Social Data Investing
A Manifesto on Using “Social Signals” to Outsmart Wall Street
BY ANDY SWAN Creator and Founder of LikeFolio (@andyswan or andy@likefolio.com)
www.likefolio.com
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Introduction
GET READY TO DISCOVER THE MOST POWERFUL INVESTING INSIGHTS OF THE PAST DECADE! My Fellow Investor, Welcome to an entirely new world of investing -- one that doesn’t rely on hunches, hairs on the back of your neck, little angels or devils on your shoulder telling you what to do...but one that relies on true social clues -- actual hints from the real world (not the world of analysts who are right all the time, right up until the time they’re proven wrong).
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Before we dive into this guide and what exactly this methodology is all about, let me explain what this is NOT... • This is NOT yet another “trading system” (there’s NOTHING for sale here, so put your wallet away). • This is NOT yet another expensive “data feed” of news and alerts that, frankly, anyone can have access to (that’s no way to create an advantage).
Now allow me to give you an overview of what this IS... This is a guide...a blueprint...a peek inside the most powerful “signaling system” in the world. I’m talking about the data created by social media... and it’s a goldmine. You now have access, for free, to the largest depository of actionable intelligence ever created. Amazing traders are telling you what stocks they’re buying and selling... consumers around the world are telling you exactly what products excite them, and what brands are resonating.
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So, what I’m going to show you here are a few things...
1. How to learn to think like an investor: When investors see new sold-out products, they don’t think about going to Craigslist to buy one, they think about investing in the company that makes it. 2. How to profit from great traders: All but one great trader that I’ve ever met (and that’s a lot) is on Twitter sharing insights in real-time. Of course, there are a lot of pretenders too... so I’ll show you how to find the traders who are the real deal. 3. How to understand, and profit from, consumer feelings about brands and products: Literally the entire world is telling you what they’re buying and what products they are excited about. Let’s use that information for your own profit. 4. How to enjoy a time-edge over Wall-Street: People post about the products they are buying right now. Wall Street sits on their hands and waits for the earnings reports that are months away. Finally, the advantage is in your favor! 5. How to discover the undercurrents: Through social-data analysis, you can find the next big trend long before it becomes mainstream, and profit from its growing popularity.
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Now, that all sounds great. But let me issue you a bit of a warning... You Can’t Just Blindly Follow Every Idea You Come Across. If you do, you may as well be guessing or, as we’ve talked about already, just following the empty suits on TV who probably know less than you do right now. To be successful with investing takes discipline, strategy and patience. It is utterly devoid of get-rich-quick thinking, follow-on trading or gimmicky “systems” that are sure to disappoint.
* TIP:
Rather than looking for individual pieces of data, it is imperative that you develop the tools and methods for true insight! That’s exactly what I’m going to show you in this guide.
Frankly, many people aren’t cut out for this. They want quick profits with no effort...and they will be disappointed every time. Most often, they just don’t have the confidence -- or the courage – to look for investing opportunities that others have missed, especially from a source so new as social media data.
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But I KNOW you’re smarter than that! In fact, you’re probably already a better investor than you suspect. With ordinary trend-spotting skills and a hunger to learn the techniques for true insight and profitability, you can turn your socialmedia habits into a profitable approach to investing. This guide will help you every step of the way, from investing in hot brands and new products, to finding the best and brightest on Twitter...and even recognizing the profitable patterns and correlations that provide our most profitable setups. Read, learn, enjoy...and profit! And if you have any questions or comments, please feel free to contact me directly at andy@likefolio.com.
Now, buckle up, and let’s dive in... www.likefolio.com
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Chapter 1
WHAT IS SOCIAL DATA INVESTING? “Social Data Investing� is a relatively new concept for traders, but one that has proven, time and time again, to be right -- to identify companies ready to explode, before they ever show up on the radar of the analysts on Wall Street.
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Use it properly, and you can unearth diamonds before anyone else. Use it improperly, however, and you can be led down a path to the poor house. What I want to show you in this guide is how to do it properly...how to identify “hard trends” before anyone else...how to identify the companies (and stocks) that are ready to take the Street by storm. There is both an art and a science to implementing a Social Data Investing strategy. At LikeFolio, we’ve mastered both. And over the years, we’ve been able to identify breakout companies like Tesla and Apple before they became the darlings of analysts...”simply” by following what real people are saying about a company’s products and/or services. For example, most investors had given Apple up for dead before the release of the first iPod. But if you had followed what “real people” were actually saying, you would have known that Apple was about to become a powerhouse once again. Similarly, the revolutionary electric car (and the company behind it) Tesla was nothing more than an interesting curiosity in the minds of many traders. But if you were following the social signals surrounding the brand, you would have noticed that it was about to break out.
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