The Facebook P2P Mobile Payment is more than just a payment method

Online Payment has been a dream of Facebook for eight years. It was also clear that when the company hired former PayPal executive David Marcus last year that it was planning to turn that dream into business.

Not surprisingly, Facebook has announced launching of peer-to-peer (P2P) mobile payments into its Messenger application. Honestly, it works basically like GMail payments or Square Cash that only supports debit card transactions, and for now only in US.

According to the announcement, “The first time you send or receive money in Messenger, you’ll need to add a Visa or MasterCard debit card issued by a US bank to your account. Once you add a debit card, you can create a PIN to provide additional security the next time you send money. On iOS devices you can also enable Touch ID. As always, you can add another layer of authentication to your account at any time.” Theoretically, the money is immediately transferred. However Facebook indicates that it can take up to three days to receive the funds depending on the underlying bank’s policies.

Given the popularity of Facebook around the world, it is reasonable for us to say that this mobile payment method will ultimately roll out globally and it could become quite successful (for different reasons in different countries). Beyond that, a more interesting question is what might come after the P2P mobile payment.

Obviously, such a powerful payments capability could enhance e-commerce on Facebook or provide consumer spending data to Facebook ad targeting. In just last week, Facebook announced the acquisition of TheFind, publicly discussed as a way to improve Facebook Ad targeting and relevance. However, TheFind is a shopping site that could provide Facebook with an immediate e-commerce marketplace capability. It still remains to be seen whether e-commerce is the next target that Facebook is moving towards. Mobile payments would obviously be supportive of e-commerce. It’s also not inconceivable that Facebook would get into in-app payments or offline mobile payments in physical stores at some future point. Marcus has experience with all these things.

All these payment scenarios also raise the prospect of “closed loop” transactions and the ROI reporting and optimization benefits they imply.

Email vs. Direct Mail

The other day, I was talking with somebody that asked the question of whether email would overtake direct mail as an acquisition engine for retail banks. In order to help answer this question, I looked at a number of sources, including:

http://smallbiztrends.com/2015/02/successful-email-marketing.html

The largest difference between email and direct mail is the cost and response rate. One study I read quotes the average response rate of email at less than 0.1% while direct mail is typically quoted at about 2%. That said, the average cost for direct is significantly higher because of postage and paper costs. Therefore, banks need to make a trade-off of these costs and the management of email campaigns in order to make decisions between these two channels.

There were a number of findings that I felt were very relevant, including that 81% of online shoppers are more likely to make both online and in-store purchases due to emails based on previous shopping preferences and behaviors. This is a critical element because it does suggest that you need to have "permission" from the customer in order to present them with the offers. Across all forms of direct response marketing, there is a large jump in response rates when the customers have given you permission (implicitly or explicitly) to market to them.

As banks building email strategies, this would suggest that creating relevant content that could drive potential customers to sign up for alerts and provide you with permission to email them, could be a really effective approach to email campaigns.

One bank that I believe has done this well is Chase with their home mortgage app (https://www.chase.com/mortgage/mynewhome-app). They provide a service (free) that walks potential home buyers through the whole home buying process. As part of the process, they are getting all of your relevant information and painting themselves as partners in the process.

NFL to stream a live game in 2015

The NFL announced it's plans to stream a live game in the upcoming season.  The week 7 game will be broadcast locally on TV, while the game is streamed nationally online via it's website.

Although, there is little interest outside of the local Buffalo and Jacksonville markets, the NFL should achieve it's goal, as it "...acknowledged that the trial effort is designed to understand the market for digital rights."

With the NFL going direct to the consumer in an otherwise perhaps irrelevant game, the Buffalo/Jacksonville game should foot the bill as a base case in how to monetize their popular product across a fragmented fan base.

Further, as this platform grows, it will be interesting to see how they plan to leverage the vast amount of customer data that the platform generates.

Asia's Best Campaigns From AdFest

Asia's Best Campaigns From AdFest

http://adage.com/article/global-news/asia-s-campaigns-adfest/297775/

In this AdAge article, during the recent Asia Pacific Advertising Festival in Pattaya, Thailand, awards were presented to the best advertisement campaigns in the Asia region.

