WhatsApp?
You normally wait until your 16th Birthday to
do something outrageous. In brief, the 10 Year-Old Facebook has bought WhatsApp - an app
that allows youngsters to LOL at each other - for some $16 to $19
billion dollars. OK, ‘only’ $4 Billion in cash, but it’s enough to live on. We
look at what is in store for social media, digital marketing and business.
What does this mean … for Facebook
Well, that was a whopper of a deal. Facebook needs growth and presence in emerging
markets. WhatsApp has half a Billion users. This will allow them to capture the
younger social media generation that they have been missing out on, adopt some
technology and, of course, head off a major competitor at the pass.
It’s a tricky move taking out your competition. It can horrendously
expensive when they are in a strong position, which WhatsApp are. Much of this
deal is in equity so the true cost can be argued is far less. Facebook will be
worth so much more by swiping market share so by diluting its stock its
probably in a decent position overall - albeit letting any new start-up App Team
that they too could have a SuperYacht if they are any good.
One thing is for sure, Instagram will be kicking
themselves. In 2012 they sold to Facebook for an eye-watering $1Billion at the
time. Which might not be enough to live
on or at least the Yacht will be smaller.
Where does this leave Facebook?
This is a very interesting year for the giant of social
media. Floated in 2012 for something along the lines of the total GDP of Sweden
(we don’t know, we’ve just made that up. It was probably more) the stakes are very
high now.
Far from being the jeans-wearing, Starbucks waving and
skateboard-in-the-office entrepreneurs of freedom, connectivity and sharing the
landscape of social media now is big business.
On the surface Facebook is still great place to post about
your life, complain, complain about people complaining or just read about
people complaining about people complaining. It’s easy to knock it (“I’m on it
but I never GO on it”) but in truth it’s really very good.
Yes, there are more Sponsored messages, more Suggested Pages
and the news feeds act funny at times but its underneath is where things are
changing.
What does it mean for business?
To get noticed and sell your stuff you had the old school
advertising media of TV, Radio, print and the High Street. Each is its own way
of getting in front of buyer traffic. These have all been getting slaughtered by
the internet for quite some time now.
Google was the biggest disrupter. My iPad is now bigger than my Yellow Pages
which is a sign of the times. But soon Google began to line us all up every
month to pay dues to the SEO guys just to point a bit of the internet jet
stream at their business.
Then along came Facebook. It was a superb antidote to the
costs of all of the above. Set up a page. Stick on some funny pictures and away
you go! There are pages on Facebook that serve no purpose whatsoever with
literally millions of followers. Hurray! Goodbye SEO, goodbye 30 second adds.
Suddenly marketing became easy. Everyone could do it.
Not so much anymore. Things are changing. No one is quite
sure but check the blogosphere of Social Media guru’s and you will see
declarations and wailings of foul and unfair play by Facebook, its search, its
feeds, its algorithms. It’s what? Basically it’s changed how it works.
You could always sponsor and advertise on Facebook. See
here. I’ve set up an advert on Facebook to profile maybe you. If you use a PC
those panels to the right that you never click on? The thing was, you never
really needed to. You post something, you Like it, your friends see it, they
like it and your content moved….
Now Viral has caught a Virus. To move that content, the
Bloggers argue, you need to pay to play. Pages are seeing their “reaches” are being
strangled by upto a half or even more. Fair enough. But the above page is for a Community Group
But something was up. It was suspected as much. Ken
Auletta in his 2010 book “Googled” noted how Google's initial business plan for
search was to bounce you off their page as quick as they could. Whereas Facebook
wants to keep you within their world for as long as possible - you can be “on” Facebook but not really “on” Google. Now they have built their captive market they are perhaps looking to cash in. And they will need to if this $19 Billion deal is anything to go buy. The cost of advertising is probably only likely to increase.So, what does this mean for Social Media?
The pole has got greasier again. Facebook is by far
the most dominant platform but easy and cheap virility has gotten harder. It’s
kind of a good thing as plenty of trash content will die away. Watch out for
lots and lots of sharing scams (Share our page to win a Car…House….Unicorn…).
What should you do as a business? Well, its sign to go back to good
honest traditional marketing. The pursuit of Likes, Followers and Hits is all
well and good but in the end it’s not replacement for real engagement, community-led
ideas and a social purpose. Social Media
is still incredibly important but it’s so much more than “Post and Hope”.
We suggest:
Diversify - Don’t put all your eggs in one basket. When
you play in someone else’s sandbox, expect them to change the rules
Professionalise yourself – Linkedin is a great place for
this and it’s astounding how few companies have not set up a Company Page for
people to follow. Even if you are a one-man band you can create a page, feature
products, post messages. “People don’t like to be shop where they socialise”
and isn’t it true you are in a different mood when you are on Linkedin and
receptive to plugging and boast posts?
Blogging – gets your personality across, your knowledge
and builds credibility.
Engage on Twitter – Its OK Tweeting about yourself, but will it get results? You
will notice everyone is Tweeting about themselves and sometimes when people are trying to be heard no-one stops to listen. How about engaging? What do
we mean? See an event that somebody is up to. Retweet it, attend it and follow
up your new contacts. Its a listeners market. We guarantee you will be further ahead as a business than
if you didn’t. Or your money back.
Create your own community – forums, networks, semiars,
workshops, meetings. It can all help.
Mobile apps – mobile is screeching past PC use. Cut
through all the noise and park yourself right next to Candy Crush and Talking
Tom on everyone’s most prized possession.
Use Professionals – the cream always rises to the top and top agencies can help.
There are plenty of people professing to know about the Black Magic of SEO and
all that so take recommendations. And stop sharing pictures of Cats to get people
to like you.
Measure - track your success and investment in terms of
revenue. Always.
See
this great Infogram for more ideas.
Finally...
Well, we see this as a natural progression. Platforms
become fun and then fun becomes media and media attracts the money men.
There is clearly a demand for viral platforms. And
clearly people and business prefer them to be free. This year might be year where Facebook
Mark II is born.
Anyway, we all had the last laugh.
Mark Zuckerberg paig $19 Billion for WhatsApp.
We downloaded it for free.
