Monthly Archives: November 2010

Google Grabbing Groupon?

Image Courtesy of Dullhunk via Flickr

The social media and digital world is all a Twitter about Google’s anticipated acquisition of Groupon for a $6B rumored price tag with another $700 million in anticipated bonuses for Groupon’s exec staff.

All Things Digital’s Kara Swisher scooped many major news services with an outline of the deal terms yesterday, upside, etc.: “Google’s Groupon Offer $5.3 Billion, With $700. Million Profit Earnout”

I agree with Kara Swisher, this deal is good for Google, even with this astronomical buy out. Also, am sure Google is reacting to and wary of Facebook’s own “Groupon Killer” - Facebook Places.

Yahoo was rumored to be circling Groupon but don’t think Carol Bartz and crew had the heart, cash and sufficient bandwidth to convince Groupon they would improve the business in any substantive way.

I disagree with others (Greg Sterling with Search Engine Land) who are already saying this deal is not a good one for Google. This potential deal gives Google so much scale (size) and reach into the local market that would take years to build, keeps Groupon out of Microsoft’s or third party’s hands, will add $400-500M to Google’s revenue stream. Finally - gives them real street cred in the social media market.

How Google Grabbing Groupon will reshape the Social Media Landscape and Google:

1) It’s clearly going to push Facebook to accelerate their Facebook Places business tighter integration with  social graph and probably more aggressive deals with vendors.

2) Give Google the visibility, impact and advertising reach into local markets to finally work with SMBs (small to medium sized businesses).

3) Enable Google Maps to be much more leveraged with Groupon deals sold right in the search window - this could scale Groupon’s revenue significantly behind the deal.

4) Not sure how Google will assimilate Android with Groupon - but look for tighter integration with this operating system in some way, this is a no brainer. Not to mention, Google having a bigger footprint in the mobile phone market on the application side via smart phones, the iPad and other tablets.

5) This potential deal could ratchet up potential valuations across the social media landscape, the size alone is a huge milestone. Although it’s roughly a 10X times annual revenue based on a $6 Billion dollar deal plus bonuses, give or take a few hundred million.

6) Groupon has a sales force comprised of 300 people doing outbound calling, cutting deals, etc. - this sales team will give Google the ability to start to be more aggressive in promoting all of its services to much smaller companies and may make them rethink some of their internal HR structure.

7) This potential deal will raise barriers for any local targeted vendors, create an immediate impression that Google is now the player in coupon deals and local advertising and Google will suck a lot of the oxygen out of the local deals market immediately.

8) Could send a signal to the world that Google is finally a real player in the social media market and gives them their own mobile social graph to leverage moving forward.

Stay tuned, as the deal is not done. Probable and possible though……

The Power of Words

The Power of Words is unquestionably what drives the digital economy in some shape fashion or form. Powerful Words are the underlying building block of any web Web Site Marketing Strategy, Search Engine Optimization Campaign, Content Publishing, Brand Building and much more.

Top Ten Power of Words you want to incorporate in your Content and Advertising:

1) “You” - considered the go to word for every copywriter going back to Hal Riney’s days. It personalizes your message instantly for the reader and you (no pun) should use it frequently in your marketing copy.

2) “Proven” - sends a signal to your reader that whatever your selling or promoting has been tested, works well, etc. and can also help to remove fear from the buying decision.

3) “Love” - powerful way to make an instant statement - can be trite at times if used improperly.

4) “New” - everybody likes something that’s unique, novel and fresh.

5) “Save” - who doesn’t want to save money in these times (excluding Bill & Steve).

6) “Safety” - resonates with many on a personal level for health or even quality.

7) “Discover” - convey a powerful emotive content that resonates with many.

8) “Guarantee” - conveys a real sense of confidence when purchase is being made.

9) “Results” - sends an implicit message that product or service will deliver.

10) “Health” - adds real sizzle when used in conjunction with a product.

Some Great Power of Words Resources:

Visual Thesaurus - generate a burst of creativity using this new online tool for wordsmiths.

Paid Content - best  portal resource online for all things content focused.

Copyscape Plagiarism Checker - Freemium model - discover if your content is being ripped off.

We trust this post on the  Power of Words helps to provide critical insight about your content marketing strategy moving forward.

Ten Ways Social Media Can Ruin Your Thanksgiving!

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Couldn’t start a Blog post about Thanksgiving without an iconic image from Norman Rockwell. Since this image doesn’t reflect our subject matter we’ll ask you dear reader for your indulgence so we can segue to our tongue in cheek block post: Ten Ways Social Media Can Ruin Your Thanksgiving!

1) No one shows up at grandmas house, as they are all to busy doing Groupon check ins to score Mayor badges.

2) The assembled group of Gen Y and Boomers are so busy trying to juggle their iPhones and Blackberry’s they don’t have time for real conversation.

3) Someone’s iPhone app mysteriously turns off the oven via a hacked RFD tag (call Google!).

4) Grandma insists all gadgets and devices must be turned in at the door as the folks come pouring in, necessitating a mass exodus to the porch every fifteen minutes to check Facebook accounts.

5) Thanksgiving dinner is held up so long due to Ustream holiday events the dinner gets cold in the process.

6) Over indulgence of alcohol causes Gen Y/Millenials to spill booze on their iPads and they slink out the front door to find nearest Apple store (fail).

7) No wireless network available at Grandma’s so many just eat and run out the door, forgetting time honored tradition of pretending to talk with family members while they watch football on the tube.

8) Incessant Twitter activity causes digital paralysis problems and some younger members are unable to: a) eat Thanksgiving dinner, b) hold on to Wii wand or c) wave newest gadget around for all to see and lust over.

9) Fisticuffs erupt after drunken pictures of relatives are mysteriously uploaded to Facebook Wall and the offended party realizes he/she is now indelibly imprinted with web legacy information showing them doing the “turkey trot.”

10) Power goes off - chargers were not brought in anticipation of this problem - everyone goes home immediately; poor Grandma/Grandpa and Boomers left with huge amount of food and booze to consume and try and figure out what a “wood stove” is and how it works.

Have a great Thanksgiving with your friends and family, with or without a social media enabled holiday! Try to actually converse with each other and break new ground in relationship building!