1.       fancy and practical whiskey ice Suntory’s ad showcased a Hakuhoda, Tokyo made device that allows serious whiskey drinkers to select from a variety of fancy designs which is then crafted into a glass-size 3D ice sculpture and used instead of the more traditional ice cubes. Instead of “on the rocks”, how about “on the statue of liberty” for a change? To further prove their technical wizardry, a second Suntory campaign showcased a hi-tech whisky glass that creates images as the ice and contents are swirled, invoking images of seasonal delights such as cherry blossoms or summer rain.

2.       In a funny ad spot by Tokyu Agency called “Three Seconds Cooking Shrimp Flying Cannon”, the process for flash frying shrimp really fast is demonstrated in various ways, including shooting the critters out of a cannon.

3.       In an online video spot called “I Hate Thailand”, the Leo Burnett Group Thailand, a down-trodden foreign tourist who was robbed of his possessions while traveling through Thailand finds life transforming experiences when he meets up with some friendly locals.

4.       A fourth spot, titled “Relocations”, also by Leo Burnett, showcased a simple, practical, and elegant cardboard box design that facilitate local residents in their effort to donate unwanted items when they move to a new home. After packaging, the lids on the same box can be flipped to read either “Keep”, or “Gift”. The latter goes directly to the Salvation Army and helps low income families.

Although Suntory won the Advertising of the Year award during the Asian AdFest, most of the non-winners, of which there were 3,295 entries, drew a lot of nonchalant comments from the judges, who disparaged the entries for imitation.

U.S. Digital Display Ad Spend Shifting Toward Facebook and Twitter

No surprise here, a new research from eMarketer shows that Facebook and Twitter are growing their share of the digital display ad  revenues in the US.  With their dominance in mobile based applications, Facebook and Twitter are growing at the expenses of Yahoo and Google.  Lots of good stats about the market share of digital display here.  It will be interesting to see how Google and Yahoo respond in the coming years.

New research from eMarketer shows that Facebook and Twitter together will account for approximately 34 percent of U.S. digital display ad revenues by 2017, while Google and Yahoo’s share will decline.

Facebook and Twitter combined will represent approximately one-third (34 percent) of U.S. digital display ad revenues by 2017, while Google and Yahoo's share will dip, according to eMarketer. The shifting numbers show that marketers are putting more of their ad spend toward the social networks, perhaps in an effort to reach much-desired younger demographics.

The new research predicts that U.S. digital display ad expenditure will reach $37.36 billion in 2017, up nearly 38 percent from 2015. Facebook will take around 27 percent of the pool, compared to 25.2 percent in 2015.

Meanwhile, Twitter will surpass Yahoo in total U.S. digital display ad revenues for the first time in 2015, and its market share will increase from 5 percent to 6.8 percent in 2017, reaching $2.54 billion, estimateseMarketer.

But while Facebook and Twitter are seeing a robust growth in display advertising, Google and Yahoo are falling behind.

Throughout the forecast period, Google will maintain the second place behind Facebook, but its market share will drop from 13 percent this year to 11 percent in 2017. During the same period, Yahoo's share will decline from 4.6 percent to 3.5 percent, according to the research.

Both Facebook's and Twitter's gains are driven by mobile, says eMarketer. The company projects that for the first time this year, mobile ($14.67 billion) will surpass desktop ($12.38 billion) in U.S. digital display ad expenditure.

And by 2017, according to the research, Facebook's U.S. mobile ad revenues will reach around $7.53 billion, a more than 50 percent jump from this year. By then, Twitter and Google will be neck and neck, as the social platform's U.S. mobile ad revenues will double, reaching $2.29 billion.

Which brands will profit from the Internet of Things?

