in the news, industry news, market changes, and possible investment opportunities and strategies. There should also be a database started for viewers and small cap investors who choose to opt-in to receive updates from clients and Genesis with investment opportunities, recommendations and new clientele. This will require that the website be monitored and updated regularly. A smaller change that might keep viewers more interested would be to place a short blurb under each client’s logo on the “Case Study” page. This will grab the attention of the viewer, or potential investor, and drive them to click “Learn More” and read on about how Genesis plans to, or has successfully implemented new strategies to increase that client’s market share.

Actually Implemented

After further discussion regarding the research conducted for website appeal and modernization, it was decided by Genesis Select – with the input of the CU project team – to make some major updates and additions to the website. On the final layout and implementation, the menu bar at the top of the page will move to the left side of the page as a vertical menu box, rather than horizontal bar. In place of the horizontal menu bar, a running, updated stock ticker will run across with current Genesis clients, as well as others that Genesis is monitoring. Rather than having a website with little to no movement, an implementation of new images will rotate on timer as a slideshow on the homepage with text on each image highlighting Genesis Select’s forte. Also, on the homepage, there will be a Facebook badge, Twitter widget, and Ning badge on the right hand side to drive and connect traffic to-and-from the Genesis Select Website and their Facebook, Twitter, and Ning profiles. Finally, there will be “blog box” added to the page which will contain the three most recent blog links that Genesis is supporting, commenting on or posting. Clicking on any of these links will direct viewers to read on.

Resources Used Throughout Project

We want to include a comprehensive list of the resources we used in our research throughout our project this semester. Because our project was a topic none of us had much experience in, we relied on many resources to complete our research and make recommendations to Genesis. The following resources are what we used, in addition to the information found on the websites we recommended to Genesis, throughout our project.

- Derek, Rocky Mountain Tech. Team

o Derek is Genesis’ IT contractor; he will update their company website per our recommendations.

- Dave Evanson, Consultant

o A consultant currently working with Genesis; he has experience working with blogs

-

o Genesis gave us this as an example for transitions between pictures

- gp/compare_gatherplace.jsp

o To perform research on webinar platforms

-

o To learn about our client and also analyze the website’s weaknesses to make recommendations.

-

o To find images for the company website

-

o A competitor’s website

- daily

o A blog whose information is specific to using the internet within the IR industry

-

o To find images for the company website

- 2009-facebook-demographics-and-statistics-report-276-growth-in-35-54-year-old-users/

o A website used to learn more about how Genesis can utilize Facebook

- Michael Thome, Regional Account Manager – Denver, Cisco Systems

o Met with Michael to learn about the webinar platform and their services

- office.en-us/livemeeting/default.aspx

o To learn about Microsoft LiveMeeting

- Tony Krajewski, Sales Executive, MeetingOne

o MeetingOne is the Adobe Acrobat Connect disturber

o Met with Tony to learn about the webinar platform and their services

- Web Marketing for Dummies

o A book to help us understand the basics of blogs and social networking

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