Blog Entry - 03/27/2015 Christian Lowe Recent technological innovations (such as the Apple watch) indicate that 2015 is going to be the year of the Internet of Things (IoT). This provides a new dynamic/vehicle through which marketers will need to have the capacity to reach potential consumers. No longer will it suffice for a marketer to simply cover their bases by doing traditional marketing efforts nor just digital marketing or even mobile marketing any longer because the popularity of the devices such as the Apple Watch will garner an increased amount of an individual's attention. The advent of wearable technology, in-car systems and headsets should not be considered solely a hinderance to marketers but rather as an opportunity for them to reach consumers during what would have been inaccessible times. For example, the watch will be worn while an individual is engaged in activities that previously would have forced the individual to not access the internet via a computer or even from the individual's phone. Therefore, marketers have an opportunity to really engage potential customers through the wearables, which is why it is imperative that marketers begin developping applications and other mediums through which to connect with individuals. The brands that develop the best thoughtout, functional, and engaging IoT applications stand to succeed in garnering far more consumer attention than their competitors or even compared to how these brands are currently engaging with their customers. An interesting thought piece about the IoT challenge is below: http://www.thedrum.com/opinion/2015/02/13/which-brands-will-profit-internet-things Several recent developments have indicated that 2015 will be the year that the Internet of Things (IoT) ceases to be part of an imagined future, and instead becomes a reality. For example, Apple has announced that the long-awaited, highly anticipated Apple Watch will be brought to market in April, and is encouraging developers to start working on apps for the platform. Australian airline Quantas, meanwhile, is trialling Samsung’s virtual reality headset, Gear VR, on its flights, while Samsung itself has predicted that wearables will become the new status symbols of high-value consumers this year. For brands, the widespread adoption of wearables, headsets, in-car systems like Android Auto and Apply CarPlay, and online TVs presents an unprecedented opportunity to engage with consumers. If the sharp increase in the use of Smartphones and tablets has led John Lewis MD Andy Street, among others, to refer to consumers as being ‘always on’, this phrase will prove even more accurate when shoppers are continually interacting with online objects. Whichever brands are able to rapidly make their mark on new wearable and other platforms, then, are likely to increase sales by reaching customers at hitherto inaccessible times and places. Not only that, but these brands will also achieve a significant advantage over their competitors online. Rushing into developing and releasing new IoT apps is not advisable, however – as is currently the case with mobile devices, releasing a buggy app would risk alienating customers and doing damage to a company’s brand image and revenue. In fact, this is even more likely to be the case with wearables, given that so few developers will have worked on new IoT platforms when they’re brought to market. Instead, software should be rigorously tested on a broad range of unique platforms to ensure it functions correctly for as many customers as possible. This could prove challenging for brands using internal teams or relying on 3rd party developers for testing, as simply testing software on a sufficient range of Smartphones and tablets is becoming impossible using these traditional methods. Adding IoT platforms to the increasing number of unique mobile devices being used by consumers will only increase the burden on already struggling test teams. To release fully functional, comprehensively tested IoT apps that engage consumers, brands should find a crowdsourced software testing partner. By maintaining worldwide communities of thousands of professional software testers, crowdsourcing companies, such as BugFinders, have the capacity to test software on hundreds of unique platforms. A crowdsourced team of up to 200 testers can thoroughly scrutinise an app for bugs on up to 200 devices, for example, in just 24 hours. The scalability of the crowdsourcing model means that IoT platforms could easily be added to, or included within, this number of devices, and crowdsourced testers could either supplement an in-house team or perform testing in its entirety. As online access is absorbed into the very fabric of everyday life, so brands will have the opportunity to engage with consumers on a much more frequent basis. Those that make sure their software is up to this task will flourish, while those that don’t will struggle to keep up in the new digital world that is, suddenly, right around the corner.

The Cutting Edge of the Mundane

Accenture has been buying up companies recently, quite a few of them in the digital marketing space. A cynical interpretation is that this is merely an example of a big fat company trying to use M&A to show that it is keeping up with the times, like an old guy on a scooter. But we know that the major players in corporate IT all watch each other's moves closely. If IBM, Cognizant, and Oracle see Accenture adding digital marketing capability, they are not going to ignore that.

The big IT consultancies always try to offer a complete service package, so that their clients never have to call another company to order something. That is a very big deal to them. The next obvious step for digital marketing at the capability level is to integrate it with corporate technology systems, so that DM becomes an organic blend of marketing, product development, and operations. For a large company with an existing corporate IT vendor, the ability to integrate marketing systems into their existing (complex) technological structure would be a godsend. Then they can just call their guy at Accenture instead of trying to remember which oddly named startup it is that handles that part of their marketing stack.

As digital marketing moves into the realm of the large corporate IT vendors, parts of it will become standardized and commoditized, and a significant amount of effort will be spent not on disruptively innovating the next big thing but on not rocking the boat. That will be a huge cultural transition for practioners who enjoy the current entrepreneurial climate, and it will be interesting to see how the industry communicates between its startup wing and its mega-IT wing.

Too much data out there?

Marketers are facing major obstacles in realizing the dream of delivering improved customer experiences. One research, based on a survey of more than 600 companies and agencies carried out between November and December last year, showed that nearly two-thirds (62%) of respondents said that they often feel overwhelmed by the volume of incoming data whilst 85% said that they were unable to extract the full value from the data sources they have access to. The research showed that only 3% of businesses felt that they had a strong capability when it comes to using cross-channel or cross-device data for real time website or mobile app personalization. The challenges are caused by both data and technology silos as well as a lack of talent in such areas, the report states.


“Focusing on developing customer experiences can create a more loyal and engaged customer base which is an extremely valuable competitive advantage in today’s fast-paced commercial environment,” said Bola Awoniyi, a research analyst in Econsultancy.


Boaz Ronkin, SVP of product for Ensighten, said marketers must concentrated on integrating their marketing tech rather than adding further silo systems. “To maximise the return on investment in their marketing technology stacks, CMOs must look for integrated solutions that excel at joining disparate systems, rather than add new standalone systems into the mix," he said.


Most importantly, in my opinion marketers need to focus on the business goals of their clients and make sure that the marketing strategy allows to track those metrics that have the most effect on those business goals.

Social Networks to take 1/3 of US Digital Display Ads by 2017 Thanks to Mobile

According to a recent report of eMarketer, Facebook and Twitter are foretasted to take 33.7% share of US digital display marketing by 2017. eMarketer

Based on a multipronged approach which takes into consideration both trends and forecasts of different market aspects, eMarketer predicted the total spending on digital display advertising in the US will total $27 billion in 2015,  and will reach $37 billion by 2017. Among this, social network Facebook and Twitter's share is expected to rise from 30% now to 33.7% in 2017.

The gain in market share of Facebook and Twitter in display ads is a result of mobile advertising. For the first time in 2015, mobile is predicted to surpass desktop in display ad spending in the US, increasing from $9.65 billion in 2014 to $14.67 billion. Meanwhile, desktop display ad spend is expected to decline in 2015, falling from $12.56 billion to $12.38 billion.

Notably, eMarketer also estimates that Twitter will surpass Yahoo in total US digital display ad revenues for the first time in 2015. At the same time, while Google is expected to maintain its market position behind Facebook in digital display ad, its revenues will dip from 13.7% in 2014 to 13.0% this year—and down to 11.1% by 2017.

The Next Social Media Frontier: Live Streaming

First was facebook, then youtube and twitter, then Instagram and snapchat and now meerkat and periscope. It went from text, to pictures, to video, to disappearing pictures, and now we have live disappearing video.

Companies had to figure out how to successfully adopt and integrate each new channel into their strategy. Some companies have embraced digital marketing extremely well (Old Spice) while other have crashed and burned (Comcast). I am sure that this will be no different with some companies developing really clever and useful ways to integrate this, like broadcasting product reveals to the most loyal followers for example, while Comcast will broadcast its workers sleeping on the job.

I also have no doubt that this will be successful since reality television is already successful (I blame MTV) and there are youTube celebrities (I still blame MTV). So to think people would want to watch other people live their lives in realtime instead of living their own doesn't surprise me, after all there are millions of people that watch other people enjoy regular meals by themselves.

People have different perspectives, different interests, and who am I to judge but the scenario the author describes where people tuned in to watch him pick a lunch place... really? No offense to any of my friends, but I don't think I am ever that bored or have that much free time to tune in and watch one  of my friends picking a lunch place.

It is also interesting that 150 years ago the only way we could watch something is to be there in person and witness it ourselves. Video allowed us to be able to enjoy the content any time, any where. And now we are going back to witnessing it our selves in real time... granted we don't have to physically be there.

As I mentioned, it is not hard to envision this being successful, after all people have been tuning into live webcam shows since the 90's. I can't help but wonder, however, how lonely we feel in this ever increasingly connected world that we choose to watch someone else do mundane tasks just so feel part of someone else's life.

http://venturebeat.com/2015/03/26/celebrity-app-deathmatch-meerkat-vs-periscope/

Twitter Teaming up with Foursquare

Interesting article stating that Twitter is teaming up with Foursquare to add location services to tweets.  Could be an interesting marketing tactic - if someone tweets they had a great meal at XYZ restaurant and its geo-tagged, the restaurant could know that they patron is in the restaurant and perhaps give them a coupon for a meal next time or a free dessert.  Conversely, if someone has a bad time at say, JFK airport with JetBlue and tweets / tags the location, perhaps JetBlue can send someone there immediately to help mediate the issue.

Personally, I think that this a great move by Foursquare and who knows, maybe Twitter ends up buying Foursquare to have this enabled at all times.


Source: http://techcrunch.com/2015/03/23/twitter-teaming-with-foursquare-for-location-tagging-in-tweets/#vojXsG:BfSC

Google – Content based Search?

Google is undoubtedly the dominant player in the search engine industry. In fact most of the companies that have adopted digital marketing have ensured to adapt to the Search Engine Optimization (SEO) techniques. Recently, Google released a white paper that indicated changing the criteria it uses to rank websites to include Google’s assessment of the accuracy of the content. This has shaken few search-engine-optimization experts speculating the changes for future.

Google's paper titled “Knowledge-Based Trust: Estimating the Trustworthiness of Web Sources,” discusses ranking websites based on the trustworthiness and factual accuracy of web sources. This new system would rely on Google’s own Knowledge Vault and a number of other metrics to gauge the accuracy of the information on a page. This would mean that if one's website contains known inaccuracies, or if it simply doesn’t contain much of the relevant content, the ranking on Google would be adversely affected for that website.

I think this in accordance with the focus on content based digital marketing. In the last two years, content marketing has gained tremendous focus and it is one of the most important areas in the digital marketing this year. Some of the following stats corroborate this finding:
- 57% of marketers report content marketing is their top marketing priority for 2013.

- 60% of marketers use content marketing on a weekly basis.

- 82% of prospects say content targeted to their industry is more valuable.

- 9 in 10 organizations market with content.

As a company owner involved in digital marketing, the better the company's website ranks, the more traffic it is likely to get and the greater is the lead generation and conversions.
A Knowledge-Based Trust (KBT) signal would be a significant departure from current practice, which uses traditional linking strategies to boost a website’s “authority.” Instead of rewarding or punishing a website based on the number and quality of links it has to other websites and portals, the search engine actually would assess the content of each Web page using the complex methodology discussed in the paper. This methodology is quite complex and Google has commented that these theories are still in research and development stage and not expected to roll out any time soon. Thus, I would strongly suggest companies to not stop any of the current SEO strategies.

Google is well known for aggregating all the content published on the Internet and respond with an output on demand. The fresher the content, the more helpful it is for Google likes it as websites, blogs, and paid media strategies all require fresh content to be effective. Even social media citations are starting to populate the search results- the most recent example being Twitter releasing its API allowing its tweets to be easily displayed through Google search.

The key to a successful content marketing strategy is to provide free, no-obligation information or advice that accurately answers questions and solves problems. It is also important that the content is aggregated from all sources and is also promoted on as many platforms as possible. To summarize, even if Google is yet to release its content based search model, marketers are already spending significant resources on content based digital marketing. In essence, content based marketing is a necessity today.

 Source / Reference:

http://kapost.com/content-marketing-facts/
http://thegazette.com/subject/news/digital-marketing-google-x2014-search-engine-for-truth-20150321
http://www.brightedge.com/blog/knowledge-based-trust-a-new-google-ranking-factor/

Has Google Fiber Found the Holy Grail?

Granular tracking and metrics that show advertisers who has watched their ad, when, and if it led to a conversion is a huge advantage of online video and search/display ads vs. traditional television (still relying on Nielson ratings).  However, Google Fiber is piloting an ad-tracking system in Kansas City that will provide this granular insight into their tv ad inventory.

"Fiber TV ads will be digitally delivered in real time and can be matched based on geography, the type of program being shown (sports, news, etc.), or viewing history," the company explains in a blog post set to go live this afternoon.

Now, the same type of hypertargeting available on the web will be available for dynamic insertion in Kansas City.  Google will ultimately be able to match your Google Fiber habits with your Google search, YouTube, and Gmail, and mobile habits and provide the opportunity for true cross-device advertising and engagement.

An interesting aspect of this pilot is the fact that's it's Google, and I can't think of another firm that would have the same opportunity to replicate a full-stack, cross-device approach.  Major cable companies such as Comcast, Time-Warner, and Optimum have the cable/fiber infrastructure, but not the online search habits and histories.  Others like Yahoo! and Bing have search habits and histories, but not the TV infrastructure.  Google is the only one with both (albeit a small pilot market in Kansas City), but if this plan proves super successful, it may justify the expansion of Google Fiber as an alternative and competitor to the major cable companies.  Stay tuned to the progress of this pilot.

HALO: Marketing Evolved

Microsoft's XBOX One is gearing up for the next iteration of it's wildly popular HALO video game series which puts the player in the role of the Master Chief, a cybernetic super soldier, as he battles an alien race known as the Covenant.
HALO 2's marketing effort in 2004 involved an alternate reality game that let players solve real world puzzles that ultimately led them to a point where they could play a demo of the game. HALO 3, launched in 2007, followed up with an even more ambitious campaign that involved the release of action figures, a HALO branded soda, and video documentaries that cost $40 million. The big risk was a stunning success with 3.3 million units selling in the first week and total sales of $170 million in the first few days leading it to win several marketing awards. HALO 4 reverted to the same tactics used in the HALO 2 marketing campaign by challenging gamers with puzzles that unlocked promotional art which went viral in social media circles and on gaming blogs.

Needless to say, the series is immensely popular with many gamers and it would be easy for the developers to pare back the marketing budget for a brand that pretty much sells itself. The attached article is old, but it's really interesting because it dives into how the marketers have observed the evolution of their target market and how they view their different segments and I think the lessons learned can be applied to many different circumstances.

http://www.dmnews.com/halo-4-marketing-evolved/article/274185/

The HALO marketing machine is gearing up for the latest installment in the series with a Tumblr website that shows a picture of a bullet with the word "Traitor," written on it and a timer counting down to the next update. If history is any guide, this is just the beginning of a well orchestrated campaign to whip the loyal fanbase into a frenzy for the release of this title.

Amazon Shutting Down Webstore

Amazon has recently decided to shut down its e-commerce platform Webstore, a service enabling small business owners to create standalone e-commerce websites, in 2016. Several users of the service noted on Amazon forum that the company had contacted them to state that the platform would close next summer: "We will support the Webstore service until July 1, 2016 to give you 15 months to prepare for the change," the notification letter reportedly reads. A message on top of the Webstore landing page also states that the service is "no longer available to new sellers." According to reports from Re/code, the move comes as the hosting landscape has become increasingly flooded, with competitors Shopify and Bigcommerce raising boatloads of venture capital to develop more enticing eCommerce tools. eBay is apparently affected by this as well as it had announced last summer that it would discontinue its Magento Go software, which provides a similar service.

http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/244193

Digital Marketing Madness

March Madness - the perfect time of year to think about Digital Marketing! Not exactly, but given that most of us try to keep up with our brackets and discuss them while on the go, March Madness presents an excellent case study of digital marketing in action.

Business2Community (B2C) has an excellent infographic on the topic, which I have included below. The key stat when it comes to $$$ is that ad spending has increased 64% over the last two years during March Madness, which B2C ascribed primarily to the growth of social media. The most popular social media platforms for discussing the Madness: Facebook and Twitter.

To get a sense of how important mobile is, take in these stats:

1.  Almost 70% of people watch games on their phones (and >25% use mobile as their primary source for game viewing)
2. Almost 3/4 of people use two devices at the same time for March Madness  
3. Almost 90% of people use their mobile devices to access game info

Guess What? Now you can pay your friends through Facebook

Facebook Messenger has a new feature, the ability to send payments to friends.  This long-awaited app is no surprise.  Though mobile payment is a crowded space (including Venmo), none of the other apps have the reach Facebook does.  Facebook's intent is to keep users on their site longer and keep Facebook 'sticky'.  They want to come up with different ways their users can 'play' with their site and this is one of them.  Right now, Facebook is only accepting debit card information.  Even so, gathering all this payment information has a lot of potential for future revenue streams and other internal apps.

The article points out that eMarketer, a Digital marketing firm, estimated that in 2014, US adults spent 21 minutes per day on Facebook on average.  That is 6% of their time that they spend online. Behind Google, Facebook is the second-most trafficked site domestically and globally.  Facebook is trying to prevent users from using outside apps for certain tasks.  

I think a big thing is that this might help Facebook Messenger's image.  People were upset that Facebook split the Messenger app off of the main app.  Not only that, the image gets further tarnished when people realize that Messenger is always running in the background and gathering all sorts of information.

I guess we'll see what success Facebook has with the payment service.  

Check out the article here: http://mashable.com/2015/03/17/facebook-payments-messenger/

Show Me The Money

Over the course of the semester, we have talked multiple times about the Facebook messenger app and the ability for Facebook to leverage its vast user base in avenues beyond their newsfeed. Facebook this week announced that through its messenger app, American users would be able to link their debt cards to "message money to one another just as easily as they send a snapshot or text." While not completely unexpected by Wall Street analysts, the peer-to-peer payments market presents a really good opportunity for Facebook to enter a fairly undeveloped market.

According to the New York Times article, not only is the peer to peer market a ripe one to enter, but the ability to have direct access to debit cards opens many different avenues for Facebook to explore and this is truly where there will be a ROI. "Facebook could use this as a back door to get people’s debit cards to enable the buy button” which will afford its users a seamless integration to purchase things they desire. This is coupled with the fact that Facebook has actively sought to increase their foothold and increase penetration with their messenger app and this is one way they plan to leverage this platform.

The company’s Messenger app is one of the largest platforms in the world, with more than 500 million monthly users. And last year, Facebook spent nearly $22 billion to buy WhatsApp, a separate messaging platform that now counts more than 700 million active users globally.

As someone who is an active user of the only true rival in this space right now, Venmo (screen shot below), a mobile payment app owned by PayPal, I would be happy to switch if the service were easier or in the case of Facebook, makes a seamless transition from having a conversation with a friend to sending them money. My concern, both via Venmo or the new Facebook App is the direct linkage to my debt account. I understand there are security settings, but having direct access to my debt account does concern me. Its the exact reason that I never use my debt card as a credit card for the fear that my account information can be taken. The other big rival would be Apple Pay, but at the moment, it doesn't have the peer to peer capabilities. Overall, I think this is a positive move for Facebook and a tangile way to account for the sizable investment it has made in the messaging space and as its seeks to become more than a social media outlet, this is a logical foray into something  that leverages their 1.3B users.

US Bank; kittens and mortgages

Forbes.com ran a story on US Bank's  recent Buzzfeed campaign, highlighting how digital marketing continues to shift creative content historically dominated by TV's to various online mediums, or as US Bank Social Media VP Kelly Colbert maintains “There’s been a shift in the social media/digital space from media efficiency to creative excellence,”

As opposed to traditional big budget one size fits all TV campaigns, digital marketing allows brands to fine tune their approach, segment/allocate and deliver their branding message at a lower cost.  Also, speed to market is faster, as brands will use initial responses to further refine the marketing message, Colbert explains; “Our strategy is to build creative for, say, our top six audiences.”

The Forbes story further highlights how the Buzzfeed campaign was a great facillitator to engage customers, specifically due to willingness of US Bank to take a less conservative approach that focuses purely on presenting product vs. a more visual and emotive campaign.  If interested, viewers could further explore by clcking into US Bank's 8 tips  directly from Buzzfeed content that US Bank posted.

Facebook can help you buy anything (except friends)

Facebook just announced that it is acquiring a personalized shopping search engine called TheFind, which has over 15 million current users.

TheFind touts its search engine as the only way to search everything available for sale on the internet, and can match even very vague terms like "white sweater" with a vast array of relevant options.

TheFind also has localization features, meaning that it can return relevant results within a specified geographic area in case the user prefers to buy in-person. Since TheFind aggregates prices across the universe of online and brick and mortar vendors, the user doesn't need to traverse multiple websites (or physical locations) to find the best deal.

Facebook plans on shutting down the search engine capabilities, but rest assured that they have some clever plans for monetizing this technology. Most likely, this will involve better contextualization of posts and messages that Facebook users generate to make advertisements even more hyper-targeted than they already are.

Perhaps in anticipation of this acquisition, Facebook recently launched an ad sales team with the express purpose of promoting specific items that advertisers are trying to push. There's no doubt that TheFind strengthens Facebook's ability to pitch this service to advertisers, as well as charge a significant premium versus

Although Facebook ads may now potentially become even more creepy than they already are, this acquisition should be a win-win-win. It's win for consumers, who should receive more relevant and better offers; win for advertisers, who can better match ads with the right consumers; and a HUGE win for Facebook, which should be able to further mark up its ad inventory.

Sources:
http://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-buys-shopping-search-engine-thefind-2015-3

http://techcrunch.com/2015/03/13/to-boost-commerce-in-ads-facebook-buys-and-shuts-down-shopping-site-thefind/#lKyTXd:9NJM